Gathered around a steaming hot pot with family and friends, freely scooping up your favorite delicacies for a satisfying and lively meal. However, many people, after enjoying the deliciousness of hot pot, often suffer from what is known as "hot pot syndrome," experiencing symptoms like a sore throat, swollen gums, canker sores, or even gastrointestinal bleeding. Here’s how to enjoy hot pot healthily and steer clear of hot pot syndrome:
Soy milk and chicken soup hot pot
Vegetables first, meat second; control the cooking heat
Skimming food from the boiling pot as you eat brings immense satisfaction. However, many health risks arise at this very moment. Many people, eager for that fresh, tender texture, fail to master the cooking time. Raw meats and fish are often just dipped into the pot and immediately eaten. At this point, parasites or parasite eggs in the meat are often not killed and directly enter the digestive tract, easily causing gastrointestinal infections.
Furthermore, using the same utensils for both raw and cooked food can also lead to illness. Utensils used for handling and serving raw food should be kept separate from those for eating directly to avoid cross-contamination and prevent illness from entering through the mouth.
It is recommended that hot pot diners eat in a specific order: start with vegetables, then meat, and opt for more boiled dishes. Skewered items should be thoroughly cooked in the boiling broth to minimize the risk of gastrointestinal diseases.
It's also important to note that if vegetables are boiled in the hot pot for too long, their nutritional value, such as vitamins and amino acids, can be easily destroyed, and they will lose their fresh flavor. Therefore, mastering the "heat" of the hot pot to keep dishes flavorful, nutritious, and safe is no easy task.
A balanced diet of meat and vegetables; be mindful of purines
On the hot pot table, dishes made from poultry and livestock offal are quite common, but this dietary habit is not conducive to health. With the use of pesticides, fertilizers, and additives in food production and processing, animal offal, as metabolic organs, contain the highest levels of pathogenic microorganisms and drug residues, especially the liver and lungs. Additionally, ingredients like offal, seafood, beef and mutton, and mushrooms contain high levels of purines, which can easily lead to uric acid deposition in the blood, causing "gout" in the winter.
The best approach is to pay attention to a balanced diet of meat and vegetables, eating more vegetables, tofu, and white lotus root, which are rich in vitamins. These foods not only help cut through the grease but also have a cooling, heat-reducing, and detoxifying effect, acting as a "remedy" for the body's conditioning.
Drink less of the old broth; ensure your health
Since purine substances from ingredients like offal, meat, and seafood fully dissolve into the broth, drinking too much of the old broth can lead to purine deposition. After being metabolized by the liver into uric acid, this can impair kidney function, block excretion, and trigger or worsen gout. Therefore, when eating hot pot, it's advisable to drink more water to help flush out uric acid.
For those who love to drink the broth, it's best to do so early. The longer the broth simmers, the higher the content of harmful residues like nitrites, and the greater the risk of illness. However, if you use yeast extract (YE), a popular international flavoring agent for hot pot, it's different. It not only makes the broth more delicious but also does not produce nitrites no matter how long it's cooked.
Pair your food wisely; balance hot and cold
Generally, dishes scooped from the hot pot are very hot and can easily scald the mouth and esophageal mucosa. To counteract the heat, many people gulp down a large glass of iced beer or a frozen beverage. However, such extreme temperature changes can easily cause indigestion, leading to diarrhea and constipation. People with chronic stomach conditions are especially at risk of an acute flare-up of their illness.
Soy chicken soup pot