Introduction: The Christmas feast has always been the undisputed star of the day. However, as the pace of life changes, so have the traditional mealtimes. More and more people in fashion-related careers, due to their work schedules, are starting to favor brunch, afternoon tea, and late-night snacks.
According to Western tradition, the Christmas feast begins with afternoon tea. We can find a Western restaurant for a proper English afternoon tea, or a Hong Kong-style tea café for a fusion of Chinese and Western afternoon tea. The key question is, if we really change the traditional mealtimes, can our bodies adapt?
Learn more about delicious Christmas recipes, recommended in the Maitian special feature: Plan a "Romantic" Western Feast for Christmas
Regular meals, a delayed schedule is fine
As a lifestyle, having brunch or drinking afternoon tea has become a choice for more and more city dwellers. Traditional breakfast is usually before 8 AM, but many people are not up by then, especially on weekends, when they might get up at 9, 10, or even 11 o'clock. By then, the traditional breakfast time has passed, and lunchtime is not yet here, so brunch was born.
The original brunch includes both breakfast and lunch, and the dining period is longer than usual, typically from 10 AM to 3 PM. Of course, this kind of brunch is not an everyday occurrence; it's usually only eaten on Sundays, which is why foreigners often call it "Sunday brunch."
Today's brunch is more like an all-day breakfast concept, targeting people who stay up late and wake up late. In other words, you eat breakfast whenever you wake up.
The daily schedule of this group is shifted back. They might eat breakfast at 11 AM, lunch at 4 PM, and dinner at 10 PM.
In terms of eating habits, what needs attention is the fasting time between meals. During the day, it's generally five to six hours between meals, and at night, it's sleep time, with about a 12-hour interval between dinner and the next day's breakfast. If this habit is long-term and regular, with fasting times similar to a normal person's, and you still eat three meals after waking up, just with the overall schedule delayed, there is actually no problem and it won't harm your health.
But some people might get up late, eat at noon, eat again at 6 PM, and not go to sleep until 3 AM, then wait until 11 AM the next day to eat again. In this case, the key problem is the long period without eating in the latter half of the day, which can lead to hunger, and this is definitely unreasonable.
Pairing afternoon tea with sweets helps prevent "tea intoxication"
Generally, the group that eats brunch also tends to love afternoon tea.
The most traditional is English afternoon tea, which became popular as early as the late 19th century and was a unique part of aristocratic life, later gradually imitated by the general public. For example, at the Yunku Café on the 80th floor of the China World Trade Center Tower 3, there are as many as 16 types of root cake alone. They also feature cute decorations like Santa Claus, which is a very pleasant surprise. Nowadays, the afternoon tea offered by most domestic hotels is based on the English style. People experiencing English afternoon tea for the first time are always amazed by the table full of various small snacks.
In fact, afternoon tea is more than just drinking tea.
Since the very beginning of afternoon tea, tea has been inseparable from tea snacks like toast and cream. Now, a more elaborate afternoon tea service is served in three tiers, including sandwiches, pastries, and small cakes.
Why eat snacks with afternoon tea?
One explanation is that English afternoon tea is a leisure time for mental workers. These people are engaged in brainwork, so eating some snacks is beneficial for refreshing the mind. For example, most snacks are made from whole grains, which are rich in crude fiber and protein and have basically no cholesterol.
Experts agree that there is some truth to the idea that whole-grain snacks can refresh the mind. This is because both caffeine and sugar have stimulating effects. Tea or coffee contains caffeine, which can excite the brain in the short term; some sugar in the snacks can be directly absorbed by the brain, providing some energy. Another explanation is that drinking tea on an empty stomach can easily cause dizziness, nausea, and chest tightness, a phenomenon in the tea world known as "tea intoxication."
Therefore, it's best to pair tea with some sweets. This is because tea contains caffeine, theobromine, and other compounds. Drinking tea on an empty stomach can cause these substances to stimulate the stomach, and through the bloodstream, have an exciting effect on the central nervous system, which can easily lead to dizziness. However, when paired with sweets, this phenomenon is less likely to occur because the sugar in the sweets can dissolve the theophylline and tea polyphenols in the tea, preventing tea intoxication.
In addition, low blood sugar can also cause dizziness and other symptoms, and the crude fiber in snacks can quickly generate blood sugar with a high rate of generation, which may have a certain alleviating effect, not demanding too much from insulin, and rich-in-fiber snacks can also play a role.
Afternoon tea snacks are not limited to sweet flavors
In many people's eyes, the snacks served for afternoon tea are all sweet, made of various cream cakes, and are not very healthy. Zhang Jian explains that eating a small amount of dessert is not a big problem, provided lunch was not too filling. Around 3 or 4 PM, if you feel hungry or have low blood sugar and really need it, you can have a little. If you are not hungry, eating a dessert, even in small amounts, will increase your energy intake, so you need to pay attention to the overall balance of control; if it's not for a physical need but for the satisfaction of taste, you should be even more careful about controlling the intake. Moreover, afternoon tea snacks are not limited to sweet flavors. Whether it's the imported English afternoon tea or the locally born Cantonese dim sum, the flavor systems are very rich. There are sweet and savory options, light and rich ones... basically a mix of all kinds of flavors. Eating some fruits, oatmeal, or other whole grains during afternoon tea is also a good choice.
■ Expert Reminder
Eating small, frequent meals is beneficial for health
An overly丰盛 dinner is indeed a major enemy of health. But not eating dinner is not good for your health either. It is generally considered that a healthy ratio for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is 3:4:3, meaning lunch is the largest meal, while breakfast and dinner are the same. However, it's difficult for Chinese eating habits to achieve this, and for many people, it's the opposite.
If this is the eating habit, adding another meal in the afternoon is definitely not a good thing. But if you eat a smaller dinner after having afternoon tea, it fits the principle of eating small, frequent meals, which is beneficial. You could even have a late-night snack. The key lies in the quality and type of food, which is the most important. As long as the total intake remains the same, eating more times is not a problem. It should be noted that dinner for most people is a nutritionally balanced and high-quality meal. If you skip dinner because of afternoon tea, it could lead to nutritional imbalances in the long run.