Six Diseases Linked to Not Eating Staple Foods

Introduction: Rice, noodles, and mantou are all staple foods that have always been on people's dining tables. However, as living standards improve, these most "humble" foods are becoming increasingly distant from us. Because we can now eat fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as a rich variety of poultry, meat, and fish, more and more people feel that staple foods are just for filling their stomachs and are optional.

However, this behavior carries significant health risks. Not eating staple foods while only eating vegetables can lead to cancer and other diseases.

Colorectal Cancer, Colon Cancer

Not eating rice and instead consuming large amounts of high-protein foods like fish and meat on an empty stomach not only wastes protein but also increases the production of waste in the body.

This is because after protein is broken down, it produces a large amount of nitrogenous waste. This not only increases the burden on the liver and kidneys but also promotes the proliferation of spoilage bacteria in the large intestine, disrupting the gut's micro-ecological balance and increasing the risk of colorectal cancer. Excessive fat intake can also easily lead to a high incidence of colon cancer.

Brain Degeneration

Eating too few staple foods leads to a carbohydrate intake that is far from meeting the body's needs, resulting in a deficiency of important substances in the body. For example, a reduction in glucose can affect brain function.

According to research, the brain needs about 130 grams of starchy staple foods daily for energy. If this is insufficient, it can cause mental fatigue, lack of concentration, slow thinking, anxiety, and other issues that severely impact cognitive function.

Quinoa Steamed Rice

Cardiovascular Disease

Because many vegetables are stir-fried with excessive cooking oil, some dishes are practically swimming in oil, which can easily lead to increased fat intake.

At the same time, increasing the consumption of poultry, livestock, and fish that are rich in protein and fat can also lead to excessive fat accumulation in the body. This not only causes obesity but also leads to a series of problems like hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease.

Diabetes

Some diabetic patients or people worried about developing diabetes intentionally eat less rice and flour, believing this reduces their sugar intake.

If a patient's staple food intake is too low, they may be in a semi-starved state, which can easily lead to reactive hyperglycemia and a decreased ability to fight off hypoglycemia. Over time, the patient's body will become emaciated, fat will be abnormally produced, and it becomes easy to develop various complications like hyperlipidemia, making treatment more difficult.

Fatty Liver Disease

Drinking alcohol and eating vegetables without staple foods can especially harm the liver and gallbladder. Even if you try to eat less or no animal fats containing saturated fats and switch to vegetable oils containing unsaturated fats, which is naturally beneficial for resisting atherosclerosis, it's hard to control the intake of oil and dishes at a banquet.

Over time, this will increase lipid peroxidation in the body, damage liver cells, and may also induce gallstones. Alcohol consumption will exacerbate this damage, causing or worsening fatty liver.

Fried Egg with Mantou

Tips: How to Eat Staple Foods Healthily

Make your staple foods at home as varied as possible

The principle for choosing staple foods provided by nutrition experts is that whole grains are better than refined grains, and beans and tubers are better than ordinary whole grains. The nutritional value of whole grains, beans, or tubers is much higher than that of polished rice and white flour: compared to regular wheat flour, whole wheat flour has three times the amount of B vitamins.

In terms of protein, the protein content of beans like red beans and mung beans is three times that of rice. However, the human body needs more than 40 different essential nutrients, and each person's requirement for each nutrient varies. More practically, everyone has different tastes, so home cooks can strive to balance the family's diet while adjusting the proportions of refined and coarse grains and main and side dishes to suit everyone's palate.

Eat some staple foods before a big meal with alcohol

Eating a small bowl of coarse grains like congee or noodles, a piece or two of corn, yam, or taro, or even a few bites of carbohydrate-containing cold dishes like shredded potatoes or rice cakes before a big meal can prevent the harm of alcohol and greasy food to the stomach and body, thus protecting your health. It can also make you feel full sooner, effectively reducing food intake and controlling your weight.

Replace refined desserts with whole grains

Today, the staple foods at banquets are often exquisite, crispy, and small pastries, flaky pancakes, fried rice, or even deep-fried foods. They are often high in oil and extremely low in fiber, failing to balance nutrients and protect health. Swapping them for simple options like plain congee, sweet potato congee, or whole grain mantou are much better choices.

Milk Whole Grain Pancakes