The New Year of 2012 has passed, and the Spring Festival is drawing near. We Chinese people have always had a strong sense of family and kinship. During holidays, many people go home to visit their parents.
To visit parents, one naturally goes to the supermarket to buy them gifts, and also buys some snacks for the children. I often see some children following their parents to buy their favorite snacks. Those dazzling array of foods are so numerous that they are dazzling to the eyes. Are the various foods in exquisite packaging healthy? Are the foods that people buy for several times or even tens of times the price of the raw ingredients suitable for long-term consumption by children and the elderly? What exactly are the ingredients? Although the food labels state it clearly, the vast majority of people don't bother to look. I saw a middle-aged man selecting cookies in front of a sugar-free food cabinet. I asked him if he was picking food for a diabetic patient. He told me that his mother has diabetes, so he buys some sugar-free food for her. After I explained my identity and the reason for my question, he regretfully said that he often buys sugar-free food for his mother, but her blood sugar is always uncontrollable. As a nutritionist, I特意 paid attention to those who were buying food. Some bought it because of the exquisite packaging, and some were recommended by salespeople. I then looked at the ingredient list of a protein powder purchased by a couple, and surprisingly, the main ingredient was white sugar, followed by protein powder. The rapid increase in the number of people with the "three highs" (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids) and cancer in our country is largely related to people's backward nutritional concepts.
In fact, the "three highs" are very common among the elderly in our country now. Many young children have commendable filial piety and buy tonic foods for their parents, hoping they will live longer. However, consumption must be based on knowledge; otherwise, the love born from ignorance can become harmful. Just like the middle-aged man I mentioned earlier who bought sugar-free food for his diabetic mother in the supermarket. From this, I once again see the serious lack of popularization of nutritional knowledge.
In fact, "sugar-free" foods only contain no sucrose. Foods made mainly from refined rice and flour will cause rapid fluctuations in blood sugar. In addition, some contain high-fructose corn syrup, glucose syrup, etc., which are also killers for diabetes. In fact, the best thing for diabetes is not so-called "sugar-free" foods, but various natural coarse grains, miscellaneous beans, vegetables, fruits, and a balanced diet, scientific exercise, a good mindset, adequate sleep, quitting smoking, and limiting alcohol. I will write a special article about diabetic diet in my next post.
Due to the reduced digestive and absorption abilities and decreased enzyme activity in the body of the elderly, it is very beneficial to properly supplement some high-quality nutrients. Now, there are many protein powders on the market, and many people buy protein powder for their parents to nourish their bodies. However, simply supplementing protein can also harm health because the synthesis of protein in the body requires the help of vitamins and minerals; otherwise, it may become intermediate products, that is, garbage and toxins. Excess protein cannot be stored in the body and must be metabolized out. However, the metabolism of protein produces toxic substances such as ketoacids, which can damage the kidneys.
>The body's various nutritional needs must have a proper ratio. The human body is a balanced system, and any deficiency or excess of nutrients can harm health. Therefore, without understanding nutrition, blindly supplementing one or several nutrients can also harm health.I have found that children's food has these four health hazards.
1. The fat content in children's food is several times the standard. Refined vegetable oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil, margarine, hydrogenated vegetable oil, cocoa butter substitutes, and creamer (all contain trans-fatty acids that are difficult for the human body to metabolize) are very common in packaged children's food. If these foods with excessive fat and trans-fatty acids are consumed by children for a long time, it will lead to children being overweight, decreased physical fitness, and can also cause many chronic diseases.
2. There are too many types of food additives. For example, there are dozens of food additives in the jelly that children like to eat. In fact, each type of food additive permitted by the country will not harm healthy people within the scope of the specified usage amount. However, many food companies are experts at walking the legal line. Excessive use of one food additive can harm health. If you don't let them use it excessively, in order to save costs and make people addicted to increase sales, they will use several types. However, because the cost of natural food additives is too high, companies are unwilling to use them. Chemically synthesized additives are cheap, which also meets the goal of food companies to save costs and increase profits. However, chemically synthesized additives are not nutrients needed by the human body. The liver and kidneys have to bear the burden of metabolizing these chemicals out of the body. Therefore, I hope that parents can be more discerning and not let too many food additives add to the burden of their children's liver and kidneys.
3. From the perspective of main ingredients, they are all ingredients with a very high glycemic index. In fact, most foods use refined rice, flour, and refined sugar as raw materials. The effect of these food ingredients on blood sugar fluctuations is even higher than that of pure white sugar. Trans-fatty acids may also lead to insulin resistance in cells. Long-term consumption of these foods is a serious devastation to the pancreas and glucose tolerance levels.
4. These foods made from refined rice and flour, excessive refined oil, and refined sugar will also cause metabolic intermediate products to accumulate in the body, leading to various metabolic syndromes. Because refined foods contain only a small amount of protein, a large amount of fat, and sugar, they will produce a large amount of metabolic garbage that accumulates in the body during the metabolic process due to the lack of vitamins, minerals, and bioactive substances. This can lead to many chronic diseases that modern medicine cannot cure.
These food factories use all kinds of tactics to increase sales. Psychological experts use children's psychological weaknesses to make advertisements and packaging very attractive to children's eyes. They use various methods to mix multiple chemical additives to stimulate children's taste buds, hoping that our children can become addicted to eating is the biggest dream of manufacturers. I believe all parents love their children very much. In order not to let their children feel wronged, we parents always spare no expense to satisfy their children's desires. But are we loving our children or harming them?
The rapid increase in the number of people with the "three highs" and cancer in our country is largely related to people's backward nutritional concepts.
In fact, natural coarse grains, a wide variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, freshly killed fish and meats, nutritious fresh milk and eggs, and delicious various nuts are relatively cheap, rich in nutrients, and have high food safety compared to refined processed foods. It saves money and is healthy. This is the best choice for a healthy diet.
There are too many misconceptions about nutrition, and too much and too confusing information about health preservation. There are both correct information and many rumors, as well as much health preservation knowledge that has been eliminated by the changes of the times but is still widely spread. The work of us nutritionists is arduous, and I also hope that the general public will take better care of their own and their families' health, use knowledge to live, instead of living with backward habits. The times are developing, and we must also progress.
I hope everyone can learn more about nutrition, first to be healthy themselves, and then to help their families be healthy, happy, and happy forever.