The "antidote" in greens: a true story about nutritional diversity

Recently, I heard an entrepreneur friend share a real story in their circle, which is thought-provoking.

The protagonist of the story is a successful middle-aged female entrepreneur. After years of hard work in the business world, she finally achieved the "financial freedom" that many people dream of. However, behind the success, the cost of her health quietly emerged: she began to feel less energetic, her body was inexplicably tired, and most notably, her whole body muscles, especially the leg muscles, became weak.

With abundant resources and extensive contacts, she has visited top hospitals in China and sought treatment from authoritative experts in various fields. Expensive tests were done over and over again, but the results were frustrating – the cause was never diagnosed, let alone an effective treatment plan. After repeated hopes were disappointed, a sense of powerlessness that bordered on "fatalism" enveloped her. In the end, she was physically and mentally exhausted and made a major decision: to put aside her busy career, put aside the fruitless medical treatment, and return home to live a dull life of complete "recuperation".

In her past business career, her daily life was full of socializing and feasting, and she rarely had the opportunity to eat a home-cooked meal at home. Now back to a simple life, three meals a day has finally returned to the most simple "coarse tea and light rice". She was amazed to find that the fresh vegetables that had been lost for a long time – the green leaves that were almost ignored at the social table – had become the star of the table. You know, she probably hasn't tasted a plate of stir-fried vegetables in years.

Miracles happened quietly in this seemingly insipid dietary shift. After only a while, her mental state improved significantly, and the long-standing fatigue began to subside. What was even more surprising was that she felt that her limbs, especially the leg muscles that had been weak, were gradually regaining strength. After a few months, the physical symptoms that had been bothering her for so long were almost completely gone, and she felt rejuvenated.

This is not some metaphysics or miracle. The entrepreneur herself reflected: "Thinking about it, perhaps the biggest change is to start eating plenty of fresh vegetables on a regular basis again. ”

As a dietary researcher listening to this story, I immediately thought to the heart of the problem: this is a typical vivid case of nutrient deficiencies caused by a severe lack of dietary diversity over a long period of time, and the body repairs itself after restoring basic nutrition!

Her previous symptoms — lack of energy, exhaustion, muscle weakness — were highly consistent with neurological and muscle dysfunction caused by a folate (vitamin B9) deficiency. Long-term, high-end business entertainment diets, which seem to be hearty, tend to rely too much on processed foods and high-protein, high-fat dishes, while seriously ignoring fresh vegetables, fruits and whole grains rich in folic acid, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. This single nutrient structure, accumulated over time, eventually leads to "hidden hunger" and dysfunction of the body.

The most inspiring thing about this story is that it clearly demonstrates the body's powerful ability to heal itself. As long as the damage is stopped (correcting an unbalanced diet) and it is provided with sufficient variety and sufficient amounts of basic nutrients (by returning to a varied diet rich in vegetables), the body, a delicate machine, has the ability to gradually repair the damage and restore normal physiological functions.

This is undoubtedly a profound warning and powerful proof that nutritional diversity is the cornerstone of health.