What should I avoid when taking warming and nourishing Chinese medicine?

When we take warm tonic Chinese medicine, we must be careful not to eat it with chili peppers or glutinous rice, as this will affect the medicinal value of the medicine and cause adverse reactions. Therefore, it is best to follow the doctor's advice when taking Chinese medicine. When taking warm tonic Chinese medicine, it is best to eat a light diet. For cooling Chinese medicine, we cannot eat spicy food and be careful not to drink cold drinks.

1. Avoid white radish in warming and nourishing Chinese medicine

Ginseng replenishes qi, while radish promotes qi movement, lowers qi, and breaks up qi. If radish and ginseng are eaten at the same time, the qi-replenishing effect of ginseng may be weakened. Other warm tonic medicines, such as American ginseng, Codonopsis pilosula, Astragalus membranaceus, Polygonum multiflorum, Rehmannia glutinosa, etc., have similar effects to ginseng and are not suitable to be taken with radish. Whether raw or cooked, radish has the effect of promoting qi circulation, but care should be taken to avoid using it with tonic medicines.

In addition, mung beans, which have the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, will also "offset" the tonic effects of medicines such as ginseng.

2. Avoid peppers when taking heat-clearing medicine

If you are taking bitter and cold medicines such as rhubarb, coptis chinensis, scutellaria baicalensis, or cold medicines such as peony bark, phellodendron chinense, honeysuckle, platycodon, mulberry leaves, and forsythia suspensa, you should avoid eating spicy and irritating foods such as chili peppers, pepper, curry, alcohol, etc. Otherwise, the efficacy of Chinese medicines for clearing heat and cooling blood will be weakened.

3. Stomach-nourishing Chinese medicine is afraid of glutinous rice

Foods such as glutinous rice, meat, and beans are difficult to digest. People who are taking Chinese medicine for strengthening the spleen and stomach should eat less of them to avoid increasing the burden on the stomach and intestines and affecting the patient's recovery. If the elderly whose gastrointestinal function has declined eat too much of this kind of food, it will often cause the gastrointestinal tract to be overwhelmed.

4. Warm and hot medicines are most afraid of cold drinks

Although it is icy and snowy outside, the heating and air conditioning have created a warm spring-like environment inside the house. Therefore, many people like to drink cold drinks even in the winter. This may cause people's gastrointestinal tract to become weak without realizing it. Eating too much cold food will lower the temperature of the stomach and make it difficult to digest food.

5. Don’t eat mangoes to treat allergies

Nowadays, even in the winter in the north, we can buy tropical fruits such as mangoes and lychees. Here we would like to remind everyone that in addition to seafood, peanuts, etc., mangoes and lychees are also considered "irritating foods". People who are taking Chinese medicine to treat allergic diseases such as asthma and dermatitis should not eat these foods.

What are the taboos of taking Chinese medicine? Above we have introduced some foods that cannot be eaten when taking Chinese medicine. Only a scientific diet can enhance the efficacy of the medicine. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that all medicines are toxic, so we should not blindly believe that traditional Chinese medicine has no side effects.