Crab is delicious! If you want to eat healthy and have a craving for it, here are the three must-haves

Crab is delicious! If you want to eat healthy and have a craving for it, here are the three must-haves

It is the season when hairy crabs and seasonal seafood are on the market in large quantities. The plump hairy crabs are a delicacy for the Guangdong people who love fresh food. However, eating crabs is not only about the "eight big things", but also the best combination of "three small things". In addition, although the fat crabs are delicious, it is not advisable to eat too much. Especially those with gout, high blood lipids and allergies should avoid eating them. Let the experts from Foshan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital tell you how to enjoy delicious food in a healthy way.

Crab "three little things": basil, vinegar and ginger tea

October is a great time to eat crabs, especially the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, which are known as the "king of crabs", with rich, yellow roe and a sweet aftertaste.

However, Dr. Pan Yong, director of the Nutrition Department of Foshan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, warned that hairy crabs are cold and excessive consumption can easily lead to acute gastroenteritis, diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms. He pointed out that Chinese medicine believes that crabs can strengthen the kidneys and bones, but they are very cold in nature, so pregnant women, infants and young children, as well as people with weak constitutions and weak spleen and stomach should not eat too much. If you want to enjoy the delicious crab in a healthy way, it is best to prepare the "three little things" - basil, vinegar and ginger tea.

The best way to cook hairy crabs is to steam them. When steaming, put a few pieces of perilla at the tail of the crab to remove the fishy smell, sterilize, and dispel cold. Because crabs live on microorganisms and rotten food, their gills and stomachs are filled with dirt and filth, and the crab stomach is commonly known as a "shit bag." Fresh perilla is both a herb and a Chinese medicinal material. It can not only remove the fishy smell of crabs, but also promote qi, relieve stomach discomfort, and dispel cold. Crabs are rich in foreign proteins, and eating them can easily cause itching, urticaria, and papules due to allergies. Eating some perilla leaves after eating crabs can also detoxify the crabs.

Crabs are high in protein and cholesterol, which are difficult to digest and can easily cause abdominal distension and pain, so it is best to dip them in crab vinegar when eating. In addition to seasoning, crab vinegar can also disperse blood stasis, break up knots, promote blood circulation, help digestion, and stop diarrhea.

After eating crabs, a cup of steaming hot ginger tea is a must to end the tasting of this delicious autumn crab. Ginger tea is easy to make. Chop ginger into fine pieces, add brown sugar and boil for 5 minutes. You can also add a small amount of perilla to the ginger tea. Ginger tea warms the stomach, regulates qi and harmonizes the stomach, and can "neutralize" the cold poison of crabs.

Key step: Soak in salt water before cooking

In addition to hairy crabs, many people can't help but feast on fresh and delicious prawns, scallops and other seasonal seafood. Han Yubin, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology (Digestive Medicine) who combines traditional Chinese and Western medicine (click on the text link to enter the expert registration page), believes that when enjoying delicious seafood, citizens should pay attention to the principles of "three musts" and "three don'ts".

Three Essentials

First of all, the ingredients should be fresh. Try to buy them from reliable seafood stores and try to buy live and fresh seafood. It is best not to buy dead crabs and shrimps.

Second, it must be fully cooked. Microorganisms in seafood include not only bacteria but also viruses. Eating seafood raw or not thoroughly heated may cause food poisoning and intestinal infectious diseases. Therefore, seafood must be fully heated and cooked before eating, and it is forbidden to eat it raw for the sake of "freshness" and "tenderness". In addition, shellfish should be soaked in light salt water for about 1 hour before cooking.

Third, you should eat in moderation. Excessive consumption of seafood can easily damage the spleen and stomach, leading to gastrointestinal and digestive system diseases, and can easily cause discomfort such as bloating, abdominal pain, and vomiting.

Three Don'ts

First of all, don’t eat it with cold foods. Seafood is cold, so it is best not to eat it with bitter melon, purslane, watermelon and other cold fruits and vegetables. You should also not drink cold drinks immediately after a meal to avoid damaging your spleen and stomach.

Second, do not drink beer when eating seafood. Because some fish, shellfish, shrimp and crabs contain high levels of purine, drinking alcohol while eating seafood will accelerate the formation of uric acid, easily cause hyperuricemia, and induce gout, kidney stones and other diseases.

Third, do not eat seafood with certain fruits. Seafood is rich in protein. If it is eaten with fruits containing tannic acid such as oranges, pomegranates, and persimmons, it will not only reduce the nutritional value of the protein, but also cause calcium to combine with tannic acid to form insoluble calcium, which will irritate the gastrointestinal tract.

In addition, people who are allergic to seafood, have gout, or have high blood lipids should be careful not to eat seafood no matter how delicious it is. Han Yubin also suggested that if you experience abdominal pain, vomiting, or other discomfort after eating seafood, you can drink some white porridge to cleanse your stomach. You may want to add some ginger and tangerine peel to the porridge to help dispel the cold and strengthen your stomach. If you have a fever, or vomiting and diarrhea that doesn't stop, or even vomiting as soon as you eat, you should go to a specialist for treatment as soon as possible.