Diet, nutrition and hygiene

When ordinary people want to do a good job in dietary nutrition and hygiene, the core logic is never to follow a certain Internet celebrity's healthy recipe, nor to calculate the nutrient intake down to milligrams, but to first firmly adhere to the bottom line of "no acute food-borne harm", and then match the nutritional needs according to their own physical condition and dietary preferences. There is no unified standard that is universally applicable.

When I went to the community to do nutrition science popularization, I met an Aunt Zhang who was in her 60s. The cucumber and kelp she mixed the night before was left in the refrigerator for two nights and she couldn't bear to throw it away. She ate half a plate with porridge. She had vomiting and diarrhea that night and went to the emergency room. The medical expenses were enough to buy a basket of fresh kelp. Many people’s understanding of “hygiene” always lies in “you won’t get sick if you don’t eat it cleanly”, but in fact, the risk of food-borne injuries is much closer than everyone thinks. Take the recently hotly debated pickled shrimp, for example. Scholars in the public health system have always been clear against ordinary people, especially the elderly, children, and people with low immunity. The risk of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and parasitic infections is really high. Last year, I treated a girl in her 20s who ate raw pickled shrimp from an online celebrity store and had diarrhea for three days. Finally, she was diagnosed with liver fluke infection and was hospitalized for a week. But you said that raw pickling is a scourge? No, people along the coast of Chaoshan and Fujian have been eating it for several lifetimes. They use live seafood that has just been caught. The pickling time and proportion of white wine, salt, and garlic have been passed down from generation to generation. The locals can tolerate it from snacks to large intestines. If you eat it once in a while, as long as the source is reliable and the handling is standardized, there is no need to kill it with a stick. In the final analysis, it is a balance between risk and preference. There is no absolute right or wrong.

After keeping the bottom line of not going to the hospital, it makes sense to talk about nutrition, otherwise no matter how much supplements you take, it will be in vain. There was a young man who came to me for dietary consultation before. In order to gain muscle and lose fat, he ate boiled chicken breasts, broccoli, and brown rice strictly according to the fitness blogger's diet for three months. His body fat dropped, but his uric acid level in the physical examination soared to 580. When gout attacked him for the first time, he couldn't walk. Why? He has a constitution with high uric acid, and the purine content of chicken breast is actually not low. In addition, he eats four eggs a day and drinks two tablespoons of protein powder to supplement protein. The amount of purine exceeds the standard. What others regard as a "golden healthy meal" has become a health killer for him.

There are still many people advocating a vegan diet, saying that it can cleanse the intestines, lower blood lipids, and prevent cancer. There are indeed studies in the field of nutrition that prove that the incidence of cardiovascular disease in vegetarian people is generally low. However, if you believe this and blindly follow the trend of veganism, you will have problems. I met a high school student before who followed his mother's vegan diet for half a year. He always felt dizzy in class and was eventually diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia. There are also several people who have been vegan for a long time. Physical examinations revealed that they were deficient in vitamin B12, which can even affect neurological function in severe cases. Therefore, the current general consensus in the industry is that if you really want to be vegetarian, it is best to eat lacto-ovo-vegetarian and regularly supplement B12 and iron. Pregnant women, children, and the elderly should not try to be vegetarian casually.

To be honest, there is really no need to listen to the anxious comments on the Internet that "leftovers are all carcinogenic and should not be eaten after two hours." I cook at home. If I stew the ribs or beef and can't finish it, seal it and refrigerate it once it's cool, then boil it and eat it the next day, there's no problem at all. What you really need to pay attention to is cold vegetables and green leafy vegetables. It is best to eat them in one meal. The former is easy to breed bacteria, and the nitrite content of the latter will indeed increase if left for a long time. You cannot take this risk. There is also the issue of washing fruits and vegetables. Some people soak them in salt water, some people soak them in baking soda, and some people buy hundreds of fruit and vegetable cleaning agents. It is really unnecessary. For ordinary seasonal fruits and vegetables, rinse them with running water for more than 30 seconds, peel them if they can, and basically remove more than 90% of pesticide residues. It is more effective than any fancy method.

In fact, after all is said and done, diet, nutrition and hygiene are really not a profound knowledge, and there is no need to be as cautious as doing experiments. If you are hungry in summer, ask your friends to have skewers. Don’t order the burnt ones. Drink less cold beer. It’s perfectly fine to eat it once a week. ； If you want to drink milk tea in winter, choose one with 30% sugar, and you won’t gain weight all of a sudden. After all, when it comes to eating, you must first be happy, and then consider your health. What suits you is the best.