During the Spring Festival, what is the most tiring and what is the busiest? Some might say the teeth are the busiest and the mouth is the most tired, but in reality, the busiest and most exhausted are the esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver, and so on. During the Spring Festival, whether visiting relatives and friends or entertaining guests, enthusiastic hospitality is unavoidable. No home is without chicken, duck, fish, and meat; high-fat and high-oil dishes become the mainstay of the dinner table. After dinner, the variety show begins. While enjoying the programs, drinking tea, and chatting, people start continuously eating desserts, snacks, peanuts, melon seeds, and almonds, hazelnuts—you name it. Before one performance is even over, a small mountain of peanut and melon seed shells has already formed. The abundance of food gives the digestive system no moment of rest.
Common problems after the festival
1. During the Spring Festival, people eat more, sleep less, and exercise less. They also consume fewer vegetables and fruits, which can lead to "internal heat" (shanghuo) after the festival.
2. Consuming too many greasy foods during the festival can lead to loss of appetite and low energy.
What should you eat after the Spring Festival?
I. Vegetables
Cabbage: Cabbage is slightly cool in nature and sweet in taste. It nourishes the stomach, promotes fluid production, relieves vexation and thirst, promotes urination and bowel movements, and clears heat and detoxifies. Napa cabbage is delicious, refreshing, and stimulates the appetite. "Fish causes fire, meat causes phlegm; cabbage and tofu bring peace." The fiber in cabbage not only lubricates the intestines and promotes detoxification but also enhances the body's absorption of animal protein. Napa cabbage contains protein, multiple vitamins, and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron. Regular consumption helps boost the body's immune function and is also beneficial for weight loss and fitness.
Celery: Celery is fresh, tender, delicious, and nutritious. It can neutralize excess uric acid in the blood and has the effects of calming the liver, clearing heat, strengthening the spleen, and promoting diuresis to remove dampness. Celery is rich in fiber, which aids digestion, promotes intestinal wall movement, dilutes intestinal toxins, promotes bowel movements, and prevents constipation.
Asparagus lettuce: Asparagus lettuce has a fresh, crisp texture and a light green color, with a very noticeable effect of clearing heat and promoting fluid production. It can clear heat from the heart, intestines, and stomach, expel foul odors, and stop bleeding and cool the blood. If you have consumed too much alcohol, eating more asparagus lettuce can improve the function of the digestive system and liver.
Radish: Radish has the effects of clearing heat and promoting fluid production, resolving food stagnation and promoting digestion, stimulating the appetite and strengthening the spleen, and regulating qi and resolving phlegm. For food stagnation, abdominal bloating, poor digestion, or loss of appetite, you can pound it fresh and drink the juice. The mustard oil in radish promotes gastrointestinal motility, increases appetite, and aids digestion. For nausea, vomiting, acid regurgitation, or chronic dysentery, it can be finely chopped, stir-fried with honey, and chewed slowly. For constipation, it can be cooked. For mouth ulcers, the juice can be used as a mouthwash. The amylase in radish can also break down starch and fat in food, allowing for full absorption. Radish can be eaten raw, but you should not eat anything else for half an hour afterward to prevent its active ingredients from being diluted.
Other options can include some fungi, such as wood ear mushroom: The dietary fiber in wood ear mushrooms promotes intestinal motility, reduces fat absorption, protects the liver and detoxifies, and lowers blood viscosity. Shiitake mushroom: Helps the body eliminate excess cholesterol, etc.
II. Fruits
Hawthorn: Not only is it sweet and sour and delicious, promoting the secretion of digestive juices, increasing appetite, and aiding digestion, but it also has multiple medicinal values. Because hawthorn contains various organic acids such as hawthorn acid, it is sour and sweet and contains lipase. After entering the stomach, it enhances the effect of enzymes, promotes the digestion of meat, and helps in the conversion of cholesterol. Therefore, for people who feel bloated after eating meat or greasy foods, eating hawthorn, hawthorn slices, hawthorn water, or hawthorn pills can all aid digestion. The most important function of hawthorn is to strengthen the stomach and resolve food stagnation. In traditional Chinese medicine, the famous "Jiao San Xian" is a common prescription for aiding digestion and treating diarrhea, and hawthorn is one of the "Three Immortals." The medicinal herbs for resolving food stagnation and strengthening the spleen each have their own characteristics; some resolve grain-based stagnation, while others resolve meat-based stagnation. Hawthorn is the premier herb for specifically resolving meat-based stagnation. If meat is not digested and causes bloating, you can wash fresh hawthorns, flatten them, and brew them with hot water. This has diuretic, anti-stagnation, and grease-removing effects.
Fuji apple: Fuji apples can promote fluid production to quench thirst and harmonize the spleen to stop diarrhea. Fuji apples contain a higher amount of "pectin" than ordinary apples. Pectin is a water-soluble dietary fiber that can reduce the number of harmful bacteria in the intestines and help beneficial bacteria multiply. During the Spring Festival, excessive protein intake is common. This protein is broken down into amino acids, causing most people's body fluids to become "acidic." Acidic fluids continuously accumulate in the body, easily leading to fatigue and lethargy. Among fruits, apples have the most comprehensive nutrients. The polysaccharides, potassium ions, pectin, tartaric acid, and citric acid in apples can neutralize the acid radicals in acidic body fluids, reduce their acidity, and thus relieve fatigue. Fuji apples also have the effect of eliminating odors, such as fishy smells and bad breath.
Other fruits include oranges, which can regulate qi, stimulate the appetite, resolve food stagnation, and transform phlegm; and bananas, which can clear heat, moisten the intestines, lower blood pressure, and prevent hemorrhoids.
When choosing the foods above, you should also grasp a key principle: moderation in diet.