Recommended healthy eating recipes

There is no universal healthy recipe that is suitable for everyone. The current healthy diet logic generally recognized by domestic and foreign nutrition circles is "whole foods account for more than 70%, low in oil, salt and sugar, and the combination is consistent with personal physique and living habits." I combined my 3 years of home cooking experience and professional advice from registered dietitians to compile 3 sets of highly practical recipes. No complicated cooking is required. Most dishes can be prepared in 10 minutes. If ordinary people persist, body fat and metabolic indicators will be significantly improved.

Let me tell you for those migrant workers who can't spare 20 minutes a day to cook. Last year, I worked on a project for three consecutive months and worked 996 every day. I relied on this set of lazy recipes to support myself. My body fat did not increase. The low-density lipoprotein level in the physical examination at the end of the year dropped by 0.2mmol/L compared to the previous year.

Make a cup of overnight oats directly for breakfast: the night before, put 30 grams of pure oats without additives, 200 ml of sugar-free high-calcium soy milk, and a small handful of frozen mixed berries into a cup, stir it twice, put it in the refrigerator, and eat it the next day. If it is not enough, sprinkle a small spoonful of flaxseed powder. Don't listen to the nonsense on the Internet that oats must be cooked to be healthy. I specifically asked a nutritionist friend. As long as it is pure oatmeal without adding non-dairy creamer or syrup, the glycemic index of cold brewing is less than 10% different from that of cooked oatmeal, and the taste of cold brewing is glutinous. I sometimes add two freeze-dried mulberries. If it is sweet, no sugar is needed at all.

Lunch is easier: braise 1 kilogram of lean beef or skinless chicken legs in advance on weekends, cut 100 grams each time with rice, add half a pre-steamed baby pumpkin, and add 150 grams of blanched vegetables. Blanch the vegetables the night before and pack them into boxes. You can eat them in the microwave for 2 minutes the next day. If you are afraid that the vegetables will turn yellow, sprinkle a little salt and mix them in advance, which will not affect the nutrition at all. If you don’t like braised tuna, you can switch to low-sodium water-soaked canned tuna. Don’t worry about whether there are preservatives or not. Sealed tuna cans from regular manufacturers have much fewer additives than the salad from the takeaway shop downstairs.

If your blood sugar is on the high side, or you have been trying to gain muscle and lose fat recently, don’t refer to the lazy model above. Most of the fitness coaches and endocrinology nurse friends around me use this sugar-control model.

For breakfast, eat two hard-boiled eggs + half a head of corn + 1 small dish of stir-fried spinach. Here is a misunderstanding that many people have: Many people are afraid of eating egg yolks due to high cholesterol. In fact, the 2022 version of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" has already removed the upper limit of daily cholesterol intake. As long as you do not have gallbladder-related diseases, eating two egg yolks a day is completely fine. On the contrary, it can supplement lecithin, which is much higher in nutritional density than eating egg whites alone.

For lunch, use a fistful of brown rice instead of refined rice noodles, with 120 grams of steamed fish or boiled shrimp, and 200 grams of dark green vegetables, such as broccoli and asparagus. When stir-frying, only use olive oil and a small amount of salt. Don't add oyster sauce, braised sauce or other seasonings with a lot of hidden sugar. For dinner, you can cut off refined carbohydrates and replace it with 100 grams of boiled okra or cold fungus, with 80 grams of northern tofu. If you are hungry before going to bed, add a small handful of original almonds, no more than 10 grams. Sometimes I am greedy, so I will roast 30 grams of dried sweet potatoes without additives. It is delicious and filling, and I will not want to order a midnight snack.

If you are preparing meals for a family, the above two sets are a bit too "simplified". My family has an old man in his 60s and a child in elementary school. I have been using this family version of healthy recipes for the past six months. The old man's blood pressure has stabilized a lot, and the child's physical examination has not been lacking trace elements.

For breakfast, we generally cook multigrain porridge, with rice, millet, and quinoa cooked in a ratio of 2:2:1. Each person has a hard-boiled egg + a small plate of cold cucumber. If the child likes sweet food, add a spoonful of chopped red dates to the porridge. If the elderly have bad teeth, make the porridge a little softer. There is no need to add additional sugar. Lunch is basically one meat, two vegetables and one soup. The meat dishes are preferred to be low-fat, such as beef brisket stewed with tomatoes and steamed sea bass. Vegetarian dishes are bought in season, such as stir-fried cabbage and garlic lettuce. The soup is a simple mushroom and egg drop soup. There is no need to boil bone soup for several hours. It is high in purine and does not have much nutrition. Oh, by the way, don’t believe the saying that “red meat cannot be eaten in a healthy diet”. The heme iron and zinc in red meat cannot be supplemented by white meat. As long as the total amount of red meat eaten per week does not exceed 500 grams, it is completely fine. I usually cook beef brisket twice a week, and each person eats about 100 grams each time, which is just up to standard.

I know many people are still wondering whether the ketogenic diet or the Mediterranean diet is better? I have friends from both schools. One friend tried keto and lost 20 pounds in 3 months. However, my aunt delayed it for half a month and also lost hair. ； There are also friends who have adhered to the Mediterranean diet for 5 years. Now they are almost 50, and their blood lipids and blood pressure are better than many young people. In fact, there are really no absolute advantages and disadvantages. Ketogenic is more suitable for people who need short-term weight control and have professional guidance. If ordinary people try it blindly, they can easily damage their metabolism and end up losing more than they gain. It is most reliable to refer to the ratios in the dietary guide and choose recipes that you can eat.

To be honest, I have been through a lot of healthy eating pitfalls in the past few years. I followed the trend and bought a lot of super foods from Internet celebrities, such as chia seeds and kale powder. Most of them ended up being expired. Later I realized that the core of healthy eating is never how many expensive Internet celebrity ingredients you eat, but whether you can stick to it for a long time. If you like to eat white rice, there is no need to force yourself to eat unpalatable brown rice. Eat a few bites less and eat more vegetables and meat. It is still healthy. There is no need to make yourself unhappy even when eating for the sake of so-called "health standards". That is the most unhealthy thing.

Oh, by the way, if you are really too lazy to cook, it doesn’t matter if you occasionally eat takeout. Choose the grilled chicken breast salad from a light food restaurant and put less salad dressing, or choose Chaoshan white-cut chicken rice, peel off the skin and eat it. It is much better than those rice bowls that are heavy in oil and salt. You don’t have to stick to the standard every time. Only by being relaxed can you go far.