The Golden Rules of Healthy Eating.

Rule 1: Don't skimp on meat, dairy, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and staples

Current Satisfaction: ★☆

Less than 30% of people eat enough of the five major food groups daily, according to the "China Netizens' Nutrition, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Survey" released by the China Health Education Center in early 2012. The "five food groups" include: grains and tubers, animal-based foods (meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk), legumes and nuts, fruits, vegetables, and fungi, and pure energy foods (oil, sugar, alcohol, etc.). Among these, grains and tubers, as staples, should account for more than half of the daily energy source.

Are nutrient supplements enough for nutrition? No. Nutrition should first come from your daily diet; artificially synthesized nutrients can only be a supplement to your diet. In general, there's no need to supplement them daily. Food also provides phytochemicals that are beneficial for preventing chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and cancer. Furthermore, consuming food initiates processes like chewing and gastrointestinal motility, which are greatly beneficial to the digestive system. How can you appreciate the deliciousness of food when swallowing a nutrient supplement with water?

Microwave Baked Sweet Potato

Rule 2: Have vegetables with every meal and eat fruit every day

Current Satisfaction: ★★☆

The World Cancer Research Fund has analyzed research results from around the world and concluded that there is sufficient evidence to show that vegetables and fruits can reduce the risk of many cancers.

The results of the Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey show that the daily vegetable intake is 275 grams, lower than the recommended 300-500 grams; while the fruit intake is 45 grams per day, far below the recommended 200-400 grams.

When choosing vegetables, you can be a bit more "colorful" and see whose shopping basket is more vibrant. Spinach, romaine lettuce, carrots, purple cabbage, red amaranth... dark-colored vegetables should make up half. Of course, don't forget edible mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, wood ear) and sea vegetables (kelp, nori, sea lettuce). When eating fruit, choose seasonal and fresh ones, buying them just before eating.

Is eating just one type of vegetable or fruit enough? Of course not. Both vegetables and fruits are treasures, but their nutritional values have different focuses. Vegetables are rich in plant chemicals, while fruits are rich in organic acids and aromatic substances; the two cannot replace each other.

Marinated Purple Cabbage

Rule 3: Use a salt spoon when cooking and don't ignore hidden salt

Current Satisfaction: ☆

Internationally, the recommended salt intake has been lowered, but the "heavy taste" of Chinese residents has not improved. Data from the 2002 Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey showed that the average daily salt consumption per person was 12 grams, twice the recommended amount. Ten years later, an unpublished nutrition survey shows that the nation's salt consumption has not decreased significantly.

The harm of "excessive salt" may not be as ferocious as a flood, but its long-term erosion of the body is relentless. A high-salt diet is one of the internationally recognized risk factors for hypertension and can induce cerebral thrombosis and myocardial infarction. Therefore, in daily diets, use less salt, and even less.

If you really can't control your salt spoon, try using a salt-limiting spoon. Measure out the family's salt for the whole day based on 5 grams per person (the World Health Organization's recommended amount) and limit yourself to that amount each day. Additionally, pay attention to the "hidden salt" in soy sauce, pickled vegetables, and various sauces.

Spinach Egg Roll

Rule 4: Drink enough water and avoid beverages

Current Satisfaction: ★★

Not only is the water intake insufficient, but there's also a preference for beverages, which is the current situation of drinking among Chinese residents. A 2011 survey on drinking water in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangzhou, led by researcher Ma Guansheng, showed that 30% of residents drank less than 1200 milliliters of water per day. The survey also pointed out that although only 4.7% of people considered beverages the healthiest, 80% still drank them.

"The harm of excessive consumption of sugary drinks is well-known: they are high in energy and can lead to many health problems, but in reality, many people drink them for the taste," said Ma Guansheng. In fact, plain water (such as boiled water, mineral water, purified water) is the best drink in daily life, and among plain waters, boiled water is the best.

Drinking enough water daily is crucial for maintaining the body's metabolism and the functioning of various physiological functions. Insufficient water intake leads to a decline in physical and mental energy, affecting work and study efficiency, and may even cause some diseases (such as hypertension, nephritis, kidney stones). Therefore, you should drink water in small amounts frequently throughout the day.

Boiled Water Cabbage

Rule 5: Eat less pork and choose fish

Current Satisfaction: ★☆

China's pork consumption accounts for half of the global total. The China Meat Association once released data in 2007 showing that China's per capita pork consumption almost doubled in the 16 years after 1990. Eating too much meat is, of course, not good. More than 270 million Chinese people suffer from cardiovascular diseases, which have become the leading cause of death among residents, and this is not unrelated.

"Nutritional Epidemiology," an authoritative nutrition book written by Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University, illustrates the evolutionary process between excessive intake of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet and myocardial infarction. And it is saturated fat and cholesterol—the main culprits in this process—that are most abundant in pork.

Currently, the public has two problems with eating "meat": eating too much pork and eating too little fish and seafood. The protein in fish is easy to digest and absorb, it has a low fat content, and it is rich in unsaturated fatty acids (especially deep-sea fish like tuna, cod, and sardines) that are beneficial to the cardiovascular system. Intake should be increased, with 1-2 ounces per day.

Tuna, Egg, and Spinach Roll