People's pursuit of food has long transcended mere deliciousness; using diet for health and wellness has become a further aspiration. Consequently, restaurants of all sizes have begun featuring medicinal cuisine, offering various dishes, nourishing soups, and broths. However, there are five types of people who should not drink chicken soup.
Cordyceps Chicken Soup
While medicinal cuisine has benefits as a supplementary therapy, it must be guided by a knowledgeable professional. Setting aside the various taboos in the compatibility of traditional Chinese medicines, just the principle of nourishing the body according to the season reveals issues with many restaurants' offerings. For instance, summer should focus on light nourishment. If a restaurant still recommends warming soups like black chicken or old hen soup, it is counterproductive; duck or pigeon soup would be a better choice. Similarly, if a woman is naturally robust in her vital energy (Qi and blood) yet frequently consumes medicinal soups that supplement Qi and invigorate blood, she is moving in the wrong direction. Therefore, medicinal cuisine restaurants should have professional dietitians on staff to provide personalized guidance.
Experts also gave an example: Broths are high in purines. For gout sufferers, drinking any highly nourishing soup can trigger a gout attack, which is not worth the risk.
In summary, medicinal cuisine and nourishing soups are not for everyone. The general principle for consuming medicinal food is to apply dietary therapy based on syndrome differentiation. Here are some simple principles for eating medicinal food.
First is the "Five Nourishments for the Four Seasons" principle: nourish the liver in spring, strengthen the heart and spleen in summer, moisten the lungs in autumn, and tonify the kidneys in winter. As long as you follow this principle, you are unlikely to go far wrong. Second, for out-of-season foods, learn to balance their thermal nature. For example, when eating hot pot with mutton in the summer, it is best to add some cooling ingredients to balance the warming nature of the mutton. Finally, traditional Chinese food therapy emphasizes balance, not just in a single dish, but in an entire meal. Ensure dietary diversity by eating a little bit of everything, but not too much of any one thing, to avoid the negative consequences of excess.
Five Types of People Who Should Not Drink Chicken Soup
Chicken soup is nutritious and delicious, and many families consider it a great tonic, often preparing a pot for a sick family member. However, not everyone is suitable for drinking chicken soup. The nutrients in chicken soup are small water-soluble proteins, fats, and inorganic salts that are dissolved from the chicken oil, skin, meat, and bones. The protein content in the soup is only about 7% of that in the chicken meat, and most of the chicken fat in the soup is saturated fatty acid. Therefore, if you fall into any of the following categories, you should not enjoy chicken soup!
1. Excess Stomach Acid: Chicken soup stimulates the secretion of stomach acid. Therefore, patients with gastric ulcers, hyperacidity, or stomach bleeding generally should not drink it.
2. Biliary Diseases: Those who frequently suffer from cholecystitis or cholelithiasis should not drink much chicken soup. The digestion of the fat in the soup requires bile, and drinking it can stimulate the gallbladder to contract, easily triggering an attack of cholecystitis.
3. Hypertension: For patients with high blood pressure, drinking chicken soup can not only contribute to arteriosclerosis but also cause blood pressure to remain persistently high and difficult to lower.
4. Hyperlipidemia: After the fat in the soup is absorbed, it can further elevate cholesterol. Excessively high cholesterol can deposit on the inner walls of blood vessels, leading to diseases such as coronary arteriosclerosis.
5. Renal Insufficiency: Chicken soup contains some small-molecule proteins. Patients with acute nephritis, acute or chronic renal insufficiency, or uremia cannot process the byproducts of protein metabolism in a timely manner. Drinking too much chicken soup can cause high nitrogenemia and worsen their condition.
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