Diet and health tips

For the vast majority of ordinary people who work normally and have no underlying diseases, the core of a healthy diet is not to follow the trend and buy expensive organic ingredients, eat according to the precise recipes on the Internet, and supplement a bunch of nutrients from Internet celebrities. It is to make three meals regularly, use as many types of ingredients as possible, avoid highly processed foods, and always give priority to adjusting according to your own body's reaction. This is more effective than copying any general standards.

A while ago, I helped my cousin who is a junior in college organize her weight loss menu. It made my head spin: I drank a glass of cold-pressed green juice on an empty stomach in the morning, boiled broccoli and fried chicken breasts at noon, and ate a protein bar in the evening along with vitamins and liver-protecting tablets. After half a month of eating, my aunt postponed it for ten days. To be honest, too many people now turn their healthy diet into an exam question, as if missing a few grams of calories or eating an extra mouthful of rice would be a huge mistake. It is completely unnecessary.

Take the recent debate about whether porridge is good for the stomach. The elders always say that porridge is soft and can be eaten for two days if the stomach is uncomfortable. There are also many nutrition bloggers who jump out and say that porridge has a high glycemic index and insufficient dietary fiber. Long-term consumption will degrade the digestive ability of the stomach. The two sides are quarreling. In fact, there is no absolute right or wrong? If you have just had a gastroscopy or have a gastric ulcer that makes you unable to eat hard food, drinking millet porridge that has been warm for two days can indeed reduce the burden on your gastrointestinal tract. If you have high blood sugar and usually have good digestion, drinking porridge all the time will not be of any benefit. It is better to eat two more mouthfuls of multigrain rice.

Let me talk about a pitfall that I have stepped into. In the past two years, I was always constipated. All the popular science I read told me to eat more dragon fruit and drink iced prune juice. I drank it for three days in a row. I had diarrhea, but my stomach hurt so much that I broke into a cold sweat. Later, I asked a registered dietitian I knew well and found out that I I have a weak spleen and stomach, so I can't tolerate too many cold, high-fiber foods. I later changed to eating half a piece of steamed pumpkin every day, and added two more handfuls of warm, high-fiber vegetables such as okra and celery when cooking. Within a week, I was back to normal, and I didn't suffer at all. You see, the "universal cure" that others say may be a burden to you.

Oh, by the way, there are also the "0 sugar" and "low calorie" labels that everyone is crazy about now. In order to quit sugar, a colleague of mine replaced all milk tea and cola with 0 sugar sparkling water. He drank at least three bottles a day. He originally thought he would lose weight, but ended up gaining eight pounds in three months. When I checked, I found out that eating too much sugar substitute disrupted the intestinal flora and stimulated the appetite. He couldn't help but want to eat heavy food. On the way to get off work, he always went to buy two skewers. It's strange that he is not fat.

People always ask me if I should take multivitamins, fish oil, etc. every day? In fact, it depends on the situation: if you travel all the year round and have mostly take-out meals, and can’t eat more than a few mouthfuls of fresh vegetables for a week, then it’s okay to prepare some regular brand multivitamins. If you can cook two dishes every day when you get home from get off work, and buy some seasonal fruits to eat on weekends, there is no need to waste money. Taking too much will increase the metabolic burden on the liver and kidneys. For example, excessive supplementation of fat-soluble vitamins A and D can lead to poisoning. It is not true that the more you eat, the better.

I have been working in diet-related work for such a long time, and the people I see the most are those who study health-preserving recipes every day and put themselves in the hospital. On the other hand, those who are not picky about their meals, eat a few bites of everything, and do not deliberately limit their food intake, are mostly in good health. After all, diet is a very personal matter. If you don’t have stomach bloating or acid reflux after eating, get up energetic the next day, and have normal bowel movements, that’s a good diet for you. Why are there so many rules and regulations that you must abide by?