How can I eat more and lose weight?

Author: Zuo Xiaoxia, Chief Physician of the Nutrition Department of the Eighth Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Deputy Secretary-General and Researcher of the Science Popularization Expert Committee of the Chinese Medical Association

How hard do women work to achieve a slim figure? Just look at the wide variety of weight loss products and weight loss gadgets on the market.

However, many professional fitness coaches and nutritionists have pointed out that so-called weight loss products and weight loss tools are not reliable. If you want to lose weight scientifically and rationally, in addition to exercise and fitness, you must also have a scientific and rational diet. "70% diet and 30% exercise" is the key to healthy weight loss.

Today, let’s take a look at how to eat to help us lose weight easily.

1. Balanced Diet Pagoda

If you want to eat more and lose weight, you need to understand the basic balanced diet pyramid, and know what nutrients we should consume every day and how much of each should be consumed to be reasonable and beneficial to health. Because losing weight cannot reduce health.

Figure 1 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

The first layer of the pagoda: Cereals, 200-300 grams per person per day. Whole grains and beans are recommended to be consumed at 50-150 grams per day. Potatoes are recommended to be consumed at 50-100 grams per person per day.

The second layer of the pagoda: fruits and vegetables, 300-500 grams of vegetables (more than half of which are dark vegetables), 200-350 grams of fruits.

From the food pyramid, we can see that, in addition to water, the daily intake of vegetables, fruits and whole grains is the highest. Do you know why we should eat more vegetables, fruits and whole grains? Because these foods are important sources of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber; they are also important sources of phytochemicals, which have important health effects. They can not only effectively prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, but also control weight and prevent constipation. Therefore, the Chinese Nutrition Society recommends that we should have vegetables at every meal and eat fruits every day.

The third layer of the pagoda: animal food, 120-200 grams per day, seafood at least twice a week, it is recommended to have 40-75 grams of animal meat and 40-75 grams of seafood per day, 1 egg per day, do not discard the egg yolk.

The fourth layer of the pagoda: milk, soybeans and nuts.

Milk: 300-500 grams of liquid milk; 25-35 grams of soy beans and nuts, including 50 grams of nuts per week (if eaten every day, about 10 grams per day).

The fifth level of the pagoda: cooking oil and salt. Each person should consume 25 to 30 grams of cooking oil per day, and try to consume less animal oil; less than 5 grams of salt per day; and no more than 50 grams of refined sugar per day, preferably less than 25 grams. [2]

When you see the food pyramid, you may sigh, "Why is eating so complicated? I can't remember it at all!" Well, next I will teach you a simple and easy-to-remember rule for healthy pairing for each meal.

2. How to eat each meal

Healthy weight loss meals are actually very simple. You just need to remember a formula: 1/2 vegetables + 1/4 staple food + 1/4 protein.

To put it simply, the distribution ratio of each meal is: 1/2 of the food is vegetables, 1/4 of the food is staple foods such as rice and corn, and the other 1/4 of the food is protein-rich foods such as meat, eggs, fish, shrimp, and beans.

Figure 2 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

In fact, the key reason why we can't lose weight is that we consume too many calories in each meal, especially meat and starchy foods. Once the intake exceeds the standard, it is easy to gain weight.

We often see on TV that celebrities who want to lose weight are "giving up carbon water". They don't eat carbohydrates such as rice and noodles. Although this can make people lose weight, from a nutritional point of view, not eating carbohydrates is more harmful to human health, so it is recommended that you don't try it lightly.

There is a good way to help everyone control carbohydrate intake, that is to eat less refined rice and noodles, such as rice, steamed buns, noodles, etc., and partially replace them with whole grains, beans or starch-rich vegetables, such as oats, corn, buckwheat, quinoa, kidney beans, potatoes, yam, etc. These are all better staple food choices during the weight loss period.

It is necessary to remind everyone that many vegetables, such as potatoes, yams, pumpkins, etc., have a relatively high starch content. Therefore, during the weight loss period, these vegetables can be eaten as staple foods rather than vegetables.

Finally, based on this formula, make sure to eat one egg every day, but don't throw away the egg yolk; drink a glass of milk or soy milk, and eat some low-sugar fruits. This will allow you to "eat easily and lose weight easily."

3. Learn to choose ingredients

If you want to eat well and have a good figure, it is also very important to know how to choose ingredients, because there are differences between staple foods, proteins and vegetables.

1. About staple food

It is recommended to choose foods with low GI values. GI value is the glycemic index, which is the extent to which blood sugar rises. Staple foods with low GI values, relatively speaking, will make people feel full for a longer time, making it less likely for people to feel hungry and avoid eating too much, which is conducive to weight control. Recommended foods include oats, corn, brown rice, whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, and lotus roots.

2. About protein

It is recommended that seafood is better than poultry, and poultry is better than livestock when choosing animal foods. In other words, the first choice for protein supplementation is seafood such as fish and shrimp, followed by chicken and duck, then beef and mutton, and finally pork. Eggs, milk and beans are also good protein choices, so eating an egg and drinking a cup of soy milk or milk every day is also good for health.

Figure 3 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

3. About vegetables

Basically, you can eat as much as you want. Even if you consume more than 1 catties a day, there won't be much of a problem. Because vegetables are very low in calories, as long as you don't use a particularly oily cooking method, you don't have to worry about eating vegetables causing you to consume too many calories. But you need to remember that half of the vegetables should be dark-colored, such as broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, purple cabbage, red amaranth, spinach, etc.

4. About Fruit

It is recommended to choose fruits with relatively low calories, such as grapefruit, guava, bayberry, carambola, apple, peach, pear, strawberry, etc.; try not to choose high-calorie tropical fruits, such as durian, banana, dragon fruit, etc. In addition, no matter what kind of fruit you eat, don't eat too much, because some fruits are low in calories but high in sugar, and eating too much will make you fat, such as watermelon.

A person consumes about 60 to 70 tons of food in his or her lifetime. You are what you eat. One meal may not have much impact, but three meals a day, and then every month and year, these three meals determine your health. So, please make sure to eat every meal well[1] and let health come to your bowl.

Of course, drinking enough water every day and ensuring adequate exercise can help you improve your metabolism. Combined with a healthy diet, you will become thinner, more beautiful, and healthier the more you eat.

References

[1] Li Chenyu, Zhuang Ling, Yin Dagui. Be a beautiful, healthy and elegant woman - 100 questions about women's beauty and health. Beijing: Chinese Medical Electronic Audio-visual Publishing House, 2020.5: 88-90.

{2}Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2022, Balanced Diet Pagoda for Chinese Residents 2022.