Dietary health preservation

Author: Luo Jing, Xia Yi, Zhang Li / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-02-01
Features: A Balanced and Comprehensive Diet
Over two thousand years ago, the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) designed a rational dietary plan for people: "Grains are for nourishment, fruits are for assistance, livestock is for benefit, vegetables are for supplementation, and when combined in terms of flavor and potency, they can replenish essence and strengthen qi." This dietary plan prioritizes grains as the staple food, with fruits, livestock, and vegetables as supplementary foods. The food is comprehensive and reasonably prepared, making it a scientific diet. It is evident that ancient people advocated a balanced diet, which is essentially what modern nutrition refers to as "balanced diet."
Balancing a diet allows for the comprehensive and rational utilization of nutrients from different foods, meeting the body's needs and ensuring health. Foods contain various nutritional components. Common foods are divided into five major categories:
1. Grains and Tubers: Primarily provide carbohydrates and starch; secondarily provide protein, inorganic salts, vitamins, and dietary fiber.
2. Fish, Meat, Poultry, Eggs, and Soy Products: Primarily provide high-quality protein and fat, as well as some inorganic salts and vitamins.
3. Vegetables and Fruits: Primarily provide vitamin C, carotene, inorganic salts, and dietary fiber.
4. Dairy and Dairy Products: Primarily provide vitamins, calcium, high-quality protein, and fat.
5. Fats: Refers to certain pure animal and vegetable oils, which are important sources of energy and are essential for promoting the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins.
The content of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients varies across different types of food, and each nutrient plays a different role in the human body. The purpose of a balanced diet is to rationally utilize the proteins, vitamins, inorganic salts, fats, and carbohydrates from different foods to provide sufficient energy and ensure the normal functioning of the body.
Mixing Grains and Combining Coarse and Fine
Generally, rice and wheat are considered fine grains, while sorghum, corn, sweet potatoes, and barley are coarse grains. Some people believe that coarse grains are less nutritious, harder to digest, and less palatable, so they are reluctant to eat them. However, from a nutritional perspective, fine grains have lower nutritional value, while coarse grains actually surpass them. Modern nutritionists have conducted studies: the same weight of whole wheat flour provides more energy and higher protein content than refined wheat, followed by millet, corn, and sorghum, while refined rice and wheat have the lowest nutritional value.
Millet and corn contain twice as much calcium as rice and three to four times as much iron; buckwheat and whole wheat flour have three to seven times more calcium than refined rice and two to three times more than refined wheat, while their iron content is four to eight times that of refined rice and wheat. Therefore, coarse grains should not be discarded in favor of fine grains; instead, a combination of coarse and fine grains should be used to maximize the nutritional value of grains and meet the body's needs.
Many people have a misconception about nutritional value, believing that only refined rice and wheat provide the best nutrition. In fact, unrefined brown rice is more nutritious than refined rice. Ancient people ate brown rice, and traditional medical texts have long affirmed its benefits. For example, the Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) considers brown rice to have the effect of "harmonizing the five organs and enhancing beauty," meaning that regular consumption of brown rice not only promotes the health of the five organs and longevity but also improves skin health.
Refined rice became popular during the Tang Dynasty, when the economy was prosperous, and some people began to eat white rice, only to develop a condition as a result. In the Bencao Shiyi (Supplementary Materia Medica) by Chen Cangqi during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, it was noted that regular consumption of refined rice "makes the body weak and slows down muscle function." This is because the refining process removes the nutritious bran and germ, leaving only the endosperm, which primarily provides starch.
Research shows that 109 grams of bran and germ contain 3 grams of protein, 1.2 grams of plant fat, and abundant vitamins, niacin, folic acid, as well as essential trace elements such as zinc, magnesium, and iron. The finer the processing of rice and wheat, the more nutrients are lost. Therefore, long-term consumption of refined rice can lead to nutritional deficiencies and conditions such as "polished rice disease" or "beriberi." Thus, those who practice health preservation should opt for coarse grains over refined ones, consuming more brown rice.
Cooking Techniques
With the development of society, cooking techniques have gradually improved. Since humans invented fire, they moved from a stage of eating raw meat and drinking blood to a state of consuming cooked food. Cooked food helped humans move beyond the primitive era, and their cooking techniques evolved from baking and stone cooking to water cooking and oil cooking, further developing to the color, aroma, and flavor of dishes. Fire enabled humans to transition from raw to cooked food, playing a certain role in sterilizing, killing insects, and detoxifying, reducing disease and promoting health. It also allowed previously inedible, smelly foods to be "roasted and eaten," shortening the time needed for digestion and allowing the stomach and intestines to absorb more nutrients, thus promoting human development and longevity.
Today, building on this foundation, people further pursue culinary enjoyment, emphasizing the color, aroma, flavor, and presentation of dishes. This not only promotes the development of cooking techniques but also enriches the cultural connotation of food. All of this has evolved alongside the development of human society.
Adjusting Cooking Heat According to Food Properties
Cooking techniques involve adjusting heat, which should be done based on the nature of the food and the thickness of the slices. For example, meat dishes are best cooked slowly over low heat to make the meat tender and the broth rich. However, when first added to the pot, high heat and boiling water should be used because sudden high temperatures cause proteins to coagulate, protecting internal nutrients from escaping. Otherwise, water-soluble substances and fats may be lost. Fresh vegetables should be stir-fried quickly over high heat to preserve their nutrients, especially vitamins and chlorophyll, while maintaining their freshness. Otherwise, the higher the temperature and longer the cooking time, the more vitamins are lost. Stir-frying is better than boiling or steaming in terms of vitamin retention.
Additionally, the thickness of the food slices should be considered when choosing heat. Thinly sliced meat, fish, or tripe should be stir-fried quickly over high heat, ensuring the meat is cooked while remaining tender.
Adjusting Heat for Health Benefits
Improper heat adjustment not only makes dishes tasteless but also harms health. Ancient health practitioners had long discussed the relationship between cooking heat and health. For example, Confucius stated in the Analects, "Do not eat food that is improperly cooked." "Improperly cooked" refers to heat that is too low or too high, making the food unsuitable for consumption. If the heat is too low or the cooking time is too short, the food may be undercooked, which burdens the stomach and intestines and hinders digestion. Moreover, bacteria and toxins may not be fully killed, leading to illness.
If the heat is too high or the cooking is too intense, the food may become burnt and bitter, which is also unsuitable for consumption. Modern medicine believes that burnt food not only loses nutrients, destroys vitamins, and denatures proteins but also produces carcinogenic substances. Therefore, when cooking, heat should be adjusted to be moderate, balancing slow and fast cooking to preserve both the nutrition and flavor of the food, benefiting both digestion and health.
Knife Skills Require Attention
Knife skills are an important craft in Chinese cooking. They involve cutting various foods into strips, threads, slices, cubes, minced meat, and other shapes according to cooking and eating requirements. Knife skills are not only technically demanding but also artistic. They not only determine the shape of the dish but also significantly affect its cooking, hygiene, and nutrition. Thus, knife skills are a crucial craft in Chinese cooking and have always been highly valued.
Knife Skills Must Adapt to Cooking Needs
Knife skills are a preparatory step for cooking various dishes. Through different cutting techniques, the raw ingredients are processed to suit cooking needs. For example, stir-fried, quick-fried, and poached dishes use high heat and short cooking times, requiring thin and small cuts. If the cuts are thick and large, the food may not absorb flavors or cook thoroughly. In contrast, braised, boiled, stewed, and steamed dishes use low heat and long cooking times, requiring slightly larger and thicker cuts, otherwise, the food may fall apart or become mushy. Additionally, when cutting, attention should be paid to even thickness, uniformity, and aesthetic appearance, as well as color and shape coordination.
Garlic Application for Stopping Nosebleeds
When experiencing nosebleeds, take three cloves of garlic, peel and mash them into a paste, and apply them to the Yongquan acupoint. Cover with plastic wrap and secure with adhesive tape. Apply to the left foot for left-sided nosebleeds, the right foot for right-sided nosebleeds, or both feet for bilateral nosebleeds.
Garlic for Preventing the Flu
Mash several cloves of garlic, add warm water, and stir to extract the juice. Use 3-5 drops of the juice in each nostril 3 times a day for 3-4 days.
Garlic as a Side Dish and Detoxifier
As a vegetable, garlic can be eaten raw or used as a sweet and sour pickled garlic side dish. It can also be used as a seasoning to enhance the aroma of dishes, stimulate the appetite, and aid digestion. Garlic can also detoxify, often paired with ginger when eating crabs.
Avoid Excessive Consumption of Spicy Garlic
Allicin in garlic stimulates gastric juice secretion, improving appetite and digestion. However, it is warm in nature, and excessive consumption can cause stomach spasms, pain, nausea, vomiting, and intestinal cramps. It is best to avoid garlic for those with yin deficiency and internal heat or liver heat with eye problems.
Local Application of Garlic Has Irritating Effects
Garlic injections can irritate blood vessels, exacerbating myocardial ischemia and potentially causing phlebitis with long-term use. Excessive garlic consumption can impair liver function and cause anemia.
Easy Ways to Remove Garlic Odor
After eating garlic, especially raw garlic, a bad odor may remain in the mouth. Here are three effective methods to remove garlic odor:
1. Chew a piece of angelica root.
2. Chew a small amount of tea leaves.
3. Eat a few jujubes.
Differences in the Effects of Tangerine Peel, Veins, and Leaves
The inner white strands of tangerine peel are called tangerine veins, which are sweet, bitter, and neutral, belonging to the liver and lung meridians. They have the effects of promoting blood circulation, expelling qi, and resolving phlegm. Steeping tangerine veins in tea can treat tuberculosis with coughing, hemoptysis, and damp-heat conditions.
Tangerine kernels are used in medicine and are bitter and neutral, belonging to the liver meridian. They function to promote qi, disperse stagnation, and relieve pain, commonly used to treat hernia, testicular swelling and pain, and breast lumps.
Tangerine leaves belong to the liver meridian and are pungent, bitter, and neutral, with the effects of soothing the liver, promoting qi, reducing swelling, and dispersing stagnation. They are suitable for conditions such as distended and painful flanks, breast pain, and breast lumps.
Dong Quai and Ginger for Stopping Nausea and Hiccups
Boil 9 grams of dong quai and two slices of ginger, warm and drink 1 dose twice a day. This has the effect of lowering qi and stopping nausea, treating dry vomiting and hiccups.
Ginkgo Despite Toxicity, High Medicinal Value
Ginkgo, also known as white nuts, ling eyes, or Buddha's fingers, is the fruit of the ginkgo tree, which grows slowly. It takes over twenty years from planting to bearing fruit, and it is not until 40 years later that it can bear a large amount of fruit, so it is also called the "grandson tree." Ginkgo trees can live for over a thousand years, making them the oldest trees.
Ginkgo has the effects of tonifying the kidneys, strengthening the spleen, calming asthma, and stopping leukorrhea. Traditional Chinese medicine considers ginkgo to be neutral, sweet, and astringent, belonging to the lung meridian. It has the functions of consolidating the lungs, calming asthma, tonifying the kidneys, and stopping leukorrhea, and is commonly used to treat asthma with phlegm, leukorrhea,, frequent urination, tuberculosis, facial eczema, and other diseases. For example, the Duck Claws Powder uses ginkgo with ma huang and licorice to treat asthma with phlegm, not only calming the lungs and asthma but also reducing phlegm.
For treating leukorrhea, it is often used with polygonum and ziziphus jujuba to achieve the effects of tonifying the kidneys, dispelling dampness, and stopping leukorrhea. For chronic cough and asthma that worsen in winter, ginkgo decoction can be taken regularly in summer to tonify the lungs and treat asthma, known as "treating winter diseases in summer."