Banh chung and Tet jam - the culprits causing weight gain

If you don't want to get fat during Tet, you should limit or even say goodbye to these two dishes.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam – Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition said that banh chung and jam are two typical and indispensable dishes of the traditional Tet holiday in Vietnam. However, these are also the two “culprits” that cause us to gain weight.

Banh chung is made from sticky rice, 100g of sticky rice has 344 kcal. Usually, a banh chung is made with 1.5-2 bowls of sticky rice, not to mention fatty meat, green beans, etc. Due to its sticky and chewy nature, eating sticky rice in general and banh chung in particular, the energy we take in is higher than eating the same amount of rice. Therefore, eating a lot of banh chung makes many women gain weight quickly.

In particular, many people instead of eating boiled banh chung usually prefer to eat fried banh chung because of its more attractive and delicious taste. However, fried banh chung will accumulate a lot of fat, which is not good for the body. Eating a lot will make you bloated, have indigestion and gain weight quickly.

Jam is not a food for people who want to lose weight. Illustration photo

As for jam, Associate Professor Lam said, jam is made with many different types of fruits and tubers. Although it is derived from fruits, it is worth noting that all jams have gone through processing stages that greatly change their nutritional value.

“Through the cooking and drying process under the influence of heat, fruits lose almost all of their nutrients. The longer they are left, the more nutrients are lost. Therefore, jam has almost no nutritional value,” said Associate Professor Lam.

However, processed fruits are no longer nutritious but are soaked in sugar and then fried to make jam, not to mention the jams on the market are processed with chemical sugar. Meanwhile, sugar is not good for people who are overweight, obese, have high blood pressure, etc. They are the culprits causing weight gain because with this snack, we often have difficulty controlling the amount we eat every day.

How to eat without getting fat?

According to experts, although eating banh chung will make you gain weight quickly, banh chung is an indispensable dish on the Tet holiday tray, so even if you are afraid of gaining weight, you will find it difficult to ignore this traditional dish.

You should eat banh chung with lots of fiber to metabolize starch faster. Illustration photo.

Accordingly, instead of eating a big piece, you should only eat a very thin slice of cake and not eat other starches such as rice, sticky rice, bread. In particular, you should eat fiber such as pickled vegetables, pickled onions, fruits and green vegetables to metabolize carbohydrates faster and not get bored.

Because banh chung is high in energy, you should only eat it for breakfast or lunch, when your body still has many other activities to consume energy. Avoid eating it in the evening.

As for jams, Associate Professor Lam recommends that you should replace them with fresh fruits that are rich in vitamins and contain healthy fiber. There are many clean and seasonal fruits during Tet such as oranges, grapefruits, guavas, etc.

According to Zing.vn