The college entrance examination is approaching, and dietary nutrition for candidates has become a top priority for parents. Experts suggest that in addition to considering nutrition, comprehensiveness, moderation, balance, and hygiene, candidates' meals should still follow the principle of "a good breakfast, a full lunch, and a light dinner." Avoid overeating when staying up late, and the dinner should not be too greasy.
Experts point out that breakfast is not just something to eat, but it should not be taken lightly. A good breakfast ensures the brain is supplied with sufficient energy; otherwise, candidates may be prone to fainting. Lunch should be more substantial. If a candidate loses their appetite due to anxiety and stress, consider varying the dishes and adding light, clear soups, such as pork rib and winter melon soup, or bone and cabbage soup.
Dinner should be mainly based on grains and vegetables. Many parents, feeling sorry for candidates who stay up late, often make dinner more lavish than lunch. In fact, this not only causes gastrointestinal discomfort but also leads to blood pooling in the digestive system for too long, resulting in cerebral ischemia and hypoxia, which can cause mental dullness and decreased memory. Family dinner should generally be arranged around 18:30, as candidates who have been studying intensively all day are often quite tired. Candidates still need to study for 3 hours after dinner to review and summarize the day's lessons, so dinner should serve as an energy booster.
Candidates' dinner should be moderate—neither too full nor too little. The food should be light and easy to digest, which helps fight fatigue and refresh the mind. The dinner meal should provide 30%-50% of the daily reference intake for various nutrients. One hour after dinner, a moderate amount of fresh seasonal fruit can be consumed.
Dinner should not be too late to avoid indigestion. Additionally, if dinner is late, students will inevitably snack due to hunger. Too many snacks can "spoil one's appetite," meaning there is no appetite at mealtimes, leading to insufficient food intake and inadequate nutrition, which will inevitably affect the student's health over time. Example Family Dinner Recipes Example 1:
Staple Food: Gold and Silver Rolls (flour, yellow cornmeal, sesame paste, salt)
Side Dishes: Steamed Fresh Fish (minced ginger and vinegar sauce, various fresh fish, seasonings)
Grass Mushrooms with Seasonal Vegetables (leafy greens, grass mushrooms, seasonings)
Small Dish: Tossed Bean Curd Skin (soaked bean curd skin, boiled peanuts, lettuce, carrots, seasonings)
Soup: Mung Bean Soup Example 2:
Staple Food: Rice
Side Dishes: Stewed Pork and Lotus Root (pork ribs or spare ribs, fresh lotus root, seasonings)
Stir-fried Tofu with Black Beans and Chili (tofu made with brine, fermented black beans, dried chili peppers, seasonings)
Small Dish: Tossed Jellyfish (jellyfish, enoki mushrooms, shredded cucumber, seasonings)
Soup: Gai Cai Soup (Gai Cai, dried small shrimp, seasonings) Example 3:
Staple Food: Two-grain Rice (rice and millet)
Side Dishes: Sliced Beef with Celery (lean beef, celery stalks, seasonings)
Shredded Potato with Hot Peppers (potatoes, hot peppers, seasonings)
Small Dish: Century Egg and Tofu (southern tofu, century egg, pickled mustard, seasonings)
Soup: Sea Shrimp and Celery Leaf Soup (celery tender leaves, sea shrimp or other seafood) Example 4:
Staple Food: Steamed Rice Cake (millet flour, wheat flour, soybean powder, white sugar, red dates)
Side Dishes: Stir-fried Pork Offal and Onion (pork kidneys, pork, onion, seasonings)
Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes (tomatoes, eggs, seasonings)
Stir-fried Broccoli (broccoli, seasonings)
Soup: Lotus Seed, Lily, and Tremella Soup (tremella, lotus seeds, lily bulbs)