Healthy Recipes for Dinner

Low processing, total calorie control, and adapting to personal physical condition and activity level of the day. Any meal that meets these three points is a qualified healthy dinner.

When I first came into contact with healthy eating two years ago, I ran into a lot of pitfalls. I followed the list of Internet celebrities and fixed boiled broccoli + fried chicken breasts every night. When I ate, I felt nauseous when I saw green vegetables. I was so hungry that I scratched my heart before 11 o'clock. I secretly got up and ate half a bag of toast. In half a month, I didn't lose weight. Instead, I gained three pounds due to emotional overeating. Later, when I talked with my friends in the nutrition department, I realized that I had completely misunderstood the key points and forcibly equated "healthy" with "bland" and "unpalatable".

There are indeed a lot of controversies about dinner on the Internet. The two most quarrelsome schools have completely opposite views: one school says that you should never have carbohydrates in your dinner, because if you do, you will gain weight.； The other group says that you must eat enough carbohydrates for dinner, otherwise you won’t be able to sleep and your hair will fall out. In fact, both sides are reasonable, but they are suitable for different groups of people. The basis for advocating low carbs is that human body activity decreases sharply at night, and insulin sensitivity is 15%-20% lower than during the day. Eating too much refined carbohydrates is indeed easy to convert into fat accumulation. People who have already eaten enough carbohydrates at the main meal that day, have a high body fat rate, and have no need for extra work or exercise at night can eat less or even no carbohydrates. Those who insist on eating carbohydrates are based on the fact that carbohydrates can help tryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier and promote the secretion of serotonin and melatonin. If you do not consume enough carbohydrates that day, have to work overtime at night to meet the schedule, or have poor sleep quality, not eating carbohydrates at all will easily lead to problems such as low blood sugar in the middle of the night, insomnia and hair loss, which is not worth the gain.

My own dinner now depends entirely on the situation of the day: if I have been sitting for a day and haven’t planned any exercise after get off work, I will fry about 120g of pangasius or lean beef filet, sprinkle with some freshly ground black pepper and a little salt, and serve with about 200g of stir-fried pangasius. Change the vegetables with lettuce, water spinach and kale. Sometimes if you are craving, add two small pieces of braised dried beans. The total calories are controlled at about 350 calories. Your stomach will not be bloated after eating. You can just digest it after taking a half-hour walk downstairs, and you will not be hungry even when you sleep. If there is running or strength training scheduled that day, I will add half a piece of steamed baby pumpkin or half a corn, so that you will not feel weak or weak after training.

There is absolutely no need to copy other people’s recipes, as different people’s needs vary greatly. For example, my grandmother, who has diabetes, cannot have a vegetarian dinner. She has to cook half a bowl of multigrain rice with mixed beans and rice, with steamed seabass and fried spinach. The glycemic index is low, and she will not get hungry too quickly and eat randomly before going to bed. A colleague who is building muscle is more casual. For dinner, he has two egg whites + 150g of grilled chicken breast, plus half a bowl of quinoa rice. After that, he can also add a small box of strawberries, which fully meets his needs.

There is another pitfall that many people have stepped on: replacing dinner with fruit. I did this last summer. It was refreshing to eat half an iced watermelon. In fact, it contains more than 300 calories, and fructose raises blood sugar quickly, making you hungry quickly. If you want snacks within two hours, you will be more likely to overeat. Some people think that a healthy dinner must be completely oil-free and salt-free. In fact, there is no need. Sometimes when I am craving, I will fry diced chicken breast with a little Laoganma, or cook a small bowl of tomato and egg soba noodles, with less noodles and more vegetables. As long as the total amount is controlled, it will not affect my health at all. On the contrary, because I am satisfied with the meal, I will not always think about ordering takeout.

There is really no need to make healthy dinner a KPI that must be followed, nor do you need to copy other people's seven-day recipes. After all, everyone's appetite, metabolism, and living habits are different. As long as you don't have acid reflux or flatulence after eating, you don't toss and turn hungry before going to bed, and you wake up the next day with fresh breath and no edema, then this is the most healthy dinner for you. Occasionally, it’s okay to go out for a barbecue and hot pot with friends. After all, you can stick to it only if you feel comfortable for a long time.