Don’t Fall Into Misunderstandings About Diet Therapy And Health Care: Food Is Not Medicine, Don’t Seek Quick Treatment For Chronic Diseases
Nowadays, more and more people have begun to pay attention to health preservation, and natural food therapy has become a hot topic. Everyone generally believes that "medicine and food come from the same source", and therefore believe that consuming some foods is safer than taking medicine. However, in fact, many people have completely unknowingly fallen into misunderstandings in the process of following the trend of "diet therapy". Today, let’s talk about the five most common dietary misunderstandings and see if you have fallen into any of them?
Myth 1: Food can be used as medicine
Many people believe that since medicine and food come from the same source, chronic diseases can be cured by taking more dietary prescriptions. However, the actual truth is that the fundamental difference between food and medicine is "potency." The food is relatively mild in nature and contains fewer medicinal ingredients, so it can be eaten every day without causing harm to people. Daily foods such as rice, noodles, and vegetables are suitable for all people precisely because they do not have strong physiological regulatory effects. Health products are products that concentrate certain ingredients. If used correctly, they will be effective, but if used incorrectly, they may cause side effects. For example, soy isoflavones are not a problem when consumed in tofu, but if taken in capsules, children and men must not touch them. If you want to rely on diet to improve your physical fitness, this is a matter that requires long-term investment. It is basically impossible to expect to see results within three to five days.
Misunderstanding 2: Diet therapy equals safe and harmless
Many people are keen on diet therapy because they think food is safe and psychologically acceptable. However, the reason why those foods that are called "medicinal and edible" produce effects is because they contain relatively large amounts of medicinal ingredients. There is a basic rule in toxicology that dose determines toxicity. Normal amounts of food are safe, but eating too much can be dangerous. For example, drinking 2 taels of mung bean soup a day is a normal diet, but if you drink 3 jins of water boiled with mung beans, the concentration is 15 times that of normal, and it becomes a medicine. There is also niacin. As a B vitamin, it is a nutrient when consumed in small amounts. However, if it is used to lower blood lipids, its dosage is dozens of times the normal dosage. Therefore, it cannot be said that dietary therapy is absolutely safe. If you eat it in the wrong amount, problems will arise.
Misunderstanding 3: The same dietary prescription is suitable for everyone
Nowadays, various "gurus" on the Internet often recommend the same dietary therapy, such as "Everyone drinks mung bean soup" and "Everyone eats raw eggplant." When a genuine Chinese medicine practitioner prescribes a prescription, he or she must first identify the body constitution and then make a reasonable combination. It is absolutely impossible for everyone to use the same prescription. This is also true from the perspective of contemporary nutrition. Everyone's physical condition is different. Some individuals need to eat less red meat as appropriate, while others need to eat more. If a nutritionist recommends the same diet to everyone, it only shows a lack of professionalism. Therefore, whether it is health maintenance or diet therapy, it must be different from person to person, and you must not blindly copy other people's methods.
Myth 4: Nutrition is diet therapy
Many people know little about nutrition and think that nutrition is about exploring what to eat to cure diseases. In fact, nutrition belongs to preventive medicine, the core of which is to maintain health and reduce the risk of disease through a balanced diet. It will also pay attention to how to control chronic indicators such as blood sugar and blood lipids through dietary adjustments. However, these are based on the long-term overall diet structure and do not rely on one or two "magic foods." Diet therapy will use Chinese medicinal materials or materials that are both medicinal and edible, while nutrition is more like a long-term plan for three meals a day. If you confuse these two concepts, you will be easily misled by various folk remedies.
Myth 5: Chronic diseases can be cured with folk remedies
According to the modern medical point of view, chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are generally caused by a variety of factors and cannot be described as "radical cures." Such words may not sound pleasant to the ears, but they are extremely objective. In comparison, the statement "only one folk remedy can cure diabetes" is obviously more popular. Because of this, scammers often succeed. If someone tells you what to eat to completely get rid of diabetes, experts will know that there is a problem. The management of chronic diseases relies on long-term comprehensive management of diet, exercise, drugs, etc. Do not rely on a certain folk prescription to solve it once and for all.
It is undeniable that diet therapy is indeed a good thing, but it must be based on scientific rationality. To avoid five common misunderstandings, you can neither blindly follow nor believe one-sidedly. Only in this way can you truly reap the health benefits from your daily diet and the conclusion will be accurate. Please remember that there are no shortcuts to maintaining good health. Balance and long-term persistence are the most critical fundamentals.
