The calories from eating 4 glutinous rice balls during the winter solstice equals 1 bowl of rice! Nutritionist: Master these three tips to avoid eating fat and reduce the burden on your stomach and intestines

This Friday, December 22nd, is the Winter Solstice. According to traditional customs, every household eats glutinous rice balls to symbolize the successful completion of the year. Tangyuan is simple to make, has many variations and is delicious. However, if you eat too many tangyuan, the calories may exceed the limit and cause weight loss. How can you eat tangyuan smartly without feeling burdened? Nutritionists Fan Yaqing and Chen Zhixian from China Medical University Hsinchu Hospital provide three tips on how to reduce calories and stomach burden by eating glutinous rice balls.

3 tips for eating glutinous rice balls without burden

Tip 1 for eating glutinous rice balls: Control the amount

The first thing is portion control. 4 to 5 large stuffed glutinous rice balls have about 280 calories, which is equivalent to 1 bowl of rice. If you weigh 60 kg, you need to jog for half an hour to burn off these calories. The minced meat, red bean or sesame fillings of the glutinous rice balls will use saturated fats such as butter or lard during the production process. When cooking sweet glutinous rice balls, extra sugar or rock sugar will be added to the soup base, which may increase the intake of fat and refined sugar. In addition, the glutinous rice flour used to make glutinous rice balls is rich in amylopectin and has high viscosity. Eating too much can easily delay gastric emptying time, causing gastrointestinal discomfort such as abdominal bloating and abdominal pain. Therefore, it should be consumed in moderation. It is recommended to eat 2 large glutinous rice balls as a principle to reduce calories and gastrointestinal burden.

Tip 2 for eating glutinous rice balls: low-calorie ingredients

Secondly, the low-calorie ingredients, the soup base of the salty glutinous rice balls is replaced with vegetable broths such as Chinese spinach, bok choy, shiitake mushrooms and snow white mushrooms, reducing the fat content of the traditional lard used for stir-frying and increasing the intake of dietary fiber. The Ministry of Health and Welfare recommends that the daily dietary fiber intake of Chinese people is 20 to 35 grams, which can increase satiety and prevent constipation.

The soup base of sweet glutinous rice balls is flavored with osmanthus, red dates, wolfberry or ginger juice, reducing the refined sugar intake of traditional sweet soup. According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), the daily intake of refined sugar calories per person should not exceed 10% of the total daily calories. Therefore, it is recommended to replace refined sugar with fresh ingredients to enhance flavor.

Tip 3 for eating glutinous rice balls: Increase protein

Finally, to increase protein, add glutinous rice flour and tofu to mix into dough when making glutinous rice balls, and make them into small glutinous rice balls. This can reduce calorie intake and increase the protein content of the glutinous rice balls.

Nutritionists Fan Yaqing and Chen Zhixian from China Medical University Hsinchu Hospital provide 3 tips for eating glutinous rice balls smartly and without burden. (Photo courtesy of China Medical University Hsinchu Hospital)

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Soft and chewy tofu dumplings

In order to make eating glutinous rice balls without burden for everyone, nutritionist Fan Yaqing provides the following method for making "tender and chewy tofu glutinous rice balls", which has about 200 calories.

Ingredients: Ingredients include 30 grams of pressed tofu, 30 grams of glutinous rice flour, 40 grams of Chinese chrysanthemum, 10 grams of snow white mushroom, 10 grams of shiitake mushroom, 2 grams of dried shrimp, 2 grams of shallot, 5 grams of shiitake mushroom, and appropriate amounts of oil and salt.

practice:

(1) Mix tofu and glutinous rice flour with water and knead into dough.

(2) Divide the dough into four equal parts and roll them into long strips. Use a knife to cut the dough into small pieces and then roll them into small dumplings.

(3) Heat oil in a pan, add shallots, dried shrimps and mushrooms, sauté until fragrant, then add appropriate amount of water and bring to a boil.

(4) Add the glutinous rice balls and bring to a boil. Then add the washed Chinese spinach, white mushrooms and shimeji mushrooms and cook until done. Season with an appropriate amount of salt and serve.