Hotpot, literally "fire pot," is a high-heat food, which is why it's easy to get "internal heat" after eating it, and there is a reason for this.
First, hotpot broth contains a large amount of beef tallow, sheep tallow, lard, and so on. Coupled with the consumption of large amounts of various meats that are high in fat and protein during the meal, it can generate and accumulate a significant amount of thermal energy in the human body. Oil fuels fire; especially after fat "burns" in the body, the energy released far exceeds that of other nutrients. Therefore, it is very easy for people to get "internal heat."
Second, hotpot bases contain many pungent and aromatic seasonings, especially in Sichuan-style hotpot, which contains even more of these, such as chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, black pepper, dried ginger, galangal, fennel, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, and sandalwood. These medicinal seasonings are mostly warm and hot in nature, and some are even extremely pungent and hot. Once inside the body, they are like adding fuel to the fire, often "abetting the tyrant," causing the "fire" ignited by the oils in the body to burn more fiercely.
Furthermore, for people who are naturally of a "heat constitution," it is even easier to get "internal heat." A "heat constitution" falls into two categories: one is a "deficient fire" constitution, where one often feels a general body heat, wears little cotton even in winter, frequently has canker sores and inflammation, swollen and painful gums, bad or bitter breath, a dry nose and throat, red eyes with discharge, and a thick yellow tongue coating. The other is a "deficient fire" constitution, where one often experiences "five-heart vexation and heat," meaning the palms of the hands and soles of the feet feel hot, along with irritability, redness or hot flashes on the cheeks, insomnia with many dreams, night sweats, and a red tongue. For people with a "heat constitution," eating hotpot is like pouring oil on fire; it will often worsen the "fire" and lead to health damage.
Beef Hotpot
To prevent "internal heat" from hotpot and effectively "reduce the fire," people can adopt the following methods:
1. When simmering the hotpot broth, add lotus seeds with their cores, reed rhizome, and mung beans. This not only supplements nutrition but also clears the heart, purges fire, and detoxifies.
2. Choose more cooling vegetables, such as winter melon, loofah, rape, spinach, bok choy, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, lotus root, water bamboo shoots, and bamboo shoots. These can not only eliminate greasiness and supplement the lack of vitamins in the body during winter but also have the effect of removing fire and heat.
3. You can add cooling and cold-natured fruits like water pear, sugarcane, Hami melon, and water chestnut, as well as chrysanthemums, to the hotpot broth. This can remove fishy odors, enhance the flavor, and also has the effects of clearing heat and removing dryness.
4. You can appropriately add tofu to the hotpot. It can not only supplement various trace elements but, because tofu contains gypsum, it can also clear heat, purge fire, relieve vexation, and quench thirst.
5. The dipping sauce for hotpot should be light. It is best not to use chili sauce or similar products, but rather soy sauce, black vinegar, sesame oil, or broth without pungent seasonings.
6. During and after eating hotpot, you can drink green tea or oolong tea, which can relieve greasiness, refresh the palate, and clear fire and purge heat.
7. From half an hour into eating hotpot until after finishing the meal, you can have some cooling fruits as a side dish to effectively reduce the fire.
8. After eating hotpot, it is best to drink cooling and moistening vegetable congee, fruit soup, or light tea, rather than the hotpot broth, which contains a large amount of oil and pungent seasonings.
9. While eating hotpot, you can moderately drink carbonated drinks (except for those with obesity, diabetes, etc.). The day after eating hotpot, it is advisable to drink plenty of water to promote and speed up the excretion of internal heat.
10. If "internal heat" symptoms appear after eating hotpot, you can appropriately take Chinese patent medicines for clearing fire, such as Zhimai tablets.
beef hotpot