Diet taboo question bank

Taboos corresponding to diseases/allergens, adaptation restrictions for special physiological stages, and risks of improper handling of the food itself. The remaining so-called taboos are either a coincidence of individual differences, or personalized recommendations for specific physiques, which are not universal at all.

Last week, my aunt came to my door carrying the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs and Lintong fire crystal persimmons she had just bought. She had just finished changing her shoes and suddenly slapped her thigh and shouted, “Oh no! How could I forget that these two things conflict with each other? ”, I took her to sit at the dining table, steamed crabs and peeled persimmons on the spot, and the two of us ate and chatted all afternoon. Nothing happened. Later, my aunt patted the sofa and laughed, "I knew I had so much good stuff in vain."

Don't tell me, this kind of "taboo" that has been passed down for decades is really brainwashing. When I was rotating in the nutrition department, I would encounter ten patients a day asking, "Doctor, can I drink milk after I just finished eating oranges?"

Some Chinese medicine teachers who came to the exchange talked to us and said that they did not fully agree with the statement that "foods are not mutually exclusive." For example, if a person with a weak spleen and stomach usually drinks milk tea at room temperature, he will have diarrhea for two days. If you give him cold beer and iced watermelon, he will most likely have to squat in the toilet after eating. This is not so much "incompatible with each other". "It is better to say that the nature and taste of food do not match the body's own constitution. It is a reminder to specific groups of people. It is not an iron rule that everyone must abide by. In fact, the views of Chinese and Western medicine are compatible. They both emphasize "individualization" rather than universal taboos. There is no need to use other people's taboo lists to apply to yourself.

The first category of taboos that you really need to remember is directly related to your own physical condition. I was born with lactose intolerance when I was little. I didn’t know before that I would have diarrhea every time I drank milk with fried dough sticks. I thought it was because the fried dough sticks were too oily. Later I found out that he still had diarrhea even if he drank warm milk on an empty stomach, and it had nothing to do with the combination. People with diabetes should strictly control refined sugar, gout patients should limit high-purine foods, and people with allergies should avoid the corresponding allergens - for example, people who are allergic to cashews will go to the emergency room even if they eat half a nut alone. Don't worry about the wrong combination of cashews with certain dishes. This is a real taboo. If you step on it, something will really happen, and there is no room for negotiation.

The second type is staged, only targeting people in a specific period. For example, don’t eat raw sashimi, drunken shrimps and drunken crabs when you’re pregnant. It’s not that these things are bad in themselves, but because you’re worried that the parasites and listeria infection in them will affect the fetus. You should eat them after the baby is no longer allergic. ； Don't feed whole jelly or peanuts to a baby who has just started to receive complementary food, for fear of choking the trachea. Once he gets older and has enough chewing ability, he will be fine. ； There are also people who have just had gastrointestinal surgery who need to eat liquid food. Avoid eating hard and spicy food. They can eat normally after they recover. These are temporary and do not need to be remembered for a lifetime.

Another category is related to the food itself and has nothing to do with the matching. For example, sprouted potatoes contain solanine that exceeds the standard, and you will be poisoned even if you cook them alone. ； Undercooked green beans contain saponin and phytohemagglutinin, which will cause vomiting and diarrhea after eating them. ； If the colchicine in fresh daylilies is not blanched thoroughly, you will feel uncomfortable eating it. These are problems you cannot deal with properly. It does not mean that potatoes are poisonous only if you eat them with them. Don’t reverse the cause and effect.

As for those false taboos that are spreading all over the world, most of them regard coincidence as inevitable. For example, in the past, someone had diarrhea after eating unwashed strawberries and drinking cold milk. They often said that strawberries and milk were incompatible. In fact, it was because the pesticide residues on the strawberries were not washed, or the milk was too cold and irritated the gastrointestinal tract. ； Some people have gout after eating too much braised food and drinking cold beer. They say that braised food and beer are incompatible. In fact, they are both high in purine. If you eat too much alone, you will get the same disease.

Now, every time I see a new dietary taboo, I go through it first: Is it something I should avoid if I am allergic/sick? Am I at a special stage now? Is the food itself not processed well? If you don’t like it, then you should eat whatever you want. After all, eating happily is more important than anything else, right?