What is missing in our bowls: Moving beyond traditional dietary misconceptions

Author: Qin Huiji
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: This book will tell you which nutrients are severely deficient, insufficient, or adequate in ordinary Chinese people, and which nutrients are sufficient, excessive, or in excess. It also provides recommendations on how to scientifically supplement and reasonably adjust. By combining China's rich traditional food therapy practices with modern biomedical and nutritional knowledge, it offers readers a brand-new perspective on diet. Based on national surveys and scientific analysis, the author clearly informs the majority of the Chinese population about the nutrients they are deficient in and provides simple and practical methods for constructing a balanced diet to achieve optimal nutritional combinations. The book is rich in content, up-to-date information, and broad in scope, with strong practicality, making it suitable for the general public to read for a rational diet, physical health, and longevity. It can also be referenced by nutritionists, chefs, and medical personnel. For those concerned about their own and their family's health, this book will guide you in making the best dietary choices.
(1) Causes of nutritional imbalance in young children
① Habits of picky and selective eating: In kindergartens, we often see some children giving away the dishes they don't like to other kids, some hiding them in their pockets or on the table, some even throwing them on the ground, and others crying when they get dishes they dislike. The reason for this phenomenon lies in:
- Indulgence by parents: Some children refuse to eat dishes they don't like at home, and parents give in by preparing special meals for them, which makes the child develop a dislike for certain foods.
- Influence of parents' dietary habits: Parents are children's first teachers, and their behavior has a direct impact on them. For example: Some children don't eat liver or tofu, and it is found that their parents also have habits of not eating liver and tofu.
- Overeating: Some children develop a strong preference for certain dishes and eat excessively without control, making their stomachs unable to tolerate it and causing them to develop a dislike for that food. For example, not eating fatty meat often falls into this category.
- Cooking techniques: Poor cooking skills resulting in unappetizing food and a lack of variety over time are also reasons for children's pickiness.
② Lack of scientific dietary planning for young children:
- Not calculating nutritional intake: Some kindergartens, due to various reasons, do not calculate nutritional intake in the long term, arranging meals arbitrarily each day without knowing if the nutritional intake is sufficient or not, and lacking economic accounting. Many kindergartens often have surplus food, some with significant amounts, which may be consumed by staff during meals at the kindergarten, resulting in insufficient nutritional intake for children. Some kindergartens may calculate nutritional intake on paper but fail to implement it, rendering the calculation meaningless.
- Unreasonable dietary plans with imbalanced nutrients: Currently, it is rare to see quantitative meal plans in urban kindergartens. Some kindergartens develop meal plans based on personal preferences rather than the proportions needed by children, often prioritizing economic factors and only focusing on meat-vegetable combinations while neglecting comprehensiveness, leading to imbalanced nutrient intake. In some classes with larger numbers of children, meals may be insufficient, making it difficult for children to even eat enough, let alone well. Additionally, some kindergartens have eliminated midday snacks, not considering children's digestive physiological characteristics, which inevitably affects their growth and development.
- Cooks, procurement, and management staff lack basic nutritional knowledge and scientific cooking techniques, specifically: not following meal plans for procurement or preparation, and lacking understanding of scientific cooking, resulting in significant nutrient loss during the cooking process due to improper methods.
③ Lack of good dining conditions and environment for young children:
- Not ensuring children eat in a pleasant and quiet atmosphere. For example, some kindergarten educators lack scientific mealtime awareness, focusing solely on task completion by rushing to serve meals without providing pre-meal psychological preparation for children. Some even lecture to children during meals or shout at them, creating negative interference.
- Not