Can I Eat Leeks After Drinking Chinese Herbal Medicine?
When taking traditional Chinese medicine, it is not suitable to consume ginger, scallion, and garlic. Proper dietary restrictions should be observed when taking traditional Chinese medicine. Ginger, scallion, and garlic contain substances that stimulate the gastrointestinal tract, such as allicin, which can cause blood vessel mucosa congestion, resulting in incomplete absorption of traditional Chinese medicine by the blood vessels and gastrointestinal tract, and affecting the normal effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine.
1. Cold and Raw Foods: These foods are mostly cold and have the main effect of clearing heat and quenching thirst, so they are suitable for heat-related diseases. However, they can easily affect gastrointestinal function, so they should be avoided by people with deficient cold constitution and gastrointestinal diseases. For example, white radish is cold in nature and has the effect of digesting food, resolving phlegm, and regulating qi. If eaten by people with a deficient cold constitution or gastrointestinal diseases, it will further exacerbate their condition and worsen their gastrointestinal function. In addition, when taking ginseng and other nourishing herbs at the same time, due to the incompatibility of their medicinal properties, their effectiveness may be reduced or eliminated, so radish should not be taken with ginseng.
2. Spicy Foods: These foods are mostly pungent and hot, and have the effect of warming yang and strengthening the stomach. However, excessive consumption can easily lead to the formation of phlegm and fire, dissipate qi and consume blood. Therefore, this type of food is only suitable for people with cold syndromes, and not suitable for people with yin deficiency, yang hyperactivity, blood disorders, warm diseases, hemorrhoids, abscesses, and other conditions. These foods include scallion, garlic, Chinese chives, ginger, alcohol, chili peppers, etc. Chili peppers are hot in nature, and if consumed by people with symptoms such as fever, constipation, short and dark urine, dry mouth and thirst, dry lips, sore throat, nosebleeds, and red tongue, it will inevitably exacerbate their symptoms of "internal heat" and negate the effects of heat-clearing, blood-cooling, and yin-nourishing medications. Therefore, patients with heat syndromes who consult a traditional Chinese medicine doctor should not consume chili peppers.
3. Aggravating Foods: These foods are known to promote the formation of wind, phlegm, and fire. Depending on the severity of the disease and the individual's condition, the aggravating effects of these foods may vary. Such foods include mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, mustard greens, pumpkins, male chicken, pig's head meat, sow's meat, etc. For example, patients with liver yang hyperactivity or internal liver wind should avoid eating male chicken and pig's head meat; patients with skin diseases such as boils, abscesses, and sores should avoid eating shiitake mushrooms, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, male chicken, pig's head meat, and sow's meat, as these foods may accelerate redness, swelling, and the formation of pus; patients with gastrointestinal diseases should avoid eating pumpkins, as pumpkins contain sugar that can produce excess acid and stimulate the gastrointestinal tract. In general, aggravating foods can often exacerbate the condition of the disease.
