The rights and wrongs of "white people's rice"

Recently, "white people's rice" has quietly become popular. On Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, young people are jokingly showing their lunches and labeling them "white people's rice".

So, what exactly is this rice and does it have any health benefits?

What is "white people's rice"?

The so-called "white people's meal" is actually a "simple version of light meals". Someone was surprised to see the lunch of a foreign colleague, so he posted it online; unexpectedly, more and more people began to follow suit and make their own meals according to the same idea.

As for the composition of the meal, it is very varied: sometimes it is raw spinach with whole carrots, sometimes bread with cheese and ham slices, and sometimes raw celery with salad dressing...

The so-called "white people's food" on the Internet, image source: Cover News

Light meals were originally snacks. In 17th century England, formal dinners usually started late, at 8pm. The interval between lunch and dinner was long, so people added a light meal in the afternoon. Later, this trend spread to France and Japan, and the recipes kept changing, but they all retained the characteristics of simple cooking and small portions.

In China, light meals are becoming more and more popular. According to a survey conducted by the Chinese Nutrition Society, the vast majority of young and middle-aged people have tried light meals at least once. The reason is simple: they are easy to cook and have smaller portions, which just hits the pain points of modern people - they want to be healthy, lose weight, and don't want to cook.

The question is, do light meals really meet these three requirements?

Is “white people’s food” healthy?

The principles of healthy eating can be described in detail in a book. In daily life, it is enough to remember the core content: first, try to eat natural food and avoid highly processed food; second, do not eat too much, especially pay attention to the amount of oil, salt and sugar; third, it is best to have a variety of food, especially pay attention to vegetarian food, such as fruits, vegetables and soy products.

From this perspective, light meals have many advantages: first, their ingredients are usually fresh and "original", and second, the oil, salt, sugar content and total calories are generally low. Take salt for example, nutritionists recommend not to exceed 5 grams per day. In fact, some people can't help but put more when cooking; some people only remember the salt, but don't pay attention to the salt in soy sauce, cooking wine, and compound seasonings. Choosing light meals can avoid these problems.

However, light meals also have their own problems.

First, in recent years, a large number of studies have shown that balanced nutrition is the key to maintaining health and preventing diseases. The best way to achieve balanced nutrition is to have a variety of ingredients, eating more than 12 kinds of food a day and more than 25 kinds of food a week. However, the "white people's meals" circulating on the Internet often have relatively monotonous ingredients.

Furthermore, the "white people's meal" may look vegetarian, but the amount of vegetarian food may not meet the standard. According to the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", one should eat more than 300 grams of vegetables, a medium-sized fruit, and a handful of soybeans, equivalent to half a block of tofu, every day. The meals shown by netizens either have the wrong amount of vegetables, or no fruit or soybean products.

So, what about buying ready-made light meals?

The ingredients of ready-made light meals are usually richer and easier to make than making them yourself. It should be noted that, on the one hand, pregnant women, the elderly and other special groups should take nutrition as the primary principle; on the other hand, ready-made light meals have only been around for a short time, and the laws and regulations in all aspects are not yet mature, so there may be problems such as false calorie labeling and bacterial contamination. When purchasing, it is best to be more careful and read the official notice or netizens' comments in advance.

Can eating "white people's food" help you lose weight?

Losing weight includes three things: whether you want to lose weight, whether you can lose weight, and whether you will rebound in the future.

Some people have no problem with their weight or body fat, but just want to be in better shape. This emotion is understandable, but dieting to lose weight may be counterproductive - after a lot of effort to lose weight, it will rebound soon or even cause disease.

For those who really need to lose weight, reducing calorie intake is necessary; whether or not you can successfully lose weight depends on how long you stick to it. The calories in "white people's rice" may meet the requirements for weight loss, but the taste is too bad - the taste of food, such as aroma and texture, will affect appetite and satiety. This is why many netizens say that they can't swallow "white people's rice" at all. If you can't swallow it, how can you stick to it?

The color, taste and texture of food affect appetite. Image source: pickpik.com

As for weight rebound, there are two main reasons: one is physiological, hormone level changes, appetite control system disorders, fat accumulation in the body; the other is psychological, stress, not believing that you can maintain your weight, leading to overeating. Domestic and foreign studies show that about half of people regain weight two years after losing weight.

Is there any way to reduce the impact of these two factors?

Yes. Hormone levels are related to lean body mass, which is the body parts other than fat, such as muscle and bone. Ideally, we should only lose fat and not lean body mass. Studies have shown that excessive dieting may cause loss of lean body mass, which in turn causes weight rebound; on the contrary, increasing the proportion of protein in food, such as eating more lean meat, fish, soy products, and dairy products, can not only help you lose weight faster, but also keep it off for longer.

Another way is to exercise. On the one hand, exercise can maintain lean body mass and is good for bones and muscles. On the other hand, it can relieve stress and reduce negative emotions such as loss and depression. When you are in a good mood, it will be easier to stick to it.

What to do if you don’t have time to cook?

Nowadays, the pace of life is fast, work is busy, commuting is long, and overtime is common. "White people's meals" and light meals have huge advantages in this regard. To put it bluntly, who likes to "eat grass"? It's just that there is really no time to do it yourself. In fact, there are some expert opinions to follow in this regard.

For example, develop the habit of planning your meals, and use your free time such as weekends to make a weekly meal plan and shopping list at a time.

For example, prepare food in advance and make full use of the electrical appliances at home. On weekends, you can blanch cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots and store them in the refrigerator. You can also cut and marinate meat in advance, and cook it in an air fryer or slow cooker on weekdays. Many supermarkets and online stores have frozen vegetables. Buy them and thaw them in the microwave, and stir-fry them with eggs and multi-grain rice for a good meal.

For example, you can try some new dishes. When people think of "dishes", they often think of stir-frying first, but steamed dishes are also delicious. When steaming rice, you can put the steamer in handy, and it hardly takes up any time.

Cooking by yourself is not only cheap and hygienic, but you can also choose the ingredients you like. When making salad, add some tomatoes, watermelons, and cantaloupes. The sourness, sweetness, and aroma are all good for stimulating appetite.

Conclusion

China has been a country of gourmet food since ancient times, but the meaning of "food" is different now. In the past, when people talked about eating, they hoped to eat enough and eat well; the problems we face are more complicated, and sometimes we don't have the energy to think about eating. In this case, reading some nutrition-related articles and books, formulating a recipe that suits your needs, and trying to do it yourself can help adjust your life and enhance your sense of happiness.

Chinese restaurants actually have many healthy dishes. Spicy hotpot, which sounds unhealthy, can also be nutritionally balanced if you carefully select dishes and sauces. If you really want to try light meals, there is nothing wrong with that. To put it bluntly, the key is to choose fresh, hygienic, and nutritious food according to your own situation, and don't blindly follow the trend.

How to choose light meals? Image source: Made by the author

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Author: Zhao Yanchang, a popular science author

Editor: Guru