The ancients said, “Disease comes from the mouth, trouble comes from the mouth.” ; “Three points of treatment, seven points of nourishment.” The ancient people said: “The disease comes from the mouth, the disaster comes from the mouth.
The term “taboo”, also known as food taboo, refers to the clinical Chinese medicine to pay attention to dietary taboos, in order to avoid affecting the effectiveness of treatment. The “taboo” is based on the development of “medicine and food in the same source”.
What is contraindication?
“Taboo”, also known as forbidden mouth, food taboo, food prohibition, etc., refers to paying attention to dietary taboos in Chinese medicine to avoid affecting the therapeutic effect.
The term “taboo” was developed on the basis of “the same source of medicine and food” and has a broad and narrow meaning. The narrow sense of taboo refers to the patient’s illness in the diet taboo, also known as “sickness taboo”. This is the most important concern of patients after the doctor’s prescription.
In addition to the taboo in the broad sense, it also includes avoiding or reducing certain foods due to age, physical condition, region and season, as well as avoiding certain “stimulating products” to avoid the recurrence of certain diseases.
The problem of avoidance does exist. Food and medicine are all biased, and people are also biased when they are sick or out of balance, so how can there be nothing to avoid?
“Avoidance of food” has been discussed by the ancients
The old master Zhang Zhongjing had already taught his students this in his Treatise on Typhoid Miscellaneous Diseases.
In “Discerning the pulse and evidence of sun disease and its treatment”, it is mentioned that after taking Gui Zhi Tang, one should “abstain from raw, cold, sticky, slippery, meat and noodles, five spices, wine and cheese, and foul smelling things”.
It is also mentioned in “Discerning the pulse and symptoms of yin and yang Yi-different post-laughing disease”: “The patient’s pulse has been resolved, but he is slightly annoyed at sunset, because he is newly ill, he is strong with the grain, and the spleen and stomach are still weak, so he cannot eliminate the grain, so he is slightly annoyed, and he will be cured if he loses the grain.
In “The Essentials of the Golden Horoscope”, there are two chapters on “contraindications and treatment of animals, fish and insects” and “contraindications and treatment of fruits, vegetables and grains”, clearly pointing out that “the taste of food, there are appropriate with the disease, there are harmful to the body, if it is appropriate to benefit the body, harm will become a disease, which leads to danger”, emphasizing the importance of avoiding food in the disease.
Simply put, avoidance of food and drink means that one should pay attention to dietary taboos in the treatment to avoid affecting the therapeutic effect, both in Chinese medicine and in Western medicine. Only the two types of medicine follow different theoretical systems, so the reasons are expressed differently.
Classification of foods to be avoided
Traditional Chinese medicine has always believed that “medicine and food have the same origin”, pointing out that food, like herbs, has five properties: “cold, cool, warm, hot and flat” and five tastes: “pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty”.
1. Spicy
Including chili, pepper, ginger, garlic, leek, pepper, green onion, mustard, alcohol, etc.
2. Cold and raw
Including watermelon, pears, persimmons, pineapples, bananas and other cold fruits; radish, cabbage, bitter melon, bamboo shoots, fava beans and other cold vegetables; popsicles, ice cream, frozen drinks or fruit and other frozen foods.
3. sweet and greasy category
Sweet includes white sugar, brown sugar, various kinds of candy, cakes, sweets and fruits containing more sugar such as lychee, longan and sugar cane; greasy includes lard, pork, beef, mutton, animal offal and fried and barbecued foods.
4. stimulating food category
Including eggs, shrimp, crab, goose meat, beef, pork, rooster meat, dog meat, bamboo shoots, mustard, cassava, pumpkin, leek, pepper, etc.
5. seafood
Including shrimp, crab, snails, shellfish, scallops, sea eels, squid, squid and other aquatic products.
Avoidance of food is only what you don’t eat when you are sick?
What we said above is a narrow sense of taboo, in fact, in addition to the sickness taboo, but also includes the physical, age, region and seasonal differences and avoid eating or eating certain foods, but also to avoid certain conditions and avoid taking certain “stimulating products” and so on.
1. Physique avoidance
First of all, let’s talk about those related to the body type. For healthy people, a comprehensive and reasonable diet is sufficient.
For those who have a solid constitution.
“The body with a surplus of evil, such as damp-heat, phlegm-damp and blood stasis, should not be supplemented with excessive nutrition, especially to reduce the intake of fat, eat more food rich in dietary fiber, and strengthen exercise to avoid the development of metabolic diseases.
People with weak constitution.
People with a deficient physique will be a little more avoid eating, at least according to the yin and yang and other aspects to make a judgment.
Such as Yang deficiency, avoid cold, cold food, should not eat too much cold melon and fruit dishes.
For those who are Yin deficient, avoid foods that are warm and dry and hurt Yin, such as onion, ginger, garlic, chili and other spicy stimulating foods.
The deficient person is good to supplement, but also pay attention to moderation, especially not eat more fatty, fried, dry, hard and other indigestible food, but to supplement in the sparse, light and rich in nutrients is appropriate.
2. age, gender taboo
And again with the age, gender-related.
Children and the elderly.
From the point of view of age characteristics, children “spleen often deficient” characteristics are obvious, the food eaten should adapt to its digestive function, eat uncomfortable or diarrhea, remember to stop eating.
The elderly, on the other hand, should eat warm, cooked and soft foods, moderate fats and sugars, eat more light and vegetarian foods, and avoid sticky, hard and cold foods as their internal organs are declining and their chemical sources are insufficient.
Women.
Women’s diet is especially important because they have special periods such as menstruation with fetus and childbirth.
During menstruation, if the body is healthy, as long as the diet is regular, but should be careful to eat cold things, so as to avoid excessive vasoconstriction caused by dysmenorrhea; and usually weak, should pay attention to take some warm food to nourish the blood after the period, such as dates, brown sugar, longan, etc., for cold food and spicy food should be avoided.
During pregnancy, attention should be paid to the diversity of food varieties, moderate meals, do not addicted to too salty, too sweet food, avoid tobacco, alcohol, spicy, greasy, stimulating food to reduce food to the gastrointestinal tract stimulation.
During the lactation period, pay attention to replenish the qi and blood to ensure the nutrition in breast milk.
3. seasons, regional taboos
There are also related to the seasons and regions.
The change of seasons will bring different degrees of impact on the human body. The theory of “Heavenly Harmony” in Chinese medicine suggests that we should adjust our diet at the right time according to the body’s response to the external climate.
Spring.
In spring, when the body’s yang energy is on the rise, the liver and gallbladder are vigorous, and the digestive function of the spleen and stomach is relatively weak, so the diet should be less acidic and more sweet to cultivate the spleen’s temper, and it is appropriate to eat more light vegetables and beans, and not oily and spicy to avoid internal fire and heat.
Summer.
Heat and dampness in summer make the spleen and stomach trapped and the digestive function diminished. The diet should be sweet and light, refreshing and avoid greasy, especially not to crave raw and cold fruits and vegetables.
Autumn.
Dryness tends to injure the lungs, so coughs are easy to develop. You should nourish Yin and moisten the lungs, eat more moist foods such as pears, sesame, honey, sugar cane and dairy products, eat less spicy food, and do not overindulge in spicy and warm tonic products.
Winter.
All things are sealed, cold evil is in full swing, for the weak, old people is a good time for tonic, can eat more warm food such as mutton, do not eat cold food.
Geographical factors also have an important impact on the human body.
People in the East, who eat fish and are salty, have more canker sores.
In the west, where the soil and water are strong, the people are prone to internal wind because of their “fatty food”.
In the North, with its cold and icy weather, eat a lot of milk and are prone to “full-blown illnesses due to cold in their organs”.
In the south, the people were “acidophilic and corrosive”, and the region was full of humidity, which made them prone to contractures and paralysis.
Although the situation at that time was different from now, it also suggests that we can supplement and adjust the diet accordingly to the lack of local substances and the prevalence of diseases, so as to reduce the factors of disease susceptibility.