Sweet, sour, spicy and salty, delicious is not necessarily healthy.
In life, our family, friends, colleagues and so on often say that Zhang likes spicy food, Zhang Er likes sweet food, Zhang San likes sour food, and so on. So what is the relationship between taste preference and balanced health of human body? The thought of five elements in traditional Chinese medicine gives a systematic explanation. People who often love salty food can easily lead to poor blood flow; People who often love to suffer hardships often have loose skin and higher body hair than wormwood; People who often eat spicy food have developed bones and muscles, but their claws and claws are relatively dry; People who love to eat acid have hard skin, many wrinkles and severe contraction; People who love sweets generally lose their hair and have bone problems. This is the discussion of the relationship between five flavors and body in traditional Chinese medicine.
Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty are the five basic tastes of food, which are perceived by human tongue. Chinese medicine believes that for health, all kinds of food should be eaten in a balanced way. We may have the habit of partial eclipse in our life, but we should know that it may be the smell you hate that is the nutrition you lack in health care, and balanced nutrition is the basis of health care. As can be seen from the five elements health table, bitter nourishes the heart, sour nourishes the liver, sweet nourishes the spleen, spicy nourishes the lung and salty nourishes the kidney. Sweetness: Sugar is the main source of human body heat. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that sweet taste into the spleen and eating sweets have the functions of invigorating qi and blood, supplementing calories, relieving muscle fatigue, regulating spleen and stomach, relieving pain and detoxifying. However, excessive consumption of sweet and greasy products will lead to blood stasis and qi stagnation, which will not only increase blood sugar and cholesterol, but also cause calcium deficiency and vitamin B 1 deficiency. Patients with diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases should eat less. Acid: produced by organic acids, such as acetic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, etc. Chinese medicine believes that sour taste enters the liver. Eating sour food properly can promote appetite, strengthen spleen and appetite, enhance liver function and improve the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Acetic acid also has the function of disinfection. But excessive consumption will cause gastrointestinal spasm and digestive dysfunction, and people with spleen and stomach diseases should eat less.
Sour food can enhance digestive function and protect the liver. Eating regularly can not only help digestion and kill bacteria in gastrointestinal tract, but also prevent colds, lower blood pressure and soften blood vessels. Tomatoes, hawthorn and oranges, which are mainly sour, are rich in vitamin C, which can prevent cancer, anti-aging and prevent arteriosclerosis. Bitterness: As the old saying goes, good medicine tastes bitter, and bitterness is produced by organic alkali or inorganic alkali ions. Foods such as tea, coffee and cocoa are bitter because they contain theophylline and caffeine. Chinese medicine believes that "bitterness is born in the heart" and "bitterness enters the heart". Bitter taste has the functions of eliminating dampness, clearing away heat and toxic materials, purging fire, relaxing bowels, diuresis and invigorating stomach. Eating bitter gourd as usual can treat edema. But eating too much will lead to diarrhea and indigestion. Spicy: composed of capsaicin. Chinese medicine believes that spicy food can disperse, promote qi and promote blood circulation when it enters the lungs. Spicy food can stimulate gastrointestinal peristalsis, increase the secretion of digestive juice, promote blood circulation and metabolism of the body, dispel wind and cold, relieve exterior syndrome and relieve pain. People often eat onions, garlic, ginger, peppers and prickly ash, mainly spicy food. The "spicy element" contained in these foods can not only protect blood vessels, but also regulate qi and blood and dredge meridians. Regular consumption can prevent colds and colds. However, overeating will stimulate the gastric mucosa and lead to excessive lung qi. Therefore, patients with hemorrhoids, anal fissure, digestive tract ulcer, constipation and neurasthenia should not eat. Salty: As the crown of five flavors, I can never get tired of eating. Salt is composed of sodium chloride and other ingredients. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "salty entering the kidney" can soften and moisten the body, and has the function of regulating the penetration of human cells and blood and maintaining normal metabolism. After vomiting, diarrhea and sweating, you should drink a proper amount of light salt water to maintain normal metabolism. It is enough for adults to eat about six grams a day. Too much can cause high blood pressure.
But modern people are not very particular about the adjustment of the five flavors. They eat according to their own tastes and choose according to their favorite tastes. But Confucius said, if you go too far, for example, nourishing the liver with acid will hurt the liver. Shanxi people like to drink vinegar, which is harmful to the liver. So there are more people suffering from liver disease in Shanxi. For another example, spicy food nourishes the lungs, but eating too much spicy food will hurt the lungs, and the lungs and the large intestine are inseparable. Therefore, Sichuanese who eat too much spicy food will suffer from lung disease and colon cancer. Therefore, it is best to have a balanced nutrition and try not to be partial to a certain taste. Chinese medicine believes that any taste that exceeds a certain limit will cause problems.
Excessive sour taste: Sour taste supplements the liver, but excessive sour taste will hurt the liver, resulting in excessive liver qi, which will lead to digestive dysfunction of the spleen and stomach. Too salty taste: too salty taste nourishes the kidney, and too salty taste hurts the kidney and damages the bone (the kidney governs the bone and produces marrow). Excessive kidney qi will lead to the suppression of heart qi (fire and water), causing palpitation and shortness of breath. Taste too sweet: taste too sweet to strengthen the spleen, but it will hurt the spleen, cause abdominal distension and discomfort, and cut the kidney water (soil water), which looks dull. Too bitter: Bitter taste fills the heart, but too bitter will lead to cardiopulmonary dysfunction (fire and gold). Too spicy taste: spicy taste can tonify the lung, but it can hurt the lung, leading to the stagnation of tendons and veins (Jin Kemu, liver belongs to wood, liver governs ribs), and because the lung governs qi, hurting qi can lead to mental weakness.
Avoid the taste
Eat more sour food. There are many sour foods, such as vinegar, yogurt and hawthorn, apples, bayberry, oranges, oranges and so on. In the fruit. Tomatoes in vegetables are also sour. Sour food is generally rich in vitamin C and other ingredients, which can promote appetite, strengthen spleen and stimulate appetite, protect liver, detoxify, sterilize and fight cancer, and improve the absorption rate of calcium and phosphorus. In addition, sour foods such as hawthorn also have antioxidant function, softening blood vessels, regulating blood lipids and protecting cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. Therefore, for most people, it is beneficial to be jealous, yogurt, apples, hawthorn, tomatoes and other acidic foods. However, it should be noted that patients with gastrointestinal dysfunction and acid reflux should not eat more sour food, so as not to aggravate the condition. Eat more bitter foods Bitter foods mainly include bitter gourd, kudingcha, green tea and coffee. Generally speaking, bitterness has the functions of drying dampness, diuresis and benefiting stomach. For example, bitter gourd is rich in interferon, which can lower blood sugar and improve the immune function of the body; Green tea and kudingcha have the effects of lowering blood pressure, reducing blood fat, inducing diuresis, clearing heart fire and relieving summer heat, and are healthy drinks for patients with hypertension and most people in summer. Coffee, on the other hand, is a good product to refresh the mind, which has the functions of antioxidation, softening blood vessels and anti-aging. In particular, Sophora flavescens, a traditional Chinese medicine, has many functions, such as reducing blood fat, anti-arrhythmia, anti-fibrosis and so on. Is a good health care product for patients with cardiovascular diseases. Less salt is the originator of all tastes. The main component of salt is sodium chloride, which can regulate the osmotic balance between cells and blood and normal water and salt metabolism, and can prevent the deficiency of trace elements such as sodium and potassium and the imbalance of water and salt metabolism. However, if there is too much salt, it will increase the burden on the kidneys and induce and aggravate diseases such as hypertension. In the past, in China, the consumption of salt was high, generally above 10g, which was an important reason for the sharp increase of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. In addition, some people like to eat all kinds of salty foods, such as bacon, salted fish and pickles. These foods often contain a lot of nitrite, which is an important cause of cancer. Therefore, everyone should eat less salt and pickled food, especially patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as hypertension and coronary heart disease, and should eat less salt, preferably below 5 grams per day, so as not to aggravate the condition. Eat less sugar. The main component of sweetness is sugar, which is the main source of calories. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that sweet taste into the spleen has the functions of nourishing qi and blood, harmonizing middle energizer and supplementing heat energy. However, if you eat too much sugar and sweet food for a long time, it will be unhealthy. Too much sugar in children is easy to cause obesity and dental caries; If middle-aged and elderly people eat too many sweets, it will affect their appetite, lead to the increase of blood sugar and cholesterol, easily make people fat, induce cardiovascular diseases, and lead to the lack of calcium and vitamin B 1 in the body. Therefore, people with diabetes, obesity and other diseases should stay away from sweets. Spicy foods with suitable spicy taste mainly include pepper, onion, ginger, garlic and so on. Studies have shown that moderate consumption of spicy food has the functions of dispersing stagnation, promoting qi and blood circulation, stimulating gastrointestinal peristalsis, increasing digestive juice secretion, promoting blood circulation and body metabolism, and expelling wind and cold. Especially ginger, garlic, onion and so on. , a natural antioxidant, has the functions of regulating blood lipid, softening blood vessels, assisting in lowering blood pressure and resisting oxidation, and a small amount of edible pepper also has the function of preventing cancer. However, it should also be noted that eating too much pepper will not only stimulate and damage the gastrointestinal mucosa, but also easily lead to excessive congestion of some organs. Therefore, patients with gastritis, gastric ulcer, hemorrhoids, anal fissure, prostatitis, prostatic hypertrophy, constipation, neurasthenia, skin diseases and other gastrointestinal diseases should not eat too much pepper. Wine is also a spicy food, but drinking a small amount (wine is better) is good for heart disease, while drinking too much is harmful, especially for people with hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal diseases. Saliva is a good medicine.
Saliva is the liquid secreted by taste buds on the tongue when people taste food. Chinese medicine believes that saliva is a good medicine in the mouth, and swallowing saliva often is good for health.
The three secretory glands in human oral cavity, namely parotid gland, sublingual gland and submandibular gland, secrete saliva, which has the functions of cleaning oral cavity, infiltrating food, assisting digestion and sterilization. The ancients called saliva "Yuquan", "Qiongjiang" and "Golden Chamber and Jade Liquid", and thought that saliva was transformed from kidney essence and could nourish kidney essence if swallowed.
In ancient China, there was a health care scientist who touched the upper jaw with his tongue, filled his mouth with saliva and swallowed it to nourish kidney essence, which was called "drinking jade slurry". Modern research has also confirmed that saliva contains digestive enzymes, anti-tumor and anti-aging substances, so keeping saliva exuberant and swallowing it from time to time can clean the mouth, promote digestion and prolong life. Saliva health care methods are: sit up and close your eyes, keep your mind calm, put the tip of your tongue against the palate, focus on your mouth, let saliva fill your mouth slowly, and then swallow it slowly, * * * 10 times.
Healthy tongue coating
In ancient Chinese medicine, the most important thing is to observe human tongue coating to see health. Get up in the morning and stick out your tongue in the mirror. Observe your tongue quality and tongue coating. You can often see yellow, thick, white and red ... Tongue coating can reflect the information of human internal organs and physical diseases. Paying more attention at ordinary times can play an early role in preventing and treating diseases. Tongue substance is the muscle and vein tissue of the tongue, that is, the tongue body. Tongue coating is a thin layer of white coating attached to the surface of tongue. A normal tongue picture should be soft, free to move, reddish in color and covered with a thin layer of white fur with uniform particles and moderate humidity. If the tongue coating is not red, there may be health problems.
When a healthy person looks in the mirror, his tongue should be soft and red, covered with a thin, evenly textured, moderately dry and moist white tongue coating. This is the so-called "red tongue, thin white tongue coating". However, after the illness, the tongue quality and tongue coating will change differently. Therefore, observing the tongue picture regularly can help us understand our own health status and carry out self-care and conditioning in time.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "the tongue is the seedling of the heart" and "the fur is the root of stomach qi", and the tongue body is connected with the meridians of the lungs, heart, liver, spleen and kidney. If there are lesions in human internal organs, they can be directly reflected on the tongue.
Traditional Chinese medicine divides the tongue into three parts: the tip of the tongue reflects the changes of the heart and lungs, the middle and side of the tongue reflect the situation of the liver and spleen, and the root of the tongue represents the pathological changes of the kidney.
Normal people's fur is thin and white.
Tongue coating is too white: mostly cold syndrome, thin and slippery mostly due to exogenous wind-cold, thick and white and slippery mostly due to cold dampness or cold phlegm.
Yellowing of tongue coating: it is generally more common in the process of heat-induced diseases, indicating that the struggle between evil and righteousness is very fierce, and the disease enters the stomach meridian and the evil turns to heat.
Blackness of tongue coating: mainly caused by hyperplasia of filiform papillae of tongue. There are different shades such as brown black, gray black, burnt black and dark color. Chinese medicine believes that patients with this kind of moss must have a long illness period and their condition is more complicated and serious.
The tongue coating is gray or greasy, thin and slippery: it is mostly internal cold, with signs of physical weakness and fever, or indigestion after a long illness.
Tongue is purple to blue: typhoid yang syndrome, lubrication without coating.
The tongue coating is brown: intestinal obstruction.
Mirror tongue: that is, the tongue is not coated and smooth as a mirror. In this case, people with mild malnutrition or lack of iron or vitamin B2; In severe cases, it means that the body fluid is insufficient and the condition is serious; If the mirror tongue of a patient with a long illness is crimson, it is necessary to prevent sepsis; If the tongue of the elderly is as smooth as a mirror, the two veins at the base of the tongue are thickened and elongated: there may be cor pulmonale.
Tongue coating is worn out: that is, there is a small blank in the middle of the tongue coating, and the tongue coating has fallen off, which often indicates the lack of nutrition in the body.
Cow tongue: that is, the tongue is dark red and the tongue coating peels off like beef. Cow tongue is common in patients with pernicious anemia.
Spikes on the tongue: refers to many red spikes on the tongue surface, like the fruit of grass mold. Puncture holes appear on the tip of the tongue or on the edge of the tongue, indicating that it is full of heat, which can be seen in patients with various infectious diseases or large-area burns; Puncture in the tongue is mostly due to more toxic heat or heat entering the blood, which is easy to shock and coma. People who suffer from insomnia, constipation or high pressure at night, as well as vitamin deficiency, malnutrition and cerebral cortex dysfunction, will also have red thorns on their tongues.
Cracked tongue: Cracks on the tongue surface include deep cracks, shallow cracks and cracks and wrinkles in different directions. Shallow fissure of tongue surface is mainly due to atrophy of tongue mucosa, while deep fissure is a serious atrophic lesion of tongue.
Stiff tongue body: The tongue body is neither swollen nor atrophied, but it is tough and loses its usual softness and elasticity. Also known as "strong tongue". "Strong tongue" is common in some serious diseases, such as coma and convulsion.
When we observe the tongue picture by ourselves at home, we'd better take a picture in front of the mirror in natural light before eating in the morning. Stick out your tongue naturally and you can see the root of your tongue. Avoid drugs and food before seeing a doctor, and don't shave.