If you eat too much during the New Year, your stomach and intestines will get upset. Some people suffer from indigestion and stomach cramps, while others suffer from nausea and vomiting and constant diarrhea. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners believe that no matter what kind of gastrointestinal symptoms it is, it is related to spleen and stomach dysfunction. It is recommended to change the soups and teas during the New Year to achieve the purpose of maintaining the spleen and stomach and promoting digestion. Chinese medicinal ingredients for flavored Sishen Spare Ribs Soup. (Photo provided/Physician Wang Song)

Wang Song, attending physician at the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Children’s General Hospital, said that the sumptuous New Year dishes during the Chinese New Year make people overeat, and foods high in fat and salt are even more difficult to digest. , it is easy to put a heavy burden on the spleen and stomach, and indigestion can lead to "food accumulation". Common clinical symptoms include abdominal distention, belching with a rotten smell, pantothenic acid, and diarrhea.

Others like to go to the buffet every day during the Chinese New Year, often eating too much and moving too little, plus all kinds of raw and cold seafood, lettuce salads, cold drinks, beer, ice cream, and foods high in oil and salt. Food will damage the transportation and transformation functions of the spleen and stomach, leading to weakness of the spleen and stomach, accumulation of phlegm and damp food, and symptoms such as abdominal distension and tightness, belching, pantothenic acid, nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, and thick and greasy tongue coating.

Add traditional Chinese medicine to the soup to take care of the intestines and stomach during the New Year.

Chinese medicine doctor Wang Song suggested that gastrointestinal discomfort caused by improper diet during the New Year can be treated in moderation. The simplest way to adjust the content of the three meals is to add Chinese medicinal materials with aromatic, diuretic, and dehumidifying effects to the soup, and cook the ingredients as lightly as possible. Choose low-fat fish or white meat, which can help nourish the spleen and stomach and relieve gastrointestinal discomfort. . Or brewing some "eliminating accumulation and relieving tiredness tea" as a seasonal drink is also a good idea.

Flavored Sishen Pork Ribs Soup (for 4 people)

Ingredients: Chinese yam, Gorgon fruit, Poria cocos, lotus seeds, and coix seed, 2 yen each. 5 points of ginseng, appropriate amount of pork ribs, and a little rice wine.

Method:

Blanch the ribs first and set aside.

After washing the Chinese medicinal materials, put them together with the cooked ribs into the inner pot of the electric cooker. Add water to cover the ingredients. Pour 2 cups of water into the outer pot and press the switch to cook.

After the power is turned off, add an appropriate amount of rice wine and a little salt to taste.

Explanation: Overeating can easily damage the spleen and stomach, leading to weakness of the spleen and stomach, phlegm and dampness. The yam, gorgon fruit, poria, and lotus seeds in Sishen Decoction can nourish the spleen and stomach, barley can diuretic and dampness, ginseng must lightly nourish the spleen, and the whole prescription can nourish the spleen, nourish the stomach, and remove dampness, thereby protecting the spleen and stomach and promoting digestion.