Is Weight Loss Just Dieting? Read This Genuine Weight-Loss Guide
At the press conference held during the recent session of the National People’s Congress, the National Health Commission proposed a three-year “Weight Management Year” initiative, encouraging society as a whole to develop habits of paying attention to body weight, eating scientifically and exercising regularly, so as to lose weight in a scientifically sound manner and lead a healthy life.
Everyone should be the primary guardian of their own health, but losing weight is not merely a personal matter. As our dietary habits are increasingly shaped by a complex modern food system, weight loss becomes a societal issue. It is not simply a change on the scales, either, but an overall adjustment to our diet and lifestyle.
In response to this call, Foodthink has curated a selection of past articles to help readers identify the “pitfalls” in everyday eating that can easily lead to weight gain, steer clear of the traps set by pseudo-health foods, and build a well-balanced diet. Living healthily starts with eating well!
I. The Prime Culprit Behind the Modern Obesity Crisis
The Guidelines for Weight Management (2024 Edition), published by the National Health Commission for the general public, notes that research predicts, if left unchecked, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults in China will reach a staggering 70.5% by 2030, while among children it will hit 31.8%. We tend to blame obesity on individual bad habits – “can’t resist eating and can’t get off the sofa” – but in reality, the modern obesity crisis is a systemic issue, and the factors affecting weight are far more complex than we imagine.
The so-called “modern diet” means we are consuming ever greater quantities of meat, refined grains, refined vegetable oils and ultra-processed foods; our dietary structure is being shaped by the food industry. Processed foods are high in fat and sugar; not only are they calorie-dense, but they also tend to be addictive and create dependency. Sugar-sweetened beverages are among the chief culprits behind obesity. Unlike endogenous sugars obtained from whole foods, the excess free sugars delivered through sugar-sweetened beverages cause blood glucose to spike rapidly, greatly increasing the risk of being overweight.
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II. Greasy, Salty “Cheap Takeaway”
Food delivery platforms do not directly produce food, yet they indirectly determine whether what reaches consumers’ mouths is healthy. Merchants’ margins for survival are squeezed to the extreme by platforms’ low-price strategies and traffic-driven logic, so in the end they have little choice but to cut costs on ingredient quality and hygiene – sometimes even masking the staleness of ingredients behind heavy salt, high sugar, and more salt.
Currently, the user base of food delivery platforms in China stands at a staggering 535 million, with over 200 million urban residents ordering takeaway almost every single day. Takeaway has become so commonplace a part of the modern diet that its presence goes unnoticed, yet this normalisation comes at the cost of exploiting riders, squeezing merchants, and undermining consumers’ health. Over time, the takeaway industry may have an immeasurable impact on rising rates of obesity and other chronic diseases among the public.
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III. Are These “Health Foods” Really Healthy?
People’s anxiety about weight management has also caught the market’s attention. Companies are creating new “health products” to reassure consumers, but are these products genuinely healthier, or just another marketing gimmick? These “health foods” often come endorsed by nutrition experts, and food companies are only too happy to fund nutrition research, peddle one-sided nutritional claims, and drape processed foods in the cloak of “science”.
This nutritionism-driven perspective reduces food to nothing more than “a collection of nutrients”, as though a food factory need only strip out the “bad” nutrients and add the “good” ones for a processed product to outshine a natural one – all while ignoring the negative health effects of the additives, preservatives, sugars and fats in processed foods. As consumers, we should not blindly accept every piece of nutritional advice; placing blind faith in nutrition science and nutritionism may actually create additional risks.
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IV. The True Principles of Healthy Eating
Rather than chasing after all manner of “health foods”, it is better to return to simple, natural dietary principles and eat fresh, whole, minimally processed foods as far as possible. We need to reduce our intake of highly processed foods and build a diverse dietary structure centred on plant-based foods: combining whole and refined grains as staples, eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, eating more legumes and bean products, and enjoying a moderate amount of nuts.
Since obesity is a systemic issue, achieving healthy eating and tackling obesity also calls for a transformation of the food system. Weight management is not about short-term dieting; it is about eating every meal properly, seeking out alternative food systems in our own communities, eating closer to the land, and rebuilding the connections between us and our food, the land, and nature. This will not only help control body weight but also prevent chronic diseases, allowing the body to return to a more natural rhythm.
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V. Delicious and Healthy Recipe Picks
Healthy eating can be delicious, too! Grandma Kouzi, a columnist who tills her own soil in the Valley of Villains, has contributed some simple yet nutritious plant-based recipes, so let’s shed fat and pounds while savouring every bite!
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Editors: Maomao, Yuyang