Are you ready to reduce salt, oil and sugar for your health?

As life develops, people pay more and more attention to health. Diet has a very important impact on health, and everyone naturally wants to eat healthier. But how can we eat healthier? In recent years, "three reductions" (reducing salt, reducing oil, and reducing sugar) have become a healthy diet principle widely called for by society. However, are you really ready for the "three reductions"?

Recently, the "Research Report on Healthy Food Development in China's Top Ten Cities" was released. This report involves 10 first-tier and new first-tier cities, including 28 large food companies and 46 nutrition experts with senior professional titles. Judging from the survey results, many people may not be ready for the "three reductions". 01 The brain wants to be healthy, but the mouth is not happy. People who often read popular science and my articles should know that eating too much oil, salt and sugar is unhealthy. I think most people also know the importance of "three reductions" (reducing salt, reducing oil, and reducing sugar).

However, if you really ask everyone to do it, your mouth may not be happy about it.

This survey found that consumers all know that the "three reductions" (reducing salt, oil, and sugar) are good for health and should be promoted. But what's interesting is that most consumers are unwilling to give up the original taste of food. This survey found that nearly 90% of consumers do not want products to sacrifice taste for health upgrades.

For example, in terms of reducing salt, Guangzhou people like to make soup, and they know that eating too much salt is bad for the cardiovascular system, but in order to make the soup delicious, they always add enough salt to make the soup delicious. In terms of reducing sugar, there are now a variety of artificial or natural sweeteners, which can be very close to sucrose in flavor and taste through proper matching and reasonable use. This is originally a good choice for reducing sugar, but I often meet many people who tell me that they always feel that sweeteners taste bad, so they are unwilling to choose sugar-free sweetener products.

02 The mind wants to be healthy, and the body is honest. This survey found that about 60% of consumers believe that they have a good grasp of nutrition and health knowledge and are very familiar with the "balanced diet pyramid". Among them, women and people with higher education have a better "self-perception". However, the survey also found that nearly two-thirds of consumers are troubled by the frequent changes in nutrition advice and don't know which statement to believe. Therefore, in terms of diet and health, many times we really just "feel good about ourselves". In fact, only 8.7% of experts believe that consumers have fully mastered nutrition and health knowledge.

Interestingly, the people who are most willing to improve their diet are those who "feel good about themselves". Among the 10 first-tier and new first-tier cities surveyed, Guangzhou residents ranked first in terms of awareness of the "balanced diet pyramid" and self-evaluation of dietary health, and their willingness and actions to improve their diet are also very positive. However, Guangdong people still add enough salt to make various "soups" taste good, and many Cantonese delicacies still use sugar and oil in pairs.

Some simply give up. For example, people from Chongqing and Chengdu are at the bottom in terms of awareness of the "Balanced Diet Pyramid" and self-assessment of dietary health, but the survey found that they have little desire or action to improve their diet and just enjoy eating.

Therefore, although many people want to reduce the three things and be healthy in their hearts, when they actually eat, their bodies will still honestly choose what they like to eat.

03 Three reductions outside, eat as much as you want at home When it comes to oil, salt, and sugar, the first thing that comes to mind is the various high-oil, high-salt, and high-sugar snacks in supermarkets, and the fried and braised dishes in restaurants... So it is natural to think that the three reductions should be eating less snacks, eating less in restaurants, and eating more at home. This survey found that most consumers believe that the main responsibility for healthy eating lies with food companies and catering companies.

In fact, the reality may be quite the opposite. The family kitchen is the core of healthy eating, and each of us is the first person responsible for our own health.

Let me give you an example from my own experience.

Because of the pandemic this year, everyone is staying at home most of the time and rarely going out to eat. I am no exception.

However, I am sad to tell you that my weight has increased instead of decreased. This year, I weighed 8 catties more than last year, and my body mass index reached a historic high of 24.04 (the critical point of being overweight).

Why?

Because of the epidemic, I stayed at home. Although I ate at home, a lot of things happened this year, from the outbreak of the epidemic to the Kobe helicopter accident. I deeply realized that we really don’t know which will come first, the accident or tomorrow. We should enjoy life and enjoy life while we have limited time. So, I let myself go.

In the past six months, our family has been enjoying a lot of food. We bought all kinds of meat and grilled them at home. We even bought a lot of French fries and chicken nuggets and fried them at home. Just to support Hubei, we bought more than 20 bags of crayfish and shrimp balls to eat...

So, even though I hardly went out to eat out this year, I actually gained the most weight. (Anyone else have the same experience as me? If so, please leave a comment below to let me know).

In general, whether you eat healthily and can achieve the three reductions, you still have to start with yourself and at home.

I won’t say much today, I’m going to start my weight loss plan!