9 Principles for Healthy Eating During the Spring-Summer Transition
As spring deepens and summer approaches, this seasonal transition is an optimal time for the body to adjust and recuperate. However, it's also a period when people's appetites often increase, making them prone to overeating and irregular eating habits. Therefore, rational and healthy eating becomes particularly important. Here are several health principles for late spring and early summer:
Principle 1: Reasonable Calorie Distribution
During holidays, many people enjoy sleeping in, waking up at nine or ten in the morning, and thus skipping breakfast. They then wait to have a large lunch to satisfy their hunger. This practice is absolutely not advisable. The calorie distribution for three meals during holidays should be reasonable. Skipping breakfast and overeating at lunch and dinner can easily lead to metabolic overload and obesity.
Holiday breakfasts should be rich in high-protein foods (a glass of milk, an egg, and congee). It would be even more balanced to add some vegetables and fruits. You can also drink a little coffee or tea to refresh your mind. It is recommended that the most reasonable calorie distribution for three meals is: 30% for breakfast, 40% for lunch, and 30% for dinner.
In addition, for those who want to control their weight or lose weight, it is also necessary to appropriately control the total daily calorie intake, especially reducing the consumption of high-calorie foods such as peanuts, walnuts, and sesame, and cutting down on snacks.
Principle 2: Supplement with High-Quality Protein
Around the "May Day" holiday, the body's Yang energy begins to flourish, and the functions of various tissues and organs become increasingly active, increasing the demand for nutrients. Appropriate intake of high-quality protein from meats, eggs, and milk can not only enhance physical strength and boost energy but also, because high-quality protein is rich in tyrosine—which can keep the brain alert and clear—help drive away "spring lethargy."
It is recommended to consume soy products in moderation. However, avoid consuming a large amount of high-protein food at once during gatherings, as this can lead to nutritional excess and increase the burden on the kidneys. Patients with gout should pay particular attention to their intake of high-protein substances.
Principle 3: Diet Should Be Light and Gentle
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, one should nourish Yang in spring and summer. During this season, it is advisable to reduce the intake of oily foods and choose lighter, gentler, low-fat options. For cooking, use vegetable oils like peanut oil, soybean oil, or olive oil, with a daily intake not exceeding 25 grams. Limit fried and pan-fried foods to prevent obesity, fatty liver, hyperlipidemia, and other diseases. You can eat more fungi, such as black fungus, tremella, mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms.
Black fungus is rich in minerals like calcium, which plays a dominant role in the function of human muscles, heart, and brain cells. Tremella is rich in tremella polysaccharides, which can enhance the phagocytic ability of the body's macrophages. Mushrooms contain mushroom polysaccharides that can resist the invasion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Spring is a time when viruses are active, and many viruses can take advantage of a weakened immune system. Edible fungi are natural health supplements in the spring, and eating more can increase the body's antiviral capabilities.
Principle 4: Eat More High-Fiber and High-Mineral Foods
Choose high-fiber and high-mineral foods and increase the intake of yellow-green vegetables and seasonal fruits. This can not only supplement the body's vitamins and inorganic salts but also fully meet the liver's needs. Vegetables like shepherd's purse, rape, celery, spinach, Malan head, wolfberry sprouts, toon, and dandelion can help clear heat and detoxify, cool the blood and improve vision, promote bowel movements, and stimulate the appetite.
Appropriate consumption of green onions, ginger, garlic, and chives can dispel Yin-cold and has the effect of sterilizing and preventing disease, which can reduce the incidence of colds.
Principle 5: Pay Attention to the Combination of Staple and Non-Staple Foods
When gathering with friends, many people only eat meat dishes and skip the staple food. This is neither in line with the principles of health preservation nor meets nutritional needs. Staple foods are the main source of our daily energy. Eating too much staple food with little exercise leads to obesity, but not eating staple food means not getting enough energy for normal activities, which can easily lead to physical weakness. You might lose weight but not gain a healthy constitution.
Therefore, ensuring an appropriate amount of staple food at each meal is key to maintaining sufficient energy without gaining weight. The principle should be more staple food and less non-staple food.
Principle 6: Pay Attention to the Combination of Coarse and Fine Grains
Modern diets are often refined, with people eating more fine grains and rarely touching coarse grains. In fact, although refined rice and flour taste good, the refining process removes the outer layer, which is rich in B vitamins, calcium, zinc, iron, and dietary fiber, easily leading to deficiencies in vitamins and trace elements. In contrast, the nutrients in coarse grains like millet, oats, sorghum, Chinese yam, and taro are very rich.
Therefore, a combination of coarse and fine grains is essential. During the holidays, while enjoying delicious meals made from fine grains, it is important to also eat some coarse grains to effectively ensure adequate nutrient intake.
Principle 7: Pay Attention to the Combination of Meat and Vegetarian Foods
A nutritious, healthy, and delicious meal should include four-legged animals like pork, beef, and lamb; two-legged animals like chicken, duck, and goose; one-legged fungi; legless fish; bean products; and fruits and vegetables with roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Generally speaking, a balanced diet should include both, with a meat-to-vegetable ratio of 1:4. Among the meat, the proportions of four-legged, two-legged, one-legged, and legless foods should each account for 1/4.
Principle 8: Pay Attention to the Combination of Acidic and Alkaline Foods
As living standards improve, the intake of acidic foods such as meat, eggs, poultry, and fish/shrimp has increased, making the body's internal environment more acidic and prone to various metabolic diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the daily intake of alkaline foods such as seasonal vegetables (carrots, spinach, celery, cauliflower, rape, lettuce, lotus root, bell peppers), fruits, legumes and their products, and dairy products to maintain the body's acid-base balance, enhance immunity, and prevent disease.
Principle 9: Pay Attention to the Combination of Dry and Liquid Foods
A healthy diet should include both dry and liquid foods at each meal for easy digestion. You can prepare dishes with shredded meat, minced meat, meat soups, or meatballs, or stew and stir-fry them with other nutritious foods, such as pig spine stewed with kelp, spinach with stir-fried pork liver, lettuce stir-fried with pork slices, and seaweed egg soup. Constantly eating dry food is not good for the digestive system. Combining dry and liquid foods according to the situation can not only increase the feeling of fullness but also help with digestion and absorption. Remember, "soup before a meal keeps you slim and healthy."