As the weather gets cooler, many people start craving rich and flavorful foods, such as hot pot and skewers. Winter is the best season for hot pot, and people from Chongqing especially love it. But why do some people get diarrhea after eating hot pot and skewers, while others don't? Let's find out together.
◆ Getting Diarrhea from Hot Pot: People with Weak Stomachs are More Vulnerable
Diarrhea from hot pot is often caused by a combination of external and internal factors, and people with inherently weak stomachs are more likely to be affected.
1. Undercooked Ingredients
When eating hot pot, ingredients are usually just quickly swirled in the pot before eating. Bacteria in vegetables are not easily completely removed without being thoroughly boiled. Meat contains many potential parasites. If the ingredients are not fully cooked, eating these undercooked foods can easily lead to bacterial or parasitic infections, causing diarrhea.
2. Alternating Between Hot and Cold
Many people like to drink iced beverages or alcohol with hot pot, thinking it's more satisfying. Icy drinks and alcohol can irritate the stomach. When you follow this with hot food, the alternating temperatures put a great strain on the stomach, causing abnormal contractions and easily leading to stomach discomfort or even diarrhea.
3. Spicy Irritation
Besides oil and salt, the most important ingredient in hot pot is chili. Spicy food can irritate the stomach and cause diarrhea. This is especially true for those with a weak spleen and stomach. It's recommended to order a half-and-half pot, so you can have some spicy food along with lighter ingredients.
4. Poor Quality of Ingredients
There are many hot pot restaurants, and not all of them are reputable. There's no guarantee that the ingredients used are clean and within their expiration date. Some restaurants, in pursuit of high profits, use stale and unclean ingredients, fail to properly sterilize and disinfect their utensils, and have poor hygiene standards. All these factors can easily introduce pathogens into your body, leading to diarrhea.
◆ 6 Bad Habits to Break When Eating Hot Pot
1. Craving "Fresh" Flavor and Eating "Raw" Food Can Lead to Illness
Raw meat and seafood can be contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms and parasite eggs. They must be thoroughly cooked in boiling soup to kill these pathogens before consumption, preventing or reducing digestive tract inflammation and parasitic diseases. Generally, thin slices of meat should be cooked in boiling broth for about a minute, changing from bright red to grayish-white, before they are safe to eat.
2. Mixing Raw and Cooked Ingredients Leads to Contamination
Not using separate utensils for raw and cooked food can also make you sick. Use different chopsticks and bowls for handling raw ingredients and for eating directly from the plate to avoid cross-contamination and germs. It's also best to use serving chopsticks to prevent the spread of bacteria.
3. The "Hot and Cold" Combo is Most Harmful to the Stomach
Drinking cold beverages with hot pot can cause the blood vessels in the stomach to constrict, slow down gastrointestinal motility, and reduce the secretion of digestive juices. At the same time, the lower temperature decreases the activity of digestive enzymes, which is not good for digestion. Don't be too impatient when eating hot pot and avoid food that is too hot. You can also choose some room-temperature vegetable juices, dairy products, or plant-based protein drinks to aid digestion.
4. Heavy on Spice and Oil Can Lead to "Heatiness"
A thick layer of red chili oil covering the food is indeed delicious, but it turns even healthy vegetables into unhealthy items. The red oil contains a large amount of irritating ingredients (like scallions, ginger, and chili), which can cause swelling and congestion in the digestive tract and irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa. It is not suitable for patients with gastric ulcers or ulcerative colitis.
5. Eating and Chatting for a Long Time Leads to Overeating
Sitting for a long time and eating hot pot greatly increases the burden on the digestive system. As the stomach continuously receives food, overeating at once causes digestive juices like gastric acid, bile, and pancreatic juice to secrete non-stop, easily leading to gastrointestinal dysfunction, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Overeating can also trigger acute pancreatitis. It's a good idea to eat vegetables and starches first, then meat, and stop when you are 80% full to reduce calorie intake.
6. Long-boiled Broth Can Induce Gout
The purine content in hot pot broth is very high and is not suitable for patients with hyperuricemia and gout. Secondly, the nitrite content in long-boiled hot pot broth increases. If you plan to drink the broth, you should consume it within 20 minutes of boiling, after skimming off some of the floating oil.