healthy eating sitcom

There is never a standard answer to healthy eating. All "perfect recipes" that are separated from personal living habits, physical demands, and dietary preferences are castles in the air that cannot be adhered to for a long time.

Last Saturday I had a small dinner at a rental house. The three people who came happened to be senior practitioners of three "healthy eating schools", and we almost didn't quarrel when we shared the table.

The first person to arrive was my fitness personal trainer Akai, who carried a bag of cherry tomatoes and skinless chicken drumsticks. He walked into my kitchen as soon as he entered the door and said, "Let me borrow your air fryer. I just adjusted the recipe last week. The chicken drumsticks are sprayed with one gram of oil and roasted. It is much more fragrant than boiled, and the calories are not much different." ”He would not have said this half a year ago. At that time, he only ate boiled chicken breasts, brown rice, and broccoli accurately to the gram. He opened the diet calculation app on his mobile phone more often than the chat software. He believed in the "quantified diet" popular in the fitness circle-calculate the caloric gap, keep the ratio of the three macronutrients of carbohydrates, protein, and fat, and not eat more than one bite. As a result, I strictly followed it for more than three months. I couldn't help but show off the entire cream cake during a friend's birthday. Then I ate fried chicken burgers in revenge for a week. Not only did I lose three pounds, but I also suffered from gastroenteritis because of the excessive fluctuations in my diet. Now he has figured it out: "Who can bear to eat boiled water every day? Now I set aside one 'open day' every week. I can eat hot pot, milk tea and milk tea if I want. As long as the overall amount is not exceeded, my body fat loss has been more stable recently than before." ”

Following closely behind me was Aunt Zhang, who lived across the street from me. She was a health science popularizer in the community before she retired. She brought mung bean soup that she had boiled as soon as she entered the door. She handed it to her without forgetting to tell her: "It's at room temperature, without ice. Don't eat it too cold in summer, as it will hurt your spleen and stomach." ”Aunt Zhang used to be a die-hard fan of the traditional health-preserving school. She emphasized that "medicine and food come from the same source" and "not eat from time to time." She did not let her family eat watermelon in winter and did not let children touch ice cream in summer. She said that all out-of-season foods and cold foods are health killers. Last month, her granddaughter secretly bought three popsicles from the store downstairs and ate them. She had diarrhea for two days. Aunt Zhang was so distressed that she slowly relaxed: "It's not completely inedible. It's okay to eat one popsicle a day when the weather is the hottest. It's better than secretly eating too much." I went to the night market with my old sisters last week and took two bites of ice powder. It was really comfortable. ”

The last one to arrive was Xiao Xia from my department. She slumped on the sofa as soon as she walked in, holding half a cup of three-sugar bubble milk tea in her hand: "Don't mention any healthy recipes to me. I got up early last month and made bento boxes for half a month, but then I couldn't get up. Now as long as I order an extra serving of blanched vegetables and half the seasoning for takeout, I think it's healthy enough." ”She is a typical "pragmatist". She can neither count calories every day nor remember so many health taboos. She used to follow the trend and bought a bunch of healthy meal ingredients and spoiled most of them. Now she has figured out the rhythm that suits her best: "I can't spend all my energy at work just to eat a healthy meal, right? Anyway, the annual physical examination indicators are normal, which is better than anything else. ”

The three of them were "looking for trouble" with each other as soon as they sat down. Akai said that Aunt Zhang's mung bean soup contained sugar and exceeded the standard of carbohydrates.； Aunt Zhang said that Akai’s roasted chicken legs were too hot and she got angry after eating them. ； Xiaoxia rolled her eyes and said that I can't stand the way you two eat, so don't give me chicken soup. As a result, we ended up talking about the same thing: when I went to extremes before, I either felt guilty about everything I ate, or I couldn't eat this or touch that. I talked about being healthy, but felt panicked in my heart. But now I feel relaxed and my physical condition is better.

I specifically checked the core recommendations in the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)". The first one is "a variety of foods and reasonable combinations." The entire article does not say which foods must not be eaten, nor does it require everyone to follow the same recipe. The core recommendations are "moderate" and "suitable". Just like the tomato hot pot we cooked that day, half was beef tripe, shrimp paste, and the other half was baby cabbage, enoki mushrooms, and soft tofu. Akai ate two pieces of tripe without taking out his phone to count the calories. Aunt Zhang drank half a cup of iced coke without complaining about hurting her spleen and stomach. Xiaoxia also added a portion of instant noodles and cooked them softly. No one focused on the strict standards of "health", but they ate lively, feeling comfortable in the stomach and open in the heart.

To be honest, there are not so many rules for healthy eating. If you like to exercise, it’s okay to eat a few more bites of meat.； If you have a weak spleen and stomach, it would be good to eat less ice. ； If you are exhausted from working overtime every day, don’t make it difficult for yourself to get up early and make lunch. It is better to choose a lighter takeaway instead of going hungry. After all, eating in a way that lasts a lifetime is truly healthy, right?