Chilled Foods: Refreshing but Harmful to the Stomach - A Guide to Summer Diet
Introduction: In the sweltering summer, people often eat refrigerated foods to cool down and escape the heat. However, while these chilled foods provide a refreshing experience, they can also trigger many gastrointestinal diseases. Therefore, one should not overindulge in cold foods during the summer. What are the things to pay attention to in a summer diet? How can one eat healthily? Let's find out in this article.
The summer heat often leads people to consume cold drinks and foods to cool down. Cold drinks have become a hallmark of the season. But while they offer a refreshing sensation, they can also irritate the gastrointestinal tract and throat, leading to a series of stomach and intestinal problems.
Chilled Foods: Refreshing but Be Wary of Stomach Damage
To beat the heat and quench thirst, most people enjoy eating light and refreshing chilled foods. Chilled items like mung bean soup and cold dishes often dominate the dinner table. However, overconsumption frequently leads to issues like stomach pain or diarrhea. For example, when a chilled watermelon is refrigerated for a long time, a layer can form on the surface of the flesh, altering its texture, and the water inside can easily form ice crystals. Eating it can irritate the throat or cause toothache. Furthermore, chilled watermelon can harm the spleen and stomach, leading to indigestion and loss of appetite. Therefore, it's best to eat watermelon as soon as you buy it. If the melon is still warm when you get it home, you might consider setting the refrigerator to a slightly higher temperature before chilling it, and the chilling time should be limited to about two hours.
If you don't control your intake and indulge in chilled foods whenever the weather gets hot, you may experience symptoms like stomach pain and diarrhea. This is a reminder to all, especially women, that even in the summer, cold foods and chilled items are not suitable for people with a "cold" spleen and stomach. All foods should be consumed in moderation. For instance, while mung beans are detoxifying, one should not eat excessive amounts of mung bean products, considering the stomach's capacity to handle them. This is especially important for those with a "cold" stomach condition.
When consuming popular canned cold foods, it's also important to avoid eating them on an empty stomach. If you experience stomach pain, you should stop eating them immediately. Moreover, people with a "cold" spleen and stomach are generally advised not to eat chilled foods.
Over-reliance on the Refrigerator Leads to Gastroenteritis
After the height of summer begins, in addition to unclean food causing gastrointestinal diseases, over-reliance on the refrigerator and an excessive fondness for cold foods are major enemies of gastrointestinal health. Many people are accustomed to treating the refrigerator as a "safe" for food, storing large quantities of food for long periods without cleaning it regularly. Little do they know that food stored in the refrigerator for too long...