Food Traps: Don't Let Food "Kill" You
Early on, a traditional Chinese medicine physician commented on the "incompatible foods" in the movie, stating that the movie is exaggerated and that food incompatibility is not that severe. For instance, in the movie's context, the fourth set of dishes: fermented black bean catfish, leek and wood ear fungus, century egg and tofu, carrot and diced meat soup, and ophiopogon spinach pork liver soup are considered incompatible and can cause heartburn.
However, from a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, every medicinal ingredient has its own nature and flavor. Sweetness has a tonic effect, spiciness has a dispersing effect, sourness has an astringent effect, bitterness has a drying effect, and saltiness has a softening effect. A balanced approach of both eliminating and toning is also a therapeutic method in TCM. While some of these food combinations might clash and are not suitable to eat together, it is not true that they would have such significant side effects or become toxic.
A Collection of Food Incompatibilities
1. Spinach + Cheese: Spinach is rich in calcium, and the chemical components in cheese can affect the digestion and absorption of calcium.
2. Spinach + Lean Meat: Spinach contains copper, and lean meat contains zinc. Copper is an important substance for making red blood cells and is also necessary for calcium, iron, and fat metabolism. When consumed with foods high in zinc, the amount of copper released from such foods is significantly reduced.
3. Kelp + Pork Blood: Consuming them together can cause constipation.
4. Alkali + Congee: Rice, millet, and sorghum used for congee contain relatively high amounts of vitamins. Vitamin B1, B2, niacin, and vitamin C are stable in an acidic environment but are easily broken down in an alkaline one.
5. Fish + Tomatoes: Vitamin C in food can inhibit the release of copper.
6. Baijiu (Chinese liquor) + Beef: Consuming them together can easily lead to "heatiness" (上火). Beef is sweet and warm, replenishing qi and aiding fire, while baijiu is a very warming substance. The combination is like adding fuel to the fire, easily causing gum inflammation.
7. Mutton + Vinegar: Mutton is very hot in nature, functioning to replenish qi and tonify deficiency; vinegar contains protein, sugar, vitamins, acetic acid, and various organic acids. Its nature is sour and warm, used to reduce swelling and invigorate blood. It should be paired with cooling foods and is not suitable with mutton.
8. Soft-shelled Turtle + Eel + Crab: Pregnant women who consume this combination may affect the health of the fetus.
9. Soy Milk + Eggs: The mucoprotein in eggs can easily bind with trypsin in soy milk, creating a substance that cannot be absorbed by the human body, significantly reducing the body's absorption of nutrients.
10. Carrot + White Radish: Carrots contain ascorbic acid oxidase, which can destroy the vitamin C in white radish, greatly reducing the nutritional value of both vegetables.
11. Fruit + Radish: Consuming them together can easily lead to goiter.
12. Potato + Sparrow: Consuming them together can easily lead to freckles on the face.
13. Soft-shelled Turtle Meat + Eggs: The nature is salty and neutral. It is contraindicated for pregnant women and those with postpartum constipation.
14. Beef + Brown Sugar: Consuming them together can cause bloating.
15. Spinach + Soybeans: Vitamin C in food can inhibit the release of copper.
16. River Snail + Beef: It is not easily digested and can cause bloating.
17. Goose + Pear: It can harm the kidneys.
18. Ginseng + Radish: It is not easily digested and can cause abdominal gas.
19. Milk + Cauliflower: Milk is rich in calcium, and the chemical components in cauliflower can affect the digestion and absorption of calcium.
20. Cuttlefish + Eggplant: Consuming them together can easily cause cholera.
21. Dried Mustard Greens + Mutton: Consuming them together can cause chest tightness.
22. Dog Meat + Ginger: Consuming them together can cause abdominal pain.
23. Horse Meat + Wood Ear Fungus: Consuming them together can easily cause cholera.
24. Grapes + Camel Meat: Consuming them together can cause a "heat disease".
25. Milk + Chives: Milk contains calcium, which is the main component of bones and teeth. When milk is consumed with chives, which are high in oxalic acid,