Your Constitution Determines Which Fruits You Should Eat
Summer is a high-yield season for many fruits, making it the most fortunate time for fruit lovers. However, just like people, fruits have their own properties. Fruits are classified as cold, hot, warm, or cool, while human constitutions are categorized as cold, hot, deficient, or excess. Therefore, when eating fruit, it is crucial to identify which type of fruit is suitable for your own constitution.
Constitution
Understand Your Constitution to Eat the Right Fruits
People with a "Cold Constitution" have reduced heat-producing energy, leading to increased parasympathetic nervous system activity and a lower metabolic rate. Due to decreased internal heat production, their hands and feet are often cold, their complexion is paler than average, and they prefer hot drinks. Even on a hot summer day, they feel uncomfortable in air-conditioned rooms and need a cup of hot tea or an extra layer of clothing to feel comfortable.
People with a "Hot Constitution" have increased heat-producing energy, leading to more excitement of the sympathetic nervous system. They often feel warm, have a flushed complexion, and are prone to thirst and a dry tongue, preferring cold drinks.
A "Deficient Constitution" results from a decline in vital energy, leading to listlessness, palpitations, and shortness of breath.
An "Excess Constitution" is prone to symptoms such as fever, abdominal bloating, irritability, and constipation.
Furthermore, a person's constitution can be a complex mix of cold, hot, deficient, and excess. Fruits also have their own cold and hot properties. Different fruits are suitable for different constitutions, so it's best to choose fruits that are appropriate for you.
The Relationship Between Fruit Properties and Constitution
When it comes to food properties, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) speaks of the "Four Natures." This refers to the effects food has on the body—producing "cold, hot, warm, or cool" reactions. If a food is neither warm nor hot, nor cold nor cool, it is classified as "neutral." Therefore, each fruit has its own "personality" when it enters the body. TCM emphasizes balance and harmony between yin and yang. People with a heat-dominant constitution should eat more cooling foods, while those with a cold-dominant constitution should naturally eat more warming foods. The same principle applies to eating fruits.
At the same time, geography and climate also affect physiology and diet. For example, in subtropical regions, the intense midsummer heat can cause headaches, body heat, thirst, and irritability due to the influence of both sky and earth heat. To achieve balance, it is best to choose more cooling foods.
In TCM, "hot" fruits refer to those with high caloric density and high sugar content. After eating these, the liver's glucose phosphorylation reaction accelerates, glycogen synthesis increases, the ratio of insulin to blood sugar-raising hormones rises, and fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis increases. The liver becomes filled with fats and sugars waiting to be transported, which can easily lead to "internal heat," making the body's energy more "hot." Fruits with low caloric density, rich in fiber, but low in fat and sugar are considered "cooling." Eating too many of these can lead to decreased energy and physical strength, as well as increased coldness and weakness. People with adequate nutrition can generally eat any type of fruit in moderation without significant issues. However, if your health is not ideal, for instance, if you have a deficient or cold constitution with insufficient internal heat, eating cooling fruits can cause discomfort.
Which Fruits Are Right for You?
People with poor digestion should choose "milder" fruits that are not too sweet or too sour.
Those with a deficient and cold constitution, chronic enteritis, duodenal ulcers, or "stomach cold"—such as patients with gastritis or gastric ulcers—should avoid cooling foods like watermelon and muskmelon.
Watery fruits, due to their high water content, can dilute stomach acid and cause indigestion, abdominal pain, and diarrhea if eaten in large quantities.
People with "summer heat fatigue" should eat more bananas. Every summer, some people experience limb fatigue, loss of appetite, decreased heat tolerance, and are prone to heatstroke—a condition commonly known as "summer heat fatigue." Medical research indicates that this condition is related to potassium deficiency. The hot summer climate causes excessive sweating, leading to a loss of potassium. Combined with insufficient absorption, this can result in low blood potassium. Therefore, people should pay attention to supplementing their diet with potassium-rich foods like bananas and watermelon during the summer.
Excessive consumption of lychees and longans can easily lead to "internal heat" and dryness.
Pears have multiple benefits, including resolving phlegm, stopping coughs, clearing the heart and moistening the lungs, detoxifying, promoting urination, expelling wind-heat, relieving vexation and thirst, and clearing heat and reducing fire. They are considered a superior remedy for coughing with phlegm, asthma, sore throat, a dry cough from yin deficiency, and hemoptysis caused by heat.
Although mangoes are delicious, some people cannot eat them because they experience allergies and itchy skin. Doctors point out that mango skin contains histamine, which can easily cause allergic reactions. Theoretically, mangoes are considered a "trigger food," which can induce or worsen illnesses in people with infectious diseases, skin conditions, or inflammatory symptoms. However, classified by their flesh, mangoes are cooling in nature and have effects such as promoting fluid production to quench thirst, benefiting the stomach to stop vomiting, and promoting urination to stop coughing. For people prone to motion sickness, mangoes can alleviate discomfort.