Common Weight Loss Myths and Basic Nutrition: The Truth About Protein and Carbohydrates
(41) Can I eat salted duck eggs or other pickled foods while dieting?
If your blood pressure is normal and you can control your total salt intake in a meal, it's okay to eat it.
The key is to be careful. If a salted duck egg is very salty, eat no more than half. If the saltiness is moderate, you can eat one at most. Also, reduce or eliminate the use of salt in other dishes.
Besides salted duck eggs, other healthy pickled foods can also be eaten in moderation, such as fermented bean curd and fermented bean curd.
(42) Can eating jujubes replenish blood?
Iron deficiency anemia requires supplementing with iron-rich foods.
Jujubes are low in iron, and since plant-based iron has a low absorption rate, and jujubes are also high in calories, eating too many can easily lead to obesity. Therefore, jujubes are not the best food for replenishing blood.
We recommend choosing animal liver, animal blood, and red meat, such as chicken liver, pork liver, lamb liver, chicken blood, duck blood, and pork blood.
These foods are high in iron, and animal iron is more readily absorbed and utilized.
It is important to note that when purchasing animal liver and blood, you should choose reputable large supermarkets or brand-name retailers.
When buying animal blood, it's important to note that blood with a shelf life of 5 days or less is preferable; it's not recommended to buy blood with a shelf life exceeding one month.
(43) Why are some people able to eat as much as they want without gaining weight?
It could be due to a high basal metabolic rate; it could be a problem with the gastrointestinal digestive system; or it could be due to a high level of physical activity that you are unaware of.
(44) Does a decrease in basal metabolic rate mean that weight loss is unhealthy?
In adults, basal metabolic rate is positively correlated with body weight and negatively correlated with age.
Weight loss leads to a decrease in basal metabolic rate (BMR), which also decreases with age. Furthermore, BMR is affected by season, exercise, bathing, eating habits, and the measuring tools used. Therefore, a decrease in BMR cannot be used to measure the quality of weight loss.
The standard for measuring the quality of weight loss is basal metabolic rate, which can be expressed as: Basal metabolic rate = Basal metabolic rate / Body weight.
If your basal metabolic rate increases before and after weight loss, it means that the weight loss is mainly fat, indicating high-quality weight loss. If your basal metabolic rate decreases, it means that the weight loss is lean body tissue (muscle, water, bone), indicating low-quality weight loss.
(45) Why did my weight increase even though I ate the same amount of food as before?
From birth to age 18, a person's basal metabolic rate increases with age, but decreases with age after reaching adulthood at age 18.
So even if we eat the same amount as before and exercise the same amount of energy, because our basal metabolic rate has decreased and our total energy expenditure has decreased, we will have an energy surplus and our body will gain weight.
(46) Why was I able to eat whatever I wanted when I was young without gaining weight, but now I gain weight even though I don't eat much?
When you're young, your basal metabolic rate is high, you're physically active, and you need a lot of energy, so you're less likely to have an energy surplus and therefore less likely to gain weight.
As we get older, our basal metabolic rate decreases. Due to busy work and family life, we also have less physical activity, which reduces our energy needs and makes us more prone to obesity.
(47) Will drinking water before meals dilute gastric juices?
There's no need to worry about this; stomach acid secretion is usually highest when you're eating.
Drink water before meals, before eating.
In fact, drinking water not only does not burden digestion, but also promotes digestion. Moreover, drinking some soup before meals can increase the feeling of fullness.
(48) I've been exercising a lot lately, and I've also cut out sugar, limited alcohol, and controlled oil intake, so why am I not losing weight?
Sugar, alcohol, and oil are pure calorie foods, but apart from them, water, and salt, all other foods still contain energy, and eating too much of them will still lead to excessive calorie intake.
If you don't feel hungry in the morning, it means you ate a lot.
Eating dinner too late may prevent weight loss, even if you're trying to build muscle or gain weight.
(49) Why am I always hungry?
It could be due to an unbalanced diet.
For example, staple foods are too refined, with too much easily digestible rice, steamed buns, noodles, etc., and too few vegetables.
You can replace some of the refined staple foods with coarse grains and tubers such as corn and sweet potatoes, and increase the amount of vegetables.
It is also recommended to check for conditions such as gastritis that can easily cause feelings of hunger.
(50) Will losing weight reduce breast size?
Many women are troubled by breast shrinkage when losing weight. If your breasts are full because of excess body fat, then your breasts will inevitably shrink when you lose fat. However, you can reduce the degree of breast shrinkage and improve the shape of your breasts by controlling your weight loss, diet, and exercise.
Chapter Six: Basic Nutrition
Once you start losing weight, you will inevitably face nutritional issues. As someone trying to lose weight, it is essential to have a comprehensive and systematic understanding of nutrition.
The basic nutritional medicine introduced in this chapter is not only essential for weight loss, but also necessary for achieving good health.
Mastering this knowledge will be of great help to yourself and your family.
There are seven essential nutrients for the human body, each with its own function. The nutritional needs of different genders, ages, and physiological states vary.
Supplement protein appropriately
Protein is one of the seven essential nutrients for the human body.
Proteins are made up of amino acids.
The human body needs 8 essential amino acids for adults and 9 for children.
Essential amino acids are those that cannot be synthesized in the body or whose synthesis rate is not fast enough, and must be obtained from food.
Non-essential amino acids are amino acids that can be synthesized in the body.
Proteins are classified into complete proteins, semi-complete proteins, and incomplete proteins according to their nutritional value:
Complete protein can maintain the health of adults and promote the growth and development of children. It contains essential amino acids in sufficient quantities, in complete varieties, and in appropriate proportions.
Examples include albumin in meat; casein and milk protein in milk; soy protein in soybeans; and ovalbumin and lecithin in eggs.
Semi-complete protein refers to protein that contains all the essential amino acids, which can sustain life, but some are insufficient or in inappropriate proportions, so it cannot promote growth and development.
For example, gliadin in wheat.
Incomplete proteins are those that do not contain all the essential amino acids. Such proteins cannot sustain life and do not play any role in promoting growth and development.
For example, the collagen in the animal skin we often eat is an incomplete protein.
The functions of proteins are as follows:
1. Constituting body tissues
Proteins are essential components of the body's tissues and organs. All tissues and organs in the human body contain proteins, which play an important role in promoting growth and development.
2. Regulate physiological functions
Proteins are components that participate in regulating physiological functions and constitute many physiologically active substances in the body.
The human body contains thousands of enzymes made up of proteins, such as immunoproteins, which play a role in maintaining the body's immune function; hemoglobin has the function of carrying and transporting oxygen.
3. Energy Supply
After proteins are broken down into amino acids in the body, they can be oxidized and decomposed to release energy, but they are not the main energy source for the human body and cannot be used as the main energy source.
Protein complementarity: This refers to the process of consuming two or more food proteins together, where the essential amino acids they contain complement each other, thereby achieving a better ratio and improving protein utilization.
When preparing a diet, the following three principles should be followed to maximize the complementary effects of proteins:
(1) The more distant the biological species of food are, the better. For example, the effect of mixing simple plant foods is not as good as mixing animal and plant foods.
(2) The more variety of combinations, the better.
(3) The closer the time of consumption, the better. Ideally, different kinds of food should be eaten within one meal.
After food is ingested, it is converted into amino acids that can remain in the bloodstream for up to 4 hours. After that time, ingested food can no longer be combined with these amino acids to form new tissues.
Food sources of protein: Food sources of protein can be divided into two categories: plant-based and animal-based.
Grains contain protein, as do milk, eggs, and meat.
However, only milk, eggs, seafood, fish, meat and other animal-based foods contain relatively high amounts of complete protein, which are called high-quality proteins. Soy products also contain high-quality protein.
We should consume more high-quality protein.
High-quality protein should account for more than one-third of the total protein in an adult's diet, while for children it should be half.
More protein is not necessarily better. Excessive protein intake can increase the burden on the liver and kidneys. Long-term excessive protein consumption may damage the liver and kidneys or cause other health problems.
Carbohydrates are essential
Carbohydrates are one of the seven essential nutrients for the human body and are one of the main sources of food.
I. Classification of Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates exist in many forms and are classified into three categories: sugars, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides.
Category 1 sugars are further divided into monosaccharides, disaccharides, and sugar alcohols.
Monosaccharides, such as glucose and fructose; disaccharides, such as sucrose and lactose in milk; sugar alcohols, such as xylitol used in chewing gum, are more suitable for diabetics because they only have a sweet taste and a low glycemic index.
The second type of oligosaccharide is a carbohydrate, which is less commonly encountered, such as malt, dextrin, and stachyose.
The third category is called polysaccharides, which are divided into two types.
One type is called starch, which is familiar to everyone, such as wheat starch and corn starch.
Sweet potato flour is a typical pure starch food. It is made by grinding sweet potatoes into flour and then repeatedly washing them.
Another type of polysaccharide is non-starch polysaccharide, such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. Cellulose is also known as dietary fiber.
II. The role of carbohydrates
1. Storing and providing energy
Carbohydrates release energy quickly in the body and provide energy rapidly. They are the main energy source for the nervous system and heart muscle, and also the main fuel for our muscle activity.
Of the energy our bodies need for health, 55% to 65% is provided by carbohydrates.
It is of great significance for maintaining the normal energy supply to the nervous system and heart, and for improving work efficiency.
2. Constituting body tissues and essential life substances
Each cell in the body contains 2% to 10% carbohydrates, mainly in the form of glycolipids, glycoproteins, and proteoglycans.
3. Conserve protein
When the supply of carbohydrates in the diet is insufficient, the body will convert protein into glucose through gluconeogenesis to meet its own needs for glucose. When sufficient carbohydrates are ingested, the body can prevent the consumption of protein in the body or diet, and there is no need to use protein for energy. In this way, protein is saved for the body's metabolism.
4. Antiketogenic effect
If you eat only meat and no staple food for a long time, the glucose supply will be insufficient, and ketone bodies, a substance for fat metabolism, will increase, which will affect your health. Fat metabolism requires the participation of glucose, which is a product of the breakdown of carbohydrates in the body.
5. Detoxification
When the liver has sufficient glycogen reserves and enough glucuronic acid to bind with toxic substances, it has a strong detoxification ability.
6. Enhances intestinal function
Non-starch polysaccharides can stimulate intestinal peristalsis, increase colonic fermentation, and enhance intestinal excretion function.
7. Carbohydrate intake and sources
(1) Reference intake: Carbohydrates should account for 55% to 65% of total energy intake, and refined sugar should not exceed 10%.
Excessive intake: Too much intake will be converted into fat and stored in the body.
Disadvantages: It can easily cause hypoglycemia or even gluconeogenesis; long-term use of gluconeogenesis can easily increase ketone bodies in metabolism, leading to metabolic acidosis.
(2) Sources of carbohydrates: Staple foods are high in carbohydrates, such as rice, noodles, steamed buns, and bread.
In addition to staple foods, fruits, vegetables, meat, potatoes, beans, and starchy foods such as chestnuts and water chestnuts also contain carbohydrates.