Introduction: Drinking congee is one of China's traditional health preservation methods. As long as you drink it wisely, congee can not only help overweight people lose weight and help patients with high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids control their condition, but also help people with diarrhea and indigestion recover their health.
Firstly, congee helps replenish fluids, making it suitable for the dry autumn and winter in the north, as well as the sweaty summers in the south. Congee typically has a water content of up to 90% or even higher. The water in congee combines with starch, which slows down its passage through the digestive tract, allowing it to stay in the body longer and providing a more hydrating feeling than drinking water alone.
Secondly, congee helps reduce dietary energy, which is beneficial for weight control. Congee is large in volume but low in energy density, with relatively little "dry" substance. 100 grams of cooked rice contains over 100 kcal, while 100 grams of thick congee has only about 30 kcal. The large volume of congee makes people feel full more easily, which helps prevent excessive energy intake. If you eat mixed grain and bean congee instead of plain rice congee, the satiety is even stronger. Therefore, people who want to lose weight can eat mixed grain and bean congee to effectively reduce the energy from their staple food without feeling hungry or reducing nutrient intake, thus losing weight easily.
The third benefit of congee is that it is good for the digestive system. Especially when gastrointestinal function is low, or when there is an intestinal infection or diarrhea, it is best to drink some congee. Even without gastrointestinal diseases, if you eat too much greasy food and high-protein food, you may lose your appetite. In this case, drinking congee for two meals can let the gastrointestinal system rest. However, plain rice congee is not recommended. Although it is easy to digest, it is low in nutritional value and extremely unfavorable for controlling blood sugar and weight. It is best to cook congee with mixed grains and beans.
The fourth benefit of drinking congee is that it helps people diversify their staple foods. Although mixed grains and beans are very nutritious, if used to cook rice, many people find them hard to swallow; after being cooked into congee, the texture becomes more palatable.
Extended Reading: Different Congee for Different People
Congee is one of China's traditional therapeutic foods and is also a food suitable for all ages. There are many varieties of congee, and for people of different ages and occupations, drinking congee should also have different focuses.
For children and the elderly, cook it soft and mushy to aid digestion. The elderly and children whose digestive systems are not yet fully developed have weaker digestive and absorption functions. Eating too many whole grains can increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. For these groups, you can choose easily digestible whole grains such as millet, yellow foxtail millet, and brown rice. When cooking, the congee should be cooked until it is soft and sticky to facilitate digestion and absorption. Adding easily digestible ingredients like yams, lotus seeds, and pumpkin to the congee is also a good idea.
For teenagers and manual laborers, add nuts and seeds to supplement protein. People with a lot of physical labor and teenagers who are growing have a greater demand for nutrients like protein. In addition to choosing grains high in protein like oats to make congee, you can also add some nuts and seeds such as peanuts, crushed walnuts, and melon seeds. This not only supplements nutrition but also makes the congee more fragrant. These people can also add a little lean meat to the congee, but be sure to use less salt.
For adults who often socialize, add mixed beans to control blood sugar and lipids. Especially for men, many face the problem of weight gain in middle age. Long hours sitting in the office with little physical activity can easily lead to fat accumulation, and frequent drinking and socializing are not good for liver and gastrointestinal function. For this group, you can add mixed beans (such as red beans, mung beans) and vegetables to the congee to increase dietary fiber intake, which is beneficial for fat and cholesterol metabolism, and can also maintain stable blood sugar levels.
For women of childbearing age, adding pig liver or lean meat can help with iron supplementation. According to relevant surveys, one-sixth of women of childbearing age have an iron deficiency. Animal foods are a good source of heme iron, so this group can add some pig liver or lean meat when making congee.
For office workers, dark-colored ingredients help protect the eyes. Office workers often face computers, so they can add eye-protecting foods to their congee, such as dark-colored yellow foxtail millet, millet, black rice, purple rice, goji berries, and carrots. Carotenoids in dark-colored ingredients like yellow foxtail millet and millet can be converted into vitamin A in the body, which is good for eye health, while black rice and purple rice contain large amounts of anthocyanins, which can resist eye aging.