The secret to not gaining weight again! Learn to eat easily with "My Plate"

The most feared thing about losing weight is gaining weight again. Losing weight and then gaining weight again, losing weight and then gaining weight again, the endless cycle is so frustrating! Nutritionists say that a balanced diet is the best way to avoid weight regain, because malnutrition will slow down metabolism, and this is how terrible weight regain occurs! It is recommended to adopt the "My Plate" eating method recommended by the US government, which can help you lose weight in a balanced and healthy way!

Image/taken from the USDA choosemyplate.gov website

Unbalanced diet can easily lead to weight gain. "My Plate" is a balanced

Common weight loss myths include not eating starch, not eating meat, only eating fruits and vegetables, eating very little, etc., which are all considered unbalanced diets. Imbalance not only affects health, but also has a negative impact on weight loss. It can easily cause weight gain and thus fail to achieve the desired result. But how do you eat in a balanced way? How do you know if you are eating an unbalanced diet?

Nutritionist Zhang Peirong said that the US government promotes "My Plate", which divides a large plate into four parts and adds a cup, emphasizing the "proportion" of various types of food. As long as you eat according to this proportion, you will know whether each meal is nutritious enough!

Be careful of rough skin and decreased immunity if you only eat vegetables and fruits

If you only eat fruits and vegetables for three meals, you only consume half of the food on the plate, missing whole grains, root vegetables and protein foods. Protein is the basic raw material for cells, the growth and development of the human body, the renewal and repair of tissue cells, and is also a component of many enzymes, hormones and antibodies in the body.

Long-term lack of protein can cause hair loss, rough skin, muscle loss, difficulty in wound healing, decreased immunity, etc. Moreover, if you don't eat protein foods, you will consume muscle instead of fat, and your metabolism will become slower and slower, forming a vicious cycle and making it easy to gain weight again.

Eating too little for three meals can easily lead to overeating

In addition, although weight loss requires "calorie intake is less than the calories burned", and eating very small meals can indeed achieve this condition, it cannot be sustained for too long.

Nutritionist Zhang Peirong said that on the one hand, the human body will not be able to bear the mental and physical burden due to insufficient calories and nutrition; on the other hand, when the body finds that it is getting less and less calories, it will start to save energy, and the metabolism will drop sharply. In the later stages, it will feel increasingly difficult to lose weight, and finally it can no longer control itself and starts to overeat, and the weight rebounds!

Nutritionist Zhang Peirong reminds you that a balanced diet is a good way to lose weight healthily and avoid gaining weight again! (Photography by Jiang Minjun)

"My Plate" Eat this way and choose the right ingredients to be healthier

If you want to lose weight healthily and not gain weight again, nutritionist Zhang Peirong recommends that every time you eat, imagine that you have a plate divided into four sections, representing whole grains and root vegetables, protein, vegetables, and fruits, each accounting for about 1/4 of the portion. Finally, pair it with a cup of low-fat dairy products and pick up the food according to this proportion. Here are some key points for choosing ingredients:

1. Whole grains and root vegetables

In addition to ordinary white rice and noodles, it is recommended to choose whole grain rice, brown rice, oats, corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, taro, potatoes, etc. with higher fiber content. 1 bowl of rice = 2 bowls of sweet potato or taro (about 220 grams) = 2 potatoes (about 400 grams) = 1 square steamed bun = 2 large slices of toast.

2. Protein

Including beans, fish, seafood, meat, eggs, etc. It is recommended to choose various fish with low fat content, while high-fat fish, such as saury and salmon, contain omega-3 fatty acids which are beneficial to cardiovascular health. Seafood, such as shrimp, crab, squid, squid, clams, oysters, scallops, etc. are also good choices. When choosing meat, it is recommended to choose low-fat chicken breast, chicken legs, pork tenderloin, tenderloin, hind leg meat, and lean meat.

I would like to remind everyone that parts of the meat such as spare ribs, pork belly, marinated pork, pork belly, as well as offal such as chicken hearts and pig large intestines are high in fat and cholesterol, so it is best to eat less of them.

3. Vegetables

In addition to various leafy vegetables, mushrooms (enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, black fungus, etc.), bamboo shoots (green bamboo shoots, cinnamon bamboo shoots, white bamboo shoots), melons and fruits (winter melon, loofah, cucumber), algae (kelp, hair algae, seaweed, etc.), sprouts (bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, etc.) are also vegetables and can be supplemented in appropriate amounts. The more colorful the vegetables in each meal, the better. Don’t forget to use low-oil cooking methods such as steaming, blanching, serving cold, and roasting.

4. Fruits

It is recommended to choose fresh fruits, and the types should be changed frequently, and try to avoid replacing fruits with juice. The recommended amount of fruit for adults is 2 to 4 servings a day, and 1 serving is equivalent to a large fruit (such as watermelon) sliced ​​to fill a flat bowl, or a fist-sized orange. If the fruit is smaller in size, 1 serving is about 10 cherry tomatoes or grapes, while kiwis, wax apples, and passion fruits are equal to 1.5 to 2 pieces.

5. Dairy products

It is recommended to choose low-fat milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. One serving is equivalent to 240c.c. of dairy products or 35 grams of cheese.