Balanced diet module

The balanced diet module is not at all about memorizing grams and eating the same fat-reducing/healthy menu, but a customizable dietary framework that can be freely assembled to adapt to different physical conditions, dietary preferences and even regional eating habits - you don’t need to be an ascetic to get the right nutrition for a long time.

When I first came into contact with a balanced diet, I was really stupid and bought a food scale. The grams of each meal were in the single digits. I ate 120g of brown rice, 80g of chicken breast, and even half a gram of salt in boiled vegetables. I carried it for 17 days. Finally, I got up in the middle of the night and ate two packs of instant noodles, and almost broke the scale. It’s funny even thinking about it now. At that time, I thought that the so-called "balance" was a unified standard answer. Later, I spent half a year with a teacher in the nutrition department to understand that there is no standard answer. The essence is just building Lego.

The core building blocks are actually fixed: staple food blocks to provide energy, meat, egg and soy products to supplement protein, vegetable and fruit blocks to supplement micronutrients, and high-quality fat blocks to provide essential fatty acids. These four are basic items. If any of them are missing, problems will occur in the long run. But what you choose to fill in is entirely up to you.

A while ago, I helped a programmer friend from Chongqing adjust her diet. She used to follow the trend of eating healthy meals online. After half a month of eating, she came to me crying and said her mouth was about to fade away. If I let her eat boiled broccoli again, she would quit her job and go back to Chongqing to eat hot pot. I reassembled the modules for her: for the staple food block, she likes to eat noodles, so she can replace the ordinary white noodles with multigrain noodles that are half buckwheat and half wheat, or order corn as the staple food when eating hot pot, instead of having to eat brown rice; for the protein block, she drinks milk and has diarrhea. Change to iced soy milk. If you can't eat boiled eggs, buy tea eggs from the convenience store downstairs, or even tender beef and tripe cooked in hot pot. Vegetable cubes are easier. She likes to eat maocai, so she adds two more pounds of green leafy vegetables each time and less sesame sauce. There is no need to boil them in plain water. She has been eating this for more than three months now, and her triglycerides have dropped during her last physical examination. She even happily ate butter hot pot last week without feeling any burden at all.

The several food schools that are making a lot of noise on the Internet are actually just adjustments to the module proportions. For example, the low-carb ketogenic pie is to reduce the proportion of staple food pieces to an extremely low level and increase the proportion of fat pieces, which is indeed suitable for people with insulin resistance and need to quickly control sugar; the high-carb low-fat pie is to increase the proportion of staple food pieces and reduce fat pieces, which is indeed suitable for people who regularly exercise and build muscle; the Mediterranean diet is to replace the fat pieces with olive oil and nuts, and add more deep-sea fish, which is more friendly to people with cardiovascular problems. There really is no right or wrong, only whether it is suitable for your own physical condition, and there is no need to argue with others over this.

Oh, by the way, don’t believe the saying that “a balanced diet requires eating enough 12 kinds of food every day and 25 kinds of food every week.” I went on a business trip to Shandong last year and met a 73-year-old nutritionist. He has loved to eat steamed buns, cabbage and tofu stewed all his life, and occasionally eats mackerel. His physical examination indicators are more normal than many young people in their twenties who eat salad every day. He said that as long as the nutrients in the core modules are sufficient, it doesn’t make much difference whether you eat three or twenty types. You don’t have to buy avocados and quinoa that you don’t like to eat just to make up for the variety. Not only will you spend a lot of money, you will feel uncomfortable eating, but you will not be able to persevere.

There are two extreme opinions that are quite interesting. One says that "a balanced diet means eating everything, and milk tea hot pot must be arranged every week"; the other says that "a balanced diet means completely rejecting processed foods, and you cannot touch even a bite of potato chips." My own experience is that you can add an additional flexibility module of about 10%. For example, if you eat 1,800 calories a day, leave a quota of 180 calories. If you want to eat milk tea, drink milk tea, or eat potato chips, it is totally fine. I myself eat a bowl of ice powder with pearls every Friday night, and I have never gained weight or had any problems with my indicators. On the contrary, because of this thought, I usually don’t crave these things at all. If you are really not allowed to eat at all, there is a high chance that you will not be able to survive for a month and then you will eat in revenge, which will not be worth the gain.

Harm, let’s talk about it, the biggest advantage of this module is its flexibility. When you are on a business trip to catch the high-speed train, you can buy corn + tea eggs + cherry tomatoes, and put together the four core modules to have a qualified and balanced meal. There is no need to bring any lunch box. I foolishly took it with me once before, and I spilled half of the box when I went through the security check. I was so embarrassed. You don’t have to ask yourself to do it perfectly right from the beginning. When you eat today, you can pick up an extra chopstick of green vegetables, and tomorrow you can replace the white rice with half a portion of sweet potatoes. You have already put together half of the modules, which is better than anything else.