Nourishing the stomach: Distinguishing between cold and heat is the key

Traditional Chinese medicine says, "If you have stomach qi, you will live, but if you don't have stomach qi, you will die; if your stomach is strong, your body will be strong, but if your stomach is weak, your body will be weak." The pace of social life is accelerating, and people have irregular work and rest schedules. Bad eating habits, staying up late, smoking and drinking, etc., can all cause gastrointestinal problems. The high-risk group for gastric disease is 30 to 50 years old, with an incidence rate of 70%. The spleen and stomach, as the foundation of acquired constitution, directly affect human health. If you do a good job in spleen and stomach health care, it will nourish the internal organs in the near future and benefit the whole body in the long run; on the contrary, if the spleen and stomach are not good, even if there is no major disease, minor diseases and disasters will continue. However, many people often pay attention to the words "warm" and "soft" when nourishing their stomachs, and think that if their stomachs are not good, they should eat some easily digestible warm food. However, some people's condition does not decrease but increases after eating hot food. The fundamental reason is that the patients do not understand the difference between stomach cold and stomach heat.

To nourish the stomach, you need to distinguish between cold and heat. 1. A cold stomach needs to be warmed. According to traditional Chinese medicine, about 90% of stomach problems are caused by cold stomach. The stomach needs heat to digest food. If the stomach lacks heat, it will be difficult to digest food, which will lead to cold pain in the stomach, poor appetite, indigestion, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, etc. Over time, cold air will continue to damage the stomach's immunity and digestive ability, which will cause repeated attacks of stomach problems on the one hand, and malnutrition, physical weakness and multiple diseases on the other hand.

Methods to nourish the stomach: warming and nourishing the heart yang fire can generate earth, that is, the heart fire generates stomach earth. Only when the heart fire is sufficient, the stomach fire will be strong. When cooking or making soup, you can add medicinal and edible herbs that warm the heart and nourish the yang, such as Xiebai, dried ginger, cinnamon, etc., to boost stomach fire. In addition, you can also eat hot food, drink hot water, and participate in scientific outdoor activities to improve gastric motility.

2. If the stomach is hot, it needs to be cooled. Excessive stomach fire may cause stomach heat. Patients often feel hungry and always seem to be hungry. Patients with long-term excessive stomach fire often have symptoms such as hunger but difficulty swallowing, thirst, and may also have complications such as mild cough, sweating, abdominal distension, constipation, etc. Stomach heat can induce inflammation, such as hemorrhagic gastritis, alcoholic gastritis, habitual constipation, etc. Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is also often accompanied by stomach heat. Long-term stomach heat greatly damages the gastric mucosa and may also cause canceration of mucosal epithelial cells.

Methods for nourishing the stomach: clearing away heat and reducing fire. If the patient has just developed stomach heat, he can eat some cool ingredients to nourish yin, promote fluid production, clear away heat and remove fire, such as lettuce, bitter melon, watermelon, mint, pear, chrysanthemum, honeysuckle, coix seed, etc., and take in water appropriately. For the diet therapy of clearing stomach fire, you can choose preserved eggs mixed with tofu. Take 2 preserved eggs and 200 grams of gypsum tofu every day, mix well, pour sesame oil on them, add a little salt, and you can eat them. It should be pointed out that it must be lead-free preserved eggs sold in regular supermarkets; patients with hypertension must be cautious when eating preserved eggs.

Clinically, the specific conditions of gastric disease are very complicated. Many patients do not simply suffer from stomach cold or stomach heat, but often a mixture of cold and heat. Such patients should go to a regular hospital for treatment.

A healthy stomach is the result of eating. Stomach problems are more complicated and cannot be treated in the same way. They need to be treated symptomatically based on individual conditions. The eating mentioned here does not remind everyone "what to eat", but wants to remind everyone "how to eat".

Breakfast should be eaten regularly and on time every day; hot food can protect the "stomach qi", pay attention to the combination of dry and liquid food, and eat less meat or overly greasy food.

For lunch, choose ingredients that are non-irritating, low in fiber, and rich in nutrition. You should keep a happy and relaxed mood when eating. It is not advisable to eat too much bran, fruit peels, bean skins, seed skins, and coarse tissues in vegetables. The main cooking methods are steaming, stewing, and boiling, which are easy to digest. A wide variety of food should be consumed to obtain rich nutrients.

Drink 60 to 100 ml of warm water 30 minutes before dinner to facilitate digestion, dilute excess stomach acid, and stimulate people with insufficient stomach acid to increase stomach acid secretion; chew slowly to allow the salivary glands to secrete a lot of saliva to initially digest food; eat until you are 70% full; maintain a happy mood; do not distract your attention while eating to avoid insufficient blood supply to the stomach, which is not conducive to digestion and absorption.

To nourish the stomach, it is not difficult to exercise your hands and toes. Just rub your hands and move your toes. The method is as follows.

1. Rub your hands. Before eating, you should rub your fists. First, make a fist with your left hand, press the Neiguan acupoint on your right hand with the fist, and rotate it left and right to stimulate the Neiguan acupoint by friction. Then change your right hand to rub the Neiguan acupoint on your left hand. Then rub the two palms together until they feel hot, then stop and stimulate the Laogong acupoint in the palm of your hand. Finally, cross your fingers and clasp your wrists to act on the Daling acupoint. These three actions can help increase heart fire and help the stomach digest, especially for patients with cold stomach.

2. Move your toes. Moving your toes can successfully promote the smooth flow of Qi and blood in the body, balance Yin and Yang, and eliminate evil and strengthen the body. Grip the ground with your toes for about 5 minutes each time. You can exercise both feet one by one or at the same time. Exercise 2 to 3 times a day.

As long as you persist in doing the above methods for a long time, you can gradually strengthen the gastrointestinal function and achieve the goal of nourishing and strengthening the stomach.