What foods can't be eaten together? What foods can't be eaten together?

There is a saying on the recently popular TV show Taste of China that white radish and red radish cannot be eaten together! Is this true?

1. Is it the same to eat red and white radishes together?

The reason why it is said that white radish is not good is that many people say that white radish has a high content of vitamin C, but carrots contain an enzyme called ascorbic acid, which destroys the vitamin C in white radish. Once red and white radishes are combined, the vitamin C in white radish will be completely lost. Not only that, when cooking with vegetables rich in vitamin C, carrots act as destroyers. Other vegetables, such as pumpkins, also contain enzymes similar to carrots.

Actually, the author who put forward this argument is quite funny. Although it seems that the theory is quite sufficient and true, but he actually didn't know that "ascorbic acid" is the chemical name of vitamin C. So "enzyme" is actually the Japanese version of "enzyme". Since enzymes are very afraid of heat, they have lost their activity during cooking and making soup. How can they destroy the vitamin C in white radish? If it is destroyed, it is only the loss of some vitamin C during the heating process, but it is definitely not because of carrots. If you are really worried, you can fry the carrots first, and then add the white radish, then it will be foolproof.

In fact, most vegetables contain oxidases that destroy vitamin C, not just carrots and cucumbers. However, in fresh vegetables, vitamin C and these enzymes are hidden in different parts of the cells, so this kind of trouble does not exist, just like they are locked in different rooms without windows or doors, and they cannot touch each other. During the heating process, these heat-sensitive enzymes will lose their activity, so they will not cause serious loss of vitamin C. In contrast, heating itself will destroy more vitamin C, but losing some is better than not eating it, don't you think? This situation also occurs in the combination of tomatoes and cucumbers, the reason is the same.

2. Will drinking tea while eating meat cause constipation?

Some people say that it is a mistake to drink tea after eating high-protein foods such as meat and seafood. This is because the large amount of tannic acid in tea combines with protein to produce astringent tannic acid protein, which slows down intestinal peristalsis and prolongs the time that feces stay in the intestine. This can easily lead to constipation and increase the possibility of toxic and carcinogenic substances being absorbed by the human body.

Nomadic peoples have been drinking tea after eating meat for thousands of years, and they do not suffer from constipation. On the contrary, drinking tea helps them maintain the acid-base balance of food. Residents of coastal cities such as Fujian often eat seafood and love to drink tea, but there is no research evidence that drinking tea promotes constipation. Japanese people generally drink green tea with meals, and their green tea is much more astringent than Chinese green tea, but no digestive system problems have been found. Therefore, it seems unreasonable to regard this as a toxic combination.

3. Is eating bananas and yogurt together bad for health?

Many people have raised this question, asking me whether eating the two at the same time would be bad for health.

I can't find a reason why they can't be eaten together, because there is no nutritional disadvantage in eating yogurt and bananas together, and the nutrients are complementary to a certain extent: yogurt does not contain dietary fiber and vitamin C, but bananas do; bananas do not contain vitamins AD, and protein and vitamin B2 are extremely low, while milk is rich in these nutrients. If you must find a problem, then the possible problem is that some people with weak spleen and stomach who are prone to diarrhea will be more likely to have diarrhea and abdominal pain after drinking yogurt just taken out of the refrigerator and adding bananas, a lubricating food that promotes intestinal peristalsis. For some people who are prone to constipation, eating in this way can promote defecation and is good for health. However, surveys and studies have found that most people are constipated now.

4. Drinking milk and juice together affects digestion and causes diarrhea

Many people firmly believe that milk and juice will precipitate and become flocculent when drunk together, so the two cannot be consumed together, as this will affect digestion and even cause diarrhea.

In fact, precipitation in the presence of acid is a basic characteristic of "casein" in milk, and it is a very normal thing. For adults, milk precipitation does not affect digestion. Even if you don't drink it with juice, it will precipitate when it encounters gastric acid in the stomach.

If milk cannot be digested after precipitation, then people cannot drink yogurt and cheese. The curd of yogurt is the result of the precipitation of milk protein by lactic acid; the curd of cheese is harder and larger than the precipitation of juice and milk! If this is true, then even fruit should be separated by at least 4 hours before eating.

Various desserts made with milk and fruit have been popular in foreign countries for hundreds of years, and no indigestion problems have been found. There are also a large number of fruit juice milk, fruit yogurt, milk jelly and other products on sale in our market. If the human body cannot digest them, these foods will be banned and stopped from sale.

Just be aware that astringent fruits such as persimmons, grapes, and pomegranates contain too much tannin, which, when combined with protein, will reduce the digestion and absorption rate of milk protein, but this does not necessarily mean that it will cause disease. For example, persimmons are prone to cause stones, but not everyone eats persimmons as a meal every day, don’t you think?

5. Does eating soy milk and eggs together lose nutritional value?

I believe many people have encountered this problem and believed it. It is said that the mucus protein in eggs will combine with the trypsin in soy milk, thus losing the nutritional value of both.

This statement is really ridiculous. How can there be "trypsin" in soy milk? Raw soy milk contains "trypsin inhibitor", a protein that reduces the activity of trypsin. It will hinder the body's absorption of protein. Then, this protein is more afraid of heat. Heating it at 100 degrees for 9 minutes can destroy more than 85% of it. Therefore, it is okay to boil soy milk for 10 minutes and then eat it with eggs. This can be done by soy milk machines now. Egg whites also contain proteins that hinder nutrient absorption, but they are more afraid of heat and will lose their activity at 70 degrees. Another option is to heat the two separately, or boil the eggs with the shell, and this problem will not occur.

In fact, less protein absorption does not affect health. The real problem is that if the soy milk is not cooked thoroughly, the lectins in it are toxic! This is why raw beans are poisonous. So cook the soy milk thoroughly and then add eggs, and you will be fine.

A final word: I will only talk about these five types today. If you have similar questions, please leave me a message. Although such food taboos and food combinations are common, most of them are unscientific and unreasonable interpretations. Some are generalizations, and some are exaggerations, focusing on some minor special cases. And because readers like to read these, in order to attract people's attention, many media have tirelessly promoted and created them, appearing on calendars, cards, and web pages, hoping that everyone can truly understand healthy eating and grasp the general direction of healthy eating. If the general direction of diet is wrong, it is meaningless to emphasize these minor details...

<<: What foods are good for liver health?

>>: Foods that women cannot live without, foods that women should eat more of