Although winter is not as prone to causing diarrhea as summer, there are still many dietary precautions to be aware of. Let me tell you seven winter dietary taboos to help you eat healthier.
Eating sweet potatoes with black spots can cause poisoning.
Sweet potatoes with brown or black spots on their skin are contaminated by black spot bacteria. The toxins excreted by this bacteria contain ipomeamarone and ipomeamarol, which make the sweet potato hard and bitter, and are highly toxic to the human liver. These toxins cannot be destroyed by boiling, steaming, or roasting, so eating raw or cooked sweet potatoes with black spots can cause poisoning.
In winter, a warm glass of milk is good for the stomach and promotes good sleep. When it comes to milk, chocolate is often mentioned, but drinking milk and eating chocolate at the same time is not scientific. Milk is rich in calcium and protein, while chocolate contains oxalic acid. When consumed together, the calcium in the milk easily combines with the oxalic acid in the chocolate to form an insoluble precipitate—calcium oxalate. The body cannot absorb this, and over time, it can lead to symptoms such as dry hair, diarrhea, calcium deficiency, and delayed growth and development. Therefore, the time for drinking milk and eating chocolate should be separated.
Hot pot is one of the most beloved foods in winter, but there are many dietary taboos associated with it. Slight carelessness can easily lead to gastrointestinal discomfort or even poisoning. First, when eating instant-boiled lamb, it is not advisable to simply focus on the meat being "tender." Many people think that lamb slices cooked to seven or eight parts are more flavorful, but this can easily lead to trichinosis. Second, the time for eating a charcoal hot pot should not be too long. Because when eating hot pot, there are often many people in a small room, the indoor temperature is high, and the air is not circulating, leading to a lack of oxygen. If the charcoal does not burn completely, it will produce a large amount of carbon monoxide, which can easily cause poisoning.
Oranges are a fruit with high caloric content. Eating too many at once, whether for adults or children, can lead to "heatiness," causing symptoms such as a dry mouth, sore throat, and swollen throat. Therefore, oranges should not be eaten in excess. If you are already experiencing "heatiness," you can use 50 grams of washed and chopped kelp, decocted in water to make a tea, which can "reduce the heatiness."
Under-pickled sauerkraut contains a large amount of nitrite. Once it enters the human bloodstream, it oxidizes normal low-iron hemoglobin into high-iron hemoglobin, causing red blood cells to lose their oxygen-carrying function. This leads to systemic hypoxia, with symptoms such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, fatigue, and listlessness. In addition, nitrosamine compounds are carcinogenic.
Dishes cooked in a clay pot, due to the long heating time, lead to the degradation of protein in animal ingredients, weakening the water's ability to dissolve it, and a large amount of gelatinous liquid is excreted, increasing its toughness and resulting in a poor texture, which is not good for human digestion and absorption. Moreover, the mineral and vitamin loss rate in ingredients cooked in a clay pot is high. Additionally, due to the tight seal, odor substances in the ingredients are difficult to escape. Some valeric acid and low-fat compounds remain in the ingredients and broth, and through thermal reactions, they can produce substances harmful to the human body.