Living the light life
Many of us like to eat out and treat ourselves to delicious food. We are used to choosing hearty, fat-filled dishes and sugary desserts, which are not easily cooked at home.
The recent rise of light meals, however, gives diners a smarter choice. According to Economic Daily, low-calorie, low-fat and high-fiber (高纤维的) meals have become popular in China's restaurants and online delivery platforms.
The country saw a rapid expansion of restaurants specializing in light meals, from just 600 in 2017 to more than 3,500 in 2018. According to a report released by Meituan, a major online food delivery platform, the number of light meals ordered online also rose 75 percent compared to the previous year.
Having a light meal, however, doesn't mean eating only vegetables. Different from the meat-free lifestyle, a typical light dish avoids oily, salty and spicy food. Instead, it contains things like boiled meat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Healthy nutrients (营养成分) are the theme of the light meal.
These dishes are useful for keeping healthy and controlling your weight. That's probably why so many people, especially Millennials (千禧一代), are into them. Diners see it as "a great way to avoid bloating (变胖)," wrote The Telegraph.
"After eating several light meals, I feel my appetite has shrunk (缩小). I now prefer light flavors," Zou Jing, a college teacher in Wuhan, told China Daily. She shared a picture of her lunch: a mixture of beef, eggs, corn, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.
These changes in eating behavior are connected with deeper changes in how people think about food, says Walter Willett, chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health, US. "Diet quality, not quantity, is important for both weight control and long-term well-being," Willett told The New York Times.
So next time you have a party with friends, try a light meal. It will satisfy not only your stomach but maybe also your heart.
