Eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival can aid digestion and nourish your body’s energy! Nutritionist Sun Yu-ming: Must-try foods with the "New Five Yellows"

The Dragon Boat Festival is not just about eating rice dumplings. The traditional customs also include "eating the five yellows" and "nourishing the positive energy", which means "detoxifying and promoting health"! However, due to the busy life and changes in eating habits of modern people, many health concepts are gradually forgotten. People often suffer from gastrointestinal problems such as indigestion due to eating too much rice dumplings. Nutritionist Sun Yuming analyzed the nutritional issues of various types of rice dumplings besides calories, and proposed the "New Five Yellows" of the Dragon Boat Festival, sharing five high-nutrient-density foods so that everyone can enjoy the deliciousness of rice dumplings while taking care of their health.

The traditional customs of Dragon Boat Festival, "drinking noon water" and "eating five yellows", have health implications

The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which coincides with the transition from spring to summer and the change of seasons. Due to the hot weather, germs are easily bred, which often cause various infectious diseases. Therefore, many traditional customs of exorcising evil spirits and protecting health have been passed down. The most well-known method is to absorb positive energy at noon when the Yang energy is strongest, such as drinking noon water and eating five kinds of yellow foods (eel, yellow croaker, cucumber, salted duck egg yolk and realgar wine). According to custom, these methods can help the body detoxify, increase positive energy, and achieve the effect of expelling evil spirits, avoiding the heat, and preventing diseases.

In fact, the traditional customs of "drinking noon water" and "eating five yellows" originally symbolized the ancient people's pursuit of health, but as it has evolved to the present day, the most well-known Dragon Boat Festival custom is eating "zongzi" to commemorate Qu Yuan, which has become an essential element of the Dragon Boat Festival! Zongzi is mostly made of glutinous rice and is also believed to ward off evil spirits. During the Dragon Boat Festival, zongzi is often the main ingredient when making zongzi at home, buying them outside, or even giving them as gifts. It is common to see people having so many zongzi that they cannot finish them all, and some even eat them for breakfast for several days in a row. However, rice dumplings themselves are not easy to digest. Eating glutinous rice or greasy food on an empty stomach in the morning can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort, which is a huge burden on the body.

Zongzi itself is not easy to digest. Eating glutinous rice or greasy food on an empty stomach in the morning can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort, which is a huge burden on the body.

Eat Zongzi to protect your stomach, nutritionists propose the "new five yellow" foods

Nutritionist Sun Yuming shared that there are many types of rice dumplings on the market now. According to different cooking methods and ingredients, common types of rice dumplings can be roughly divided into the following five types:

Alkali rice dumplings are made by soaking glutinous rice in alkaline water and are often eaten with sugar and honey. Glutinous rice contains amylopectin and the rice is very sticky after cooking, which can easily cause gastrointestinal bloating and indigestion. In addition, the dipping sauce contains a high sugar content, so it is easy to consume too much sugar and affect the mental state.

Hakka Zongzi: Made from glutinous rice flour, it has a soft and chewy texture like rice cake, and is topped with dried shrimp and dried radish. As the pickled ingredients themselves are high in sodium, and they are eaten with soy sauce, a single Zongzi contains more than the total daily sodium intake.

Millet Zongzi: It is made from millet and is also known as "Acu". It is flavored with sorghum, Physalis leaves and bay leaves. It is a relatively healthy Zongzi.

Southern Zongzi: Made from raw or half-cooked glutinous rice steamed with fillings, it has a softer texture and relatively lower calories than northern Zongzi. However, the ingredients include braised meat with skin and peanut powder, which are the key factors affecting calorie and fat intake.

Northern Zongzi: Glutinous rice and fillings are fried in oil and then steamed. It has a salty and fragrant taste with each grain distinct. Due to its high fat content and the addition of salted egg yolks, it has the highest calorie content of all types of Zongzi.

Nutritionist Sun Yu-ming said that the common nutritional problem of the above-mentioned common rice dumplings is the lack of fruits and vegetables to absorb natural nutrients such as vitamins and dietary fiber. In addition, according to data from the National Health Administration, less than 20% (17.6%) of the Chinese people meet the daily vegetable intake standard, and the daily fruit intake rate is even lower, at only 5.9%, showing that the current situation of the Chinese people's vegetable and fruit intake is seriously insufficient, which is more likely to cause gastrointestinal problems such as indigestion and constipation. Nutritionist Sun Yu-ming also proposed the "New Five Yellows" based on the concept of "eating the five yellows" during the Dragon Boat Festival, hoping that the public can take care of their health while eating rice dumplings during the festival.

The "New Five Yellows" include sweet potatoes, bell peppers, carrots, pumpkins, and kiwis, all of which are foods with high nutritional density and rich in dietary fiber. They are very suitable for eating with rice dumplings and supplementing the body's nutritional needs. According to the Taiwan Cancer Foundation's "Fruit and Vegetable Rainbow 579" healthy eating principles, most yellow fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, beta-carotene, flavonoids and other natural phytochemicals, which can help improve immunity, protect eyesight and other health benefits. Sweet potatoes are rich in dietary fiber and carotenoids, making them very suitable for breakfast. Yellow peppers are rich in antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A, C, E, and can help prevent cardiovascular diseases. Golden kiwifruit is rich in vitamin C, dietary fiber, kiwi enzymes, and a variety of nutrients that can aid digestion and absorption, reduce gastrointestinal discomfort, and maintain a good gastrointestinal environment. It has a very high nutritional value and is suitable for supplementing natural nutrition in addition to eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival to balance your health and replenish your energy for the day.

The "New Five Yellows" include sweet potatoes, bell peppers, carrots, pumpkins, and kiwis, all of which are foods with high nutritional density and rich in dietary fiber. They are very suitable for eating with rice dumplings and supplementing the body's nutritional needs.

Keep healthy during Dragon Boat Festival, start with efficient breakfast supplement

In addition to balancing nutrition with the "New Five Yellows", nutritionist Sun Yuming said that the key to staying healthy is to develop good eating habits, especially breakfast. Foreign studies have shown that the overall diet quality of adults who do not eat breakfast is lower than that of those who eat breakfast. According to the results of the "Survey on Breakfast Choices and Physical Health Performance of Chinese People" previously released by the Taiwan Cancer Foundation, it was found that Chinese people generally pursue convenience and speed in their busy lifestyles and eat breakfast hastily. People also ignore the importance of a balanced breakfast because they often eat out for breakfast and it is not easy to add fruits and vegetables. In addition, breakfast choices are mostly high-carb foods, which can easily lead to lack of energy and affect work and study efficiency. A study published in the Journal of the American Nutrition Society pointed out that children and adolescents who regularly consume breakfast, which includes whole grains and fruits rich in dietary fiber and natural nutrients, can improve their cognitive and learning performance and have better health.

Nutritionist Sun Yuming called on the public to pay attention to healthy diet while enjoying the festive atmosphere, starting with "adding a portion of high-nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables to breakfast" to detoxify, maintain health, and efficiently replenish health!