What should you do when you're hungry? Many people usually grab whatever food is around them when they feel hungry, but they may not realize that it could be harmful to their health. What foods are not suitable to eat on an empty stomach?
Fruits you should not eat on an empty stomach:
1. Pineapple
It contains a very strong proteolytic enzyme. Eating it before a meal can easily damage the stomach wall.
2. Hawthorn
It contains a large amount of organic acids such as citric acid, hawthorn acid, and citric acid. Eating it on an empty stomach can cause a sharp increase in stomach acidity, adversely irritating the gastric mucosa, and can lead to bloating, belching, acid reflux, and even aggravate gastritis and gastric ulcers.
3. Fresh lychees
They have a high sugar content. Eating too many fresh lychees on an empty stomach can cause a sudden influx of excessive high-sugar into the body, leading to "hypertonic coma".
4. Tomatoes
They contain a large amount of pectin, tannic acid, soluble astringents, and other components that can easily react with stomach acid to form indissolvable lumps. These hard lumps can block the pylorus, the exit of the stomach, increasing pressure in the stomach and causing acute gastric expansion, making a person feel bloated and painful.
5. Persimmons
When the stomach is empty, it contains a large amount of stomach acid, which easily reacts with the tannic acid, gum, pectin, and soluble astringents in persimmons to form "bezoars" (stomach stones). This can cause epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting, gastric dilation, gastric ulcers, and even gastric perforation and bleeding.
6. Bananas
They contain a large amount of magnesium. Eating a large number of bananas on an empty stomach can cause a sharp increase in magnesium levels in the blood, disrupting the balance of magnesium and calcium in the body, which has an inhibitory effect on the cardiovascular system and is detrimental to health and weight loss.
7. Oranges
They contain a lot of sugar and organic acids. Eating oranges on an empty stomach can irritate the gastric mucosa, increase stomach acid, and lead to a feeling of fullness, bloating, and acid reflux in the stomach.
8. Sugarcane
It has a very high sugar content and is not suitable for consumption on an empty stomach, as it can irritate the gastric mucosa, causing stomach pain and bloating.
Other foods you should not eat on an empty stomach:
1. Strong tea, coffee, alcohol
Take green tea as an example. Although green tea is unfermented, it retains a large amount of natural substances, such as tea polyphenols and caffeine, which give it anti-aging, anti-cancer, anti-cancer, bactericidal, and anti-inflammatory effects. However, drinking it on an empty stomach is also extremely harmful to the body.
When consumed on an empty stomach, some substances in tea are easily absorbed in excess, such as caffeine and fluorine, which can cause symptoms like palpitations, dizziness, weakness in the limbs, and mental confusion in some people. If these symptoms occur, you should immediately eat a piece of candy or drink a glass of sugar water, and the symptoms will gradually disappear. However, if too much fluorine accumulates in the body, it may cause intestinal diseases and affect kidney function.
The principle of drinking coffee on an empty stomach is the same as drinking tea. Caffeine stimulates and excites the sympathetic nervous system but has a negative effect on appetite, reducing it. Moreover, it stimulates the stomach, increasing gastric acid secretion, which is extremely harmful to the stomach, especially for patients with gastric ulcers, as it can worsen the condition.
2. Cold drinks and overly spicy food
Many people like to drink various cold drinks and beverages before and after exercise, which can easily irritate the gastric mucosa, leading to gastritis. This is because our digestive tract needs to maintain a warm environment for the normal circulation of microcirculation, oxygen, nutrients, and waste. If you eat cold drinks on an empty stomach, the mucous membrane will be chilled, causing blood vessels to constrict, which can ultimately lead to ischemia of the gastric mucosa and gastritis.
Moreover, a sudden cold shock to the stomach can also stimulate the heart, causing these organs to have sudden cramps. Over time, this can lead to endocrine disorders, irregular menstruation in women, and other illnesses. Therefore, it is best to eat cold drinks between meals, not on an empty stomach, after a heavy meal, or when you are sweating profusely.