So Chinese New Year is around the corner and I know a lot of you are excited to eat
all your yummy food and snacks.
And while I'm all for giving yourself a cheat day and rewarding yourself,
I do think that some people do tend to overeat during this period
in a pretty unhealthy way.
So in this video, I'm gonna be showing you some tips that you can try to prevent overeating.
So counting calories are not everything but knowing how many calories are in your favourite
Chinese New Year snacks will help you gauge how much to eat and when to stop.
One open-faced pineapple tart is 93 calories.
And if you prefer the closed ones, you know those pineapple balls, that's actually higher
in calories because there's more pastry and that also means more fat.
So ranking number two on our list is
Kueh Lapis
One piece is 237 calories, and to burn it off, it would take you 24 minutes of running
or 1.5 hours of household chores just to burn off that one piece of Kueh Lapis.
I don't know about you but for me when I eat my snacks I want to make sure that my calories count.
If it's a 237 calories Kueh Lapis, I want to make sure that it's bloody amazing.
This is probably the worst Chinese New Year snacks, I mean theoretically.
One slice of Bak Kwa is 370 calories.
So if you eat like five and a half pieces of this, you pretty much hit your daily recommended
intake for women.
It will take you 37 minutes of running or two hours of household chores to burn the
calories of one slice of Bak Kwa.
So if you want to eat a piece of Bak Kwa, you can.
So what my mom used to do is that she used to cut it into mini strips.
When it's cut into strips, you know you can portion better.
And it's really nice because when you cut your Bak Kwa into small slices like that everybody
can kind of share from a plate.
So you know, you kind of like sharing the calories.
Every year I know all the Bak Kwa lovers look forward to this during this festive season.
And plus it's also the year of the pig, so I'm very sure people are going to, you know,
go "ham" on this.
If you want to indulge, I wouldn't recommend eating more than one and a half slices of
Bak Kwa a day.
Okay so now that I'm done ruining your Chinese New Year fun, here are some good news.
Not all Chinese New Year snacks are that bad.
Love letters are one of the not so bad Chinese New year snacks.
Each piece is only about 56 calories.
I think the only danger is that because they're so lightweight, it's very easy to overeat
them, so just be conscious on how many pieces you are eating.
So dried shrimp rolls are about 23 calories a piece, which is great news because that
means you can snack on them without worrying too much.
And it's a great snack especially if you prefer savoury to sweet.
And the Chinese New Year snack with the lowest calories is
Kueh Bangkit.
Each cookie only contains 15 calories which means you can indulge in them a little more.
Lastly, the healthiest Chinese New Year snack, in my opinion,
is the mandarin orange.
Each orange only contains 40 calories.
It is high in fibre, high in vitamins and low in fat.
I find that portion control is really helpful in preventing overeating.
The trick is to not eat from the container because it's very easy to lose tracks of how much you are eating.
So one of my favourite tips is using your palm for portion control.
And then limit yourself to eating whatever snacks are on your palm.
So once you fill your palm up with your snacks, let that be your limit.
If you're one of those really ill discipline people and portion control is not quite your thing.
You see two pineapple tarts but really you could eat 10, then my best tip to prevent
overeating is to disrupt your taste bud.
So do try out my portion control tips, you know, portion out all the snacks you want
on your palm and also add a strong mint to the mix.
It has to be a strong mint.
So after you're done eating all the snacks on your palm, pop the mint in and that will
really help to disrupt your taste buds, so any other snacks thereafter it's just gonna
taste really strange.
And if all else fails, drink more fluid to fill yourself up.
The more you drink, the less hungry you feel.
Needless to say, I recommend drinking water because it's gonna help you stay hydrated
but unsweetened tea is a great alternative as well.
So my next tip is to plan your feast days.
It's the festive period and it's okay to indulge.
But just do so in moderation.
So plan which days you are gonna indulge and stick to it.
For example, I tell myself I'm gonna indulge on Chinese New Year eve
and also on Chinese New Year day.
And so I do that but then on the days after, I limit myself and I also practice portion control.
So alternatively you can find bakeries and shops that do offer healthier options for
Chinese New Year snacks.
I know what a lot of you are thinking, it's probably gonna taste really bad
and to be honest, I was pretty sceptical myself.
So I managed to get my hands on a couple of these healthier options
and I'm gonna do a taste test right now.
So I found this place called Delcies's desserts and cakes
and it's a bakery that offers vegan confectionery.
Which means there is no gelatin, no dairy and no egg.
So the first thing I'm gonna try is vegan pineapple tarts.
There's an impression that vegan food is usually you know, better for you.
And I guess because there's no butter and no egg, there's not gonna be any cholesterol
in these cookies.
These pineapple tarts also claimed to be lower in sugar as compared to the original pineapple tart.
They're definitely a lot smaller than the traditional pineapple tarts.
It tastes very buttery but I'm surprised there's not butter added to this pineapple tart at all.
I think that the pastry is the right amount of sweetness, you know it's not overly sweet.
These are pretty food, I'm going for a second one.
So in comparison to the traditional pineapple tarts, it's a lot lighter as well.
So while these tarts are vegan, they still do contain sugar
so I wouldn't recommend eating the whole jar.
But if you are vegan or have friends who are vegan then I say that this is a great alternative.
So these are vegan coconut love letters and it's very different from the traditional love
letters because these are completely eggless.
So considering it's coconut I do think it's gonna taste very different but
the good thing is that I love coconut
so I'm actually really looking forward to trying this one.
So one of the best things about love letters is that when you open the jar, you can smell
the love letters.
The coconut scent is pretty strong but it does smell very similar to love letters.
Oh my gosh! This is gonna be so addictive, I already know it.
This is like an addictive smell.
Once you smell it's like okay game over.
Yeah, it's definitely a lot thicker than your traditional love letters
and not as flaky.
There's a bit of coconut after taste in your mouth.
It's definitely a whole different snack.
I don't know, the traditional love letters to me just have a very iconic eggy you know
taste, it just very reminiscent of Chinese New Year.
It's a delicious snack but definitely not the same as your traditional love letter.
So you know by now that Bak Kwa is one of the highest calorie Chinese New Year snacks.
So I went around to look for healthier alternatives and I found this
vegetarian Bak Kwa.
And you know my first impression of vegetarian Bak Kwa was you know,
might as well don't eat,
but you know what, I haven't tried this before so it's too early for me to judge.
So I'm gonna go give this a go right now.
And if you're wondering what vegetarian Bak Kwa is made of, the main ingredients are
soya bean protein and mushroom stock.
It looks funny.
It really looks funny.
It looks like shit, I am sorry.
Oh my gosh, it smells damn bad.
Oh my god,
it looks like Otah, but not in a good way.
Oh my god, this is gonna sound like a very strange comparison, but this smells like aeroplane
blankets, it's like airline seat and airline plastic bag that you open then you have the
blanket that comes out.
Then sometimes it smells like really funky.
It smells like this.
It kind of came out in this like block.
So I'm gonna try to separate the individual pieces.
This is the texture of cardboard.
Cardboard that was left in the rain,
and then I was so hungry and decided to eat it.
I am not gonna say it tastes like a mushroom
or that it tastes like soy or tofu because
this taste like so bad. I really feel like throwing up.
Even though I thought this was like the healthier alternative, it's definitely not healthy.
In fact, I read the back of this, the plastic, and it says that has vegetable oil,
sunset yellow, sorbitol solution and just a list of all these very like dubious ingredients.
So I think the lesson here to take away is that even though it's meatless it doesn't
mean it's healthier.
So you know what, Chinese New Year only happens once a year so definitely goes and enjoy your
time with your family so if you want to have the snacks, go and have the snacks.
Just be conscious of the portions that you are eating and don't overdo it.
So that's all for me, I hope you found this video useful.
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Take care guys, bye!