Healthy Recipes Health Commission

The National Health and Medical Commission has never released any "unified version of healthy recipes" for the entire population. All fixed weekly/one-month recipes under the banner of "official recommendation of the National Health Commission" and "specified meal list of the National Health Commission" are either secondary creations of marketing accounts, or simply gimmicks made by merchants selling fat-reducing meals and sugar-control products. The core of the dietary guidance released by the National Health Commission to the public is the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" which is updated every five years. It only provides general principles and will not produce a one-size-fits-all fixed recipe.

Last month, I helped my mother look for references for sugar-control meals, and came across no fewer than ten recipes with the "Health Commission Certified" label. I clicked on them and found that some required eating eight egg whites a day, and some asked diabetics to avoid eating staple food at all. I almost made me laugh. If it were officially released, could I make such a basic nutritional common sense mistake?

Why do people always think there is an “official healthy recipe”? To put it bluntly, we ordinary people always want a standard answer to "copy homework". It is best to just buy it and do it without using your brain. In the past two years, there have indeed been different voices in the nutrition community: one group believes that more detailed reference recipes should be introduced to target high-incidence chronic diseases and common needs, such as fat loss, sugar control, and diet for the elderly, to lower everyone’s implementation threshold. ； Another group of experts in the field of public health firmly objected, saying that China is too vast and there are few fresh leafy vegetables in the three northeastern provinces in winter. It is simply unrealistic for you to give a recipe requiring 300g of green leafy vegetables a day. Spicy food is indispensable for every meal in Sichuan and Chongqing. If you ask people to eat completely bland, no one can insist on it. In addition, everyone's basic metabolism, basic diseases, and taste preferences are very different. A unified diet is a false proposition and can easily mislead people.

In fact, if you carefully read the 2022 version of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", you will find that what the National Health Commission has always given is a "cooking outline", not a "fixed menu." Take the diet pagoda that everyone is most familiar with. Every day, 250-400g of cereals and potatoes, 120-200g of protein, and 300-500g of vegetables are all floating ranges. There is also a special explanation of "adjust as needed": people who are doing fitness and building muscle can increase the protein, but their metabolism is slow. The elderly can reduce the amount of cereals and potatoes, and vegetarians can replace animal protein with soy products. Even the most complained-about "how to measure 25g of oil", the guide gives tips: use a graduated oil pot, or average the amount of a porcelain spoon per meal, not accurate to milligrams.

I know Dr. Zhang who works as a nutrition guide at a community health service center. When doing science popularization for the elderly, he never gives a fixed menu. He first asks the family members about their eating habits: “Do you usually eat rice or noodles? ”“Are there any taboos? ”“Can my wife eat spicy food? ”Last time I met Aunt Zhang who had diabetes and couldn't live without twice-cooked pork. She didn't ask her to give up meat directly, so she taught her to replace pork belly with lean leg meat. When frying, put half less oil, twice as much green peppers and garlic sprouts, and eat a fistful of brown rice at a meal. It was much more effective than directly saying "you can't eat meat or oil." Aunt Zhang has been following the adjustment for three months now, and her blood sugar is very stable. She also said that she is much happier than before when she was a vegetarian.

Of course, I have to remind everyone that there are too many fake recipes on the Internet now that are popular with the "Health Commission". It is easy to distinguish them: any recipe that requires you to completely fix what and how much you eat for each meal, without any room for adjustment, is basically fake. Real official dietary guidelines will not tell you to eat broccoli on Monday and chicken breast on Tuesday. They will only tell you to eat a variety of foods, eat at least 12 different foods every day, 25 kinds per week, reduce salt, oil, sugar and alcohol. These core principles remain unchanged.

I have been in a trap before. I followed the so-called "Fat Reduction Diet of the National Health Commission" on the Internet for three days. I ate boiled vegetables every meal. I was so hungry that I couldn't help but search for takeaways when I went to work in the afternoon. Later, I made my own recipes according to the guidelines: drink milk in the morning and add a whole grain bun. Eat at the company cafeteria as usual at noon, eat less fried food, and pick up more green vegetables with chopsticks. If you feel hungry in the afternoon, add a small apple or a handful of plain nuts, so you don’t have to go hungry. I have persisted for more than two months. My weight has not changed, but the blood lipid index in the physical examination has improved a lot.

To put it bluntly, there is no "official healthy recipe" that is universally applicable. The principle given by the National Health Commission is that your own taste, physical condition, and living habits are the core basis for adjustment. The best healthy recipe that can be adhered to for a long time, is comfortable to eat, and keeps your body indicators stable.