5 myths about healthy food
Myth # 1: eat healthy food like medicine
People to the middle age, unavoidable blood sugar, cholesterol, blood lipid and other indicators will be too high, a lot of people began to find healthy food to eat, no wonder there will be healthy food on television advertising said, as long as you eat after the return to the big hospital to check, you will know there is no effective.
"As soon as the index climbs, it's back to health care. There are already many good drugs to treat [chronic diseases] without relying on healthy food," said Chen zhaozi, director of the pharmacy at hexin hospital.
Myth # 2: cure bad habits with healthy food
For example, someone social intercourse is ceaseless, do not have time to exercise again, as time goes by, not only too fat, triglyceride also rises greatly, want to buy fish oil to reduce triglyceride.
There is some evidence that fish oil can help lower triglycerides, but it also increases the concentration of LDL (bad cholesterol) and the chance that LDL will oxidize in the body, so the American heart association (AHA) has never recommended fish oil to patients.
"If you want to reduce triglycerides, it may be more effective to start with weight loss by playing a game," said Chen peirong, head of the diet supply group in the department of nutrition at national Taiwan university hospital.
For example, if people who want to lose weight do not change their diet and increase their exercise, they will lose weight by adding certain nutrients to yogurt. Plus, "there's sugar and fat in yogurt, so drinking a lot of it can actually make you fat," points out nutritionist peirong Chen.
Myth # 3: expect it to work
Just like your eating habits are long term, healthy food should be taken for a long time to improve your health.
For example, osteoporosis can't be treated in one or two days, so when you're "on the verge of collapse" and just eat a few healthy foods, "are you comfortable?" Mackay hospital nutrition section director zhao qiang said.
Myth no. 4: cure the head, cure the foot
Just like a diet, the more diverse you are, the more nutrients you can get, and the more comprehensive your body's protection.
So if you're taking a supplement, nutritionists recommend taking a multivitamin with no more than the recommended daily dose, not a single supplement for a specific nutrient, and avoiding overdoses.
Myth # 5: nothing healthy works
Many healthy foods are rejected and mistrusted by consumers because of excessive or mis-marketing. In fact, you can still get health benefits from healthy food if you put it in perspective.
As an example, professor cheng said that people's life style can be divided into healthy period, incubation period and recovery period.
When healthy, eat food to fill the stomach, when sick to take medicine, but in the health recovery period if you can increase the intake of special nutrients, the disease will recover quickly; The body is less likely to get sick if you eat foods that build up resistance during the incubation period (see "when healthy foods work best" on page 40).
After a physical examination, huang yiwen, a 35-year-old office worker, found that her cholesterol index had reached 280 (the upper limit of the normal value of 200), but her HDL (good cholesterol) reached 52, still very good, although the doctor did not think it needed to be treated, she still hoped to improve.
She filtered her diet, cut back on cholesterol-raising foods and increased exercise, but her cholesterol still didn't go down. So she looked for a healthy food red qu, checked the Internet to make sure the brand was certified, and after three months, her cholesterol dropped to 230.
While not every healthy food item is suspect, it's still important to know how to choose, and here are five tips to help you choose good healthy foods smarter and safer.
5 tips for buying healthy food
Tip 1: check to see if you're certified
When you want to buy healthy food, check to see if the product is certified as healthy food (see "certified healthy food" on page 42). Because want to obtain attestation, want to have basic toxicity test, in order to ensure safety, also must accompany the experiment to prove the effect, have the most basic safeguard to the consumer. Currently, 37 products have been certified.
Tip 2: read the label carefully
Compared with the 37 certified healthy foods, consumers are faced with thousands of uncertified products. So had to look at the product label, "the more clearly the manufacturer label, the more likely to be responsible," director Chen zhaozi said.
Then the labeling of ingredients is also learned, not only to see the raw ingredients, but also to see the amount of active ingredients. For example, the manufacturer claims that its products are good for bone health. You should not only look at the amount of raw materials such as crab shell powder and pearl powder, but also the amount of active ingredients in them.
Tip 3: buy in a large channel, or choose a big brand
Cheng hui-wen, a professor in the department of pharmacy at Taipei medical university, said big brands (especially state-owned brands) and big channels are less likely to sell outrageous products. "The more you claim that everything works, the more you have to be careful," says Chen.
Tip 4: talk to your doctor or dietitian
Talk to your doctor or dietitian before you start taking healthy foods, especially if you're taking them. Because it's not just about whether or not this healthy food works, it's about whether or not you're physically fit to eat, and you have to think about it as a whole.
Tip 5: educate yourself
Another aspect of healthy food is that consumers can improve their health by understanding nutrition. So, you can learn about nutrition in a more positive way, not just as a lamb to be slaughtered.
For example, the United States plant council has the latest research and safety assessment.
Just as fish oil does not guarantee a healthy heart, ginkgo is not guaranteed to improve memory. By far the best known and most guaranteed healthy food in nutrition is to eat a variety of foods, including plenty of vegetables and fruits, in your meals.
It sounds corny, but it's the cheapest and most effective way.
