Dietary taboos include

The first is personalized taboos that match individual physiological and pathological characteristics; the second is general taboos derived from the toxicity and compatibility conflicts of the ingredients themselves; and the third is social taboos attached to cultural customs and special scenes. Let’s put the core conclusions here first, and then slowly explain the ways in each category. There are both consensus supported by empirical evidence and different views that are still controversial. We will not make a black-and-white statement.

Let’s first talk about the personal taboos that are most easily confused by people. To put it bluntly, it’s a matter of “A’s honey, B’s arsenic”. I met a retired Aunt Zhang a while ago. She had her blood sugar under stable control. She heard from the community health group that "pumpkin lowers blood sugar." She ate steamed pumpkin as a staple food every day. After half a month for a follow-up check, her fasting blood sugar soared to 8.7, which scared her. In fact, the glycemic index of pumpkin itself is not low. For ordinary people, it is okay to eat it. However, for people with diabetes, overeating is a real taboo. There are also the allergies that everyone is most familiar with. Some people will swell into sausage mouths after touching a mango, and some people will have difficulty breathing after eating half a peanut. No matter how nutritious these things are, for people with allergies, they are a red line that cannot be touched. Oh, by the way, there is also the taboo of "hair-raising" that has been controversial for many years. Traditional Chinese medicine often says that after surgery and when you have a rash, you should avoid seafood and mutton, etc., to avoid aggravating the symptoms. ； However, the view of modern nutrition is that as long as you are not allergic to these foods, these high-protein foods can help heal wounds and supplement nutrition. The current relatively neutral advice in the industry is that if you have a sensitive constitution and are prone to getting angry and getting rashes when eating these foods, you can appropriately avoid them during special periods. If you are fine with eating them, there is no need to lose your mouth just because of the reputation of a "fat food".

After talking about the parts that vary from person to person, let’s talk about the general taboos that don’t have much room for negotiation. These are basically the most likely to cause problems if you step on them, and there is nothing to argue with. For example, solanine in sprouted green potatoes, saponin and phytohemagglutinin in uncooked green beans, and rice fungus that may have grown in fungus that have been soaked for two or three days. These are scientifically proven toxic ingredients. No matter what your physique is or how strong your spleen and stomach are, if you come into contact with them, you may get food poisoning, which may even be life-threatening in severe cases. Speaking of this, some people will definitely ask about the conflict between foods, such as "eating crabs and persimmons together will cause diarrhea" and "eating vitamin C and shrimps together is equivalent to eating arsenic". This has also been a topic that has been argued for many years. Empirical research in modern nutrition has long confirmed that under normal food intake, these so-called competing ingredients cannot reach the toxic dose at all. Most of them are caused by weak spleen and stomach, undercooked crabs, or eating too much cold food at once. The so-called vitamin C and shrimp produce arsenic is a fantasy. To reach the toxic dose, you have to eat hundreds of kilograms of shrimp and dozens of bottles of vitamin C at one go. However, in traditional Chinese medicine diet therapy, there is indeed a saying that "eat ingredients with opposite properties and flavors as much as possible". For example, crabs from the Great Cold and persimmons with the same cooling properties are indeed easy for people with weak spleen and stomach to feel uncomfortable after eating them. Therefore, the current consensus is that there is no need for ordinary healthy people to believe in the statement that food is mutually exclusive and they can eat whatever they want. However, for people with poor digestive function and sensitive spleen and stomach, there is no harm in taking appropriate reference.

In addition to those directly related to physical health, there is also a type of dietary taboos that are bound to culture and scenes. It cannot be said whether it is good for the body, but it is a basic courtesy to follow the local customs. For example, Hui compatriots do not eat pork, Hindu believers do not eat beef, and people who believe in Islam do not drink alcohol. These are taboos derived from religious culture and have nothing to do with superstition. They are basic respect for the beliefs of others. There are also many things to pay attention to in folk customs, such as don’t serve pears (homonymous to “li”) at birthday banquets for the elderly, don’t ask for sweet dishes at wedding banquets, and when visiting a friend’s house in Chaoshan, don’t pour the tea back when someone makes Kung Fu tea for you. These are dietary taboos in specific situations. It won’t hurt if you don’t follow them, but it will inevitably make the host feel uncomfortable, so it’s always better to pay more attention.

I have been doing nutritional consulting for seven or eight years, and the most outrageous thing I have ever seen is a little girl who posted more than 200 dietary taboos found on the Internet on the door of the refrigerator. Spinach cannot be eaten with tofu, eggs cannot be eaten with soy milk, and milk tea cannot be eaten with fried chicken. In the end, she did not dare to eat anything. She lost 20 pounds in half a year, and her period had stopped. When she came for a check-up, she was severely malnourished. In fact, many so-called taboos are either research conclusions taken out of context, or requirements that are established under specific conditions. Ordinary people eating normally will never touch the amount that "triggers the red line".

In general, dietary taboos are never rigid rules engraved on stone tablets. There are safety red lines that must be observed, personalized options that can be flexibly adjusted, and cultural conventions that need to be respected. Understanding the logic behind them is much more useful than memorizing dozens of rules and regulations. After all, eating is not only healthy, but also happy, right?