Land of the Healthy: 5 Chinese Super Foods

Land of the Healthy: 5 Chinese Super Foods
Nov 30, 2013 By Micah Steffes , eChinacities.com

O, holy land of dumplings, land of delectable mystery fried a thousand ways in fragrant oil of ten-thousand sources.
O, holy land of the-essence-of-flavour, humbly we anoint the fruits of this Earth with thine Weijing.
O, holy land of all-you-can-eat and everything-is-edible, in your honour we bathe unspeakable parts in the pot of numbingly hot and our tongues cannot speak of the flavour imparted by thee.
O, holy land of unlimited rice, of unending noodles, of ever-flowing baijiu, to thine plenitude our stomachs and livers submit.
Amen.  Ahem…

For the love of grease and MSG, please discard your impressions of Chinese food at the customs gate. Chinese food can be healthy. In fact, China is home to some of the healthiest, most powerful and effective nutritional super foods in the world. So go on, take a few steps toward a healthier lifestyle in China.

First step: stop laughing. You'll choke on your milk tea. Next step: read on.

1) Pickled vegetables
Chinese breakfast beats the nutritional pants off bacon and that's in large part due to the variety of pickled vegetables on offer. What makes them special is the fermentation process, which in the case of pickled vegetables both improves digestibility and condenses nutrients, sometimes even doubling fat-soluble vitamins. In general, fermented foods pack a powerful punch both in terms of flavour and nutrition. Yay for micro-organisms! (Note: Stick with home-made pickled Chinese vegetables for this one. Canned and packaged varieties may take advantage of chemical short-cuts of the cancer-causing variety.)

2) Tofu & Dou Jiang
Tofu is an obvious candidate here, so let's talk about our friend the soy bean. For one, raw soy beans are an amazing and rare plant-based source of complete protein, producing twice as much protein per acre as virtually every other vegetable or grain. However, raw soy is toxic and must be processed to remove an anti-nutrient called trypsin inhibitor (sounds like science fiction, doesn't it?). No worries though, because the Chinese discovered long ago how to make soy miracles happen. Silken or firm, in a fruit smoothie or Chinese style, tofu and its little brother doujiang (soy milk) are deliciously nutritious. We're not only talking protein here, we're talking vitamins B1, B12, and D, niacin, folate, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc for brain performance. Nutritional celebrity omega-3 makes an appearance as well. Finally, there's soy isoflavones, which although controversial, have been shown by numerous studies to be strongly associated with lowered risk of breast and prostate cancer. All this for cents on the dollar. Gotta love those staple foods.

3) Kugua
Yeah, bitter melon is bitter. But that hasn't stopped people all over the world from consuming this rather freakish-looking fruit for its medicinal benefits.  While used for a great variety of ailments in a great variety of contexts, studies have indicated that in some cases bitter melon may live up to its reputation. So far it can claim these properties: anti-malarial, anti-cancer, anti-viral (potentially containing compounds that could be effective in the fight against HIV), heart-healthy, great for people with diabetes and recently associated with the slowing of Alzheimer's. As a medicinal drink, you can buy it dried and steep it with tea. However, I recommend you order up a dish and take full advantage of the Chinese knack for making all vegetables tasty.

4) Bok choy
There are a million different reasons why Bok Choy is a nutritional power house among vegetables, but let's start with the obvious, shall we? When the delectably mild flavour of Bok Choy is drowned in MSG it's not so good for you. But, if you remember to order your Bok Choy without the weijing (MSG), you're calling up an order of delicious, unusually creamy, nutrient-packed super-vegetable. Bok choy's calorie-count is laughably low (so you don't have to feel bad about all that oil after all) but that doesn't stop it from being the shining vitamin super-star that it is. Among the best sources of under-appreciated vitamins A and K – necessary for hormonal regulation and calcium absorption – two servings of bok choy will also supply your daily value of vitamin C.

5) Chinese fruit
Bet you didn't know that kiwi is a Chinese fruit. Bet you also didn't know that these funky fruits are a better source of potassium than bananas and have twice the vitamin C than oranges. Then there's anti-oxidant champ waxberry, also called yumberry, which has been grown in China for almost 2000 years. Pomelo has all of the benefits of grapefruit but without the kick (meaning you can eat it without a cup of sugar) and monk fruit, which is among the sweetest fruits available on the planet, amazingly has practically no calories and tons of anti-oxidants. Lychee, jujubes, mangosteen and goji berries—all are ridiculously good for you. But the common thread here is the variety and plenitude of polyphenols – compounds like elegiac acid and tannin, the chemical that makes tea so famously anti-oxidant. Anti-viral and anti-carcinogenic, taking full advantage of a variety of strange Chinese fruit is a good way to arm yourself against the harmful effects of pollution and population.

What does it all mean?!
If you don't know how to put it all together, just forget the nutritional jargon and do this: stick to tofu and doujiang over meat and milk, eat plenty of fruit and take advantage of China's yummy greens, limit rice and noodles, and eat some pickled veggies at breakfast or kugua at dinner. If you like, go the extra mile and drink tea and eat spicy food if you can handle it (the chemicals that make chillies spicy fight cancer and stimulate the release of endorphins making you happy and pain free). I swear, you'll feel like a billion RMB.

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Keywords: Chinese super foods nutritional benefits of tofu healthiest food in China Chinese healthy eating Chinese fruits

8 Comments

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dogoodsilence

Having problems ordering food in China? One of the amazing things about living in China is to be able to try loads of local dishes that are delicious and affordable. However, most small restaurant owners don’t speak English at all so their menus are only available in Chinese. Some restaurants have pictures on their menu but how can you distinguish pork from intestines? Are you really ordering beef or could it be pork blood? No need to worry anymore. We created a Chinese food menu which includes English, pinyin and the Chinese characters to help you order all that yummy food. You can also download a pocket food menu that you can print out, fold up and carry in your pocket.- http://goldstarteachers.com/articles/chinese-food-menu

May 21, 2014 17:03 Report Abuse

dogoodsilence

Yum, makes me hungry. Thanks for the healthy information.

May 19, 2014 16:22 Report Abuse

Finbar

Can't stand bok choy myself, though I like the idea of eating healthy Chinese foods (hell, anyone who plans on living in China for any amount of time should). As far as protein go, would it make sense to mix protein shakes (the gym kind) up with soy bean milk rather than regular milk, or would this boil down to about the same? I think you forgot fish in the article, by the way. There might be one reason or another not to eat too much of it, but it generally seems to be the cheaper and healthier alternative to meat in China. Not to mention the great dishes that revolve around fish (spicy fish dishes, yum!).

Dec 03, 2013 16:02 Report Abuse

zayabingi

i can't do without the greens

Dec 01, 2013 22:21 Report Abuse

jetfire9000

Only source of protein is soy milk? That's sad. Let's not forget about the possible problem with estrogen. I do a lot of protein powder I bring from overseas. I also do chicken over any other kinds of meat, including fish. I'm hoping Tyson chicken has less of those problems than other sources of chicken.

Nov 30, 2013 19:20 Report Abuse

Englteachted

Ok, 2012? I stopped reading after 1. Every foreigner eats bacon for breakfast? I have yet to see any Chinese person eat pickled anything for breakfast. Milk, bread, that fried stick, or the oily breakfast thingy, or the various porridges.

Nov 30, 2013 09:29 Report Abuse

bill8899

Vitamin K is a blood thinner like heparin.

Nov 30, 2013 18:48 Report Abuse

province811

Don't you know that protein is included in tofu?

May 16, 2012 22:19 Report Abuse