17-Day Diet Q&A: Nutritional Questions Answered (Part 2)

**Nutrition-related issues**

Q: Is it better to choose organic food?

A: Now everyone needs to understand all the sources of food and the processes of farming or raising livestock.

Is it organic?

Is it not caged, grazed, or simply farmed in someone's backyard?

Because we need to reduce our exposure to toxins, otherwise these toxins will accumulate in fat cells.

Scientists believe that toxin buildup may hinder weight loss.

Therefore, try to choose organic food, as eating organic food can naturally help the body get rid of toxins.

Because some agricultural products use a lot of pesticides, try to choose organic products when buying the following fruits and vegetables: apples, nectarines, peaches, pears, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, imported grapes, green peppers, celery, potatoes, and spinach.

Q: Would you recommend taking a regular multivitamin?

A: I strongly agree.

Taking vitamins and other supplements daily is important, but it's just too much trouble to stuff a bunch of stuff into your stomach.

What you might need is a multivitamin and mineral supplement, omega-3 fatty acids to reduce inflammation, calcium for bone health, and vitamin D.

Multivitamins are especially important for people with unhealthy diets or those who cannot obtain the vitamins they need for health through a "good" diet.

In addition, as we age, some vitamins become less easily absorbed than before, such as vitamin B12.

We also need more vitamin D and calcium, which must be obtained from different supplements and are not necessarily included in multivitamins.

If you believe that multivitamins are important to your health, remember to bring a bottle to your doctor for "evaluation" to confirm that the dosage is within a safe range (some vitamins can be dangerous if taken in large quantities) and to ensure that the vitamin supplement does not have any potential interactions with other prescription medications you are taking.

**Q: You suggested using stevia extract as a sweetener. What is that?**

A: Stevia extract is derived from stevia, a plant that originally grew in South America and Asia.

This means it is neither sugar nor entirely an artificial sweetener, but a "natural" zero-calorie sweetener.

Stevia extract also contains erythritol, a sugar alcohol found in fruits.

As for sugar alternatives, stevia extract and stevia may be better than some lab-made artificial sweeteners, which is why I recommend them.

Stevia extract can be used in cooking and baking, but as with everything, it's best to use it in moderation.

**Q: Can I use other sugar substitutes when following the 17-day diet?**

A: Many foods now contain artificial sweeteners, such as the low-sugar yogurt containing probiotics recommended in the 17-day diet.

From a clinical trial perspective, all sugar substitutes are safe.

However, the long-term health effects remain unknown.

The six most common sugar substitutes include aspartame (Eco), saccharin, acesulfame potassium, sucralose (e.g., Splenda), sugar alcohol (Truvia), and stevia (Sweet Leaf).

Aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose are all chemical sugar substitutes that are indeed beneficial to health: they have lower calories than regular sugars, do not raise blood sugar levels, are better for diabetics, and do not cause tooth decay.

Sugar alcohols such as mannitol and xylitol are carbohydrates, not sugars, and therefore are sugar-free sweeteners.

Unlike artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols increase blood sugar, but they are absorbed more slowly in the intestines. Therefore, compared to consuming pure sugar, the rise in blood sugar is smaller, and the need for insulin is also lower.

Compared to natural sugars, it is also lower in calories and does not cause tooth decay.

Stevia extract is a new type of artificial sweetener. Because it is extracted from stevia and is not artificially synthesized, it is considered natural.

I recommend enjoying these sugar alternatives with peace of mind and learning to appreciate the natural sweetness of fruit.

Q: I want to reduce my sodium intake as much as possible. What suggestions do you have?

A: You might first try using low-sodium salt to gradually wean yourself off sodium.

They also started using herbs and spices in cooking, such as garlic and onion powder, which are particularly suitable for seasoning meat and vegetables.

When buying food (such as vegetables), choose low-sodium varieties.

When braising chicken, beef, pork, and seafood, choose braising liquid that does not contain sodium.

When purchasing and using canned vegetables and beans, rinse them with running tap water first, which can remove about 40% of the sodium.

My fondness for salt is a habit I learned later in life.

Since the love of salty food is something we learn, we can also learn to eat less salt.

**Q:** We're hearing more and more about the health benefits of coffee and tea, but both drinks contain caffeine, right? Which one contains more?

A: It's no news that coffee and tea are good for your health.

Records of coffee date back a thousand years, mentioning its medicinal properties.

For many years, herbalists have also believed that coffee can treat headaches, muscle pain, asthma, and fatigue.

Early Chinese records about tea also mention that boiling wild raw tea leaves in water can soothe respiratory infections.

Everyone knows that a cup of coffee in the morning can boost alertness and energy levels with its caffeine.

The Harvard Nurses Health Study, which conducted a long-term habit review of 100,000 nurses, found that people who regularly drink coffee (with and without caffeine) have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Coffee is rich in antioxidants and other minerals, including potassium, magnesium, and B vitamins.

These nutrients may help prevent type 2 diabetes.

The benefits of coffee continue to emerge: many studies show that the habit of drinking coffee (three or four cups a day) can reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease.

In a 2002 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, scientists found that even drinking an extra shot of espresso could prevent mental decline associated with aging.

So now please grab a cup of coffee, sit in a big chair, and read the next question!

**Q: If coffee and tea are so good for your health, shouldn't you drink more of them?**

A: Too much of a good thing can be bad; even good things can have the opposite effect.

The amount to consume depends on individual health and caffeine tolerance.

Most doctors agree that a person should drink no more than three or four cups of caffeinated coffee or tea per day, each containing 240 milliliters.

Be careful, as caffeine can stimulate the central nervous and cardiovascular systems and is very diuretic.

Drinking too much coffee or tea can lead to increased blood pressure, insomnia, tension, shortness of breath, and discomfort.

In addition, the tannins in coffee and tea may reduce the body's ability to absorb iron.

Therefore, tea or coffee should be consumed at least one hour before meals so that the tannins can be digested before the iron is released into the body.

**Q: I often hear people criticize high-fructose corn syrup, but what exactly is it? Is it really bad for your health?**

A: High-fructose corn syrup is a powerful sweetener made from corn starch, and it is twice as sweet as sugar.

Sugar prices soared in the 1970s, so manufacturers switched to this to replace sugar.

In food and beverages, high-fructose corn syrup accounts for 40% of all calorie sweeteners.

Americans consume approximately 132 calories of high-fructose corn syrup daily, primarily from soft drinks and fruit juices.

This is a large quantity.

If you reduce your daily calorie intake by 132 calories, you can lose about 5 kilograms over a year without doing anything.

However, the biggest drawback of high-fructose corn syrup is not its calories, but rather that it can cause us to overeat in two ways.

Firstly, soda manufacturers have switched from sugar to high-fructose corn syrup, but the amount used is the same, so today's soda is twice as sweet as it was thirty years ago.

Consuming such sweet soda frequently will make you crave other sweets.

Secondly, the body metabolizes high-fructose corn syrup in a different way than other sweeteners.

Unlike other sweeteners, it does not cause a normal rise in insulin after consumption, thus preventing the secretion of leptin.

Leptin makes people feel full and stop eating.

If leptin is insufficient, it will cause people to eat too much.

Based on all the information I've read, I don't like high-fructose corn syrup and would advise against consuming it in moderation.

**Q: I keep hearing that trans fats are bad for your health. What exactly are trans fats? And why are they bad?**

A: Unsaturated fats will form trans fats after undergoing the chemical process of "hydrogenation".

This process causes the fat to solidify at room temperature: this is how margarine or vegetable shortening works.

Some foods require hard fats. For example, cookies will become soft if they lack hard fats, pie crust will lose its soft texture if it doesn't have hard fats, and the food will spoil faster.

However, not all hard fats are trans fats; some are saturated fats (such as butter, cocoa butter, palm oil, and coconut oil).

A few years ago, the food industry began to avoid saturated fats because they are associated with an increase in low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as bad cholesterol.

In the process of making these replacements, the food industry inadvertently created a type of fat that is even worse for health: trans fats.

In recent years, scientists have discovered that trans fatty acids not only increase the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) but also decrease high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good cholesterol"), leading to a significantly increased risk of heart disease and contributing to obesity.

Fortunately, there are fewer foods made with trans fats now.

If you are concerned about whether a certain food contains trans fats, remember to check the ingredient label for the words "partially hydrogenated".

Partially hydrogenated oils are trans fats.

Q: Are imitation seafood products a good choice?

A: Crab sticks, imitation shrimp, and other seafood (fish paste) are usually made with Alaskan pollack.

First, the skinned and boneless fish meat is ground into powder, mixed with other adhesives, salt and seasonings, and then cooked and shaped.

Imitation shellfish can provide good low-fat protein and has less cholesterol than real shellfish.

However, its drawback is that it contains too much sodium. A small 90-gram serving contains nearly 700 milligrams of sodium, which is almost one-third of the daily requirement. For people with high blood pressure who are sensitive to sodium, it can even account for half of their sodium requirement.

Imitation seafood tastes good, but if you don't like "imitation" food or any ingredients that sound unnatural, then stick to eating real seafood.