In our impression, spicy things are all unhealthy. Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes looking at problems dialectically, and not denying the benefits of something unilaterally. Eating chili correctly can lead to health. Look at the girls in Chongqing who love spicy food, they are still beautiful. As long as you eat it right, eating spicy is also healthy.
How to eat spicy food for health
Pay attention to cooking
It is best to choose dishes made with fresh chili peppers. Because fresh chili peppers are more nutritious and their "heat" is smaller, while dried chili peppers, chili powder, etc. should be eaten less. The spiciness of fresh chili peppers will be reduced after high-temperature stir-frying. If the dish already contains chili, don't add other "heating" spices like Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, or cinnamon, otherwise it will be "heating on top of heating," making it easier to get "internal heat" (shanghuo). Soaking the chili in vinegar for a while before cooking, or adding some vinegar when cooking spicy dishes, can also relieve the "internal heat".
Pairing ingredients is important
Pairing spicy food with cooling foods can have a "neutralizing" effect, clearing heat and reducing fire. Duck, fish, bitter melon, lotus root, water chestnut, tofu, and asparagus lettuce are all cooling foods that can clear heat, promote body fluids, nourish yin, and reduce dryness, making them the best partners for spicy dishes.
It is best to choose coarse grains as the staple food
Because their dietary fiber content is rich, it can prevent constipation caused by dryness and heat in the stomach and intestines. Corn or sweet potatoes are good choices. In addition, Job's tears can also relieve dryness, and if cooked with lily into a porridge, the effect is more significant.
Drink more water or soup when eating spicy food
Eating spicy food can easily cause symptoms like a sore throat and chapped lips, so it is even more important to supplement water. Chrysanthemum tea, sour plum soup, etc., are the best "fire extinguishers". Drinking a glass of yogurt or milk can not only relieve the spiciness but also clear heat.
It is best to eat more sour fruits after eating spicy food
They contain tannins, dietary fiber, etc., which can stimulate digestive juice secretion, accelerate gastrointestinal peristalsis, and help nourish yin and moisten dryness. Hawthorn, grapefruit, citrus, apples, and pears are all good choices.
Healthy spicy foods
Chili
The vitamin C content in chili is extremely high, ranking among the top in vegetables. It has the effects of warming the middle jiao to dispel cold, whetting the appetite to aid digestion, promoting sweating to remove dampness, and also has a certain bactericidal effect. It has a relatively good effect on preventing colds, arteriosclerosis, night blindness, and scurvy. Chili also has the effects of preventing cancer and delaying aging. Especially red chili is known as the "red medicinal herb" in folk.
Garlic Chives
Garlic chives contain very high vitamins and carotene, which help improve vision and relieve eye fatigue, making them very suitable for people who use computers for long periods. Moreover, high carotene helps enhance immunity, prevent tumors, and is also very beneficial for anti-oxidation and anti-aging.
Onion
Onion is warm in nature and pungent in taste. It has the effects of clearing heat and resolving phlegm, detoxifying and killing insects, whetting the appetite and transforming dampness, lowering lipids and blood sugar, calming the liver and moistening the intestines, promoting urination, inducing sweating, and preventing colds. It can prevent and treat arteriosclerosis and also has anti-cancer effects. Because it integrates nutrition, health care, and medical functions, onion is known as the "queen of vegetables" in some European and American countries.
Ginger
Ginger is warm in nature and pungent in taste. It contains oily volatile substances such as gingerol, as well as gingerol, vitamins, gingerol, resin, starch, fiber, and a small amount of minerals. It can enhance blood circulation, stimulate gastric juice secretion, excite the intestines, promote digestion, strengthen the stomach, and increase appetite.
Pepper
Pepper is warm in nature and pungent in taste. It contains nutrients such as volatile oil, piperine, crude fat, crude protein, and starch. It comes in black and white varieties and can treat indigestion, enteritis, bronchitis, colds, and rheumatism. Modern pharmacological research has also found that piperine, piperidine, and volatile oil in pepper have the effects of dispelling wind and strengthening the stomach.
Sichuan Peppercorn
Sichuan peppercorn is warm in nature and pungent in taste. It contains components such as limonene, sanshools, unsaturated organic acids, and volatile oil. It has the effects of warming the middle jiao to strengthen the stomach, dispelling cold and removing dampness, detoxifying and killing insects, and regulating qi to relieve pain. It has a certain effect on treating indigestion, hiccups, belching, vomiting, joint and muscle pain caused by wind-cold-dampness, dysentery, and roundworms. Modern pharmacological research has also found that it has certain local anesthetic and analgesic effects, and also has a significant inhibitory effect on various bacilli and cocci.
Garlic
Garlic is warm in nature and pungent in taste. It contains nutrients such as protein, fat, sugar, B vitamins, vitamin C, as well as sulfur and selenium organic compounds (allicin) and various active enzymes. In addition, its content of calcium, phosphorus, iron and other elements is also very rich. It has the effects of killing insects, detoxifying, eliminating stagnation, promoting qi circulation, and warming the stomach. It has a certain therapeutic effect on food stagnation, dysentery, whooping cough, edema and abdominal distension, and insect or snake bites. In addition, eating garlic can also prevent flu, treat fungal infections, and has the effects of lowering blood pressure, lowering blood lipids, lowering blood sugar, and a strong anti-cancer effect.
Why do we eat spicy food? It is out of need. It was a means for our ancestors to resist the cold. Just like drinking spicy wine can keep you warm. When there was no air conditioning for warmth, eating some spicy food could keep you warm. And this habit of eating spicy food is still in use today. People with yang deficiency can supplement yang by appropriately eating some spicy foods.