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Science and Technology Daily reporter Ma Aiping
Recently, during the 2022 nutrition week, the special fund for health communication and promotion of the China Health Promotion Foundation and the health communication branch of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association jointly issued the joint tips on “food diversity and balanced diet” for takeout meals, advocating the public to choose takeout foods scientifically and maintain food diversity and balanced diet.
Liu ailing, director of the nutrition and Health Education Department of the Institute of nutrition and health of the China Center for Disease Control and prevention, interpreted the joint tips for takeout ordering. She pointed out that according to the analysis report on the nutritional contribution of takeout lunch, the content of grain, potato and livestock and poultry meat ordered by Chinese consumers through the takeout platform generally met the recommended standards of the dietary guidelines for Chinese residents, but the quantity of vegetable food was small. Most consumers choose foods with more energy and fat than the recommended intake. If this unbalanced dietary habit is maintained for a long time, it is easy to increase the risk of overweight and obesity. In addition, the intake of vitamin C, folic acid, iron, calcium, zinc and other trace elements is insufficient, which does not meet the standards of human needs and must be supplemented from other meals.
So, how do we choose takeout food? The joint tips for “diversified food and balanced diet” selling point meals gives four suggestions:
First, the food is diverse and reasonable. The balanced diet model is the basis to ensure human nutritional needs and health to the greatest extent, and food diversity is the basic principle of the balanced diet model. The dietary guidelines for Chinese residents (2022) recommends that Chinese residents should eat at least 12 kinds of food per day and at least 25 kinds of food per week. It is suggested to give priority to takeout with more kinds of food, with at least 3-5 kinds of food for breakfast, 4-6 kinds of lunch and 4-5 kinds of dinner; Pay attention to the combination of meat and vegetables, thickness and color of food, and pay attention to the daily intake of 50-150g whole grains and miscellaneous beans; Often change the types of takeout to avoid choosing a takeout variety for a long time; If you choose a single kind of takeout at noon, you can appropriately increase the variety of food at dinner, which can also meet the diversified needs of food.
Second, less salt and oil, light taste. Many take away dishes contain more salt, oil and sugar. The healthy China action (20192030) points out that unhealthy diets such as high salt, oil and sugar are risk factors for obesity, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes and other metabolic diseases and tumors. It is suggested to choose dishes with light taste as far as possible; Give priority to steamed, boiled, stewed and cold mixed dishes, and less fried food and pickled food; When ordering takeout, you can ask the merchant to put less salt, oil and sugar in the remarks; Give priority to white water, tea, etc. as food drinks, and choose less sugary drinks.
Third, clever collocation and rainbow principle. The study found that different colors of fruits and vegetables contain different nutrients and phytochemicals. Following the principle of rainbow nutrition, choosing different colors of fruits and vegetables is one of the convenient and easy ways to realize food diversification. In addition to fruits and vegetables, we can also skillfully learn from the “Rainbow principle” when matching staple food and meat. For example, when choosing staple food, we can choose coarse grain rice containing grains, red beans and mung beans. When choosing animal dishes, we should pay attention to the matching of white fish, poultry and red livestock. The rich colors of food can give people the enjoyment of visual beauty, stimulate appetite, and help people meet the requirements of eating 12 kinds of food a day and more than 25 kinds of food a week. There are vegetables and fruit meals every day; Give priority to seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables with different colors; The staple food increases various grains and beans to enrich the taste and nutrition; In addition to the common “red” livestock meat, the proportion of “white” fish and poultry meat should be appropriately increased.
Fourth, nutritional supplements vary from person to person. Under normal circumstances, we should try our best to obtain the nutrients needed by the human body from food through a balanced diet. Such as long-term three meal takeout or dining out, it is easy to cause problems such as nutrient deficiency. In this regard, dietary improvement measures can be taken according to individual needs, including the selection of fortified foods and nutrient supplements as the source of nutrient supplement, so as to make up for deficiencies and correct nutrient deficiency. It is suggested that eating at home can promote reasonable diet and maintain weight. It is suggested to minimize the number of takeout and eating out; If the vitamins and minerals are insufficient, the diet should be adjusted, and at the same time, nutrition fortified foods and nutrient supplements should be scientifically selected and reasonably consumed; For pregnant women at work, when they cannot obtain diversified meals to achieve a balanced diet, they can choose single or compound nutrient supplements or pregnant women’s milk powder under the guidance of nutrition professionals.
Liu ailing said that with the rapid development of the takeout industry, people’s requirements for takeout diet have also increased, from “full” to “nutritious”. At this stage, whether in China or abroad, takeout food has the problem of unbalanced nutrition, which needs our scientific choice. Nutritional status is closely related to everyone’s health. I hope everyone can maintain balanced eating habits, ensure comprehensive nutritional intake, and be the first person responsible for their own health.
