Can I eat onions while taking Chinese medicine

Western medicine can quickly cure some diseases in the human body, but it has relatively large side effects. Chinese medicine slowly regulates diseases in the human body, so most people still choose to take Chinese medicine to treat diseases when they are sick. Onion is a common condiment in the household. It has a very special use. It can be used not only as a condiment, but also as a main dish. So can you eat onions after taking Chinese medicine?

Can I eat onions while taking Chinese medicine?

There are quite a lot of ingredients and types of Chinese medicine. Generally speaking, there will not be much conflict between ordinary Chinese medicine and onions, and they can be consumed appropriately according to actual conditions.

1. What should not be eaten when taking Chinese medicine?

1. Raw and cold food

This type of food is mostly cold in nature, and its main function is to clear away heat and quench thirst, so it is suitable for heat-related diseases. However, it can easily affect gastrointestinal function, so it should be avoided by people with weak and cold constitution and patients with gastrointestinal diseases. For example, white radish is cold in nature and has the effects of digesting food, resolving phlegm, and regulating qi. If patients with weak constitutions or gastrointestinal diseases eat it, it will add to the cold and make their gastrointestinal function worse. In addition, when taking ginseng and other tonic medicines at the same time, due to their incompatible properties, the effectiveness of the tonic medicines can be reduced or eliminated, so radish and ginseng should not be taken together.

2. Foods that cause hair growth

"Fa" can be said to, to a large extent, to promote the worsening of the disease. This type of food is all wind-inducing, phlegm-generating and fire-stimulating. Since the degree to which the disease selects for food varies, the effects of this disease will also be different. Such foods include mushrooms, champignons, bamboo shoots, mustard greens, pumpkin, rooster meat, pork head, sow meat, etc. For example, patients with hyperactivity of liver yang and internal liver wind should not eat rooster meat and pork head meat; patients with skin diseases such as furuncles, boils, sores and carbuncles should not eat shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, rooster meat, pork head meat and sow meat, otherwise it will accelerate redness, swelling and pus formation; people with gastrointestinal diseases should not eat pumpkin, because pumpkin contains sugar, eating too much will produce more acid, which will irritate the gastrointestinal tract.

3. Fishy foods

Most of these foods are salty, cold and fishy, ​​and contain foreign proteins, which can easily cause allergic reactions. Eating too much can damage the spleen and stomach and induce diseases. Therefore, people with spleen and stomach diseases should not eat too much, especially those with allergies. Such foods include yellow croaker, carp, hairtail, clam meat, shrimp, crab, etc., while carp, sardines, catfish, yellow croaker, crab and yellow mud snail are most likely to cause allergies. Fishy foods are also considered to be allergenic.

4. Spicy food

This type of food is mostly spicy and hot, and has the effect of promoting yang and strengthening the stomach. If consumed too much, it can easily produce phlegm and fire, disperse qi and consume blood. Therefore, this type of diet is only suitable for people with cold syndrome diseases, but not for people with yin deficiency and yang hyperactivity, as well as patients with blood syndrome, febrile diseases, hemorrhoids, fistulas, carbuncles, etc. Such foods include onions, garlic, leeks, ginger, wine, peppers, etc. As chili peppers are hot in nature, if people with symptoms of heat such as fever, constipation, short and red urine, dry mouth, dry lips, sore throat, nosebleed, and red tongue eat them, it will inevitably aggravate the symptoms of "getting angry", thereby offsetting the effects of heat-clearing, cooling blood and nourishing yin drugs. Therefore, patients with heat syndrome should not eat chili peppers when seeing a Chinese medicine doctor.

5. Greasy food

This type of food includes animal fats and solid foods that are fried or deep-fried. Greasy food can damage the spleen and stomach, so it should be avoided by those suffering from external diseases, jaundice, and diarrhea. Fried foods are hard, hot and difficult to digest. People with gastrointestinal diseases or those suffering from "internal heat" should avoid eating them.

6. Sour and astringent foods

Too much acid will irritate the stomach and intestines, so patients with excessive stomach acid and gastrointestinal ulcers should avoid eating it. Those that are astringent mostly contain tannins. For example, tea contains tannins, and the content of strong tea is even higher. When taken together with Chinese herbal medicine, it can combine with certain proteins, alkalis, and heavy metal salts in the herbal medicine to produce precipitation, which will affect the absorption of the active ingredients of the medicine, and also affect the absorption of nutrients such as protein. Therefore, when taking Chinese herbal medicine, it is generally not advisable to take it with strong tea.

2. Avoid taking Chinese medicine with the following foods:

1. 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.

2. 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.

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.

Can you eat onions while taking Chinese medicine? Actually, you can, but you just need to be careful. Because when taking Chinese medicine, each ingredient and each medicine are matched differently, so you must be careful. Other than that, you can eat normally. Because for patients, when taking Chinese medicine, they must avoid food that will have adverse reactions with Chinese medicine.