Dumplings are refreshing and hassle-free? Beware of invisible fat that makes you fat

After a busy day, people feel lazy when they get home. They don’t want to go through the trouble of preparing ingredients, cooking and making dishes. So many people take out frozen dumplings from the refrigerator, put them in boiling water and cook them. They can enjoy them in a few minutes. It is delicious, convenient, healthy and less burdensome. If you think so too, you are totally wrong! Nutritionists remind us that although dumplings look refreshing and oil-free, they actually contain a lot of invisible fat. Be careful not to gain weight if you eat too much.

Dumplings are small and not high in calories? Beware of hidden grease mines

"Visible oil is not uncommon, but invisible fat is scary!" said Zheng Shijia, a nutritionist from the New Nutrition Food Generation team. With the promotion of nutrition education in recent years, most people have begun to understand the need to reduce "visible oil" in their diet, such as reducing the intake of fatty meat, pork skin, and fresh cream, but have neglected some "invisible oils", and dumplings, which are often used as a main meal option by people who eat out, are one of them.

When nutritionist Zheng Shijia is consulting patients or the public, she often sees those who are trying to lose weight thinking that dumplings are small, look and taste fresh and not greasy, and are not high in calories, so they keep eating one bite after another and will not stop until they have eaten at least 10 dumplings. Little do people know that the fat content hidden in dumpling fillings is surprisingly high!

How much fat is in dumplings? Nutritionist analyzes it for you!

There are hundreds of varieties of dumplings available in the market, including packaged foods and handmade products. Not only do the sizes of dumplings vary from store to store, with a dumpling weighing from 15 grams to 50 grams, but even the fillings wrapped in the dumpling skin vary greatly, with calorie content ranging from 30 calories to 100 calories per dumpling.

Nutritionist Zheng Shijia compiled five frozen dumpling-related data from the food ingredient database of the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and randomly sampled five well-known online frozen dumplings, comparing the calories and the three major nutrients in units of 10 frozen dumplings.

A dumpling contains more than 40% fat calories

The results showed that the average calorie content of frozen dumplings in the Food and Drug Administration's food ingredient database was about 29 to 32 calories per dumpling, and about 290 to 320 calories for 10 dumplings; the average calorie content of frozen dumplings purchased from five online stores was about 35 to 46 calories per dumpling, and about 350 to 460 calories for 10 dumplings.

In addition, after averaging the calories of the three major nutrients of 5 frozen dumplings in the Food and Drug Administration database and 5 frozen dumplings in the market survey, it was found that fat accounted for about 41% of the calories , protein accounted for 16%, and carbohydrates accounted for nearly 43%. It can also be determined that the larger the dumpling, the higher the calories and fat content.

10 dumplings make a meal! Too much fat makes you hungry quickly

It is worth noting that many office workers only eat 10 dumplings for lunch in order to save money and time. The fat content is high but the calorie intake is insufficient, and the feeling of fullness is not enough to sustain until dinner. They are usually hungry at 2 to 3 pm and easily have an appetite for snacks. In the long run, this may lead to nutritional imbalance and obesity.

2 secrets to a healthy dumpling meal: pairing with other foods + correct eating order

In this regard, nutritionist Zheng Shijia recommends combining other foods and following the order of "soup → vegetables → protein → dumplings" to increase the diversity of nutrients and satiety, and reduce the number of dumplings to achieve the goal of a "less oil" healthy diet.

[Eating order of dumplings]

1. Soup: Start with a bowl of relatively light soup such as egg drop soup, pig blood soup or miso soup to increase your sense of fullness.

2. Green vegetables: Eat another plate of blanched green vegetables (25 to 38 calories), such as sweet potato leaves, Chinese cabbage, bean sprouts, water spinach, etc., and use less marinade or gravy to avoid taking in unnecessary fat.

3. Protein: Pair it with beans, fish, meat, and eggs that contain protein, such as a boiled egg, ground liver, shank meat, etc. Vegetables and protein can increase satiety and provide a balanced supply of diverse nutrients.

4. Dumplings: You can eat small dumplings at the end, and limit the number to 7 to 8.

[Nutritionist's Tips]:

Nutritionist Zheng Shijia said that the biggest dietary problem facing Chinese people today is often not excessive calorie intake, but rather "the proportion of fat and refined sugar intake to the total recommended daily calorie intake is too high." In terms of fat, in addition to paying attention to the invisible fat in dumplings, spreads (peanut butter, milk crisps, etc.), toast, Chinese and Western pastries (moon cakes, cakes, etc.), creamer and milk tea, etc. also contain a lot of invisible fat, so people should pay special attention.