Eating Cold Zongzi is Unhealthy: Which Foods, When Eaten with Zongzi, Impede Digestion
The Dragon Boat Festival has arrived, and the market is bustling with all kinds of zongzi. This raises many seasonal questions: Who is suitable for eating zongzi? Who is not? Is it better to eat them in the morning or evening? Should zongzi be eaten with side dishes? And so on.
The origin of zongzi is well-known to all Chinese people and needs no elaboration. However, a detail that everyone overlooks is worth mentioning: zongzi were not always made with refined white glutinous rice. In the past, zongzi were often made with sticky yellow millet (broomcorn millet). Old Beijingers say that even at the time of liberation, farmers in the suburbs still commonly used sticky yellow millet to make zongzi, while wealthy families in the city ate zongzi made purely from white glutinous rice.
What do sticky yellow millet and glutinous rice have in common? First, they are both very sticky. Foods made from sticky yellow millet are hard when cold but become very soft and sticky when heated. This stickiness comes from their overwhelmingly high amylopectin content. All grains described as "sticky" or "glutinous" share this characteristic, whereas non-glutinous varieties contain some amylose and are not as sticky. Another commonality, according to traditional theory, is that both glutinous rice and sticky yellow millet are considered "warming" in nature and have nourishing effects. This means they are suitable for people who are physically weak and sensitive to cold. Among them, yellow millet is even more warming and is a traditional winter food recommended for warming the body and replenishing nutrients.
Why eat this warming glutinous rice or yellow millet at the start of the hot summer? Why not eat millet or corn instead? The ancients must have had their reasons. In summer, the weather is hot, the skin sweats profusely, blood is more distributed to the body's surface, and relatively less to the digestive system, leading to a relative decrease in digestive secretions. At this time, people who are physically weak are more prone to poor digestive function. Eating foods made from glutinous rice and sticky yellow millet can help warm the stomach and promote digestion and absorption. However, eating raw cucumbers, raw tomatoes, and drinking mung bean soup every day is not suitable for everyone. In ancient times, living conditions were poor, and cooking conditions were even worse, so the proportion of people with poor digestion might have been higher.
Some people, upon reading this, will immediately jump up and ask: Who says that? Isn't it said that sticky foods like glutinous rice are difficult to digest and absorb? How can it be, as you say, that weak people can digest and absorb them more easily!
As the saying goes, "practice is the sole criterion for testing truth." If you don't believe it, you can try it yourself.
First, both domestic and international blood sugar studies have shown that hot glutinous rice foods cause a very high postprandial blood sugar response, which means their digestion and absorption are extremely fast. In vitro studies simulating small intestine digestion have also proven that, compared to white rice, cooked glutinous rice is digested significantly faster. Furthermore, our lab's measurements have found that glutinous foods have another special characteristic: even after being cooled and then reheated thoroughly, their digestion speed is just as fast or even faster! For ordinary rice and noodle dishes, the digestion speed is slower after being cooled and reheated compared to when freshly cooked. Zongzi are generally sold after being boiled and are often heated again at home, so eating them while hot is still easy to digest.
Secondly, you can try it yourself. A freshly steamed hot zongzi (note: this refers to traditional zongzi without added oil or meat, just with red dates or red bean paste) will not burden your stomach and intestines at all. Replace a bowl of rice with a zongzi of equivalent volume, and you'll find it easy to eat and won't feel bloated. Some people feel bloated because they eat too many zongzi at once simply because they are delicious, but this cannot be used as a reason. Scientifically, when comparing digestion speeds, the same amount of starch is used for comparison. One large zongzi is roughly equivalent to a bowl of rice, let alone eating three of them—replacing that with the same amount of rice would be even more filling.
For those with low stomach acid and poor digestion, traditionally called "stomach cold," glutinous rice is an excellent food. If you've eaten too many crabs or shrimp and your stomach feels cold, eating a hot zongzi or a bowl of hot glutinous rice porridge will bring immediate relief (if this is considered food therapy, then most foods can "heal").
However, all health advice must be tailored to different constitutions. For people with poor digestion, zongzi are indeed a healthy food, but this may not be the case for diabetics. Because postprandial blood sugar rises too quickly—sometimes even faster than white sugar—diabetics should eat fewer zongzi made from refined white glutinous rice and should also limit those made from yellow millet. This is true even for zongzi without red dates or red bean paste. As Mr. Wang Xingguo said on his blog, the key is not whether the food contains sugar, but how fast the blood sugar rises after a meal.
Returning to the topic of glutinous rice and yellow millet. The difference between these two zongzi ingredients is that yellow millet is far more nutritious than glutinous rice. Its iron content is 3 times that of glutinous rice, its magnesium content is 2.8 times, its potassium content is 1.6 times, its vitamin B1 content is 1.5 times, and its dietary fiber content is 5 times higher! It also contains antioxidant components like carotene and lutein. Therefore, it was indeed wise of the ancients to use it to make zongzi.
However, today's zongzi varieties are more diverse and are no longer limited to these two ingredients. There are "eight-treasure" zongzi on the market, with various coarse grains, beans, and peanuts added. In fact, making corn zongzi is also a great idea; adding some sweet corn to the glutinous rice makes its texture less sticky and gives it a fresh, refreshing taste. That's right, culinary innovation is limitless. Perhaps by next year's Dragon Boat Festival, I will recommend my own innovative zongzi recipe to the "Health Kitchen."
Heartfelt Reminders:
1. Zongzi should be eaten hot. Zongzi with added oil, meat, or egg yolk should especially not be eaten cold, which is particularly important for people with poor digestion. Some poor-quality glutinous rice can become hard when cold, and the "regeneration" phenomenon (where starch recrystallizes) is more pronounced in zongzi made with mixed grains and coarse cereals when cold.
2. Zongzi are a staple food and can be eaten for any meal, and breakfast might even be more suitable. Because appetite is often poor at breakfast and the amount of food consumed is smaller, the light and warm zongzi are convenient to eat and can lift your spirits, making you feel happy all morning.
3. The calorie count of plain zongzi is not as high as legend claims, but they are still a grain. If you eat zongzi, you should correspondingly reduce your intake of other staples like rice, steamed buns, or noodles, otherwise, excessive starch can lead to weight gain and may cause bloating and indigestion. Generally, eating one large zongzi and reducing a small bowl of rice is appropriate.
4. Zongzi should not be the only food in a meal; you must pair them with other dishes. Because they are digested quickly, blood sugar rises sharply and then falls relatively quickly. Once you get hungry, the feeling of hunger can be particularly intense. If you eat more vegetables to go with them, this strong hunger reaction after eating zongzi will be lessened. Diabetics need to pay special attention to this, as their blood sugar control is already poor, making large fluctuations more likely.
5. Although hot glutinous rice itself is easy to digest, when mixed with greasy ingredients like fatty meat or egg yolk, people with poor digestion might feel uncomfortable, while others may be prone to "heatiness" (getting "fire" in the body). Therefore, for people with indigestion, it's best to choose light northern-style zongzi with small red dates and not to pair them with too greasy side dishes. For those prone to "heatiness," it's best to avoid foods that promote body heat, such as beef and mutton, fried foods, and overly spicy dishes. Vegetables, bean products, and non-greasy fish are the most suitable pairings.
6. Due to different body constitutions, people with excess stomach acid may feel uncomfortable and experience heartburn from sweet zongzi, while savory meat zongzi might be slightly better. Eating a small amount of zongzi with a larger portion of vegetables can also help.