What are the diet plans?

There is no absolute good or bad diet plan that can stand the test of practice. It all depends on what problem you want to solve. From weight loss and chronic disease control to exercise and energy replenishment, and daily health maintenance, different needs correspond to completely different choices.

If you want to regulate metabolism and control blood sugar and blood lipids, the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet were first recognized by the medical community. When I helped my cousin with insulin resistance adjust her diet two years ago, I didn’t let her buy any expensive imported ingredients. I just used the food at home. She replaced rapeseed oil with virgin olive oil, added steamed pangasius twice a week, and replaced white rice with half oatmeal and half brown rice. She also did not go on a diet because she was hungry. After three months, her fasting blood sugar dropped from 6.2 to 5.3, and her triglycerides also dropped by nearly half. However, these two plans are not without their shortcomings. The Mediterranean diet requires a high proportion of deep-sea fish and nuts, which is a bit expensive for ordinary working-class people to eat every day. The DASH diet requires low sodium and high potassium. If you usually eat takeout, it will be difficult to control salt alone.

If you want to lose body fat quickly, there must be someone around you who recommends a ketogenic diet, right? This plan is indeed quite controversial. I have friends who compete in bodybuilding competitions who strictly implemented pure ketosis during their preparation period. Their body fat dropped from 22% to 10% in two months, and they lost less muscle. However, some colleagues followed suit without doing a basic physical examination. They ate fatty meat and drank Bulletproof Coffee. After half a month, they went to the emergency room because of ketoacidosis. Doctors definitely do not recommend it for people with renal insufficiency and pancreatitis.

People who need to exercise and gain muscle usually use a high-protein diet. The core is to eat 1.6-2.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. When my brother was practicing powerlifting last year, he added 3 spoons of whey protein and 4 boiled eggs every day in addition to his normal meals. In 3 months, his bench press increased by 20 kilograms. However, he also complained that if he drank enough protein and did not drink more warm water, he would be constipated to the point where he could not get up from sitting on the toilet for a long time.

Oh, by the way, if you don’t have any special needs and just want to eat healthily and avoid getting sick, you really don’t need to follow those flashy Internet celebrity plans. Just follow the balanced diet in the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents. To put it bluntly, eat a little of everything and don’t overdo it. My grandma is 87 years old. She has followed the rule of “one meat, one vegetable, one mushroom, half thick and half staple food” throughout her life. Now her blood pressure and blood sugar are very stable, and she rarely catches colds when the seasons change.

If you really want to choose a diet plan that suits you, don't just read the planting notes on the Internet. First, you should understand your own physical foundation. If necessary, find a registered dietitian to come up with a customized diet. It is much more reliable than following the trend and following the trap.