Daily amount of oil and salt for healthy recipes

According to the general recommendations of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)", the daily intake of cooking oil for healthy adults is recommended to be controlled at 25-30g, and the total intake of salt (including invisible salt in all foods) should not exceed 5g. Special groups can flexibly adjust according to their own conditions under the guidance of professionals.

When I was providing dietary guidance in the community, the most common question I encountered was, “I usually eat very lightly, so why am I still eating too much? ”Aunt Zhang, whom I met last month, is a typical example. She held a small salt spoon and told me that she could only put one spoon in each meal. But I took it over and saw that the spoon was a 10g spoon given by the merchant. She also drank porridge with pickles every morning, and she liked to put two spoons of light soy sauce when cooking to enhance the freshness. These invisible salts were not taken into account at all. To be honest, many people's concept of "salt" is only the white salt used in cooking, but they forget that the salt in soy sauce, oyster sauce, and soybean paste can account for 15%-20%. The sodium in pickles, processed meat products, and even snacks such as potato chips and plums is converted into salt. A few bites are enough for half a meal. When ordering an ordinary rice bowl, the salt content is basically more than 4g. If you don't pay attention to the daily limit, it will be gone.

Some people feel that this standard is too rigid. After all, everyone’s living habits and physical condition are very different. This actually makes sense. Currently, the nutritional community has no completely unified conclusion on the threshold of oil and salt intake: for example, endurance athletes sweat a lot every day and lose a lot of sodium. The salt intake can be relaxed to 7-10g without any health risks. ； People in the muscle-building stage have high caloric needs. As long as their metabolism is normal, it is no problem to add cooking oil to about 35g. ； Even a previous study published by The Lancet mentioned that for healthy people without high blood pressure or abnormal kidney function, when the sodium intake is in the range of 2-5g (corresponding to 5-12.5g of salt), there is no significant difference in the risk of cardiovascular disease. There is no need to make the rice so light that it is impossible to eat just to meet the 5g line. On the contrary, it will affect appetite and the intake of minerals such as iodine and sodium. Of course, if you are a patient with high blood pressure or chronic kidney disease, you should strictly follow the doctor's instructions and control salt within 3g, and do not refer to general standards.

As for the very controversial statement on the Internet that the ketogenic diet requires increased oil intake, my general advice to customers is not to try it blindly: in this mode, cooking oil may be added to 50-70g/day, but the premise is that a full physical examination is required to rule out contraindications such as hyperlipidemia and pancreatitis, and adjustments must be made under the full follow-up of a nutritionist. Ordinary people who eat casually can easily cause metabolic problems, and the gain is not worth the loss.

In fact, we ordinary people don’t need to use a kitchen scale every day. There are a few easy-to-use estimation methods: a flat spoon of oil in an ordinary household porcelain spoon is about 10g, and 2-3 spoons a day is enough. If a family of three cooks, they use 70-90g of oil a day, which is almost half the size of a small oil pot.； As for salt, an ordinary beer bottle cap flattened out is exactly 5g. When cooking, add salt later and less sauce. Just be able to taste the saltiness is enough. If you are really unsure, pour a cup of warm water over it when eating takeout. It can filter out at least one-third of the oil and salt, which is very convenient.

When I customize recipes for users, I don’t dwell on these numbers: everyone likes to eat stews in winter, and it doesn’t matter if I add 2-3g more oil.； If you go out for a run in the summer and break a sweat, it’s okay to drink a cup of light salt water and add 1g more salt when you come back. Last week, a client said that she and her friends had a Chongqing hot pot meal at the weekend, and they ate almost 30g of oil and 15g of salt in one meal. She was so scared that she drank two meals of white porridge the next day. In fact, it was completely unnecessary. In the next two or three days, it is enough to lighten up a little and bring the average amount back to the standard line. Healthy eating is about long-term habits, not the accuracy of numbers in one meal. There is no need to worry about adding half a spoonful of more oil for half a day.