Our ancestors were very particular about dietary taboos, and Traditional Chinese Medicine is as well. We need to avoid certain foods when eating, when taking Chinese medicine, and even when drinking a cup of tea. This is highly scientific. We all understand the principle of mutual generation and restraint, where certain foods and drinks can react to produce substances harmful to the body. When drinking tea, you should never take it with the following six foods.
1. Tea and Sugar
Tea is bitter and cold in nature. The purpose of drinking tea is to use its bitterness to stimulate the digestive glands, promote the secretion of digestive juices to enhance digestive function, and to use the cooling nature of tea to achieve the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying. If sugar is added to tea, it will inhibit this function.
2. Tea and Eggs
When boiling eggs in tea, the tea is highly concentrated. Strong tea contains a significant amount of tannic acid, which can turn the protein in food into indigestible coagulated substances, affecting the body's absorption and utilization of protein. Eggs are a high-protein food, so it is not advisable to boil and eat them in tea water.
3. Tea and Alcohol
Many people love to drink tea after alcohol, hoping to achieve effects like moistening dryness, sobering up, aiding digestion, and promoting urination. However, this is detrimental to the kidneys. Because drinking tea after alcohol, the theophylline in tea has a diuretic effect. At this time, acetaldehyde, a byproduct of alcohol, has not been fully decomposed and is sent to the kidneys due to the diuretic effect of theophylline. Acetaldehyde is highly irritating to the kidneys and can easily cause damage to kidney function. Consequently, symptoms such as kidney coldness, impotence, frequent and turbid urination, and testicular pain may follow.
4. Tea and Lamb
Although eating lamb from time to time is very beneficial to the body, when drinking tea with lamb, the abundant protein in lamb can "combine" with the tannic acid in tea to form a substance called tannic protein. This substance has a certain astringent effect on the intestines, which can slow down intestinal peristalsis, reduce moisture in the stool, and easily lead to constipation.
Therefore, it is not advisable to drink tea while eating lamb. It is also not advisable to drink tea immediately after eating lamb; you should wait 2-3 hours before drinking.
5. Tea and Medicine
The tannic acid in tea can undergo a chemical reaction with certain drugs (such as ferrous sulfate tablets, ferric ammonium citrate, berberine, etc.) to form a precipitate, affecting drug absorption.
If you take sedatives (such as phenobarbital, diazepam, etc.) with tea water, the stimulants in tea, such as caffeine and theophylline, will counteract or weaken the sedative effect of the drugs.
6. Tea and Dog Meat
Dog meat is rich in protein, and tea contains a significant amount of tannic acid. If you drink tea immediately after eating dog meat, the tannic acid in tea will combine with the protein in dog meat to form tannic acid protein. This substance has an astringent effect, which can slow down intestinal peristalsis, cause constipation, and allow toxic substances and carcinogens produced by metabolism to be passively absorbed in the intestines, which is not good for your health. Therefore, it is taboo to drink tea after eating dog meat.
Tea itself is very beneficial for health preservation, not only for the effect of tea on the body, but also for the cultivation of our state of mind during the tea-drinking process. The refreshing effect of tea is excellent. A cup when you are tired from work can greatly relieve fatigue. There are many varieties of tea, and we should choose one that is suitable for our own constitution. People with a "yang" constitution can drink green tea. Those with a "cold" constitution can choose black tea.