Fostering a healthy dietary habit

① Diverse food but grains as the staple. Grains are the staple food of the Chinese diet. As the economy develops and the living standards improve, people tend to eat more animal food. Grains should be maintained as the staple food, at the same time it should be stressed to keep a proper proportions of coarse and fine food grains, and eat coarse food grains more often. Grains can provide the body with carbohydrates, proteins, dietary fibers, and B vitamins.
② More fruits, vegetables and tuber root foods. Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals. These foods have very important functions in maintaining a healthy heart and blood vessels, enhancing the resistance to diseases, and decreasing the risks of childhood xerophthalmia, and preventing certain types of cancers.
③ More dairy and soybean food and their products. Dairy food contains abundant high quality proteins and vitamins. It also is rich in calcium with high bio-availability. It is an excellent source of natural calcium. The calcium in the diet is generally low for the Chinese, with an average of only half of the recommended quantity. Soybean is the traditional Chinese food. It is rich in high quality proteins, non-saturated fatty acid, calcium and many vitamins. The production and consumption of soybean and its products should be promoted.
④ More fish, poultry, eggs, and lean meat, but less fatty meat and pork fat. Animal food such as fish, poultry, egg, and lean meat are excellent source of high quality protein, liposoluble vitamins and minerals. Fatty meat and pork fat (lard) have high content of energy and fat. Over-ingestion will result in obesity and will increase the risk of certain chronic illnesses, and therefore less should be consumed.
⑤ Strike a balance of food intake and the amount of activity to maintain proper body weight. The amount of food intake and the physical activity are two main factors to control body weight. Food provides the body with energy while physical activity consumes energy. If the food intake is greater than the physical activity the surplus energy will be stored in the body in the form of fat (thus the gaining of body weight). In the long-run obesity sets in. On the contrary if the food intake is low while the amount of work or exercise is too great, the insufficient energy will cause thinning. Decreased physical capability and malnutrition, etc., ensue.
⑥ Eating light or less salted diet. Light or less salted food are good to health. The food should not be too fatty, not too salty. Diet with too much animal food or fried or smoked food should be avoided. Investigations showed that sodium intake is positively correlated to the incidence of hypertension. Salt contains sodium and should not be taken too much.
⑦ Moderate drinking. Concentrated alcohol contains high energy but not other nutrients. Intemperance in drinking will cause anorexia and decreased food intake. This will result in deficiency of many nutrients and even alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver as well as increased risk of hypertension and stroke.
⑧ Eat clean and hygienic but not deteriorated food. Select hygienic food with good appearance, without contamination and impurity, without color change or smell. Prevent diseases "entering by the mouth".
To help people to apply the principles of dietary guidelines in daily life, the expert committee of the Chinese Nutriological Society have proposed the "tower of balanced diet" for the Chinese residents (see fig. 2). This "tower" is a quantitative and figurative expression of the guidelines. It is also a convenient tool to carry out the guidelines in daily life. The "tower of balanced diet" consists of 5 layers. Grain foods form the basal layer, 300-500 g should be provided for each person each day. Fruits and vegetables form the 2nd layer, 100-200 g and 400-500 g should be provided for each person each day. Animal food such as fish, poultry, meat and eggs rest on the 3rd layer, 125-200 g (fish and shrimp 50 g, poultry and meat 50 - 100 g, eggs 25 - 50 g) should be provided for each person each day. Dairy and soybean foods are on the 4th layer, 100 g of milk and dairy food or 50 g of soybean food should be provided for each person each day. The 5th layer is for oil and fat, less than 25 g of which should be provided for each person each day. "Tower of balanced diet" provided a relatively ideal nutriological model. The amount suggested by the model, especially for dairy and soybean food, may be a distance away from the actual diet of most people. But it is a goal for the new century that we should strive to achieve.