Is Youtiao Healthy? (3 Tips for Weight Loss)

As a popular Chinese breakfast, Youtiao resembles the shape of the Italian breadstick but has a completely different texture and flavor that makes it a perfect food to start off your morning.

Served in multiple Asian countries, Youtiao has several different names such as guozi in Mainland China or yàuhjagwái (oil-fried devil) in Cantonese which derived from old folklore that explains the origins of this dish. 

This deep-fried dough has a very crispy exterior that gives it a nice crunch as soon as you bite into it and brings you into a light and airy interior that is packed with flavor and aroma.

Commonly paired with soy milk or rice porridge, Youtiao perfectly complements softer and lighter foods. 

Youtiao is definitely a great addition to your breakfast but is it the ideal food for weight loss? 

Youtiao is not considered healthy because most of its calories come from fats and carbs with little to no protein. However, just because Youtiao is not the best food to eat on a diet, you can still find ways to incorporate it into your daily intake while still sticking to your goals. 

In this article, we will be covering three tips that can help you incorporate Youtiao into your diet:

1. Understand the Nutrition Behind Youtiao

2. What to Eat with Youtiao

3. Listen to Your Cravings (In Moderation) 

Tip 1: Understand the Nutrition Behind Youtiao

With relatively simple ingredients, Youtiao uses flour, eggs, butter, and oil similar to a typical cake or bread recipe.

However, the reason why Youtiao has such a unique and particular texture is specifically in the way the dough is shaped and deep-fried.

Youtiao is not a simple food to make at home and requires a lot of time and patience to make, but they are relatively easy to find in the states and can be found in practically any breakfast restaurant in China and Taiwan. 

Now that you understand the ingredients and method of making Youtiao, let us delve deeper into the specific nutrition of Youtiao.

For one whole Youtiao stick, there are 180 calories with 8 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbohydrates, and 4 grams of protein.

This is a relatively higher calorie food that mainly consists of carbohydrates and fat making it not the best food to eat on a daily basis. 

Since Youtiao is such a light and airy food, eating one Youtiao may not make you full enough to give you a good amount of energy throughout the day.

When you are on a diet, it is important to eat foods low in calories and high in satiety to make sure you are not becoming overly hungry by eating high calorie and low nutrient foods. 

Not only that, but Youtiao is also very low and protein and it is important to eat higher protein foods when you are trying to lose weight and build an ideal physique.

For 180 calories, Youtiao does not really keep you well satiated making it not the best food to eat for weight loss goals. 

I highly recommend that instead of eating one whole huge Youtiao, break it into two pieces and just eat half of it.

This makes your Youtiao only 90 calories with 11 grams of carbohydrates and just 4 grams of fat.

This portion size is much more incorporable into your diet and gives you more room to eat more nutritious and higher protein foods available on the table. 

When determining the best foods to eat when dieting, Important factors to look for are how many calories are in the food, the macronutrient breakdown of protein, carbohydrate, and fats, as well as the satiety index, or how full you feel after eating the food.

This is why pairing Youtiao with the right foods is key to maintaining a balanced diet and an overall more well-rounded meal.

In this next section, we will be discussing how you can pair your Youtiao properly to make sure your breakfast is both filling and healthy.

Tip 2: What to Eat with Youtiao

Youtiao is popularly paired with rice congee or Chinese rice porridge, soy milk, or even soy sauce.

Some recipes or variations of Youtiao even include stuffings of other meats or vegetables so that it can be eaten by itself. 

Since we previously covered how Youtiao is high in carbohydrates and low in protein, it is important to pair it with the right foods to get in a balanced breakfast.

We will be covering three popular ways to pair your Youtiao and whether or not they are the ideal choice for weight loss!

Rice Congee

Rice Congee, or Chinese Rice Porridge, is essentially a watered-down version of rice that is served piping hot.

This soft porridge is mainly built up of carbohydrates and barely has any protein but is a great alternative to rice. For a much larger serving, rice congee has a lot fewer calories compared to cooked white rice.

Not only that, but rice congee also keeps you full for much longer because of how voluminous it is. 

However, you still want to be mindful of how much rice congee you are eating, especially with your Youtiao because this can become a very high-calorie breakfast if you eat too much.

I recommend eating half a Youtiao paired with a small bowl of rice congee and have a serving of vegetables and some sort of protein to have a more balanced meal.

Soy Milk

Compared to regular whole milk, soy milk has far fewer calories and way less fat making it a much more diet-friendly drink.

Not only that, but soy milk is also relatively high in protein which is the macronutrient that Youtiao lacks.

Served either ice cold or warm, one glass of soy milk is a delicious way to compliment your Youtiao. 

Soy Sauce

Used in several different Asian dishes, soy sauce has been a great way to add some salt and extra flavoring in a variety of different foods.

Soy sauce is actually relatively low in calories as well and even mainly consists of protein making it another great alternative to pair it with your Youtiao.

Just like any other food or sauce though, make sure you are not drenching your food in soy sauce because what seems like just a few calories can quickly add up. 

There are several other foods that people pair with their Youtiao, but by making sure you watch how many calories you are eating for your breakfast and eating more vegetables and higher protein foods, you can eat Youtiao with whatever you prefer as long as you watch your portion size and caloric intake. 

Tip 3: Listen To Your Cravings (In Moderation)

As discussed earlier, Youtiao may not be the best food when your goal is to lose weight, but it does not mean you have to deprive yourself of delicious foods to shed off a few pounds.

Instead, to create a sustainable diet, incorporating your cravings into your diet is important to prevent yourself from giving up and gaining all the weight back. 

The reason why restricting “fun” foods from your diet can be detrimental for some individuals is because it requires willpower to hold yourself back from eating your cravings.

If you leave your cravings unsatisfied for too long, this may result in overeating that food once you no longer have any self-control.

Instead, try referring to the 80/20 rule that states how 80% of your diet should be made up of healthy, nutritious, and low-calorie foods such as fruits, vegetables, and lean meats.

The other 20% can be your cravings, like Youtiao!

Adjust your other meals throughout the day to fit this standard to keep yourself on track and making sure that your overall day does not just consist of junk food. 

If you already ate Youtiao for breakfast, then make sure the rest of your meals of the day consist of lower-calorie foods that are high in fiber in protein.

For lunch, you might want to try eating a chicken salad or other foods lower in carbohydrates so you can maintain a calorie deficit. 

The only way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than your TDEE, or Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

Your TDEE consists of the calories burned from your daily activity, your resting metabolic rate, or RMR, and the energy used up to chew, swallow, and digest food. 

It’s super easy to figure out your own TDEE! Simply find a TDEE calculator online and input the information they ask for (weight, height, gender, etc).

Their algorithm will generate an approximate number that estimates how many calories you burn on average which you can use as a starting point for your diet.

Try eating around 200-300 calories less than your TDEE consistently for a couple of weeks and you should start to see a change in your weight.

Keep in mind that the online TDEE calculator only gives you an estimate, so it is up to you to adjust the number if you do not see any progress.

If you are not losing weight, try decreasing your calories by increments of 100 until you start seeing results.

Remember that weight loss is a journey and not a race, so be patient and your results will not disappoint you!

By properly learning about nutrition and calories, you can incorporate your favorite foods like Youtiao into your diet while still reaching your goals!

CONCLUSION 

Remember, although nutrition is a huge factor that influences weight loss, it is important to pair this journey with exercise as well.

Especially strength training.

Several years of research on the benefits of weight training have shown that individuals that do some sort of consistent resistance training at least 3-5 times a week have shown not only a great amount of weight loss but are also able to keep the weight off! 

The secret to this phenomena is that strength training leads to a build-up of muscle.

Not only does your body recomposition into a more fitting and athletic-looking aesthetic, but having more muscle also increases your resting metabolic rate which essentially means you burn more calories at rest! 

Now that we know the importance of muscle we need to make sure we stay on track with our workouts.

Consistency and longevity are the two key factors when building muscle so there will be some commitment involved.

We understand that not everyone has access to a gym membership or feels comfortable starting off in such an intimidating environment.

Although I would strongly recommend that everyone should get a gym membership, don’t worry we got your back.

You can either go to the gym or build one for yourself.

It really just comes down to 3 pieces of equipment that you need to do most workouts.

These three are the workout bench, dumbbells, and gym flooring.

Check out our recommended gear page to see our best picks for these pieces of equipment here. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/home-workout-equipment

If a home gym is not for you then getting a membership somewhere works too.

As long as you are starting your muscle-building journey, we’re happy! 

Stick with it for the long run and you’ll see how amazing the results can be. 

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