Today I saw young people wearing short sleeves, but yesterday I saw tender downy feathers and elders wearing cotton coats. Spring’s face truly changes like a child’s—three changes in one day. How can those with weak constitutions avoid catching colds?
People often say “harmony between man and nature.” While nature constantly shifts, human bodily functions can never keep up. However, medical experts unanimously agree: to maintain good health, one must have balanced diet, moderate exercise, quit smoking, limit alcohol, and maintain psychological balance. This article focuses on proper diet and how to eat smartly to prevent disease.
More "Reduction," Less "Oxidation" – Activate the Brain
How to ensure brain health? How to improve mental efficiency? Japanese nutritionist Dr. Sachiko Sugawara recommends: eat more reducing foods, less oxidizing foods.
Oxidizing foods refer to those rich in peroxidized lipid compounds—examples include fried foods, instant noodles, hamburgers, high-calorie oily foods, fatty meats, and fruit juices. These foods undergo oxidation reactions in the body, damaging the normal molecular structure of blood vessels, narrowing cerebral vessels, impairing blood flow, and producing adverse stimuli to brain function, leading to sluggish thinking.
Reducing foods contain beta-carotene, superoxide dismutase, and other components that prevent oxidation in blood vessel walls or reverse existing oxidation, ensuring smooth blood vessels and adequate blood supply to the brain, keeping it fresh and active.
More Poultry, Less Livestock – Protect the Heart
People generally love meat but fear its fat content. They love its rich nutrients and good taste, yet fear its high fat content linked to hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other diseases. How to solve this dilemma? One key is to eat more poultry and less livestock.
Although both poultry and livestock are animal fats, their fat structures differ. Livestock fat contains more saturated fatty acids and higher cholesterol, while goose, duck, and chicken meats not only have lower fat (only 1/4–1/3 of livestock fat) but also fat structure closer to olive oil—dominated by unsaturated fatty acids—thus offering heart protection.
More Raw, Less Cooked Meats – Reduce Carcinogens
When given a choice between raw and cooked meat, which would you prefer? Cooked meat products are convenient and tasty, so you might lean toward them. But doing so risks ingesting nitrites. During processing, nitrites are added for preservation. Once inside the body, nitrites decompose into highly carcinogenic nitrosamines, seriously threatening health.
A study analyzing 120 cooked food samples found harmful substances in 107 samples—87% detection rate—with 7 samples exceeding limits. Experts warn that excessive nitrite intake can cause acute poisoning and cancer, and even low-dose long-term exposure poses health risks.
More Whole Grains, Less Refined – Protect Blood Vessels
Currently, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and cerebral infarction are rising in incidence, becoming the number one killer among Chinese people. Besides traditional “three highs” (high blood lipids, high blood pressure, high blood sugar), another major culprit is hyperhomocysteinemia.
Experts worldwide have found that if homocysteine levels in blood are too high, it causes arterial hardening, ultimately leading to myocardial infarction, stroke, and dementia. Elevated homocysteine levels increasingly result from consuming heavily processed refined foods.
Homocysteine comes from proteins and has some toxicity, but can be converted into harmless cystathionine and excreted in urine. Three common B vitamins play crucial roles in this process: vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folic acid. Unfortunately, refined foods lose most B vitamins during over-processing. For example, bran contains the highest known natural B vitamins in any food. Thus, people who regularly eat polished rice lack B vitamin protection, greatly increasing vascular damage risk.
More Vegetables, Less Meat – Improve Bone Health
Compared to meat, vegetables benefit bone health. American researchers recently warned: excessive consumption of meat or cheese, especially among middle-aged and older women, increases the risk of bone loss and fractures. Conversely, using vegetables as the main protein source effectively improves bone quality.
Studies show women absorbing high levels of protein from meat and dairy lose three times more bone mass than those getting protein from vegetables. The reason lies in animal foods’ excess acidity. With age, declining kidney function reduces the ability to excrete acidic substances, causing acid buildup in the body. Bones must then neutralize this acid, leading to long-term loss of bone and calcium. Vegetables, however, contain abundant alkaline components that neutralize acids, thus protecting bones and improving bone quality.
More Green, Less White – Promote Longevity and Health
Nutritionists analyzed various vegetables' nutrients and discovered a pattern: the deeper the color, the higher the nutrient content. Darker-colored vegetables have more vitamins and beta-carotene, while lighter ones have less. Ranked accordingly: green vegetables > red-yellow vegetables > white vegetables.
Green vegetables are rich in calcium, folate, and high levels of vitamin C. Additionally, they contain abundant chlorophyll, which has anti-cancer and disease-preventing properties.
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