Dictionary of Chinese Women's Diet

Author: Shu Tianyin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Scientific Diet for Teenage Girls
Teenage girls have special nutritional needs, so it is crucial to pay attention to the science of diet. Vitamin A is highly beneficial for the skin and is commonly found in animal liver, fish, dairy products, eggs, carrots, and spinach. Vitamins B1 and B2 can eliminate skin spots and reduce wrinkles, primarily found in grains, legumes, animal organs, lean meat, and eggs. Vitamin C is essential for the development of bones, teeth, blood vessels, and muscles. It mainly comes from various vegetables and fruits. Eating more fruits, carrots, sunflower seeds, peanuts, sesame seeds, soybeans, and cod liver oil can prevent premature graying and keep hair black and shiny.
Lastly, it is important to note that girls should have a rich but not excessive nutritional intake. Overeating can lead to obesity, which not only ruins body aesthetics but also causes various diseases.
Scientific Diet for Adult Women
Adult women, busy with work and household chores, often have a simple diet. Breakfast is usually casual—two bowls of congee and two steamed buns or bread; lunch is just enough—boiled rice with two dishes, or eating whatever is available in the cafeteria; dinner is more abundant—eating better. The food variety in three meals is monotonous, with unreasonable arrangements. Breakfast and lunch have low calorie intake, while dinner has high calories. Intake of Vitamin A and B2 is insufficient, only 50% and 60% of the standard, respectively. Some people lack Vitamin A, B1, and B2, while 1/4 have low blood calcium levels. Half suffer from nutritional anemia, and 30% have one or more organic diseases. It is clear that properly arranging three meals is of great significance.
A healthy adult woman generally consumes about 500 grams of rice or noodles, 250–500 grams of vegetables or fruits, and 100–150 grams of meat, fish, or eggs daily to meet basic protein needs. According to personal preferences, efforts should be made to diversify supplementary foods. Eating more legumes like tofu, bean sprouts, and green beans, and avoiding picky eating, can largely meet nutritional needs. More importantly, the calories of three meals should be reasonably distributed: breakfast should be good, lunch should be satisfying, and dinner should be light. The calorie ratio should be 35% for breakfast, 35% for lunch, and 30% for dinner. It is essential to break the bad habit of a casual breakfast, a mediocre lunch, and a lavish dinner. After dinner, energy consumption is low, and anabolic processes exceed catabolic ones. Under the action of insulin, excess calories are converted into fat, accumulating in the body and causing gradual weight gain.
After 45, metabolic changes occur, but with age, physical activity becomes less active, while food intake does not decrease. Excess calories are converted into fat, leading to obesity. Obesity is closely related to common diseases in middle-aged and elderly people, such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, fatty liver, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes. Preventing obesity is a significant task for middle-aged women. The saying "Money can’t buy a slim old age" may be one-sided, but for middle-aged women, its relevance is greater. Without dietary restraint or measures, it is indeed difficult to lose weight during this "obesity-prone age." Isn’t this what "money can’t buy"? Learn to control your weight. Generally, the following formula can be used:
Height (cm) - 105 (for men) or 100 (for women) = Standard weight (kg)
For example, if your height is 160 cm, subtracting 100 for women gives 60 kg, which is your standard weight in kilograms. A normal weight is within ±10% of the standard weight, while exceeding 10% is "overweight," and exceeding 20% is obesity.
Some people say, "I don’t eat much daily, mainly eating dishes, and only consume over 300 grams of staple food a day. Why am I still gaining weight?" Clearly, this is due to a lack of understanding of the relationship between staple food, supplementary food, and obesity. In China, staple foods have long been grains, while fish, meat, dairy, legumes, and vegetables are called supplementary foods. People often use the intake of staple foods as a measure of dietary standards. However, the primary cause of obesity is the fat in dishes. Excessive fat intake is easily overlooked because it is small in volume and does not make one feel full. After heating, it melts and seeps into various foods, making them more delicious, and people unknowingly consume too much, leading to obesity. Therefore, those who overeat should first limit fat intake, especially animal fat. Fat is mostly stored in subcutaneous tissue, the liver, abdominal walls, and large omentum, mesentery, and buttocks. So, you should check your abdomen to see if you have started to gain weight, not just your face and limbs. Most obese people can reduce weight through dietary control. However, the method of dietary restriction must be correct.
With improved living standards, many people eat "selectively," preferring refined flour and white rice, even at high prices. But from a nutritional perspective, expensive rice and flour do not offer high nutrition. When the bran is removed, the amount of Vitamin B1 and B2 decreases significantly. Refined bread also loses a lot of vitamins. In recent years, people have tried to compensate by fortifying foods, adding the removed nutrients back. But if you had to "mend the fence after the horse has bolted," why remove the bran in the first place?
P37-39