In 2016, the Disease Control Bureau of the National Health and Family Planning Commission released the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Dietary Guidelines 2016"), which proposed a more ideal dietary pattern for Chinese people in terms of daily nutrition in the form of a "Dietary Pagoda." Although there are standards, implementing them can sometimes feel like a case of more will than power. In real life, busy office workers often don't have much time to research how to combine their foods each day. In fact, office workers don't need to follow the Pagoda's recommendations every single day. As long as the total dietary intake is balanced and the dietary structure meets the standards within a period, such as a week, health can be guaranteed.
The "Dietary Guidelines 2016" require food diversification, with daily diets including cereals and tubers, vegetables and fruits, livestock, poultry, fish, eggs, and milk, and soybeans and nuts. It is often difficult for office workers to consume enough of all the above types of ingredients every day, but it is much easier to do so within a week. First, everyone's staple food is basically rice and noodles, so the grain category is basically guaranteed. As for tubers, it is easy to eat a fist-sized portion every other day. After all, tubers include potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, and taro, among other ingredients. For example, having shredded potatoes today, stir-fried yams with wood ear mushrooms the day after tomorrow, or buying a roasted sweet potato as a snack or dinner主食 can satisfy this requirement.
When it comes to vegetables and fruits, some people might be happy, thinking it's easy to ensure them every day, but a reminder is still needed: is your quantity sufficient? The "Dietary Guidelines 2016" recommend that each person eats 500 grams of vegetables and 250 grams of fruit daily, with at least half being dark-colored vegetables like red, yellow, green, and purple. However, the amount of vegetables in office workers' breakfast and lunch is often not much, so try to eat more vegetables for dinner. If the colors of the vegetables consumed within a week can form a colorful rainbow, it's even healthier.
As for fish, poultry, eggs, and lean meat, it is easy for a normal person to eat an egg every morning. Even if you rotate through chicken, duck, pork chops, beef, and mutton daily, the meat intake is often excessive. Fish doesn't need to be eaten every day; eating it two or three times a week is fine. The key is to control the total daily intake of these ingredients to about the size of a fist. More and more office workers are accustomed to drinking a cup of milk a day. If pure milk doesn't agree with your stomach, you can substitute it with yogurt. Develop the habit of eating soy products often, such as having a glass of soy milk today, fish stewed with tofu tomorrow, and stir-fried celery with dried bean curd the day after tomorrow.
Finally, for nuts, some might say they are too busy at work to have time to crack them. In fact, nuts are rich in protein, beneficial fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. A small handful a day, eaten with breakfast, is a good supplement to morning nutrition and energy. For those who are truly lazy, you can also buy pre-shelled nuts in individual small packets.
Actually, there is a simple model to refer to for the daily intake of the major food categories mentioned above, which is the "Ten Fists Principle": 1 fist of fish, poultry, meat, and eggs per day, 2 fists of milk and soy products, 2 fists of staple foods (including tubers and miscellaneous beans), and 5 fists of vegetables and fruits. If you eat too much meat at a gathering today, try to eat more vegetarian meals tomorrow and the day after to ensure the overall balance of the diet within a week. Try to cook dinner at home or eat at home. On one hand, this allows for better daily dietary balance, and on the other hand, restaurant dishes often have high levels of oil and salt, which is not good for your health.
Generally speaking, the eating methods in the "Dietary Pagoda" are suitable for the average healthy person. In real life, office workers can make appropriate adjustments according to their age, height, weight, and labor intensity. For ordinary office workers, it is sufficient to refer to the ten-fist dietary principle every day. However, for obese people or those with high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high blood lipids, a lighter diet is more necessary, with a moderate reduction in staple foods and an increase in vegetable intake. For office workers with high physical activity, the food intake can be increased accordingly. In general, the dietary nutrition of office workers should maintain a balance with their body's energy expenditure.