A light and healthy recipe suitable for the whole family, less oil and less salt to make it healthier

The core of a light and healthy meal suitable for the whole family has never been bland boiled vegetables. Instead, it is based on the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" which recommends "the per capita daily edible oil should not exceed 25g and the edible salt should not exceed 5g (including invisible salt in ingredients such as light soy sauce and chicken essence)." According to this idea of ​​meal preparation, it is possible to achieve a meal that is less oily and salty but still delicious, and can satisfy the whole family without having to cook several separate pots of rice.

To be honest, I had misunderstandings about "light diet" at first. Two years ago, my dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure, and the doctor repeatedly told me to control salt and oil. At that time, my first reaction was that the whole family would eat boiled vegetables together? After all, my children love all meat, and their favorite food is fried chicken wings. I work a lot of overtime, and am used to heavy food. I will eat boiled food every day, and I will order takeout in a group within three days.

Oh, by the way, I also checked a lot of information at that time and found that everyone has quite a lot of differences on light diet: the traditional health-preserving school believes that if it is light, avoid spicy food and avoid heavy oil and salt. It is best to use less onions, ginger, and garlic.； The extreme lightness that was popular in the fitness circle was to boil everything in water, and even the seasonings were only sprinkled with a little black pepper. ； Some people think that as long as they put less animal oil, it will be light, and it doesn't matter if they put more vegetable oil. Later, I specifically consulted a friend who works in the nutrition department, and I realized that these opinions are a bit biased. They are suitable for ordinary families to have a light diet. They don’t need to be so stuck. The core is to control the amount, and the taste can be adjusted in any way.

I have been exploring on my own for almost a year. Now, for my family of four, the total amount of oil used in a meal is basically between 18-22g, and the salt is only 4-6g. A 5L barrel of oil can last more than three months, which is nearly half less than before. My dad’s blood pressure was very stable during the last physical examination, and my children don’t make noises about eating fried chicken anymore. They say that the food at home is more delicious than the ones in kindergarten.

Let’s take last Thursday’s dinner. I spent a total of 20 minutes cooking three dishes, and no one said they were not delicious. The main dish is steamed chicken with mushrooms. Cut the three-yellow chicken into small pieces, marinate it with a spoonful of salt-reduced light soy sauce, a pinch of white pepper, and a few slices of ginger for 15 minutes. Place a layer of fresh mushrooms and thinly sliced yam on the bottom, steam it for 12 minutes, and then it's done. , you don’t even need to add extra salt. The fat of the chicken itself is soaked in the mushrooms and yams. It’s so fresh that it can be mixed with two bowls of rice. The chicken is so tender that it melts in one sip. My dad can eat it even if he has bad teeth. My daughter specially picked the yam at the bottom to eat, which is soft and a little fresh. Oh, by the way, if there is an elderly person with gout at home, just replace the mushrooms with sweet corn segments. When steamed, it will bring out the sweet aroma of corn and the taste will be great.

The vegetarian dish I cook is stir-fried milk cabbage, which is my favorite recently. When the pot is smoking, pour 1 tsp of olive oil, add two cloves of minced garlic and fry until fragrant. Pour in the milk cabbage and stir-fry quickly for 1 minute, then turn off the heat. Sprinkle half a gram of salt and drop two drops of finely ground sesame oil. It is very crisp and tender, and also has the sweetness of the cabbage itself. I have tried blanching it before, but my kid didn’t touch it because it was tasteless. The oil in this method is only about 3g, which is not exceeding the standard at all.

Oh, when it comes to improving freshness, I remembered the pitfalls I stepped into before. At first, I desperately added chicken essence and light soy sauce to reduce salt. Later I learned that there are almost 1.6g of salt in 10ml of light soy sauce, and the salt content of a spoonful of chicken essence is almost 1g. Adding two spoons of light soy sauce equals less than half a bag of salt. It is a completely invisible salt bomb. Later, I specially bought scallops and dried shiitake mushrooms, washed them, dried them, ground them into powder and put them in jars. I sprinkled them with half a spoon each time when cooking or making soup. They were fresher than chicken essence, and there was no additional addition. Of course, if you find it troublesome to grind the flour, you can use regular chicken essence and MSG. After all, the nutrition community has already made it clear that legal monosodium glutamate is not harmful to the human body as long as you don’t eat it in excess. Just remember to include it in the total salt intake of the day and don’t add too much extra salt.

My family seldom makes pure white rice as staple food. I usually mix it with one-third of oatmeal or quinoa. If you are too lazy to cook rice, you can steam some sweet potatoes and iron yams as the staple food. Last week, I also made multigrain steamed cakes, cornmeal, and small rice. Add a little bit of chopped red dates to the rice noodles and steam them for 20 minutes. They are so fluffy and soft that my dad, who has high blood sugar, can eat half a piece. My kid just eats it as a snack without even adding sugar. The sweetness of the red dates itself is enough.

A friend once asked me, if I keep eating bland food like this, will I get greedy? That’s so normal, okay! My family will set aside an "indulgent meal" every Saturday. Sometimes I grill a few Orleans chicken wings, sometimes I cook a small spicy pot with a slightly looser oil and salt, and I even buy a family bucket to come back to eat. After all, you must be happy when eating. Suppressing your appetite for a long time will make you prone to overeating. I have also asked my friends in the nutrition department about this, and they said that it is absolutely fine, as long as the overall intake of oil and salt for a week does not exceed the standard.

To be honest, many people now think that light eating is a punishment, but it is really not the case. To put it bluntly, it means replacing the "stimulating taste" that was created by heavy seasoning in the past with the freshness, sweetness and aroma of the ingredients themselves. You will not feel panicked when eating, and you will not feel thirsty after eating and have to drink half a bottle of water. The whole family can eat comfortably and there is no burden on the body. This is not as good as eating, but worrying about high blood pressure and gaining weight after eating is much better, right?

Oh, and a final reminder. If your family usually has a strong taste, don’t cut down the oil and salt to the standard amount all at once. If your tongue cannot adapt to it, it will definitely feel tasteless. Reduce a little bit every week and slowly adjust it. Your tongue will adapt to it in about a month. When the time comes, you will feel uncomfortable eating heavy food.