How to Eat Lychee Without Getting "Heaty": Benefits, Effects, and People Who Should Avoid It

“A horse raising dust as the imperial concubine smiles” — the flesh of the lychee, when fresh, is semi-transparent and creamy, with a fragrant and delicious taste. But it does not keep well. So then, what are the benefits and effects of lychee? How do you eat it without getting heaty? Who should not eat it?

I. The benefits and effects of lychee

1. Calms the mind and nourishes the brain:Lychee has a nourishing effect on brain tissue, and can noticeably improve insomnia, forgetfulness, mental fatigue and similar conditions.

2. Reduces swelling and relieves pain:Lychee has the effect of reducing swelling and detoxifying, stopping bleeding and relieving pain.

3. Beauty and skin care:Lychee is rich in vitamins, which can promote blood circulation in the tiny blood vessels, prevent the appearance of freckles, and make the skin smoother.

4. Promotes appetite:Stops hiccups, stops diarrhea, and at the same time nourishes the brain and strengthens the body, stimulates the appetite and benefits the spleen, with the effect of promoting appetite.

II. How do you eat lychee without getting heaty?

1. Soak in salt water

Take the lychees with the outer shell removed, but do not remove the white thin membrane layer either; after rinsing clean, soak them in 30% salt water, and after soaking for one hour they can be taken out, and after peeling off the white membrane they can be eaten. After soaking in salt water, the heatiness of the lychee is greatly reduced.

2. Should not be eaten on an empty stomach

Fresh lychee has a very high sugar content; eating it on an empty stomach will irritate the gastric mucosa, causing stomach pain and bloating, and eating too much on an empty stomach can cause “hyperosmolar coma” because of the sudden intake of excessive high sugar into the body.

3. Refrigerate the lychee

Place the freshly picked lychees in a container, sink it in a water well or put it in cold spring (water), and take them out to eat the next day; this prevents heatiness and can transform dry heat while nourishing yin.

III. Who should not eat lychee?

1. People with diabetes

The biggest taboo in the diet of diabetic patients is foods with high sugar content, and the flesh of lychee contains as much as 20% sugar, so diabetic patients had best eat less lychee.

2. People with a yin-deficient heat constitution

Lychee is hot in nature and is a food that easily causes heatiness in people with a yin-deficient constitution, so those with a yin-deficient heat constitution should avoid eating lychee. The main manifestations of a yin-deficient constitution are internal heat, swollen and painful gums, a tendency to nosebleeds, dry and sore throat, etc. If one then eats the hot-natured lychee, it will only aggravate the internal fire and intensify the symptoms.

3. People who easily get acne and sores

People who get acne and hemorrhoids usually reflect hot toxins in the body; if they eat the hot-natured lychee, it will add heat to heat, making acne more likely to breed and hemorrhoids more serious.

4. People with allergies

Lychee belongs to the fruit category of foods, but some special constitutions that are allergic to lychee may also have an allergic reaction when eating lychee, and allergies are mostly caused by individual differences. An allergy to eating lychee may present symptoms such as skin itching, red spots, and edema.

Some people will ask, why was I not allergic to lychee before, and how did I suddenly become allergic. In fact, allergies can occur in stages. Everyone’s constitution, body structure, and immune system are all changing with the external environment, just as some people are usually not allergic to penicillin. But in an injection just like usual, they may suddenly have an allergic reaction, which is why every time penicillin is injected, doctors perform a skin test for every patient.

What should you do if you are allergic to lychee?

Being allergic to lychee shows that lychee is your allergen, and it usually appears as symptoms of itching, redness, and swelling of the skin; first of all, avoid scratching. There is no specific effective treatment for allergies, nor can they be cured. It is only recommended to stay away from the allergen as much as possible in daily life. Also, you can eat a light diet, and once allergic, supplement with vitamin C, and apply anti-allergy medication while observing.

In addition, the method of handling a fruit allergy is the same as the medication used for allergies caused by other substances; for severe allergies, hospitals generally use intravenous push or drip of hormones, while for mild ones they generally use oral loratadine or cetirizine, etc. At the same time, it is necessary to temporarily avoid eating similar foods, including other tropical fruits.

5. People who are about to drive

Lychee has a very high sugar content, and after eating it, a sharp rise in fructose can occur within a short time; if a large amount of lychee is eaten on an empty stomach, it is very easy to cause a massive release of insulin, resulting in sudden hypoglycemia, with adverse symptoms such as palpitations, nausea, and dizziness, and in severe cases even coma, so in order to avoid dangerous driving and traffic accidents, drivers should not eat lychee.

Moreover, just after eating lychee, it is possible to test positive for drunk driving. Testing positive for drunk driving just after eating lychee is mainly caused by two major factors: the sugar content of the lychee and improper storage. Because after lychee is picked, it is still alive and still breathing as usual. And lychee itself has a high sugar content, and the flesh is wrapped by a shell, so after anaerobic respiration the sugar produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. Especially if the oxygen concentration is too low during storage, it will promote anaerobic respiration in the lychee and make it easier to accumulate substances such as alcohol. Also, while eating lychee, many enzymes in the mouth will also decompose the sugar of the lychee, breaking it down into alcohol, and it will quickly ferment in the mouth. After a person eats it, a smell of alcohol will remain in the mouth.,

6. Babies under one year old

In general, babies can eat lychee, but if the baby is too young, it is best not to eat lychee. Lychee is hot in nature, and is mostly kept fresh at low temperatures; a baby’s gastrointestinal function is fragile, and eating lychee easily leads to heatiness and diarrhea. So babies who have just started eating complementary foods had best not eat lychee.

How old a baby can eat lychee: babies over one year old can eat lychee, but should not eat much. Babies with heavy internal fire had best not eat lychee.

How much lychee is suitable for a baby to eat: babies one to two years old should not eat more than 2 lychees at a time, and after peeling, the pit should be removed to prevent the baby from choking. For children, the amount eaten at one time had best not exceed 5, so as to avoid physical discomfort caused by eating too many.