Family gatherings or having friends over for a meal inevitably involve drinking, and drinking calls for snacks. How can you ensure everyone enjoys the food without harming their health? You need to remember which dishes are suitable and which are not for drinking. The guidelines for making snacks to go with alcohol are as follows:
1. It's advisable to add some sugar when cooking. The main component of alcohol is ethanol, which is broken down and converted by the liver before it can be expelled from the body, thus increasing the burden on the liver. Therefore, when making snacks to go with alcohol, you should appropriately select some liver-protective foods. Sugar has a protective effect on the liver, so it's best to include one or two sweet dishes among your snacks, such as sweet and sour fish, candied lotus root, or sweet-fried peanuts.
2. Prepare several dishes rich in protein. When alcohol enters the intestines, it affects the body's metabolism and can easily lead to a protein deficiency. Therefore, your snacks should include foods rich in protein, such as century eggs, home-style tofu, clear chicken soup, or braised pork ribs.
3. Prepare some alkaline foods. Chicken, duck, fish, and meat are mostly acidic foods. To maintain the body's acid-base balance, your snacks should include alkaline foods, such as stir-fried bean sprouts, spinach, and fruits and vegetables like apples and oranges. Here are some common dishes that are not suitable to eat with alcohol:
1. Carrots. Because the carotene they contain, under the action of liver enzymes with alcohol, can produce toxic substances that are harmful to health.
2. Liangfen (cold jelly). Because in its processing process, a small amount of alum is added. Alum has the effect of slowing down gastrointestinal motility. Eating liangfen with alcohol will prolong the time alcohol stays in the gastrointestinal tract, thereby increasing the body's absorption of alcohol. It also increases the stimulation of alcohol on the gastrointestinal tract, slows down blood flow, and prolongs the time alcohol stays in the blood, which can lead to drunkenness and harm to health.
3. Smoked and cured foods. Because they contain relatively high levels of nitrosamines and pigments, which react with alcohol, not only damaging the liver but also harming the oral, esophageal, and gastrointestinal mucosa, and can also induce cancer.
4. Barbecued foods. In the summer, many people love to gather with friends and relatives at roadside stalls, drinking and eating grilled skewers, which is a joyful time. However, eating barbecued foods as snacks while drinking is not good for your health.
During the barbecuing process, not only is the utilization rate of protein in the food reduced, but carcinogenic substances such as benzopyrene are also produced. Moreover, nucleic acids in meat, after being heated and decomposed, can produce gene-mutating substances that may also lead to cancer. When excessive drinking increases the lead content in the blood, the substances in barbecued food can combine with it, easily inducing digestive tract tumors. Furthermore, in the summer, the larger amount of alcohol consumed often increases the likelihood of inducing such diseases.
First, alcohol is an organic solvent that can dilate blood vessels in the digestive tract and dissolve the mucus proteins on the surface of the gastrointestinal mucosa, making it very easy for carcinogens to be absorbed by the body.
Second, alcohol can reduce the liver's detoxification function, promoting the action of carcinogens.
In addition, alcohol can also suppress the body's immune function, enhancing the activation of carcinogens. Therefore, it is best to drink in moderation.
The carcinogenicity of barbecued foods is related to the amount consumed. It is recommended to eat them no more than twice a week, and no more than 100 grams each time.