Don’t want to have the eating habits of a “sugar person”

In 2021, approximately 537 million adults worldwide will suffer from diabetes; it is estimated that in 2024, the number may reach 784 million. China is the country with the largest number of diabetic patients. In addition to common genetic factors, high sugar, salt, and fat, as well as prepackaged foods, prepared dishes, and prepared condiments, these eating habits are also major causes of diabetes and prediabetes. The health of your daily diet should not be taken lightly.

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The Paper asked Song Jun, chief technician and professor of Shanghai CDC Nutrition and Food Hygiene, to talk about dietary health and sugar control.

How to scientifically control sugar?

@Puzz Kang: There is a saying now that white sugar is sucrose and is natural. Sugar substitutes are euphemistically called a new zero-sugar technology, but they are not as healthy as sucrose. Is this correct?

Song Jun: It is recommended that you choose white sugar and sugar substitutes based on your body’s metabolism. If you have poor sugar metabolism, that is, you have poor blood sugar, and you want to eat something sweet, you can use sugar substitutes in moderation. If you have insulin resistance and the metabolic pathways of the kidneys, liver, and heart are not good, but your blood sugar is okay, then it is recommended to eat white sugar to get sweetness. First of all, sweetness can bring happiness, and secondly, at least what we eat should not hurt us.

@马克多: The staple foods we eat are all sugars, but they cannot enter the blood directly, so they are not sugars in the physiological sense? Saccharin, sugar substitutes, etc. can interfere with the endocrine system and cause chaos in blood sugar regulation. Therefore, they should be an important factor in causing diabetes?

Song Jun: Staple foods provide us with energy. Staple foods include cereals, whole grains, miscellaneous grains, starchy foods and other foods that increase blood sugar, rather than just sugar. Staple foods are colorful, not white starch. Sugar substitutes and sweeteners can increase insulin. If you like to eat them, they can be classified as staple foods. They will satisfy your taste desires and are relatively healthier. Self-discipline is of course the best, but if self-discipline is not possible, you can get the best of both worlds by following a scientific eating order, that is, you will be healthy if you eat.

@passerbya: I am diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at the age of 34. What should I pay attention to when eating three meals a day? What can I eat as staple food?

Song Jun: (1) What you need to do for three meals is to eat in order, eat at a fixed time, distinguish staple foods and vegetables, and understand what foods increase insulin.

(2) All foods that increase blood sugar and insulin, such as cereals, cereals, whole grains, starchy foods, sugar substitutes, and processed foods containing complex phosphates, should be classified as staple foods.

(3) Adjusting type 2 diabetes is a series of projects, a complete set of combinations. It is recommended that you adjust many details according to scientific guidelines.

@LINDAAA: I usually love chocolate, but now it’s popular to give up sugar in the market. Should I give up chocolate too? Are there any healthy ways to eat chocolate?

Song Jun: Chocolate is a very good food, and I also like eating chocolate. It is recommended that when purchasing, read the recipe table clearly and choose to buy chocolate without trans fatty acids and sugar substitutes. You can learn what the other names of trans fatty acids are, so that you can spot where they are with a keen eye, and avoid these bad ingredients, so you can buy healthy chocolate to eat.

@XiaWang: After periodic medium-to-high-intensity aerobic exercise, is it possible to effectively lose fat by keeping meals low in carbohydrates? If you want to prevent hypoglycemia after exercise, should you consume sugar or carbohydrates directly?

Song Jun: High-intensity exercise requires carbohydrates to provide energy support. If it is low-carb, it may affect your exercise intensity and persistence. It is also a good way to prevent hypoglycemia. It is recommended to supplement high-quality complex carbohydrates before exercise to ensure exercise ability and energy requirements.

How to eat three meals a day?

@Elizabeth’s Duck: Does eating salad regularly really help your health? Why are foreigners not afraid of cold body and stomach damage when eating cold food and drinking ice water?

Song Jun: The raw vegetables in salads contain pesticide residues and are high in oxalic acid. It is recommended to eat foods high in calcium at the same time to allow the calcium oxalate to be combined first to reduce the risk of kidney stones. If it is a pseudo-salad, it is not low in energy. If it is just composed of many leafy vegetables, it does not have good fatty acids and is not healthy. So salad needs to be looked at specifically.

The foreigners we can see in the media have high room temperature and high ambient temperature, so of course they can eat it, just like we do in summer. Whether they really drink ice water and eat cold food every day in an environment with the same indoor and outdoor room temperature in winter requires more reliable witnessing.

@澎湃 netizen F3quei: Is it okay to eat fried and barbecued food frequently?

Song Jun: The problem with deep-frying is that the oil and high temperature cause carcinogens and protein denaturation. That is, the protein is also fried at high temperature, denatured, and cannot be used. The problem with barbecue is carbonized carcinogens. It would be better to use scissors to cut off the burnt parts.

@你好: What should I do if I can’t control my mouth?

Song Jun: There are many reasons why you feel hungry, greedy, and miss food between meals, not limited to the following: (1) Your body is thirsty. When your body is short of 1% water, you will feel hungry. If you are hungry, you actually need to rehydrate and drink water.

(2) The regular secretion time of insulin does not match the time when you eat, that is, the insulin is secreted on time, but this time is not your meal time. As long as you do not eat on time for 3-5 days, the insulin secretion time will be confused. .

(3) When there is insulin resistance, the food eaten by the body does not enter the cell mitochondria for use, but is converted into fat storage, so the cells cannot get food, and of course they will be hungry after a while.

@GayB: Is there anything else I can eat besides my normal diet?

Song Jun: Does your normal diet mean three meals a day? If so, it is recommended not to eat other than meals unless you are hungry. If you are hungry, you may be thirsty due to lack of water in your body. Drink water first. If you are still hungry after drinking water, it is recommended to eat. Therefore, whether to eat outside of main meals or not depends on the needs of the body and is not a blanket decision. If you really want to eat beyond three meals and it makes you happy, then eat it. After all, we need to be happy. The human body is delicate and it is impossible to impose a fixed pattern on it. Come on!

Song Jun is the chief technician and professor of food and nutritional hygiene at the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a registered dietitian in China, and a consultant to the China Clinical Nutrition Network. He is good at adjusting metabolic health through whole-meal diets.