We often say, "Drink soup before a meal." Many people think drinking soup is a simple matter, but in fact, only by drinking soup scientifically can you absorb nutrients while avoiding fat accumulation. So, how should you drink soup correctly?
1. Soup with Rice
When we chew food, it's not just to break it down for swallowing, but more importantly, to moisten it with saliva. Saliva, produced through continuous chewing, contains many digestive enzymes that aid in digestion and absorption, which is very beneficial to health. However, with soup-soaked rice, the rice is softened, so it can be swallowed without much chewing. As a result, the food often enters the stomach without going through the digestive process of saliva, which adds a burden to the stomach's digestion. Over time, this can easily lead to stomach discomfort.
2. Drinking Soup but Not Eating the "Sediment"
Experiments have shown that after cooking foods high in protein, such as fish, chicken, and beef, for six hours, the soup may look very rich, but the protein dissolution rate is only 6%-15%. This means that over 85% of the protein remains in the "sediment." In other words, no matter how long you simmer the soup, the nutrients from the meat do not completely dissolve into it. Therefore, you should still eat an appropriate amount of meat after drinking the soup.
3. Liking Hot Soup
In fact, the mucous membranes of the human mouth, esophagus, and stomach can only withstand a maximum temperature of 60°C. Exceeding this temperature can cause burns to the mucous membranes and even lead to malignant changes in the digestive tract mucosa. Therefore, soup below 50°C is more suitable.
4. Drinking Soup After the Meal
This is an unhealthy eating habit. The soup consumed last dilutes the chyme, which has already been well mixed with digestive juices, thereby affecting the digestion and absorption of food. The correct way is to drink a few sips of soup before the meal to lubricate the mouth and esophagus, reducing the irritation from dry, hard foods on the digestive tract mucosa and promoting the secretion of digestive glands to stimulate the appetite. Drinking an appropriate amount of soup during the meal also helps to mix the food with the digestive glands.