Diet and health tips

There is no "perfect recipe" for everyone. A balanced diet that is suitable for one's own metabolic state and can be adhered to for a long time is far better than extreme diets and single supplements.

I just received a consultation last week. The girl followed the trend and bought more than 300 yuan of kale powder and green juice. She drank it with water and said it was to cleanse the intestines and detoxify. However, she had diarrhea for three days. She came over with a sallow face and asked me if I was "removing moisture". I laughed in anger - this was not detoxification. It was obviously due to excessive dietary fiber intake that irritated the intestines and stomach.

Speaking of which, there are so many different opinions about diet on the Internet now. Just "should I quit sugar?" can generate hundreds of hot searches. Ketogenic enthusiasts who support the complete abstinence from sugar will say that refined sugar is the root of all evil. It is responsible for acne, weight gain, and aging. Some people even dare not touch rice and fruits. ； However, the mainstream recommendations in nutrition are actually not that extreme. The World Health Organization has long made it clear that the daily intake of added sugar for adults should be controlled within 50g, preferably no more than 25g. To put it in a more understandable way, you can drink one or two cups of 3-sugar milk tea a week, and add two less spoons of rock sugar when cooking, and there is no need to feel guilty at all. I know a brother who runs a marathon. Half an hour before the race, he drinks half a bottle of glucose water to replenish energy. If he really gave up sugar completely, he wouldn't be able to finish half the race.

There is also a widely circulated saying that "eating whole grains is healthier." Many people eat quinoa steamed buns and brown rice, and end up with acid reflux and stomachache. My aunt was diagnosed with high blood sugar. After hearing people say that whole grains lower blood sugar, she didn't eat white rice or flour for a month. She ended up with stomach acid reflux and couldn't sleep at night, so she went to the hospital and was prescribed stomach medicine. In fact, there is no standard answer to this matter. For people with high blood sugar and overweight, replacing half of the staple food with whole grains will indeed help control sugar and weight. However, if you are the elderly, children with weak gastrointestinal function, or people with gastritis or irritable bowel syndrome, it is a safer choice to reduce the proportion of whole grains to 1/3 or even less. You don’t have to endure discomfort for the sake of “health”.

Oh, by the way, everyone has heard since childhood that "you should drink 8 glasses of water a day." Recently, many people have said that drinking too much will lead to water poisoning. Both sides have their own reasons. In fact, there is no fixed amount. My dad works at a construction site in the summer and his clothes get wet several times a day from sweating. Drinking 3L of water is not enough, and there is no problem. ； But I have a friend with chronic renal insufficiency. The doctor specifically told him not to drink more than 1.5L of water a day. Drinking too much water will increase the burden on the kidneys. If you really want to judge whether you have enough water, just look at the color of your urine. If your urine is light yellow, it means you are well hydrated, which is much more reliable than counting cups.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the various supplements that have become very popular recently, such as vitamins, liver-protecting tablets, and collagen drinks. It seems that taking them can offset the harm of staying up late, drinking and eating takeaways. There have been differences in the industry on this point: one group believes that as long as you eat normally, you can get enough nutrition, and supplements are all IQ taxes. ； The other group believes that modern people have irregular work and rest periods and a single diet, so proper supplementation is necessary. My experience in the past five years of doing nutritional consulting is that it really differs from person to person: if you stay in the office every day and don’t get sunlight, and rarely eat deep-sea fish, supplementing with vitamin D and Omega3 is really useful. ； But if you can eat fresh vegetables, meat, eggs, and milk every meal, and go out to bask in the sun on weekends, then the multivitamins that cost hundreds of dollars will most likely be excreted in the urine, which is a waste of money. Not to mention those health products that claim to protect the liver. If you stay up until three o'clock every day and drink heavily, no matter how many liver-protecting tablets you take, you won't be able to keep up with the speed of your preparation.

In fact, after all is said and done, there really aren’t that many fancy rules for eating healthily. I’ve seen too many people stare at online recipes and eat with the number of grams in mind, making them anxious about eating. On the contrary, they are not as stable as those who eat according to their own preferences every day, just add a little less oil and salt, and eat two more bites of vegetables. After all, eating is a happy thing. You feel comfortable after eating, your bowel movements are normal, and your annual physical examination indicators are fine. That is the most suitable healthy diet for you. There is no need to embarrass your mouth and stomach because of a few words on the Internet.