Don’t overeat when you are hungry, and don’t drink when you are thirsty! Keep these eight words in mind for daily health care

In the Annotations of Ancient and Modern Medical Records, there is a story: "Mr. Ye's name is Yi. He once studied with Mr. Baiyun Xu together with Danxi. His record of illness says, in the eighth month of the autumn of the year Guiyou, I had constipation and the pain made me refuse to eat or drink. Then I was too exhausted to get up, so I put a mat and a rice cake in the middle and let it go."

The story goes that in ancient times there was a scholar named Ye Yi, who was a classmate of Zhu Danxi, a famous medical scientist at the time. One year in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, he fell ill with dysentery, had abdominal cramps, and could not get out of bed. In the end, he had to dig a hole in the bed mat, put a toilet bucket underneath, and let the stool flow out. The medical records record that Zhu Danxi examined him and prescribed tonic medicines instead of the conventional heat-clearing and dampness-clearing medicines. As a result, the patient's symptoms became more and more serious, but Zhu Danxi was very persistent. His family thought Ye Yi was going to die. After more than ten days of tonic, Zhu Danxi gave him "Xiao Chengqi Decoction" to attack, and one patch cured his illness. Everyone was very surprised and asked the reason. Zhu Danxi said that it was because Ye Yi "usually talked a lot with others, and those who talk a lot have weak qi in the middle", and "he was always hungry and hurt by being full". These two sentences are too thorough. Every time I read this, I feel very emotional. This is a true portrayal of our real life.

Loss of hunger and injury from satiety. According to traditional Chinese medicine, those who talk too much will hurt their qi. This is what Zhu Danxi emphasized earlier: "Those who talk too much will have weak middle qi". The middle qi is the qi of the spleen and stomach. The weak middle qi will weaken the digestive function of the spleen and stomach.

In addition, with the fierce competition in society, many of us will develop a bad habit, that is, we always think about finishing the work at hand before eating, and we will be very hungry when we actually eat. This bad habit directly leads to a consequence, that is, we often eat faster and swallow the food without fully chewing it, which further increases the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. In the long run, it will induce acute and chronic gastritis, cholecystitis, gastric ulcer, and in severe cases, it will also lead to chronic dysentery and anemia. This is the "loss of hunger and injury by fullness" mentioned above. Our body really "cannot afford to be hurt".

Chew slowly and drink in small sips frequently. Having said that, you may be more concerned about how to avoid these conditions and stay healthy?

Specifically, try to avoid eating when you are too hungry. Even if you eat when you are hungry, you should chew slowly. It is best to drink some hot soup or warm porridge at the beginning of the meal, which will increase the feeling of fullness and allow the stomach to adapt. For a period of time, with the popularity of Korean dramas, Korean cuisine has been very popular in China. Among them, it is praised that Korean cuisine often has a porridge or sweet soup before the main course, which gives our hungry body a "buffer" so that everyone will not eat so fast. This practice is also worth learning from in our daily diet.

Eating is so particular, and drinking water is also important. There are actually some rules for when to drink water and how much to drink.

The best time to drink water is when you are not thirsty. Because when you feel dry mouth and tongue, in fact, the body's cells are already in a state of fatigue and dehydration. Drinking too much at this time will also hurt your body. Chinese medicine believes that when people drink water in the stomach, the essence and qi flow upward to the spleen, and the spleen disperses the essence and returns to the lungs. The metabolism of water is closely related to the lungs, spleen and stomach. If a large amount of liquid is taken in within a short period of time, the gastrointestinal tract will not have time to digest and absorb it, and the water will accumulate and eventually become retained fluid and phlegm, which will eventually damage the health of the human body and cause symptoms such as coughing and phlegm.

To avoid this situation, first of all, you should be careful not to wait until you are thirsty to drink water. The correct way is to drink in small sips frequently. Secondly, when you are really thirsty, you cannot drink all at once. As the saying goes, "Don't drink all at once when you are thirsty." Instead, you should take small sips first to allow the throat and gastrointestinal tract to adapt, and then drink slowly and continuously in small sips. It is best not to drink more than 300 ml of water at a time.

Physical health comes from the efforts and persistence in every little bit of life. We often hear people say "details determine success or failure", and this detail is "details in life". This "success or failure" does not only refer to the conditioning and treatment after illness, but more often refers to "prevention before illness". Daily health care is more important. Only by caring for ourselves can we better care for others. For our loved ones and ourselves, let us work together.

Source: China Traditional Chinese Medicine News

Author: Ren Hongli, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine