Most people have some kinds of foods they hate. Some people remove all vegetables from their fried rice while others eat sushi but not sashimi, even they are similar raw stuff. There can be a thousand reasons for these preferences such as some food which remind someone of a lost love or the dish someone hate because of the previous overindulgence. However, nutritional unbalance caused by eating only what you want can damage your health in the long-term. Let’s look into how eating only what you want can be a serious problem and what potential solution to this problem can be.

The real condition of eating only what you want
According to the nutrient intake ratio standards illustrated by the Korea National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey, we can easily see an imbalance within the Korean diet. When you look at the chart on the right, both men and women lack calcium and potassium(lt.kalium) while overindulging in sodium(lt. natrium).

Problem of eating only what you want Disease caused by nutritional unbalance
In case of calcium shortage, people can suffer from decaying teeth and gums that are swollen and bleeding. Also people may easily feel fatigue and are more likely to have a cold to people who are immunocompromised. Long-term calcium deficiency can lead to osteoporosis which is life threatening.On the other hand, consuming an excessing amount of sodium can cause atrophic gastritis and lead to stomach cancer. Furthermore too much sodium in your diet increases the amount of calcium in your urine and it can cause skeletal diseases. While already calcium deficient, most Korean diets include too much sodium which futher causes a decrease in calcium in the body. Besides, chronic oversupply of sodium can trigger high blood pressure which is dangerous because it is likely to be connected to strokes, myocardial infarction, cardiac disorder, and vessel diseases.When potassium is insufficient in people’s diet, they cannot adequately supply nutrients to their body. Additionally, this can also reduce blood circulation which can result in having pins and needles in their hands and feet and feel fatigue easily. Besides, it can trigger arrhythmia, decline of bowel function, myasthenia, constipation, or edema.

Enemy of your diet, Enemy of skin care!
Foods that are spicy and strong-tasting stimulate your appetite and lead to an increase of carbohydrates in your diet, so that make you gain weight. When eating meat mainly, not vegetable you can become vitamin deficient easily. Notably, a lack of vitamin C makes your skin look dark and dull. Vitamin C blocks the making of black melanin and makes your skin tone lighter and smother by turning black melanin into brown melanin.

A solution for eating only what you want
Improving your diet through a variety of dishes is easier than forcing yourself to eat vegetables that you hate. Here’s a list of easy recipes that are not only delicious and healthy but also easy to make:

Tofu kimchi pizza
1 Health benefits: Tofu is a high protein food which has many minerals such as calcium, amino acid and iron. Kimchi and various vegetables also help your intake of essential vitamins and minerals.
2 Ingredients: Tofu 400g, 3 mushrooms, 1/4 onion, 3 cherry tomatoes, kimchi 200g, chili sauce, ketchup, garlic, ground pepper, and pizza cheese.

3 Method a. Divide the tofu while eliminating the water into two parts and then again into three parts. b. Brown the tofu over high heat. c. Chop up the onion, kimchi and garlic finely and cut the mushroom and cherry tomatoes into thin slices. d. Stir-fry the onion, kimchi, garlic in oil. e. When the vegetables are boiled, put 2 tablespoons of ketchup and 3 tablespoons of chili sauce and then add friedmushroom and cherry tomatoes. Next, put some ground pepper. f. Put all the ingredients on the tofu and add pizza cheese. Heat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes and enjoy!3 Method

Bean meat steak
1 Health benefits: Bean meat is loved from vegetarians and dieters with taste and shape similar to meat, and are abundant in protein and no fat. Soybean including the best content of essential amino acids in beans has carbohydrate and dietary fiber. So when you eat this, you can take balanced nutrition better than meat.
2 Ingredients: soybean 3 cups, gluten powder 2 cups, 1 potato, 1/2 onion, 1/2 cup of walnuts, 1/2 cup of peanuts, garlic 3 cloves, ginger 1 piece and steak sauce.
a. Put soybeans and double the amount of water in a big bowl and soak 8 hours. Peel soybeans.
b. Grind soybeans, potato, onion, walnuts, peanuts, garlic and ginger in a blender.
c. Add gluten powder and knead until it become in glutinous state.
d. Grill bean meat in a beautiful brown patty and spread steak sauce on top. Garnish with some vegetables.

As you are not a kid anymore, your mommy won’t follow you around telling you to eat your beans and vegetables. Besides, it’s easy to avoid healthy foods and instead mostly eat spicy and strong-tasting foods. While there may not be major consequences to eating poorly while you are in your twenties, your eating habits will follow you into your old age with bad consequences. This is similar to putting on eye cream in 20 years to avoid wrinkles. Take care of your health now before it’s late.