Information on dietary health

There is no one-size-fits-all standard for dietary health. The core is a dynamic dietary balance that adapts to one's physiological basis, life rhythm, and disease risks. There is no need to blindly follow Internet celebrity recipes or "super food" lists. The best solution is a plan that suits you and can be adhered to for a long time.

In the three years I have been working as a community nutrition coach, I have met many people who have fallen into the trap of the "universal template." The one who impressed me the most was a 28-year-old Internet operator girl. She followed the "anti-inflammatory diet" recommended by the blogger for three months, including kale salad, soaked chia seeds in oats, and no sugar or oil at all. As a result, my aunt postponed the diet for half a month. Her physical examination revealed that she was mildly anemic and her face was frighteningly sallow. This incident also made me discover that many people’s understanding of healthy eating is stuck in the misunderstanding of “you must follow the standard answer”, regardless of whether your body can bear it.

The two most controversial dietary patterns on the Internet now actually have their own applicable scenarios, and there is no absolute right or wrong. One is the low-carbohydrate/ketogenic school. The core is to limit the intake of refined sugar and grains and rely on fat and protein for energy. This model has a really obvious short-term adjustment effect for people with abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, and pre-diabetes. A 42-year-old programmer I met before weighed 92 kilograms and had a glycosylated hemoglobin of 5.9. He strictly limited the intake of white rice, white noodles and milk tea cakes. After 3 months, he lost 8 kilograms, his glycation dropped to 5.5, and his blood lipids also dropped. But it is not suitable for everyone. I have met several little girls who were not over 100 pounds in the first place. They followed the online tutorials to cut off carbohydrates. In the end, they lost their hair, became irritable, and postponed their aunts, which in turn hurt their bodies.

The other is the balanced dietary pattern recommended by our national dietary guidelines for residents. Grains, potatoes, vegetables, meat, eggs, milk, and beans are mixed in proportions. The nutrients are very comprehensive. It is a very scientific plan in itself, but the problem is also very realistic: for office workers who work 996 hours a day and just want to lie flat after get off work, it is too troublesome to accurately control the amount of 250-400g of cereals and potatoes and 300-500g of vegetables. It is difficult to persist for a long time. On the contrary, it is easy to produce the anxiety of "I can't do it because I am not self-disciplined." I used to follow the trend and count weights every day. It took me more than ten minutes to weigh myself every day. After persisting for half a month, I gave up. Later, I simply simplified it into the "plate rule": every time I serve a meal, put half of the plate with vegetables, a quarter with meat, eggs and soy products, and the remaining quarter with staple food, white rice, white noodles and mixed potatoes are fine. If you have to work overtime that day, it is okay to eat two more mouthfuls of white rice. It is better than getting up in the middle of the night to eat instant noodles when you are hungry.

Oh, by the way, there is another point that many people overlook: rather than what you eat, the feeling when you eat is more important. You can try to keep a 3-day food diary. Instead of counting calories, just record the state after eating: For example, after eating milk tea with fried chicken, do you feel hungry within 2 hours and feel dizzy and want to sleep? Then next time, replace half of the white rice with mixed beans, and replace the milk tea with three-thirds of sugar, and see if it feels better? If you have diarrhea after drinking milk, you don’t have to force yourself to meet the daily limit of 300g of milk. Switching to sugar-free yogurt or Shuhua milk can also supplement protein and calcium, so you don’t have to worry about your stomach.

Just like last week, I helped a young man who loves hot pot to adjust his diet. He always felt that eating hot pot was unhealthy and felt guilty for several days every time he finished eating. I gave him two small suggestions: boil the vegetables first and then eat the meat, and then eat the staple food. Don’t put too much sesame sauce and crushed peanuts in the seasonings, and replace it with minced garlic, spicy millet and a small amount of light soy sauce. After such adjustments, he eats hot pot once a week, has not gained weight, and does not have to irritate his mouth. Isn’t this good? In fact, healthy eating never requires you to eat bland boiled vegetables, nor does it require you to spend a lot of money to buy imported organic vegetables. If you like spicy food, use fresh millet chili instead of chili oil, and if you like sweet food, use fruits instead of cakes and biscuits. Whatever makes you feel comfortable, as long as the overall direction is correct.

Of course, if you have underlying diseases, you should listen more to the advice of doctors and nutritionists. For example, gout patients are not completely prohibited from eating soy products. As long as they are not in an acute attack period, it is okay to eat about 100g of tofu every day. There is no need to overly restrict food.； Pregnant women do not need to really "eat for one person and supplement for two people". After the second trimester, it is enough to eat an extra egg and a cup of milk every day. Taking too much supplement will easily lead to gestational diabetes. If you are really not sure what to eat, go to the nutrition department of a regular hospital and sign up. You can get a tailor-made plan for a few dozen yuan, which is much more reliable than the various folk remedies you can find online.

To put it bluntly, healthy eating is never a test that requires perfect scores. It doesn’t matter if you crave for a barbecue and a cup of milk tea occasionally. As long as your diet makes you comfortable most of the time, your physical examination indicators are normal, and you can stick to it, you are already doing better than most people, and you don’t have to worry about eating a few bites.