The purpose of the author's writing this article is to introduce the basic principles of rational nutrition to everyone. I hope busy young people can take time to read it, and I hope that the elderly who have worked hard for most of their lives will read it carefully. Compared with Japan, I have the desire to make up lessons for you. Of course, nutrition is a big concept, which is far from being described by more than 4,000 words in this article. I will focus on how to know how to touch all kinds of food every day.
Modern nutrition is based on the analysis of nutritional components. In order to determine the function of nutrients contained in food, the metabolic process of food in human body was studied. Up to now, there are seven kinds of indispensable nutrients for human growth, development and activities, namely, protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and water. There are several kinds in each category, with more than forty kinds.
In the first half of last century, nutrition completed the basic understanding of nutrients.
At that time, people were mainly concerned about what nutrients the human body needed, what nutrients were contained in certain foods and their functions, and what consequences would be caused by eating less, not eating or lacking certain foods, so as to prevent and treat malnutrition (mainly malnutrition).
About forty or fifty years ago, after many countries, including China, solved the food shortage, residents began to have overnutrition (also known as overnutrition), followed by the high incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases (referred to as "chronic diseases") such as obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and diabetes. It makes nutritionists more inclined to study the effects of excessive or insufficient intake of certain nutrients and imbalance on health, and determine the appropriate intake of nutrients for children, women, the elderly and other people. The purpose is to solve how to choose and match food, so that people can get healthy nutrition from their diet, that is, reasonable nutrition.
There is a famous saying in the field of nutrition: "There is no bad food, only a bad diet". Dieters, the combination of main and non-staple foods that people eat every day. Diet includes food collocation. The difference between good and bad diet mainly lies in whether it can be scientifically arranged according to the characteristics and ingredients of food.
According to the characteristics of food and people's needs, a variety of foods are scientifically combined to complement each other, thus forming a balanced diet. Balanced diet is the material basis of reasonable nutrition, and it is an important guarantee for strengthening physique, eliminating diseases and prolonging life.
What does a balanced diet mean? For normal people, at present, the five most certain contents of domestic nutritionists are: the balance between animal food and plant food; Balance between staple food and non-staple food; Thickness balance in staple food; Heat balance; Cold and warm balance.
Specifically, the balance between animal food and plant food, that is, the balance between meat and vegetables, should be roughly 1 to 7 in terms of raw weight before cooking; The balance between staple food and non-staple food means that every meal has a main and a deputy, and both grain and miscellaneous grains are indispensable. Adult men engaged in light manual labor generally 300-500 grams per day, women 200-400 grams, the elderly 120-200 grams; The thickness balance in staple food means that there should be a certain proportion of coarse grains in staple food, generally accounting for 1/3- 1/2, with fewer children and more elderly people; Calorie balance refers to the balance between calories taken from food and calories consumed by the body. Long-term calorie balance can maintain a healthy weight. Generally, young white-collar workers need about 2000 kcal a day, and the elderly need 1, 200- 1, 500 kcal. Cereal staple food and animal food are the foods with the most calories, which can be distributed in the morning, middle and evening according to the ratio of 3 to 4 to 3. The balance between cold and heat is a concept of traditional Chinese medicine, which will be introduced below.
Nutritionists divide the foods that humans eat every day into five categories, such as cereals and animal foods. 20 16 The Nutrition Society of China formulated the recommended amount of various foods for China people at this stage. Based on the raw weight of food before cooking, the average daily intake of five foods for normal adults is usually: cereal 150-400 grams; 300-500g of vegetables and 200-400g of fruits; Animal food 125-225g (fish and shrimp 50- 100g, meat of livestock and poultry 50-75g, eggs 25-50g); 300g of milk and 30-50g of bean products; Grease does not exceed 25 or 30 grams, and salt does not exceed 6 grams.
The health care function of food is realized by the ingredients contained. These ingredients must reach a certain amount and last for a long time before they can fully play their roles. For example, potatoes contain mineral potassium, which can prevent stroke, but research shows that only eating 2-3 potatoes a day for many years and getting more than 700 mg of potassium can reduce the risk of stroke by 40%. For another example, eating apples can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 50%, but you must insist on eating an apple every day for many years. For example, sweet potato has anti-aging and anti-cancer effects, which was discovered by epidemiologists when summarizing the diet of residents in longevity areas; The control survey also found that people in many places eat sweet potatoes for many years, and the incidence of cancer is lower than that of people who don't eat or eat less. For another example, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in marine fish can prevent stroke, but only by eating fish five times a week for many years, each time with more than 50-100g, can we get enough omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
However, although these facts have been confirmed by nutritional research, under normal circumstances, people cannot be encouraged to rely solely on potatoes to prevent stroke, nor can they use sweet potatoes as their staple food to prevent cancer every day. Because no matter what kind of food is eaten too much, in general, even if it is tolerable for the average person, it will bring negative effects of one kind or another. People's appetite is limited. If they eat more potatoes, apples, sweet potatoes or sea fish, it is not only unrealistic to eat less other foods. More importantly, if you eat less other foods, you will inevitably lack some nutrients, which will affect other nutrition and health care effects from other foods. Paying attention to one thing and losing another violates the principle of balanced diet, and over time, it will also cause other harm to the body.
Many members of the public, especially the elderly who are interested in diet and health preservation, and many novices in nutrition, easily attach too much importance to a certain effect of a certain food after understanding its specific nutritional and health care advantages. However, in today's society, many people intentionally or unintentionally over-promote some edible things and products (such as health care products), which leads some people (mainly the elderly) to blindly favor and overeat the things or products. It is likely to cause harmful consequences to health, and the elderly may even delay the treatment of their own diseases.
Among all the natural foods of human beings, except for one kind of milk, which can meet the growth needs of children within six months, no food can meet all the nutritional needs of human beings. Therefore, people are required to eat all kinds of food every day. Because every food contains different ingredients, the more kinds of foods that make up the diet, the closer people are to various beneficial ingredients.
In the face of countless edible things endowed by nature, whether young people, children or the elderly, men, women and children must understand the nutritional composition and characteristics of food when arranging the food they eat every day, and make comprehensive consideration according to the Dietary Guide for China Residents formulated by the Nutrition Society of China, so as to have a balanced diet.
Reasonable nutrition can ensure that children thrive, young people are full of energy, and the elderly can achieve the effect of preventing and treating chronic diseases and prolonging life.
Eat everything, without losing bias, enough is enough. Please remember: to achieve reasonable nutrition, we must give full play to the overall effect of food, and we must maintain the balance of various foods that make up our daily diet, rather than relying solely on one food. Elderly people who pay attention to diet and health care should be especially vigilant and avoid going to extremes.
The essence of traditional Chinese medicine is "the homology of medicine and food", which advocates "all meals are medicine, and medicine and food are combined" His theory that food has four natures and five flavors and "five flavors nourish the five internal organs" is an outstanding contribution of our ancestors to world medicine and should be regarded as an integral part of nutrition.
Different from modern nutrition, which pays attention to the analysis of food ingredients, Chinese medicine attaches importance to the overall function of food and thinks that food has four natures and five flavors, namely, cold, hot, warm, cold, sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty. Four natures are determined by the influence of each food on the human body, and five flavors mean that different foods have different effects on the human body. Traditional Chinese medicine attaches great importance to diet conditioning, with the principles of "cold is hot, heat is cold, deficiency is tonic, but actually diarrhea" and "five flavors are in harmony, and nature and taste are linked". According to people's physique, symptoms and seasons, different flavors of food are selected to balance cold and temperature, so as to achieve the purpose of strengthening the body, preventing diseases and treating diseases. Such as glutinous rice, honey, yam, sweet taste, nourishing effect, people with physical weakness can eat more appropriately to keep fit; Bitter and cold bitter gourd, towel gourd, celery, mung bean, water chestnut and duck have the effect of clearing away heat and dampness in summer; Mutton, ginger, pepper and longan are warm foods, which can be eaten by people with cold constitution in winter, and can warm the middle and dispel the cold. Jujube can replenish blood, pear can relieve cough and so on.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), through syndrome differentiation and treatment, selects and arranges food according to the viscera manifestations of yin and yang, deficiency and excess, exterior and interior, cold and heat, and the four natures and five flavors of food, which can make people get twice the result with half the effort.
In China, the elderly over 60 suffer from an average of 3.4 chronic diseases. The author personally understands that under the guidance of professionals, choosing food according to one's own physique and taste is particularly beneficial to the frail elderly who suffer from chronic diseases for a long time.
However, it is necessary for the author to emphasize that the application of TCM theory in health preservation should be guided by professionals. People who are interested in diet and health care must be wary of people exaggerating the functions of certain foods (such as eggplant and loach) or their products (such as pumpkin powder), and even saying that a certain health care product is a panacea for all diseases. There is no doubt that you will be cheated.
The complexity of life and individual differences make it impossible to implement nutrition and health care according to one or several fixed models. The elderly have different chronic diseases and different personal constitutions. Therefore, when preparing diet and using traditional Chinese medicine, it must vary from person to person and from illness to illness. Old people should not blindly follow the trend.
A good diet should have six elements: nutrition, safety, satiety, delicious, convenient and cheap. As far as its biological characteristics and human needs are concerned, food is neither good nor bad nor graded. Expensive products in the market are not necessarily good for you. All kinds of food, like bricks, stones and reinforced concrete for building, have their own properties and uses, and meals are like buildings. Preparing meals is the same as building a building, and the decisive factor is how people choose and arrange. A balanced diet is not the best, only better. To arrange a balanced diet, we should not only consider people's health needs, but also consider diners' preferences, habits, customs, economic situation and market supply, so that people are willing and willing to accept it. Diet is the most common thing, but if you want to eat scientifically and reasonably, you have profound knowledge and you have to work hard to learn.
It goes without saying that the earlier you know, the better for people. You can not only eat health from food, but also enjoy the fun of life from colorful food. Ladies and gentlemen: Take some time to study actively! For myself and my family. Health first!
Li Shizhen, a great physician in ancient China, said, "What people eat and drink is also the lifeblood of people". Let's learn about food through formal channels and learn as much as possible about nutrition!
refer to
China Nutrition Society. Dietary guide for China residents. People's Health Publishing House.2016.
How should Liu Zheng and other old people eat? People's Health Publishing House.2016
Fang Weizhong and others. Prevention and control of diseases in middle-aged and elderly people. Shanghai Science Popularization Press.2018
(the picture is taken from the network. Author: Chaojian; Fu shun; Review: Liu Zheng)
Chief physician Liu Zheng. As an early modern nutritionist in China, he won three provincial and municipal scientific research awards, published nine monographs, and held hundreds of health lectures on TV, community and schools. I wish all men, women and children happiness and health!
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