6 Eating Habits That Will Ruin Your Health
Introduction: Some unhealthy eating habits can cause you to lose large amounts of nutrients, such as vitamins, calcium, iron, etc. The following lists six major dietary misconceptions. These wrong eating habits can ruin your health, so everyone should pay attention.
1. Eating Too Much Fiber Leads to Calcium Loss!
Excessive dietary fiber increases the speed at which food passes through the intestines, reducing the absorption rate of calcium. Studies have shown that when two adults' diets change from low-fiber refined bread to high-fiber coarse bread per meal, calcium (as well as magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus) shows a negative balance.
While calcium is abundant in food, its absorption is not very good. Reasons that affect calcium absorption include: ① Too much vitamin D; ② Excessive oxalic acid and phytic acid in the body will form insoluble calcium oxalate and calcium phytate, and excessive phosphate will form insoluble tricalcium phosphate. Foods rich in oxalic acid include spinach and bamboo shoots.
The large amount of cellulose in vegetables is the main source of nutrition for herbivores, but humans do not have the ability to utilize it. The role of cellulose in the human body is to effectively increase the residue of digested food, speed up intestinal peristalsis, inhibit harmful intestinal bacteria, and promote the growth of aerobic bacteria. It promotes the absorption of water by the intestines, reduces the contact time between carcinogens and the intestinal mucosa, increases bile excretion to effectively prevent atherosclerosis and gallbladder diseases, and increases satiety during meals to delay the absorption of sugar.
2. Binging on Meat and Eggs Leads to Iron Loss!
Most children nowadays love to eat all kinds of meat but not vegetables and fruits. Parents also believe that as long as they eat more iron- and zinc-rich meat, fish, and eggs, it doesn't matter whether they eat vegetables and fruits. The result is: not only does the child's weight skyrocket, but they are still found to have iron-deficiency anemia upon examination.
This is because the iron in lean meat, animal organs, and egg yolks in people's diets is mostly trivalent iron, which is not easily absorbed by the human body. It can only be converted into divalent iron and fully absorbed and utilized by the human body in the presence of vitamin C and acidic substances (rich in various organic acids such as malic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid).
Vitamin C and acidic substances are most abundant in vegetables and fruits (such as kiwi, lemon, fresh jujube, sour jujube, orange, strawberry, apple).
If you only eat lean meat, animal organs, egg yolks, etc., without eating or eating less vegetables and fruits, the iron in these foods cannot be absorbed and utilized by the human body, resulting in a huge waste of nutrients and causing iron-deficiency anemia.
3. Imbalance of Calcium and Phosphate "Drives Away" Calcium!
An imbalance in the calcium-phosphate ratio is the culprit for current calcium deficiency in people.
Under normal circumstances, the calcium-phosphate ratio in the human body is 2:1. However, in real life, people excessively consume large amounts of phosphorus-containing foods such as carbonated drinks, cola, coffee, hamburgers, pizza, wheat germ, animal liver, and french fries. The phosphorus content often exceeds calcium by more than 10 times, making the calcium-phosphate ratio as high as 1:10-20. The ratio of calcium to phosphate is severely imbalanced. As a result, the excess phosphate in the diet will frantically "drive" the calcium in the body out of the body.
4. Drinking Milk on an Empty Stomach
Some people like to drink a glass of milk on an empty stomach for breakfast in the morning, not realizing that this is a very bad practice. After a night of digestion and absorption, the gastrointestinal tract is almost empty. If you drink milk on an empty stomach in the morning, the milk will be excreted along the empty gastrointestinal tract before it can be fully absorbed by the body, resulting in a huge waste of nutrients. Therefore, it is best to eat some carbohydrates like cookies, bread, or steamed buns when drinking milk. Never drink milk on an empty stomach.
5. Medications Lead to Nutrient Loss!
Most women using contraceptives may not know that contraceptives can hinder the absorption of vitamin B6, B12, folic acid, and vitamin C. The progesterone in contraceptives can hinder the function of vitamin B6 and interfere with the absorption of folic acid. Aspirin, on the other hand, causes the amount of vitamin C excreted from the body to increase three times the normal amount.
Large doses of vitamin C supplements can "drive away" folic acid in the body. Antiepileptic drugs can also interfere with folic acid absorption. Long-term use of antibiotics can lead to a loss of vitamin B complex and vitamin K, affecting gastrointestinal function.
Cold medicines and painkillers can reduce the level of vitamin A in the blood.
Sulfa drugs and cholesterol-lowering drugs can affect folic acid absorption. Diuretics and laxatives taken by patients with hypertension and nephritis can lead to a large loss of calcium, potassium, and vitamins in the body.
Patients with gastric ulcers or hemorrhagic anemia, and those taking antacids or alkaline drugs, will experience a significant loss of trace elements such as iron.