Chinese medicine attaches great importance to food hygiene. According to Zhou Li, there was a "food doctor" in the Zhou Dynasty who was in charge of food hygiene and nutrition. Confucius also pointed out in The Analects of Confucius, The Rural Party, that "food never tires of essence, food never tires of essence", "Fish is hungry and meat fails, food is not bad, food is not bad", "preserved wine is not eaten in the market, and ginger is not taken away, not much. Zhang Zhongjing, a physician in the Han Dynasty, also pointed out in the synopsis of the golden chamber: "All kinds of meat and fish can't be eaten unless dogs eat them or birds peck them." "Those who have vermicelli in the meat are inedible", "Dirty rice, lazy meat and smelly fish are harmful to people", "Six animals are inedible because they are poisoned by epidemic death" and so on. All of the above shows that ancient health experts have realized the truth that "diseases enter from the mouth" and emphasized the importance of clean diet to human health.

In addition, the "knowledge of eating" emphasized by ancient health experts also belongs to the category of food hygiene. For example, "A Thousand Daughters Must Be Prescribed" said: "Chew when eating, …… people should worry when eating", and said: "Rinse your mouth several times after meals to make your teeth invincible"; When eating, you should hesitate to walk ... when you are full, lying down is sick. "Shoushibaoyuan" also said: "If you are full, you should not rush, climb high and take risks, be excited by fear of anger, and hurt your viscera ... If you don't want to be extremely hungry, you should not eat too much; Don't drink too much if you don't want to be extremely thirsty. Eating too much will accumulate, and drinking too much will turn into phlegm. "

Modern medicine believes that chewing is a link to help digestion. Chewing slowly while eating can make a lot of saliva secreted. Starch acid in saliva can help food digestion, bacteriolytic acid and some secretory antibodies can help sterilization and detoxification. Saliva is fully mixed with food in the mouth, and grinding food by chewing can reduce the burden on the stomach and promote its digestion and absorption.

A quiet and happy mood is conducive to the digestion of the stomach. Maintaining this mental state before and after eating is of great significance to health care. This is the so-called "people have to worry about eating." Good mood and quiet environment, as a benign stimulus, can regulate the digestion and absorption function of human body through the central nervous system. As for the excessive mood fluctuation before and after eating, it will affect appetite and secretion of digestive juice, and stomach problems will appear for a long time.

Gargling after meals is a good hygienic habit, which can clean the mouth, remove food residues and effectively prevent dental caries and tartar.

Go slow, don't "eat and lie down". Chewing slowly after a meal is beneficial to the digestion of food, while lying down after a meal will make the diet stagnate. In addition, jumping, riding, climbing and other activities are not suitable after meals, which will damage health and cause gastrointestinal diseases.

Seasonal diet

Four seasons diet, that is, adapt to the changes of the four seasons in nature and adjust your diet appropriately. This view of four-season diet regulation is based on the overall concept of TCM health preservation. Diet is an aspect of the human body's contact with the outside world, so it should also adapt to the changes of natural climate in four seasons. And make corresponding adjustments.

Qiu Chuji's "On the News of Health Preservation" discusses the way of health preservation in four seasons. He said, "In spring, the taste of food should be reduced to sour and sweet to nourish temper", "In summer, the taste of food should be reduced to bitter and pungent to nourish lungs", "In autumn, the taste of food should be reduced to sour to nourish liver qi" and so on.

In March of spring, the human liver qi is full, and the diet should be sour and sweet to avoid excessive liver qi, especially those with hyperactivity of liver yang, which is most likely to recur in spring. Therefore, in addition to paying attention to diet regulation, it is best to prevent it with drugs and nourish your temper with sweets.

In Xia San, the climate is hot and the digestive function of human body declines. It is advisable to eat light and digestible food, especially nutritious vegetables and fruits. Sweating is more in summer, and body fluid is relatively insufficient. Drink cold drinks such as "mung bean soup" in moderation to replenish water, clear heat and relieve summer heat. But cold drinks should not be overdone, otherwise it will be harmful. As Qiu Chuji's "On the Message of Taking Life" said: "In summer, the heart is full and the kidney fails. Although it is hot, it is not suitable for eating cold food, ice and snow, honey ice, bean jelly and cold porridge. When you are full and cold, cholera will definitely happen. "

People in China have had the habit of drinking tea to cool off the heat since ancient times. Shennong's Herbal Classic said: "Tea tastes bitter, and drinking it makes people think good, less abortion, intellectual health and eyesight." Pu Fuzhou, a famous doctor in modern times, also thinks: "Tea is slightly sweet and slightly cold, but it is fragrant and pungent. Clearing heat does not hurt Yang, and pungent does not hurt Yin. The fragrance is slightly sweet and has the miraculous effect of waking the stomach and pleasing the spleen. " Modern research has proved that tea contains not only crude fiber, colloid and chlorophyll, but also alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, vitamins, ergosterol and volatile oil, as well as a small amount of nicotinic acid, thiamine, folic acid, protein and minerals. Drinking tea can refresh the mind, relieve fatigue and enhance memory. So drinking tea in summer is better than cold drinks.

However, drinking tea should also be moderate. Too much water and tea containing too much tannic acid will dilute gastric juice or shrink the mucosa of digestive tract, which will affect appetite, digestion and absorption.

Autumn and March are the frequent seasons of gastrointestinal diseases. At this time, special attention should be paid to food hygiene to prevent "illness from entering the mouth". In addition, after beginning of autumn, one should not be greedy for cold and drink cold, so as not to damage the spleen and stomach.

In winter and March, yin flourishes and yang declines, which is a good opportunity for people with physical weakness to make up for it. The key to winter tonic is food supplement, that is, the nature of food is used to supplement the deficiency of the body and correct the deviation of yin and yang. There are many tonic products, which can be used according to people's situation. People with qi deficiency, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, laziness, dizziness, hyperhidrosis and polyuria, can use ginseng stewed chicken soup; Blood deficiency, manifested as sallow complexion, dizziness and numbness of hands and feet, can eat red dates, longan, animal blood and liver; People with yin deficiency can eat round fish, soft-shelled turtles and mussels; People with yang deficiency can eat beef, mutton and dog meat with the same temperature to make up for deficiency and warm the body with blood.