If you continue to stick to these 7 "good habits", your health may get worse!

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Expert in this article: Yang Ning, Chief Physician, TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital

This article was reviewed by Pa Li Ze, chief physician of nutrition, member of the Science Popularization Committee of the Chinese Nutrition Society

Nowadays, more and more people are beginning to pay attention to their health. The middle-aged and elderly groups, and even those born in the 1990s and 2000s, have begun to embark on the road of no return of "health preservation".

I habitually make wolfberry tea, cook some healthy porridge, take health supplements for three meals a day, and walk tens of thousands of steps every day to exercise...

Image source: SOOGIF

However, are these seemingly healthy habits really healthy? Perhaps these "good habits" that are considered healthy are quietly harming your body and making it worse. After reading this, I advise you to change them quickly!

Habit 1: Eating too much

Whether it is rice, steamed bread, meat, eggs, milk, or fruit, consuming too much is not good for your health. Eating too much and being too full will lead to overweight/obesity, greatly increasing the risk of high blood pressure, high blood lipids, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver and other diseases.

Correct approach:

A proper diet is an important measure to prevent cardiovascular diseases and cancer. More than half of cancer cases are related to dietary factors.

In daily diet, we advocate food diversification, eat more fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, whole grains and fish, ensure the intake of high-quality protein, and avoid excessive intake of cholesterol and fat.

Habit 2: Drinking strong tea for a long time

Drinking tea, especially green tea, is good for your health. It can reduce the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer, improve sugar and lipid metabolism, and promote cardiovascular health. In addition, drinking tea regularly can also prevent oral diseases and reduce tooth decay.

However, the stronger the tea, the better. Tea contains caffeine, theophylline, etc. If you drink too much strong tea for a long time, it may cause premature heart beats, increased heart rate and other symptoms. If you drink a lot of strong tea, the tannic acid in the tea will also hinder the absorption of iron.

Correct approach:

The concentration of tea should be moderate. Elderly people should drink lighter tea, and young people should not drink tea. It is best not to drink tea on an empty stomach, as it will affect digestion and inhibit the secretion of gastric juice.

Different seasons are suitable for different teas. In spring and summer, when the temperature is high, it is appropriate to drink green tea and oolong tea that can clear away heat and relieve summer heat. In autumn and winter, when the temperature is relatively cold, it is best to drink some warm black tea and Pu'er tea.

Habit 3: Taking health supplements randomly

Multivitamins and mineral supplements cannot prevent cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc. For most people, taking health supplements indiscriminately is not only useless to the body, but may also increase the burden on the liver and kidneys.

Correct approach:

Some people can take multivitamin and mineral supplements under the guidance of a doctor.

For example, people with severe picky eating habits, vegetarians, people who cannot achieve a balanced diet due to objective conditions (such as Antarctic scientific expedition members, people working in the plateau), women preparing for pregnancy or pregnant women are prone to certain nutrient deficiencies.

Habit 4: Disinfect your underwear every day

Underwear is prone to breeding bacteria. Some people pay great attention to hygiene and choose to wash their underwear with disinfectants every day. However, improper disinfection may cause chemical residues and threaten health. If conditions permit, drying the washed underwear in the sun can play a role in disinfection and sterilization.

Correct approach:

Wash by hand separately. Some people use washing machines to wash underwear to save trouble, but this is not advisable. Washing machines themselves have a lot of bacteria, which can easily cause secondary contamination.

Choose alkaline cleaning products. The soap used to clean underwear should be different from ordinary soap to avoid contamination.

Rub carefully. When washing your underwear, rub it vigorously and carefully for 3-5 minutes to allow the soap to fully contact the bacteria and ensure that the underwear is clean.

Rinse thoroughly with running water.

Habit 5: Drink more porridge and soup

When drinking porridge, because there is no need for frequent chewing and stomach peristalsis, the digestive ability of the stomach will gradually weaken over time. For people with excessive stomach acid, flatulence, and chronic gastritis, drinking too much porridge may aggravate the discomfort. The glycemic index of porridge is very high, and drinking porridge will cause large fluctuations in blood sugar in diabetic patients.

Even after a long cooking time, most of the high-quality protein, vitamins and trace elements in the soup are still in the raw materials and cannot be dissolved into the soup. The soup contains the most fat and purine. The longer it is cooked, the more fat it contains. Therefore, drinking thick soup is not only easy to take in too much salt, but if you drink pig's trotter soup, pork rib soup, or sweet soup, it is also easy to gain weight due to the high calories.

Image source: SOOGIF

Kind tips:

Although soup is delicious, it should be consumed in moderation. People with high blood pressure, gout, gallbladder disease, and excessive stomach acid should drink less thick soup.

Habit 6: Sleeping on a hard bed

If the bed is too hard, the muscles cannot relax effectively, and the spine is in a straight and stiff state. If the bed is too hard, it is easy to cause poor peripheral circulation, which is not conducive to the recovery of physical strength and energy, and is also not good for patients with lumbar disc herniation.

Kind tips:

A mattress with moderate hardness and softness has many benefits. It can not only promote blood circulation and relieve nerve pressure, but also prevent muscle strain and other situations.

Habit 7: Walk 10,000 steps a day

Generally speaking, normal walking does not cause any damage to the knees. Proper walking can exercise muscles and regulate the function of the knee joints. However, walking for too long, especially for overweight, obese and elderly people, can cause damage to the cartilage and meniscus inside the knee joints.

Kind tips:

Warm up before exercising, and do not stop immediately after exercise, but gradually slow down. People with underlying diseases need to be evaluated by a doctor before exercising.

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