What are the dietary taboos?

The dietary taboos we talk about daily are essentially dietary rules that are explicitly prohibited or not recommended to be tried in different contexts. They include hard requirements with scientific basis, as well as soft agreements at the level of culture, traditional medicine, and customs. They are not the mysterious pseudo-concept of "foods are incompatible" that are circulated on the Internet.

The most typical hard taboo I encountered when I was doing health education in the community two years ago is that within a week of taking antibiotics such as cephalosporin and metronidazole, you must not eat any food containing alcohol, not only liquor and beer, but also fermented glutinous rice, liqueur chocolate, and alcoholic Huoxiang Zhengqi water. At that time, a young man took cephalosporin and drank two glasses of low-alcohol fruit wine, and he was sent to the emergency room for chest tightness and shortness of breath. This is clearly supported by pharmacology and is completely uncontroversial. There are also taboos for specific diseases. For example, during an acute attack of gout, animal offal and thick broth with high purine levels should not be eaten. Diabetic patients should strictly avoid refined sugar and soft white porridge with a particularly high glycemic index. These are supported by clinical data. If they are stepped on, they will directly aggravate the condition, so they cannot be ignored.

In addition to these uncontroversial hard requirements, there are also taboos that many people are familiar with and related to TCM conditioning, most of which are linked to physical constitution and treatment stage. A while ago, I went to an old Chinese medicine doctor to regulate my spleen and stomach. The doctor specifically told me not to drink iced drinks or cold crabs while taking the medicine, otherwise the warm medicine would be in vain. This part is indeed controversial now. Some people think that it is a summary of thousands of years of experience and adapts to the physical characteristics of the Chinese people. Some people think that there is a lack of quantitative research data and it cannot be regarded as a universal rule. In fact, there is no need to argue. If you really want to consult a traditional Chinese medicine doctor for treatment, follow the doctor's advice. If you eat it by yourself, as long as you don't feel uncomfortable, don't worry too much.

There is another category that has nothing to do with health and is an agreement at the level of cultural customs. For example, Hui compatriots do not eat pork, Hindus do not eat beef, and some elders in the south will tell them not to eat cold food during confinement. This kind of thing is essentially a cultural consensus or a summary of regional life experience. Just respect it, and there is no need to argue with universal scientific standards.

As for the "Spinach can't be eaten with tofu" and "Crab can't be eaten with persimmons" that are widely circulated on the Internet, I have tried it several times myself. The blanched spinach stewed with soft tofu is very delicious, and the cooked soft persimmons and steamed crabs have no effect at all as long as you don't eat too much. Most of these statements are based on blog traffic content that ignores the consumption and is derived from extremes, and they are not really taboos. If you really want to make a distinction, just remember to follow the doctor's instructions for taboos related to taking medicine or seeing a doctor, respect those related to culture, and basically don't take the rest of the mythical content to heart.