"These days, you'd be embarrassed to call yourself modern if you don't have some stomach issues." While this might be a bit exaggerated, it does highlight how common gastrointestinal problems have become. China is a nation plagued by stomach ailments—among its 1.3 billion people, approximately 120 million suffer from digestive disorders. Irregular eating habits, a fondness for spicy foods that irritate the stomach, and high stress levels all take a toll on gastrointestinal health.While treating gastrointestinal conditions is essential, mindful dietary habits also play a crucial role in recovery.
Gastrointestinal Disorders: Differentiating Between Excess and Deficiency Patterns
From a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, gastrointestinal disorders are generally categorized into two types: excess patterns and deficiency patterns.Patients with excess patterns experience sudden onset and severe symptoms, but they tend to respond well to treatment with a favorable prognosis and low recurrence rate. Those with deficiency patterns typically have a prolonged course of illness, with symptoms that may not be severe but are prone to recurrence and difficult to cure. What is commonly referred to as a "chronic stomach condition" falls under the deficiency pattern.Patients with deficiency-pattern gastric disorders typically experience mild stomach pain, primarily occurring on an empty stomach or at night. Eating or drinking may alleviate discomfort. Consuming raw or cold foods can trigger recurrent stomach pain or diarrhea. Therefore, dietary caution is essential.
How to Strengthen the Spleen and Stomach
1. Maintain regular eating habits with well-spaced meals. As the saying goes: "Eat heartily at breakfast, moderately at lunch, and lightly at dinner.""Cut back on dinner, live to ninety-nine." This is because the body's basal metabolism is more active during the day than at night, with greater food requirements and digestive capacity. At night, activity levels decrease, and energy expenditure is lower. Additionally, meals should be light and simple. Especially for middle-aged and elderly individuals, it is advisable to avoid excessive consumption of greasy, fried, or overly salty foods. Animal fats should be strictly limited, while legumes, fresh fruits, and vegetables can be consumed more freely.
II: Cultivate sound eating habits. Not only should you prioritize food hygiene and avoid unclean items, but meals should be warm, well-cooked, and soft. Minimize or avoid raw and cold foods, aiming for temperatures where "hot doesn't scorch your lips, cold doesn't make your teeth chatter." Sticky, hard, or indigestible foods should be strictly avoided.Additionally, maintain a positive mindset during meals, eat with full attention, chew thoroughly, and avoid bathing or strenuous exercise immediately after eating.
Third: Tailor dietary choices to the individual, the season, and the location. Select appropriate foods based on personal constitution, seasonal changes (spring, summer, autumn, winter), and regional climatic and soil characteristics across the east, west, north, south, and central regions.
Four: When using food as medicine or therapy, pay attention to the five flavors—pungent, sour, sweet, bitter, and salty—and their contraindications. Each flavor has distinct properties that may harm different constitutions or conditions. Avoid flavors that could aggravate ailments or weaken the body's defenses.