What are some famous quotes about eating healthily?

At present, the famous sayings about diet and health that are widely circulated and have practical reference value include traditional health sayings that have been passed down for thousands of years, as well as popular science sayings put forward by modern nutrition circles, such as the familiar "medicine supplements are not as good as food supplements", "eat a good breakfast, a full lunch, and a small dinner", "you are what you eat", and "Every food does not have a strong flavor, and there is no strong flavor to overpower wine" recorded in "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", which are all recognized as content with reference significance.

These words are not just rhetoric, they are mostly practical experiences that have been verified by generations of people. In the six years I have been doing community nutrition science, I have seen too many examples of people who have corrected minor problems by adjusting their diet. I have also encountered many situations where rigid quotes have made the body worse.

For example, I met Aunt Zhang last year. She regarded "eating small meals for dinner" as a golden rule. She drank half a bowl of white porridge with some pickled radish every night. As a result, she got dizzy and unsteady several times when she got up in the middle of the night to coax her grandson. When I came for consultation, I found out that she had to be busy with housework and taking care of the baby until after ten o'clock every day. Her activity level was no less than that of young people who work during the day. The porridge had been digested long ago, and she only became dizzy due to low blood sugar. Later, I adjusted her diet and changed her dinner to half a bowl of multi-grain rice, with a piece of steamed pangasius and a small plate of stir-fried spinach. She didn't gain weight even after eating, and she never suffered from dizziness again. In fact, this sentence originally corresponded to the life scene of ancient people who rested at sunset and had little activity at night. In today's environment where nightlife is rich and many people have to stay up late and work overtime, it cannot be applied rigidly. Now many people in the nutrition field have proposed to change it to "Eat dinner wisely", and just adjust the portion and structure according to your own activity level that day. Both views are reasonable, but they are just adapted to different life rhythms.

"Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals" wrote that "no food should have a strong flavor, and no strong flavor should be combined with alcohol." This is still true for more than 2,000 years. It now corresponds to the dietary principles of low salt, low oil and limited alcohol advocated by the World Health Organization. A while ago, a 28-year-old young man came to see me. His physical examination revealed that his uric acid was high and his blood pressure was close to the critical value. When I asked him, I found out that he eats takeaways that are heavily spicy and oily, and drinks heavily with friends two or three times a week. When I found out this sentence for him, he still laughed and said that his ancestors had such a problem even today.

As for the popular saying "You are what you eat" in recent years, it can be said that the impact of nutrition on the body is fully explained. There used to be a kid who was a senior in high school who always felt sleepy, had trouble paying attention in class, and had acne breakouts on his face. After a long search, there was no other problem. He drank Coca-Cola as water every day and ate fried chicken legs every meal. After more than two months of adjustment, he replaced the highly processed snacks with plain nuts and seasonal fruits, and ate fried food at most once a week. His energy level immediately improved, and he no longer dozed off in class.

Of course, not all famous sayings are universally applicable. For example, "medicinal supplements are not as good as dietary supplements" that has been passed down for many years and has always been controversial. Those who support it feel that the daily diet has been adjusted and there is no need to take all kinds of supplements. Those who oppose it say that if there is a serious nutrient deficiency, such as severe iron deficiency anemia and severe vitamin D deficiency, the efficiency of relying on food supplements is too low and it will easily delay the condition. In fact, both statements are correct, but the applicable scenarios are different. It is definitely more reliable to adjust the diet for sub-healthy conditions. When it comes to the disease level, the correct choice is to follow the doctor's instructions to supplement the medicine. There is no need to compete with each other.

In fact, in the final analysis, the core of these popular diet quotes are about the logic of balanced and moderate diet. When we use them, we should not be rigidly dogmatic. Adjusting them based on our own physical condition and life rhythm is better than anything else.