The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and the aroma of zongzi leaves fills the air. In these days, every household is busy preparing for the festival. Wang Xiaoqi, director of the Gastroenterology Department at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reminds everyone that eating zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival requires some care. Besides patients with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and gastrointestinal diseases who need to be particularly cautious, it is also important to remind the general public not to consume cold foods after eating zongzi. A young man once ate zongzi and then drank ice-cola, which resulted in severe vomiting and diarrhea.
As is well known, zongzi are mostly made of glutinous rice, which is sticky, difficult to digest, lacks fiber, and contains excessive amounts of fat, salt, and sugar. Therefore, for people with underlying health conditions, zongzi are not suitable. On the Dragon Boat Festival itself, it's best to just have a symbolic bite and avoid overindulging. The groups of people who should not eat zongzi mainly fall into three categories:
Patients with cardiovascular diseases: Zongzi come in many varieties, with meat zongzi and lard bean paste zongzi containing a lot of fat and being quite greasy. For people with high blood pressure, high blood lipids, or coronary heart disease, eating too much can increase blood viscosity, affect blood circulation,加重心脏负担和缺血程度 (加重心脏负担和缺血程度 -加重 the heart burden and the degree of ischemia), which is detrimental to their condition.
The elderly and patients with gastrointestinal diseases: Zongzi are mostly made of glutinous rice and are very sticky. Overconsumption can easily lead to indigestion. Additionally, some zongzi are very greasy, which can also cause symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Diabetic patients: For diabetics, dietary control is very important. The starch content of the glutinous rice in zongzi is relatively high, and they also contain fats and oils, resulting in a relatively high calorie intake, which is not conducive to blood sugar control. Diabetic patients should not consume more than 2 liang (100 grams) of staple food per meal. Therefore, if they must eat zongzi, they should not have more than one per meal.
For the general population, eating zongzi cannot be done随心所欲 (随心所欲 - as one pleases). It is especially important to avoid consuming cold foods like iced beer, iced drinks, and ice cream after eating zongzi, as this can easily lead to gastrointestinal diseases such as nausea, vomiting, and acute gastroenteritis.
Director Wang once treated a young man who came to the hospital with a pale face, clutching his stomach and drenched in cold sweat. After questioning the doctor, it was learned that the young man had eaten a large meat zongzi, felt thirsty, and then drank a whole bottle of ice-cola. As a result, not long after, he began to vomit and have severe diarrhea.
Director Wang said that there are many new types of zongzi on the market now, such as vegetarian zongzi, fruit zongzi, and vegetable-meat zongzi. If one's constitution is not particularly strong, choosing these lighter-flavored zongzi might be more suitable.