The Lantern Festival is just around the corner. Tangyuan from the south and Yuanxiao from the north, symbolizing reunion and completeness, naturally become the theme of these festival days. However, how to enjoy these sweet, rich, sticky, and soft tangyuan in a healthy way has been a puzzle for many.
Not suitable for breakfast. Tangyuan are high in sugar and calories, so many people think eating them at night can lead to weight gain, and thus, it seems more appropriate to eat them in the morning. Others believe that tangyuan can simply be boiled in water, served in a warm broth, making it seem like an ideal breakfast. However, Yu Kang, Associate Chief Physician of the Department of Nutrition at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, points out that tangyuan are not suitable for breakfast, and it's even worse to eat only tangyuan for breakfast.
First, let's see what tangyuan actually are. Tangyuan are a food mainly made of glutinous rice and sugar. Besides the refined glutinous rice flour which contains a large amount of starch, the filling also has a lot of sugar. Therefore, it should be considered a staple food. However, unlike staples such as steamed buns or rice, the filling of tangyuan also contains a large amount of fat, sometimes even more than the sugar. Traditionally, lard was used to make the filling for tangyuan. In the south, savory tangyuan are made with lard and meat, while sweet tangyuan are made with lard and various nuts. Now, there are even more premium tangyuan with fillings made of butter or vegetable cream.
Why are tangyuan not suitable for breakfast? The main ingredient of tangyuan is refined glutinous rice flour, which is very sticky and difficult to digest. Coupled with the large amount of fat in the filling, it further burdens the gastrointestinal system. When people wake up in the morning, their gastrointestinal function is at its weakest. Eating so much hard-to-digest food at once will surely overwhelm the digestive system. People who already have poor digestive function may experience acid reflux, heartburn, and other issues, affecting their work and life for the day.
Furthermore, nutritionally, having tangyuan for breakfast is also unreasonable. Because what tangyuan contain the most are carbohydrates and fat, while protein, minerals, and dietary fiber are very scarce. Such a breakfast cannot meet people's nutritional needs for the entire morning. Experts point out that the best time to eat tangyuan is at noon, when the body's gastrointestinal function is strongest, and there is enough time to digest the excess calories in the tangyuan.
Pair with spicy dishes to protect the spleen and stomach. Professor Chao Enxiang from the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at China-Japan Friendship Hospital points out that tangyuan are exceptionally high in sugar, and overly sweet food affects the spleen and stomach. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is said that "sweetness enters the spleen." Sweet foods like tangyuan have a "slowing" effect. Moderate intake can provide energy to the digestive system and help digest and absorb food. However, eating too much can slow down gastrointestinal motility, leading to symptoms such as belching, bloating, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and indigestion. Therefore, when eating tangyuan, you can pair them with some pungent foods, such as scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers, to balance the slowing effect of the tangyuan and reduce the harm to the spleen and stomach. So, it's best to eat tangyuan with some side dishes, like garlic eggplant or onion with wood ear mushrooms, which are not only refreshing and cut through the richness but also provide more balanced nutrition.
Eating three tangyuan is equivalent to half a bowl of rice. Generally, the glutinous rice flour used for three tangyuan is equivalent to the rice used for one liang (50g) of rice, or half a bowl of rice. Although there are "sugar-free" versions of tangyuan and yuanxiao, it is difficult to make them truly sugar-free because the skin and filling cannot be completely free of sugar. Therefore, for diabetic patients, even "sugar-free" tangyuan should not be eaten. If you must eat them, limit the amount to no more than three at a time, and be sure to subtract half a bowl of rice from your daily total staple food intake.