Firstly, "huà" has the meaning of "digestion." Experts explain that when starchy foods are cooked, starch on their surface disperses into the soup. When heated to 100°C, the starch granules break down into dextrin, which can help with digestion. Moreover, noodle soup also contains digestive enzymes that are not destroyed during the cooking process and can also aid in digestion. Therefore, drinking the original soup can help reduce indigestion.
Secondly, drinking the original soup also has a certain supplementary effect. Experts say that flour is rich in water-soluble B vitamins, but during the cooking process, these B vitamins leach into the soup. Therefore, drinking the soup can to some extent make up for the vitamins lost from the staple food during cooking.
What kind of soup can "huà" the "original food"?
"Original food" refers to starchy foods, and "original soup" refers to the water used to cook these foods. For example, the soup from boiling dumplings, noodles, wontons, tangyuan, and congee. However, hot pot soup cannot be compared to this, because when meat is swished in the broth, a lot of fat is dissolved, causing the fat content in the hot pot soup to be too high. Long-term consumption is not good for your health.
Also, it must be the "original soup" to have the effect of "huà" on the "original food." Xi'an's famous Yangrou Paomo uses the broth from stewing lamb and then soaks the bread (mò) in it. This broth is not the original soup of the bread, so it does not have the aforementioned effects.
For weight loss, drink soup before a meal; for a poor stomach, drink after a meal
With so many benefits of the original soup, when is the best time to drink it?
Theoretically, it's best to drink it after a meal, just as people enjoy having some congee after a meal. The amount is not strictly limited.
Starchy foods like noodles do not easily create a feeling of fullness, so it's easy to overeat. Therefore, people trying to lose weight should drink soup before a meal. This can create a sense of fullness, slow down the speed of eating, and prevent overeating. This is also the reason behind the popular proverb, "Drink soup before a meal to stay slim and healthy." However, patients with chronic atrophic gastritis have low stomach acid secretion. Drinking soup before a meal will dilute the gastric juice, further affecting food digestion, so they should not drink too much soup before a meal.
"When the stomach is empty, everything is empty." This saying highlights the importance of diet. As the quality of life continues to improve, eating is no longer as simple as filling one's stomach. What to eat and how to eat are what people are concerned with.