Strictly follow the principle of "moderation" when eating meat

The five domestic animals in "Five domestic animals are beneficial" include sheep, chickens, cattle, horses, and pigs. "Many people misunderstand the meaning of 'five domestic animals are beneficial' as eating more meat is good for the body." Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Xu Wenbing explained that in fact, the word "benefit" here is a homophone, which means the same as "overflow", and it can be said to be a double entendre here. This means that eating meat properly can further enrich the body's nutritional status, playing a role of icing on the cake and replenishing. However, excessive intake will lead to overflowing, which will burden the body. Therefore, eating meat should be moderate, and it is neither recommended not to eat it nor excessive.

Children should not eat too much chicken

Chicken has always been a popular food. According to Chinese medicine, chicken enters the liver meridian and has the effect of nourishing liver blood and replenishing deficiency. It is suitable for people with weak liver qi and the elderly. Since chicken is a hot food and belongs to the element of fire, it is particularly easy to cause liver fire. Therefore, people with strong liver fire and children with strong yang energy should not eat too much.

Xu Wenbing pointed out that some common diseases among children, such as high fever, tonsillitis, and ADHD, are often related to eating chicken. Especially after chicken is fried, deep-fried, roasted, or grilled, the heat property is stronger, and children are more likely to get sick after eating it. It is better for children to eat less "delicious" foods such as grilled chicken wings, fried chicken legs, and fried chicken steaks. If you must eat chicken, you can add some cold ingredients to balance the heat of chicken, such as stewing chicken with mushrooms. Mushrooms are more yin and cold, which just balances the heat of chicken.

Eat more mutton to nourish the heart and yang

Mutton is a good product for warming the middle and replenishing deficiency, and replenishing qi. There are many dietary recipes for nourishing the heart and yang in traditional Chinese medicine that use mutton. Mutton is very suitable for women with weak constitutions. For example, angelica ginger mutton soup can be used to treat insufficient menstrual blood in women, or insufficient milk caused by postpartum yang deficiency and weak qi and blood.

Although mutton is good, patients with yin deficiency and hyperactivity of fire should not eat too much, so as not to promote virtual fire. If eaten, it can be paired with ingredients such as white radish to neutralize the warm nature of mutton.

Beef can nourish the spleen and replenish qi

According to Chinese medicine, beef belongs to the earth element and enters the spleen. Because the spleen is the foundation of the acquired constitution and controls muscles, beef has the effect of strengthening the physique, muscles, tendons and bones. Since beef is difficult to digest, it needs to be stewed until it is soft to achieve the tonic effect.

Eat pork regularly to nourish yin and moisten dryness

Pork enters the kidney and bladder meridians, nourishing yin and moistening dryness, replenishing essence and nourishing marrow. Since pork is cold in nature, it is best eaten roasted, or when cooking, add some hot condiments, such as cinnamon, star anise, fried cardamom, nutmeg, white cardamom, amomum, galangal, evodia rutaecarpa, etc. to balance its coldness.

The best ratio of meat and vegetables is 1:5

Since traditional Chinese medicine advocates that the five grains are nourishing and the five animals are beneficial, then how should meat and vegetables be combined to achieve a balanced nutrition?

Xu Wenbing said: "During archaeological excavations, if dinosaur fossils are found, how do we determine whether the dinosaur is a herbivorous dinosaur or a carnivorous dinosaur? It's very simple, just based on the shape of its teeth. To judge the dietary structure of a person, let's take a look at human teeth. Each of us has 32 permanent teeth. The 8 teeth in the front are called incisors, which are used to cut animal and plant fibers. The 20 teeth in the upper and lower rows at the back are called molars, scientifically known as molars, which are used to grind grains and beans. There are only 4 canine teeth, which are used to bite and tear meat. The structure of teeth is produced during human evolution. In addition to the incisors, which are used for both meat and vegetable eaters, the ratio of 4 canine teeth to 20 molars is 1:5. So, the best ratio of meat and vegetable combinations in daily meals is also clear at a glance, which is 1:5."