Three meals a day without snacks—life first depends on nutrition. Nutrition is the foundation of health; without it, there is no health. Malnutrition or overnutrition leads to a host of diseases. When sick, one must not only take medicine but also strengthen nutrition. No matter how severe the illness, as long as one can eat, there is hope; no matter how mild, if one cannot eat, it becomes troublesome.
"Man is iron, and rice is steel." Nutrition is the material basis for ensuring human health. The function of organs and the normal metabolism of tissues depend on essential nutrients. Nutrition plays a pivotal role in preventing, eliminating, and recovering from sub-health to achieve a healthy state. People with good nutrition are healthy. Some people under 40 show signs of weakness, fatigue, and dullness, while others over 80 are still like "young people." Therefore, it can be said that, to some extent, the degree of physiological or functional aging depends on nutritional status. In other words, being able to eat is what makes one healthy. So, what is the current nutritional status of our residents?
Looking back at the 50 years since liberation, dietary nutrition has generally gone through two stages. The first stage was from liberation to the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Party, lasting nearly 30 years. During this period, material supplies were scarce, and residents only sought to have enough to eat. The focus of health administrative departments was on food hygiene, mainly preventing and controlling intestinal infectious diseases, with no attention paid to nutrition and health. The second stage has been since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Party, especially since the 1990s, when residents have moved from having enough to eat to a moderately prosperous life. A significant change is the abundance of material and food supplies. However, due to the widespread lack of nutritional knowledge, "nutritional illiterates" are very common among residents. Overnutrition and undernutrition still harm the health of our residents.
So, is the more nutrition, the better? According to nutritionists, a lack of nutrients is not good; an excess is "toxic."
According to surveys, modern urbanites currently face a serious problem of "two mores and three lesses"—more calories and more salt, and less calcium, less iron, and less rice. This is a major obstacle to the health of modern urbanites. Surveys show that many people lack energy and feel tired as soon as they start work in the morning, cannot concentrate, and often experience a racing heart and shortness of breath. They are also prone to colds and flu. Repeated examinations find no clear cause, and medication is ineffective. This is actually a typical sub-health manifestation of malnutrition and insufficient calorie intake. Only by addressing nutrition can the problem be solved. There is also another type of person who eats at different households every day, consuming too many calories, leading to obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia, coronary heart disease... Without tackling nutrition through diet, even the best doctors and medicines will be of no help.
So how can one meet the body's nutritional needs? Nutritionists believe that humans are omnivores; only comprehensive, balanced, and moderate nutrition can meet the body's physiological needs. Comprehensive, balanced, and moderate means: comprehensive—eating a variety of foods to ensure all nutrients are present in the three daily meals; balanced—requiring that various nutrients maintain a certain proportion, with some not being more and others less; and moderate—requiring that the amount of each nutrient is neither deficient nor excessive. These three principles are easy to state but not so simple to follow. Based on modern nutritional theory, the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" formulated by the Chinese Nutrition Society, and daily life, the author has compiled "Ten Rules for a Healthy Diet" for the general public for readers' reference. Ten Rules for a Healthy Diet
1. One bottle of milk per person per day.
2. One egg per person per day.
3. At least one meal of seafood fish on the table each week.
4. Increase the intake of beans and bean products.
5. Eat more light vegetables.
6. It is best to eat 500 grams of vegetables per person per day.
7. Incorporate fungus and mushroom foods into the diet.
8. Lighter, and even lighter.
9. Control high-sugar and high-fat diets.
10. Eat until full.