- 由Grace Tom姊妹(已退休的註冊護士)撰寫  

 - Written by Grace Tom (Retired RN) 

文章使用中英對照  Article is in both Chinese & English

健康飲食  Nutrition for Better Health

健康的飲食能降低很多慢性疾病的風險，例如心臟病、癌症、糖尿病、及其他慢性疾病，以及同時讓我們控制體重來維持健康，或讓我們感覺舒服點。

健康飲食其實並不需要很、或無味道、或不吸引、或者很複雜。健康飲食可幫助控制體重，尤其從限制食物的份量及多做運動入手功效更為顯著。健康飲食有多種選擇，讓你嘗試多種不同的食物，如蔬菜、全麥、或是你不常吃的水果。

均衡的飲食是包括吸取豐富的營養及纖維。有時候吃一個漢堡包或享受一小杯雪糕都無大礙，但要記住限制次數及控制份量。

Many of us are trying to eat better in order to lower the risk of many diseases e.g. heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, as well as controlling our weight to become healthier or simply just want to feel good.

Healthy eating does not have to be too restrictive, bland, unappealing and confusing.  A healthy diet can help with weight control, especially effective if you limit portion sizes and start to exercise more.  Healthy eating is to allow you to have many choices of foods, especially vegetables, whole grains, and fruit that you don’t normally eat.

A balanced healthy diet is rich in nutrients and fiber.  It is fine to occasionally enjoy a hamburger or a cone of ice cream, which is acceptable as long as we limit the frequency of these foods and exercise portion control.

十一種健康飲食指引   11 Keys to Healthier Diet

1.  保持進餐份量適中。例如在外面吃飯，選擇頭盤或前菜當主餐或與別人分享同吃一個主餐。

1.  Keep portions moderate.  When dining out, choose an appetizer instead of an entrée or split an order with someone.

2.  吃多種不同類的食物。所有的食物都有不同的營養價值及保健益處。攝取多種不同的食物的營養可幫助你的身體抵抗很多疾病。

2.  Eat a variety of food.  Not all nutrients in food have the same health benefits.  Eating a wide variety of food helps to ensure that you will get all the disease fighting potentials that food offers.

3.  注重高纖維食物，例如蔬菜，水果，豆類及全麥類。這些好的碳水化合物其實都有豐富的營養，令你感覺飽滿而且又低卡路里。高纖維的食物可幫助減慢碳水化合物的吸收，使你的血糖不會突然飆升, 尤其對糖尿病患者有幫助。

3.  Focus on high fiber food like vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains.  These good carbohydrates are nutritious, filling and relatively low in calories.  Fiber slows the absorption of carbohydrates, thus not getting your blood sugar spikes in your body and is beneficial, especially helpful for any diabetics.

4.  吃大量的新鮮蔬果。每日至少吃五份的水果或蔬菜。通常半杯左右的蔬菜或水果等於一份。盡量吃多種顏色的蔬果--紅、橙、黄、綠、青、藍、紫。蔬果除了含有多種纖維外，還含多種微量營養素(micronutrient)及植物化學物質(phytochemicals) ，能抗癌及抵抗其他疾病。豆類也屬於疏菜類，卡路里含量比蔬菜多，同時使你更易感覺飽滿。多吃一整個水果面盡量少喝果汁，因為水果的大量纖維可幫助防止結腸癌。

4.  Eat lots of fresh produce.  Eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day.  Normally ½ cup consider as one serving.  Eat produce in multiple colors – red, orange, yellow, green, and blue/purple.  Besides having lots of fibers in produce, they contain many micro-nutrients and phytochemicals, it may help to protect against cancer and other diseases. Legumes are considered as vegetables, it has more calories than most vegetables and it makes you feel fuller.  Eat more whole fruits than drinking fruit juices, as it has more fibers-it helps in preventing colon cancers.

5.  多吃五穀類食物。應多吃全穀類，如全麥及燕麥。一份的份量不是很多，例如一片全麥麵包，半杯煮熟麥片或糙米。

5.  Eat more whole grains.  Half of your grains should be whole grains, e.g. whole wheat, and oats.  Servings are small, e.g. 1 slice of whole wheat bread, half a cup of cooked oatmeal or brown rice.

6.  限制進食精製的碳水化合物，例如白麵包、白飯、普通粉麵、含糖零食、糕點、餡餅(pie)、蛋糕及含糖飲料。這些食物沒多太多營養及低纖維，而且含糖量高的食物都是高脂肪及高卡路里，容易引致肥胖及增重。

6.  Limit intake of refined carbohydrates, e.g. White bread, white rice, regular pasta, sugary snacks, sugary pastries, pies, cakes, candies and sugary drinks.  These foods have very little fiber and not many nutrients.  Many sugary foods are high in fat and calorie dense which will contribute to weight gain.

7.  注重好的脂肪(不飽和脂肪)。不飽和脂肪通常可透過堅果、魚、菜油及橄欖油中攝取。用橄欖油及菜籽油來代替牛油。吃含富脂肪的魚，可幫助減低心臟病的風險、軟化血管、及防止中風。魚含大量奧米加三(Omega 3) 的不飽和脂肪。無魚鱗的魚，如三文魚、吞拿魚、鯡魚、沙甸魚都有很好的不飽和脂肪。但需要注意的是，無魚鱗的深海魚含水銀量可能會比人工飼養的魚較多，而人工飼養的魚則可能有含有化學物、抗生素或類固醇。每星期吃兩至三次魚應該可獲得需要的健康益處。

7.  Emphasize on “good” (unsaturated) fats.  Normally found in nuts, fish, avocados, and vegetables and olive oil.   Substitute olive or canola oil for butter.  Fatty fish helps to reduce the risk of heart disease, soften blood vessels to prevent strokes.  Fish also has omega-3 polyunsaturated fats.  Scaleless fish like salmon, tuna, herring and sardines have good un-saturated fats. Be alert, scaleless deep sea wild fishes may have more mercury than farm raised ones, but farm raised fishes may have more other chemicals, antibiotics or steroids.  Therefore eat fishes 2-3 times per week to get health benefits.

8.  限制進食肉類食物。動物的肉內含有很高飽和脂肪。飽和脂肪可使你的低密度脂蛋白膽固醇(LDL)升高。正常膽固醇(150-200mg/dl)；正常三酯甘油酸(低於150mg/dl)；正常高密度脂蛋白(HDL)(40-59mg/dl)；低密度脂蛋白(LDL) 膽固醇 (<130mg/dl)。HDL數字越高越好，而LDL數字越低越好，但當然過低或過高都不理想。HDL 能幫助清理血管內的斑塊 (plague)，而LDL會形成斑塊，讓血管收窄及全部阻塞，長期會導致突發心臟病及中風。若你的驗血報告內這些數字不好，你的家庭醫生或許會要求你降低這些數字來減輕罹患心臟病、高血壓及中風的風險，預防其他多種疾病。建議進食有限量的飽和脂肪，可選擇瘦肉、脫皮雞鴨、脫脂或低脂奶類食物。

8.  Limit intake of saturated fats-Found in animal meat. Saturated fats will get LDL “bad” cholesterol level up.  Normal Cholesterol level (150-200mg/dl); Normal Triglyceride <150mg/dl; HDL – 40-59mg/dl (The higher the better); LDL - <130mg/dl (The lower the better).  HDL helps to clean up the plague inside the blood vessels and LDL will form plague and eventually will get blood vessels narrowed and will be completely blocked in the long run, causing heart attacks and strokes.  If one has heart disease, hypertension, or at risk for stroke, your PMD may want to get these numbers lower for better diseases prevention.  Therefore it is advisable to limit your intake of saturated fats – choose lean meats, skinless poultry, nonfat or low fat dairy products.

9.  盡量避免進食反式脂肪食物。人工製造的食品大部份都使用氫化菜油或萬年油，像是商業製的焙烘食品，零食以及快餐店食物 (如炸薯條)。反式脂肪使低密度脂蛋白LDL升高以及降低高密度脂蛋白HDL，提高罹患心臟病及中風的風險。

9.  Avoid or minimize trans-fats – Many processed foods contain partially Hydrogenated vegetable oils which are found in commercially baked goods, snack foods and fast foods (such as French Fries). Trans fats raise LDL (bad cholesterols) and reduce HDL (good cholesterols), increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

10.  限制進食高膽固醇食物，例如肉類、海鮮及蛋。美國糖尿學會建議，健康人仕每日可攝取300毫克膽固醇。一隻雞蛋大約有237毫克膽固醇。若有心臟病、糖尿病、或中風人仕則要限制一日不攝取多於200毫克。

10.  Limit the intake of dietary cholesterol – mostly found in animal foods, meats and eggs.  ADA recommends healthy individual to consume 300mg per day.  One egg contains approximately 237mg.  For those with heart diseases, diabetes and strokes, limit to 200 mg per day.

11.  減少吃鈉 / 鹽 (sodium) 及多吃鉀質(Potassium)豐富的食物。過多的鈉 / 鹽會提高血壓。五十歲以上人仕、非裔美國人、糖尿病 / 高血壓 / 心臟病患者、及慢性腎病患者應依從醫生吩咐限制鈉 / 鹽的攝取量，即每日1500毫克 (大慨是三份之二茶匙的鹽)。健康人仕一日應攝取少於2300毫克的鈉 / 鹽。多攝取含鉀質的食物可降低血壓。鉀質豐富的食物包括柑橘類水果、香蕉、蕃薯以及乳酪 (yogurt)。

11.  Cut down on sodium and eat more potassium rich foods. Excessive sodium intake raises blood pressure.  People over 50 years old, African Americans, people with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney diseases should limit sodium to 1500 mg/day (approximately 2/3 of a teaspoon of salt).  Healthy people should consume less than 2300mg of sodium a day.  Consume more potassium can help lower your blood pressure.  Potassium rich foods include citrus fruits, bananas, potatoes, beans and yogurt.

習慣進食健康的食物將會令你的人生過得更健康，更快樂!  

Developing a healthy eating habit can make your life healthier and happier!