What to do if you have indigestion after eating and drinking a lot during the Chinese New Year? Come and learn some tips on how to digest food!

This is the 4200th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

"The year is over with the sound of firecrackers, and the spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu." It's the Spring Festival again. What delicious food have you eaten? Dumplings, rice cakes, pickled fish, braised pork, four-happiness meatballs... "Every festival makes you gain three pounds" is not an exaggeration. There are so many delicious foods during the Chinese New Year. In addition to the big fish and meat for three meals a day, family members will chat and eat snacks when they sit together. Unconsciously, they eat too much. Everyone may have experienced food accumulation and abdominal distension. As the old saying goes, "food accumulation leads to a hundred diseases." Once food accumulation is formed, it will cause a series of adverse effects on the gastrointestinal system. Not only will the stomach swell, the tongue coating will become thick, there will be bad breath when chatting with people, and it will be difficult to sleep at night. What should I do if I have food accumulation? Don't worry, I will first introduce to you some tips for digestion that are both medicinal and edible!

01

hawthorn

Hawthorn is not only a fruit, but also the most commonly used Chinese medicine for digestion. It has a certain effect on various food accumulations, especially for meat stagnation caused by eating too much fish and meat, because it contains lipase, which is best at digesting fatty foods. So a few hawthorn fruits or a string of sweet and sour candied haws after a meal are excellent. But it should be noted that hawthorn has a lot of acidic components and it is easy to stimulate gastric acid secretion. Therefore, people who have excessive gastric acid secretion and often feel heartburn should not eat hawthorn, otherwise it will aggravate stomach discomfort. Pineapple also contains lipase, so eating pineapple can also help digestion to a certain extent. It is also necessary to remind all friends that although hawthorn and pineapple are common fruits, it is not recommended to eat them on an empty stomach.

02

radish

As the saying goes, "Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer, and you won't need a doctor to prescribe medicine." Radish, also known as radish, is also a commonly used vegetable and medicinal product. It has the effects of helping digestion and relieving gas, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, clearing away heat and promoting diuresis. Therefore, radish is an ideal choice for people with food accumulation, qi stagnation, abdominal distension, and heat. It can be eaten raw to help digestion and relieve gas, and promote gastrointestinal motility. If you can't stand the spicy taste of raw radish, you can cook it and drink the soup. It should be reminded that the radish for digestion comes from the white radish and green radish of the Cruciferae family, while the "carrot" from the Umbelliferae family, although also called radish, has completely different effects and tends to nourish the liver and improve eyesight.

03

Tangerine peel

Everyone should be familiar with it. It is the dried and mature peel of oranges. It has the effects of regulating qi and strengthening the spleen, drying dampness and resolving phlegm. It can enhance the transportation and transformation function of the spleen and stomach, and can improve abdominal distension, loss of appetite, indigestion, loose or sticky stools. After a full meal, a cup of tangerine peel tea can not only help digestion and regulate qi, but also relieve greasiness. You can also add an appropriate amount of tangerine peel when making meat to aid digestion. Winter is the season for eating oranges, and many families also have the habit of keeping tangerine peels for backup, but it should be noted that fresh tangerine peels are not suitable for making tangerine peels. The "Chen" in tangerine peel means "the older the better", which means that the tangerine peel can be used as medicine only after it has been placed for a period of time (that is, aged, generally more than one year). In addition, the peel from the tea-branch orange in Xinhui, Guangdong, is the famous Xinhui tangerine peel. The medicinal properties of Xinhui tangerine peel aged for more than three years are even better.

If the food stagnation is serious, you can choose Chinese patent medicine to help. Commonly used ones include Da Shanzhao Pills, Baohe Pills, Jianpi Pills, Jianwei Xiaoshi Tablets, etc. Da Shanzhao Pills can be used for general food stagnation. If the food stagnation is serious and there is a tendency to heat such as burping, foul smell, and bad breath, you can take Baohe Pills. If the spleen and stomach are weak and food stagnation occurs, Jianpi Pills and Jianwei Xiaoshi Tablets, which can both digest food and strengthen the spleen, are more suitable.

Although there are some tips for digestion, we still need to eat in moderation for the sake of our spleen and stomach health! "The Jade Rabbit is coming, and blessings are everywhere." Finally, I wish you all a happy New Year, good fortune and everything goes well!

Author: Chinese Medicine of Naval Medical University

Eight-year program (PhD program) Li Xianglin, Class of 2018

Reviewer: Zhang Huiqing, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Naval Medical University