Eat hotpot tonic food without worrying about getting fat! Choose the right soup base and win half the prize

Mutton hotpot, ginger duck, spicy hotpot, kimchi hotpot, tomato hotpot, Taiwanese people love hotpot. Each medicinal hotpot and flavor hotpot has its own group of "iron fans", but nutritionists say that most hotpot soup bases, one bowl of which contains more than 200 to 300 calories, are almost the same as a bowl of rice at 280 calories. If you want to avoid obesity, it is best to reduce the frequency of eating hotpot to no more than twice a month, and give priority to low-calorie vegetable soup bases.

The soup is made from vegetables and mushrooms and has a natural sweetness, which reduces the use of seasonings and has a lower calorie content. (Photo/File Photo)

In winter, the human body's basal metabolic rate decreases and resistance is poor, and people often suffer from cold hands and feet and colds. Many people take supplements to maintain their health, but instead gain layer upon layer of human fat, making their bodies bloated and deformed. In addition, due to the long-term stewing of the broth and meat ingredients in hot pot, a large amount of purine and sodium are released. Excessive intake can easily induce gout attacks or increase the risk of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure.

Alcohol + sesame oil, beware of hot pot calories

Nutritionist Liu Wenzhang said that hot pot and medicinal hot pot are high in calories. In order to make the soup taste more delicious and have the effect of dispelling cold and keeping warm, many housewives and shop owners add a lot of rice wine or other alcohol to stew it. The soup base alone will add a lot of calories. On average, every gram of alcohol has 7 calories. Eating dishes containing only alcohol not only has the risk of excessive calories, but also has the potential danger of affecting uric acid metabolism.

In addition, when Chinese people stew hot pot soup base, they often use pork bones to make soup, or use large amounts of sesame oil, chili oil and other oils to stir-fry, or add sugar for seasoning, which are all reasons why hot pot turns into a calorie mine.

The thick white soup base of the grassland Mongolian hotpot, in addition to coming from Chinese medicinal materials, is mostly made from the fat produced by long-term stewing of large bones. (Photo/File Photo)

In the soup base heat competition, Mongolian grassland pot wins over vegetable pot

Nutritionist Liu Wenzhang estimated based on the capacity of the serving bowl that for mutton hotpot, ginger duck, and shochu chicken, the average calorie content per bowl of soup is about 200 to 300 kcal, because sesame oil and rice wine are added during the cooking process, and the skin of the poultry and livestock ingredients releases a large amount of oil. Spicy hotpot also has 200 to 300 kcal per bowl of soup, due to the spicy oil and seasoning, but the more spicy oil there is, the higher the calories.

However, nutritionist Liu Wenzhang said that the real king of hot pot soup bases is actually the "Mongolian grassland pot". The medicinal soup base is based on Chinese medicinal materials and is milky white in color. In fact, it is a large amount of pork and beef bones that have been stewed for a long time, and the fat released from the bones inside and outside. It is estimated that the calories in each bowl of grassland hotpot soup base are at least over 300 calories.

In general, soup bases made from natural vegetables and fruits, such as lemongrass pot, tomato pot, and fresh mushroom pot, have low oil content and natural sweetness, and do not require sugar for seasoning. Each bowl of soup base has less than 100 calories, making it most suitable for people who are trying to lose weight. However, it should be noted that soups made from salted and fermented vegetables have slightly higher calories. For example, Shandong sauerkraut hotpot has about 100 to 200 calories per bowl; Korean kimchi hotpot has 200 to 300 calories per bowl due to the addition of chili powder and sugar.

Tips for eating hot pot: don’t drink the soup + choose the mushrooms and vegetables carefully

How can hotpot lovers eat healthier? Nutritionist Liu Wenzhang recommends choosing a vegetable-based soup first. It is best not to drink the soup after adding ingredients, especially the soup base that has been repeatedly heated and has become turbid in color, so as to avoid consuming too much impurities, oil, purine and sodium, which increases the risk of chronic diseases. In addition, when eating hotpot, eat high-fiber vegetables with less oil absorption ability first, such as mushrooms and fungus, and then eat leafy vegetables such as cabbage, mountain chrysanthemum, and bok choy that have twice the oil absorption ability. This is also a little secret to control weight when eating hotpot.