How to protect your oral cavity when eating hot pot
The broth of hot pot is quite hot, and the high-temperature food will inevitably damage the oral mucosa, triggering oral ulcers and other oral diseases, and disrupting oral health.
In autumn and winter, the number of patients with oral diseases among hot pot lovers tends to increase. Oral diseases caused by eating hot pot are mainly related to the oral mucosa. Because the broth of hot pot is very hot, the high-temperature food will inevitably damage the oral mucosa, leading to oral ulcers and other oral diseases. Some people, two or three days after eating hot pot, often experience symptoms such as sore throat and swollen gums, a sore or bleeding tongue, oral herpes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and even gastrointestinal bleeding. Medical experts call this "hot pot syndrome."
If you put some effort into the food pairing for your hot pot, you can minimize the occurrence of these symptoms.
1. Add more vegetables. Hot pot ingredients not only include meat, fish, and animal offal, but also require a good amount of vegetables. Vegetables are rich in vitamins and chlorophyll, and their nature is generally cool. They can not only eliminate greasiness and supplement the body's vitamin deficiency but also have a cooling, detoxifying, and heat-clearing effect. However, the vegetables should not be boiled for too long to maintain this heat-clearing effect.
2. Add an appropriate amount of tofu. Tofu is a bean product containing gypsum. Adding an appropriate amount of tofu to the hot pot not only supplements the intake of various trace elements but also allows gypsum to exert its effects of clearing heat, eliminating fire, relieving restlessness, and quenching thirst.
3. Add some white lotus seeds. White lotus seeds are not only rich in a variety of nutrients but are also a good medicine for conditioning the body. Adding an appropriate amount of white lotus seeds to the hot pot helps to balance nutrition with a combination of meat and vegetables, which is beneficial to health. It's best not to remove the lotus plumule from the white lotus seeds, as it has the effect of clearing the heart and purging fire.
4. You can add some ginger. Ginger can be used for seasoning and to combat cold. You can add unpeeled ginger to the hot pot because the ginger skin is pungent and cool, which helps to disperse fire and remove heat.
5. The seasonings should be light. Seasonings like chili sauce are highly irritating to the stomach. Using lighter seasonings like soy sauce and sesame oil can avoid irritating the stomach and reduce "internal heat."
6. Eat more fruit after the meal. Generally, you can eat some fruit about 30 to 40 minutes after eating hot pot. Fruits are cool in nature and have a good heat-clearing effect. Eating one or two fruits after the meal can prevent "getting overheated."