Source: Wonderful Materia Medica
In order to lose weight and control sugar, many people will deliberately only eat vegetables and avoid staple foods such as rice and noodles.
1. What happened to people who don't eat staple foods and only eat vegetables every day?
01. In order to lose weight, the woman did not eat staple foods and only ate vegetables, and she lost diabetes
Ms. Liu, 35 years old this year, has been weighing since she gave birth to her second child at the age of 30, with a height of 1.6 meters, she weighs more than 130 pounds, and her husband has been indispensable to all kinds of ridicule of her weight over the years. To this end, she has also been trying various ways to lose weight. She tried to take medicine to lose weight several times, but not only did she not lose weight, but she also collapsed. I also did a lot of fitness cards, but I couldn't stick to it every time, my weight didn't drop, and I spent a lot of money on it.
Later, Ms. Liu heard that people could become thinner if she didn't eat staple foods, so she began to eat only meat and vegetables at every meal, and didn't eat staple foods such as steamed buns and rice at all.
Ms. Liu's emotions have become particularly difficult to control, and she often bursts into a rage because of her husband's words. The family sensed that something was wrong and took her to the hospital for a check-up, where Ms. Liu was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Doctors said that there are not many cases like Ms. Liu's, many people do not eat staple foods, but eat a lot of snacks, high-sugar fruits and other foods. In addition, not supporting staple foods will also lead to the body's lack of carbohydrate and insufficient energy supply, and the body will turn to the ability to decompose stored fat and protein, which will produce a lot of nitrogen-containing metabolic wastes, increase the burden of kidney excretion, and thus cause diabetes.
02. The man did not eat staple food for 3 months in order to lower blood sugar, and ended up in the hospital
Uncle Zhang, 52 years old this year, was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago and has been taking medication to control blood sugar. But after taking the medicine for a long time, he was always worried that "it was a three-part poison", afraid of bringing some side effects to the body, so he began to seek various ways to lower blood sugar on the Internet.
By chance, Uncle Zhang saw an article saying that staple foods such as rice, noodles and steamed buns are high-carb foods, and eating too much is not good for blood sugar control, so he began to gradually reduce the amount of staple foods and eat more vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs.
After persisting for a month, Uncle Zhang found that his blood sugar was much more stable than before. This made him more convinced that his blood sugar was unstable due to eating staple foods, so he simply avoided staple foods at all and only ate vegetables and meat every day.
Three months later, Uncle Zhang often felt dizzy, headaches, and thirst, and drank a lot of water to no avail. Once, he fainted directly at home, and after his family sent him to the hospital, he was diagnosed with hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis after examination.
2. Why don't you eat staple foods such as rice and noodles, and your weight will drop quickly?
In recent years, there has been a trend on the Internet not to eat staple foods, saying that staple foods such as rice have a lot of starch and carbohydrates, which will cause the body to gain weight. As a result, many beauty lovers directly remove staple foods from their diets and only eat meat, vegetables, and fruits to lose weight every day, but is this method really reliable?
Staple foods such as rice, pasta and steamed bread are mainly used to provide carbohydrates, vitamin B, protein, etc., which will be converted into glucose after entering the body, which will be absorbed by the body in the small intestine and provide energy for various activities of the body.
In addition to being consumed by the body, excess glucose will be converted into muscle glycogen and stored in the muscles, which will be converted into liver glycogen and stored in the liver, and when both parts are full, it will be converted into fat for weight gain.
When you don't eat staple foods, the body does not have enough glucose to supply energy for physiological functions, which will consume muscle glycogen and protein stored in the body.
There's no denying that skipping staple foods does quickly see weight loss. However, once you start to consume carbohydrates normally, your weight will quickly regain and even exceed your previous level.
Xiong Zhujuan, director of the translational research department of the Clinical Nutrition Center of Sichuan Provincial Cancer Hospital, said that not eating staple foods will make the brain lack of energy, which is manifested as slow response and depressed mood, and will also affect normal sex hormone levels, causing menstrual disorders in women and decreased sexual function in men.
Some studies have even found that long-term abstinence from staple foods will increase the risk of diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, malignant tumors and other diseases, and even lead to an increased risk of early death.
3. The Lancet study: eating less staple food shortens life expectancy by 4 years
Don't underestimate the fact that you don't eat staple foods, and if you do it for a long time, it may affect your normal lifespan.
A 25-year follow-up study of 430,000 people published in The Lancet Public Health found that long-term low-carbohydrate eating patterns were associated with a four-year reduction in life expectancy.
There was a U-shaped association between total carbohydrate intake and life expectancy, and the energy supply of total energy carbohydrates throughout the day was < 40% or >70%, which was associated with an increased risk of death, and the risk of death was the lowest in subjects who maintained carbohydrate intake of 50~55%.
At the same time, the study also pointed out that eating too few carbohydrates from the age of 50 can lead to a 4-year reduction in life expectancy, but eating too much can also lead to a 1-year reduction in life expectancy.
Since eating too much or too little staple food will affect your health, how much should you eat?
In September 2023, researchers from the Xiangya School of Public Health of Central South University published a study in Nutrients that when the daily carbohydrate intake accounts for 53.7% of the total energy, the protein content related to longevity in the serum will reach a peak, which can significantly fight aging and prolong life.
In fact, the staple food is not a flood beast, the key is to learn how to eat, eat the staple food healthily, remember these 4 points:
1. Prefer whole grain potatoes
The staple food should not only eat fine rice noodles, but should include whole grains, mixed beans, potatoes, among which whole grains include wheat, corn, oats, etc., mixed beans include red mung beans, black beans, etc., and potatoes refer to sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc. These coarse grains are rich in B vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber, which can make up for the nutritional deficiencies in fine rice flour.
2. The amount of staple food should be controlled
It is recommended that adults consume 250~400g of staple foods per day, including 50~150g of whole grains and coarse grains and beans, 50~100g of potatoes, and the rest of fine rice noodles.
3. The staple food should be thick and thin
The proportion of coarse grains in the staple food consumed by adults should account for about 1/3 of the daily intake, and at least one meal should be based on whole grains and coarse grains.
In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to eating less staple foods such as fried rice, fried cakes, fried rice cakes, twist flowers, oil cakes and bread in daily life, which are high in fat content and limited in nutritional value, and long-term intake is not good for health.
Staple foods are very important for health, and we must not blindly reject staple foods in our daily life, but eat them selectively.