Man is iron, food is steel, one meal skipped leaves you feeling weak.
When it's time to eat, some women say, "I'm not eating, I'm afraid of gaining weight." They skip the meal but end up eating plenty of snacks. A while later, you'll find that not only has their weight not decreased, it has actually increased.
The most common mistake people make when trying to lose weight is to avoid staple foods. This is because staple foods contain a significant amount of carbohydrates, and carbohydrates can produce energy in the body. Therefore, many people believe that by not eating rice or only eating vegetables with rice, they can achieve weight loss. Is this really the case? The answer is no.
The reason is simple. Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy. A deficiency leads to insufficient energy in the body, forcing it to burn fat and protein for energy. However, in the absence of carbohydrates, excessive oxidation of fat can produce large amounts of ketones, leading to ketoacidosis. When dietary protein is also used for energy, it not only wastes protein resources but also burdens the kidneys, as they must process it. This is truly not worth the loss.
Foods rich in carbohydrates, such as grains, are not only high in carbs but also contain dietary fiber, minerals, and other nutrients. Limiting the intake of these foods means you will also lose more of these essential nutrients.
Therefore, to lose weight, it is not acceptable to skip staple foods. What's important is to control the total energy intake.
While it's not good to skip staple foods, eating too much of them is also bad. Excessive carbohydrate intake can cause blood sugar levels to rise. So, for the average adult, consuming about 300-500 grams of staple food per day is generally sufficient. This is a reference amount, as individual needs vary. For example, if you are engaged in heavy physical labor, eating 750 grams of staple food per day is normal. Conversely, if your job is sedentary with minimal activity, consuming less than 300 grams is also normal.
What is the difference between carbohydrates and sugar?
Asking for the difference between sugar and carbohydrates is something a layperson would find difficult to understand without professional knowledge. Carbohydrates, also known as saccharides, are a large family. Based on the complexity of their molecular structure, they can be classified as monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and glycoconjugates. Sugar refers to carbohydrates with a degree of polymerization of 1-2, including monosaccharides and disaccharides, and is often used to refer to pure sucrose. Monosaccharides are the simplest carbohydrates that cannot be hydrolyzed. The most common monosaccharides in food are glucose and fructose. Disaccharides, also called "double sugars," include the most important ones: sucrose, maltose, and lactose.
In the foods we commonly eat, sucrose is a disaccharide, glucose and the fructose found in fruits are monosaccharides, and the starch in rice and grains is a polysaccharide.
Regardless of the type, all sugars can be called carbohydrates and can provide energy to the body.
American scientists once conducted an interesting experiment. They had some primary school students eat chocolate after lunch, while others ate nothing. As a result, during the 1-2 afternoon classes, only one or two out of 100 students who ate chocolate felt drowsy. In contrast, eleven or twelve of the students who didn't eat chocolate were drowsy. Furthermore, experiments on hundreds of drivers confirmed this. When drivers ate chocolate, pastries, or sweet drinks at 2 p.m. every day, the number of traffic accidents was significantly lower than on days they didn't. This proves that carbohydrates are a source of energy for the human body, which is beyond doubt. However, it should be noted that because different sugars have different characteristics, even though they are all carbohydrates, they cannot be treated equally when consuming specific foods.
For example, monosaccharides like glucose are absorbed very quickly and can replenish the body's energy rapidly, making them very suitable for patients who need an immediate energy boost.
However, because monosaccharides are absorbed so quickly, they cause a rapid spike in blood sugar levels after entering the body. Neither high nor low blood sugar is good for the body. If you consume monosaccharides for a long time, your blood sugar will remain at a high level, which may eventually lead to diabetes or other metabolic diseases.
After all this talk, how can you eat sugar healthily? The answer is simple: eat whole, unprocessed, and unrefined foods. These foods are rich in dietary fiber, which slows down absorption and results in a low glycemic index. They are typically in their primary state, without processing. Brown rice is better than white rice, fresh juice is better than bottled juice, and a baked potato is better than french fries. Knowing this can help carbohydrates better serve our health.
Yuqi Congee Ingredients: 8g each of Euryale ferox seeds, Job's tears, lotus seeds, red dates, and longan; 120g of rice; 1000ml of cold water. Method: 1. Wash all the ingredients and place them in a pot. 2. Add cold water and cook into a congee. Nutritional Notes: Coarse grains generally refer to grain and legume crops other than the five major crops: rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, and tubers. Main coarse grains include: sorghum, millet, buckwheat (sweet and tart), oats (naked oats), barley, panicum, broomcorn millet, Job's tears, kidney beans, mung beans, red beans, fava beans, peas, and black beans. Carbohydrate content and energy provided per 100g of food (edible part) Food Carbohydrate (g) Energy (kJ) Wheat 75.2 1416 Rice 77.9 1452 Corn 73.0 1457 Soybeans 34.2 1613 Potatoes 17.2 323 Banana 22.0 389
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This article is excerpted from "Dr. Ma Talks About Nutrition" by Ma Guansheng, authorized by Phoenix Hanzhang Books. Reproduction is strictly prohibited.