Picture from Pixabay

Mooncakes are among one of the most sinful delicacies around. Containing generous amounts of unhealthy ingredients like sugar, lard and egg yolks, it is ideally avoided by those who are combating weight gain, and those who have existing chronic ailments like diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease.

Yet Autumn Moon Festival, widely celebrated by Chinese around the world, just doesn’t feel complete without mooncakes. These are a staple at gatherings and are often used as gifts. It would be quite a challenge to completely abstain from it, not to mention, a downer.

Fortunately, over the years, people have become more health-conscious, and there has been an increasing demand for healthier alternatives. What would make a mooncake healthier?

Vegetarian and vegan mooncakes: Free of lard, eggs and animal by-product, your body will feel more forgiving towards them.

Using raw sugar instead of sugar: This should be taken with a pinch of salt because the nutritional value of raw sugar and sugar is in fact not much different, although it is a common assumption that sugar is unhealthy because it is processed. Low-sugar would be a better option, though some may still use an equally unhealthy substitute for sugar.

No egg yolks: Egg yolks are very high in sodium, it’s simply best to do without them.

Beware of these common myths:
Snowskin is healthier than pastry crust: Snowskin may seem healthier because it doesn’t have lard, but it is still filled with sugar, and contains about the same amount of calories as a traditional pastry crust mooncake of similar size.

Green tea / fruit flavour mooncakes are healthier than traditional mooncakes: It really depends, as sometimes, only artificial flavouring is used to produce the taste. Even if real fruits are used, they will be processed and likely have large amounts of sugar added to them. It’s almost akin to saying that orange syrup is healthy because it contains orange, but nothing can be further from the truth. It is important to find out what are the exact ingredients that go into it, rather than take the information at face value.

Drinking Green tea or Chinese tea will neutralise fattening / unhealthy effects of mooncakes: Not at all. Hot tea does help to get rid of that oily or over-sweet feeling in the mouth, which gives the illusion that you can eat more.   

In a nutshell, there are no truly healthy mooncakes, but slightly healthier versions would exist.  After all a moon cake isn’t a mooncake without its sweet fillings and crust, so a mooncake can't possibly be devoid of unhealthy ingredients. Rather than deluding oneself and indulging over a supposedly healthier mooncake, it is much more practical to go with the smallest mooncake, and cut it up for sharing!

References: 
http://www.livestrong.com/article/272191-sugar-vs-sugar-in-the-raw/