Remove congenital and irresistible factors such as heredity (such as diseases caused by chromosomal or genetic abnormalities) and external factors (such as infection with other people's diseases or trauma such as car accidents and burns). In our daily life, unhealthy psychology or unreasonable lifestyles such as diet, exercise and sleep cause cell damage and affect cell repair. Our most common diseases, such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, tumor, depression, bronchitis, asthma, chronic kidney disease, etc., are all caused by inappropriate lifestyles. Medical workers uniformly classify these diseases as chronic non-communicable diseases, referred to as "chronic diseases". Chronic diseases are caused by wrong behaviors, and correcting wrong behaviors is fundamental.
Sleep, exercise, smoking, drinking, etc. They all belong to the way of life, but the reason why the author puts forward diet as the focus in this book alone is because only diet can provide raw materials for cell repair in the game process of cell damage and repair. Just like a balance, there are five weights on the left-sleep, exercise, smoking, drinking and mentality, and only one weight on the right-diet. The accumulation of errors on the left will require an increase in the weight on the right. On the left is the loss, and on the right is the compensation. The inaccuracy of each item on the left is a challenge to the nutritional supplement of the right diet.
The self-repair ability of human cells depends on two main factors, one is the innate cell life cycle, and the other is the acquired nutritional status, that is, congenital factors and acquired factors. Congenital factors (the inherent renewal cycle of cells) determine the repair speed, and acquired factors (nutritional status) determine the repair quality. When the speed of cell repair is lower than that of injury, the disease will get worse. When the speed of cell repair is equal to the speed of injury, the condition will be sawed all the year round, showing that the condition is stable, but it will never go away. When the speed of cell damage decreases and the repair substances increase, that is, the nutrition direction is correct, the disease will develop in a good direction and may even be cured for a long time. From this point of view, we can draw the following conclusion-the development of disease is a game between cell damage and cell repair.
Chronic diseases take a long time, which actually gives us the opportunity to repair our own cells, that is, we can have time to find out the causes of cell damage, remove the damage factors and add targeted cell repair components. In other words, chronic diseases can be prevented and cured. Of course, there is a premise that the degree of cell damage is not irreparable. Some serious injuries can't be repaired, such as renal failure, myocardial infarction and brain necrosis after cerebral thrombosis.
Food makes people. Because for the human body, except "eating" is intake, all other activities are output consumption, such as exercise, thinking, staying up late and so on.
We often say that we should eat all kinds of foods, mix them reasonably and have a balanced diet, so that our bodies can get all the nutrients they need. These nutrients, accurately described from the perspective of clinical medicine, are called seven nutrients, including:
Accurately speaking, a balanced diet means that the selected food can meet the needs of adults and children for energy and various nutrients. The demand here refers to people's daily output, including: providing energy for cell metabolism, providing structural raw materials for new cell renewal, providing media for human metabolism, maintaining intestinal bacterial balance and so on. These all consume various nutrients, such as vitamins, protein, fat and so on. Understand the consumption, take it as the standard of daily food intake, and insist on completing the nutritional balance that you should achieve. This man is very healthy.
If a person lies still and the room temperature is kept at 20 ~ 25℃, the measured energy consumption is called basal metabolism. Generally speaking, it is about 1400 kcal/day for men and 1300 kcal/day for women. In addition, human consumption mainly includes the following aspects:
First, sports. The amount of exercise varies from person to person. People who exercise regularly and manual workers consume more carbohydrates.
Second, the psychological aspect. The brain consumes different nutrients and muscles. The more you use your brain, the more you need to supplement protein, vitamins and minerals, as well as phospholipids in cholesterol and lipids and DHA and EPA that everyone cares about.
Third, stay up late. Take more nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin B, phospholipids, protein, etc.
Fourth, smoking. More antioxidants are needed to combat the harm of nicotine and other toxins to human body.
Fifth, drink. Liver damage requires more nutrients to repair liver cells, such as vitamin B and protein.
Nutrition should "live within our means". If the nutrients contained in the food we eat are equal to the consumption of the above items, it will basically be balanced.
There is no one-size-fits-all prescription, and it must vary from person to person. Different heights, different genders and different environments will inevitably produce different outputs. Such subtle differences are only clear to oneself, so in order to be healthy, everyone should master a little knowledge of nutrition.
The author gave a small example. For example, we now advocate low salt and require that we eat no more than 6 grams of salt every day. However, in the humid and muggy areas in the south, especially in summer, it cannot be required to be less than 6 grams. In sweaty areas, you can drink soup, rice noodles or noodles, and even eat some pickles, but northerners and people who work in air-conditioned rooms all day without sweating must reduce their salt intake.
If the cell is compared to the workshop of a factory, the cell membrane is equivalent to the external walls, doors and windows of the workshop, the organelles are equivalent to the machines in the workshop, the DNA in the nucleus is equivalent to the commander-in-chief of the workshop, and the cytoplasm is equivalent to the air flowing in the workshop. Let's see what nutrients they use:
In fact, the membranes of all cells in the human body (including cell membrane and nuclear membrane, etc.). ) is mainly composed of three components: protein, phospholipids and cholesterol. Phospholipids account for about 50% ~ 70%, cholesterol accounts for about 30%, and protein accounts for about 20%. There is also a small amount of sugar, such as glycoprotein or glycolipid, which accounts for 2% ~ 10% of the membrane weight.
Except for water molecules, many nutrients can't go in and out at will. Protein on the cell membrane decides which nutrients to adopt the open policy according to the instructions of DNA. These approved nutrients must be nutrients that help to repair cell structure or cell metabolism, such as amino acids, glucose, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, etc. How much can be delivered depends on how much cells need.
There is DNA in the nucleus, which is the headquarters of cells and records the procedures that all cells should perform. There are many small holes in the nuclear membrane of the nucleus, through which nutrients in the cytoplasm can enter the nucleus. There are a lot of enzymes on the nuclear membrane, which can carry out various life activities.
Endoplasmic reticulum is one of the organelles in cells, which is responsible for the synthesis and transportation of intracellular substances. For example, synthesizing protein, participating in the synthesis and transportation of hormones and so on. There is also a Golgi apparatus whose main function is to process, compare, classify and package the protein synthesized by endoplasmic reticulum, and then send it to a specific part of the cell or secrete it outside the cell. These two important organelles are also membrane structures, which contain a lot of enzymes and protein.
All cells need energy to work. Mitochondria, which are responsible for producing energy, are much like big boilers in factories. In this big boiler, glucose (one of carbohydrates) is usually burned. When glucose is insufficient, fat is burned, but protein can't be burned directly, and it can only become energy after the liver is converted into glucose.
Human cells need to be updated every day. The birth procedure of newborn cells is controlled by the DNA in the nucleus, which is innate and has been constantly revised by ancestors for millions of years. We call it "metabolism". Metabolism is the general name of all orderly chemical changes in organisms and the most basic feature of life phenomena. If metabolism stops, life is over. In such an important process, through the analysis of some important components of cells, we can see that every minute and every second in the metabolic process is inseparable from the support of seven nutrients.
First, provide energy for cell metabolism. Mainly rely on carbohydrates, that is, food, fruit and so on.
Second, provide structural raw materials for the renewal of new cells. The human body structure includes height, fatness, muscular development, thick hair, elastic skin and so on.
The human body is mainly composed of protein and lipids (fatty acids, phospholipids and cholesterol, etc.). ), and need the assistance of vitamins and minerals. Mainly rely on protein and lipids, mainly in meat, eggs, milk and fish.
Third, provide a medium for metabolism. The metabolism of human body is completed under the catalysis of enzymes. The faster the metabolism, the more enzymes are needed. Enzymes are transformed from nutrients in food. The main part of the enzyme is protein, and the auxiliary part is coenzyme. The main components of coenzyme are vitamins and minerals. In addition, endocrine system plays an important role in regulating cell metabolism, and hormones can be divided into protein hormone and cholesterol hormone. For example, thyroxine and insulin belong to protein hormone, and adrenaline belongs to cholesterol hormone. Therefore, a person eats animal foods, such as eggs, viscera and meat, which contain protein and cholesterol, which are the precursors of hormones. Mainly rely on protein and cholesterol, as well as vitamins and minerals.
Fourth, raise intestinal bacteria. There are a large number of bacteria in the intestine, especially in the colon. The human body consists of 40 trillion to 60 trillion cells, and the number of bacteria in our body is 10 times that of human cells, and mainly in the intestine, and bacteria are fed by dietary fiber in food.