What meat is good to eat for autumn health preservation? Recommended meats suitable for eating in autumn
The hot summer has just passed, and after the Start of Autumn, the weather is getting cooler and cooler, but autumn tends to be dry, so in our diet we generally eat more nourishing and mild foods. So what meat is good to eat in autumn? What meat is suitable for autumn health preservation? When nourishing the body in autumn, meat should be eaten in moderation. There are many meat food options available in autumn, such as mutton, pork, chicken, etc.
Why eat meat in autumn
At the Start of Autumn, there is a folk custom known as “putting on autumn fat.” During the dog days people have a poor appetite, and many will lose some weight. Of course, if you have lost weight you need to replenish it, and the method is to eat rich, flavorful food at the Start of Autumn, with meat being the first choice.
This custom is especially prevalent in the north. For example, in the old Beijing courtyard homes, at the Start of Autumn people mostly stew meat, braise fish, and stew chicken and duck; the meat is mostly cooked into braised pork, white-cut pork, or homemade braised pork knuckle, and some also eat meat or dumplings with crab roe filling or melon filling on this day.
In fact, eating stewed meat on the day of the Start of Autumn, apart from the long-standing customs, is also greatly beneficial for health preservation. Because summer is too hot, people unconsciously become picky eaters, which is very harmful to the body's ecological balance and often also affects the body's endocrine and biological functions.
And at the time of the Start of Autumn, people solve this problem by eating stewed meat, which not only supplements the necessary nutrition in the body such as fat, protein, and various trace elements, but also plays a role in enhancing the body's resistance. At the same time, the neutralization of various Chinese herbal medicines in the spice packet also has a therapeutic effect on the human body of dispelling plague and removing dampness, and balancing tonification and purging.
However, experts remind people not to rush to “put on autumn fat.” Because at this time a person's gastrointestinal function is relatively weak and has not yet been conditioned, if you eat too much meat and other high-protein foods, it will increase the burden on the stomach and intestines and affect gastrointestinal function. Therefore, meat should be eaten in moderation, and it is best to wait until the weather truly turns cool before increasing meat consumption.
Nowadays, “putting on autumn fat” should be raised to a new level, that is, emphasizing balanced nutrition, reasonably supplementing the protein, vitamins, and various other nutrients the body needs, and controlling the intake of fat, salt, and sugar, so as to enhance the body's resistance.
So during “autumn tonification,” in addition to appropriately supplementing some chicken, beef, and mutton foods, dairy products, beans, and fresh vegetables and fruits should also be eaten more, and various vitamins and minerals needed by the body should be comprehensively supplemented to maintain the body's acid-base balance.
What meat is suitable to eat in autumn
Duck
Duck is rich in nutrients, and traditional Chinese medicine says it can nourish the yin of the five viscera, clear the heat of deficiency and fatigue, enrich the blood and promote water movement, and nourish the stomach and promote fluid production. Duck meat at the Start of Autumn is plump, tender, and delicious, rich in nutrients, and can promptly supplement the protein, vitamins, and minerals essential to the human body. At the same time, duck meat is cool in nature, especially suitable for people with a hot constitution and internal heat, so it is a major tonic in autumn dietary therapy.
Recommended recipe: Old Duck Soup with Chinese Yam
Effects: Duck meat is cool in nature and has the effect of nourishing yin and the lungs, and relieving cough and reducing phlegm. Eating Chinese yam in autumn has the effect of benefiting the lungs and relieving cough, and strengthening the spleen and nourishing the stomach. Eating Chinese yam together with duck meat can also lower cholesterol, making it an excellent combination for autumn tonification.
Rabbit meat
Rabbit meat is rich in lecithin and also contains lysine and tryptophan, which the human body is most prone to lacking, and is beneficial for protecting the brain and enhancing blood vessel elasticity. Moreover, rabbit meat is easy to digest and, in the view of traditional Chinese medicine, can nourish yin and reduce internal heat, making it relatively suitable for eating in autumn.
Recommended recipe: Stewed Rabbit Meat Soup with Chinese Yam and Goji Berry
Effects: Strengthens the spleen and stomach, nourishes the liver and kidneys, calms the mind and enriches the blood, and tonifies the middle and replenishes qi.
Pork
Because pork's fibrous tissue is relatively soft and it also contains a large amount of intramuscular fat, it is easier to digest and absorb than beef. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that eating more lean pork has the effect of nourishing yin and moistening dryness, and has a certain therapeutic effect on diseases such as damage to body fluids from febrile disease, dry cough, and constipation, and is especially suitable for autumn dryness.
Recommended recipe: Braised Pork
Generally, in autumn, many people will tonify, which is commonly known as putting on autumn fat. Autumn tonification means eating meat, and different meats have different nutrients, so what meat is better to eat in autumn? Let us take a specific look below at what meat is suitable to eat in autumn.
Chicken
Chicken has a strong tonic effect, and people in a sub-health state are suitable for eating more of it. Chicken especially has a good dietary therapeutic effect on people with malnutrition, cold stomach, irregular menstruation, and qi and blood deficiency.
Recommended recipe: Braised Chicken with Carrots
Mutton
The best food for putting on autumn fat is none other than mutton. Mutton tastes sweet but not greasy, and is warm in nature but not dry. Eating mutton, on the one hand, can promote blood circulation and increase body heat, and can also increase digestive enzymes to help the stomach digest; on the other hand, because it is rich in nutrients, it is of great benefit for treating some deficiency-cold conditions.
Recommended recipe: Stewed Lamb Chops with Radish
Fish and shrimp
Fish and shrimp are rich in calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, trace elements, and other substances, all of which are essential to the human body. In autumn you can eat more fish foods; carp can tonify the spleen and strengthen the stomach and promote water movement and reduce swelling, while grass carp can warm the stomach and harmonize the middle, calm the liver and subdue yang, and improve eyesight, and is especially suitable for people with weak constitutions.
Recommended recipe: Crucian Carp and Tofu Soup
Precautions for eating meat in autumn
Eating too much beef easily causes internal heat
Beef is an “old friend” on the dining table. It is rich in high-quality protein and iron, helps improve the body's disease resistance, and is very suitable for people who are growing and developing or who are recuperating after surgery or illness to replenish blood loss and repair tissues.
But autumn is dry, and beef is a dry-heat food, so eating too much will cause internal heat. Therefore, although beef is good, it should be eaten in moderation. When beef is served on the table, dishes such as Chinese yam, lotus root, chestnuts, white hyacinth beans, water chestnuts, carrots, and shepherd's purse can also be provided; these all have varying degrees of effects in promoting fluid production and nourishing yin, and strengthening the spleen and stomach.
In addition, beef has a relatively high content of saturated fatty acids, so patients with high blood lipids and cardiovascular disease should not eat too much.
Tofu with mutton: nutritious and reduces internal heat
“Mutton has a high protein content and relatively low fat content, and eating more mutton helps improve the body's immunity. Moreover, it has the effects of tonifying the kidneys and strengthening yang, warming the middle and dispelling cold, warming and tonifying qi and blood, and stimulating the appetite and strengthening the spleen. Therefore, it has always been regarded as one of the important foods for keeping out the cold and tonifying in autumn and winter.” said Chen Chaogang, associate chief physician of the Clinical Nutrition Department of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, in an introduction. Eating mutton indeed has many benefits; the protein it contains is high-quality protein, and it also contains more iron, which is of some help in preventing and treating iron-deficiency anemia and weak constitutions.
He said that dishes such as mutton hot pot, mutton and radish soup, stewed mutton with goji berries, and mutton porridge are all very good folk ways of eating, which taste good and can also nourish health. “Different preparation methods should actually also be noted in combination with different individual constitutions. Adding water chestnuts and dried bean curd sticks when braising mutton can reduce its degree of ‘dry tonification’; adding codonopsis and goji berries to simmer together with mutton is beneficial for people with yang deficiency.” the expert said.
What green vegetables should be paired when eating mutton hot pot? The expert pointed out that at this time it is best to pair it with tofu, which can not only supplement various trace elements, but the gypsum in it can also play a role in clearing heat and purging fire, and relieving restlessness and quenching thirst; and stewing mutton and radish together is also well-founded, as this can fully bring into play the cool nature of radish, which can eliminate food stagnation and resolve phlegm-heat.
“But not all groups of people are suitable for following the trend of eating mutton. People who often have mouth and tongue sores, red eyes, bitter taste in the mouth, irritability, dry and painful throat, and swollen and painful gums, those with diarrhea or dry and hard stools, or those whose Chinese herbal prescriptions contain pinellia or acorus gramineus should all avoid eating mutton.” the expert reminded. In addition, hepatitis patients had best also eat less mutton, so as to avoid a large amount of protein entering the body and increasing the burden on the liver, leading to illness.
Do not drink tea immediately after eating dog meat
Although there is considerable controversy over eating dog meat, it does not prevent those who love to eat it from seeking it everywhere. According to Zhou Zhihui, a nutritionist in the Medical Nutrition major at Lingnan Institute of Technology, dog meat is a warm-natured food. From the positive side, eating dog meat can strengthen a person's physique, improve digestive ability, and promote blood circulation, and is especially helpful for improving weakness in the elderly, such as cold limbs and low spirits.
But dog meat must be thoroughly cooked. Because although dogs are mostly domesticated, they often eat contaminated miscellaneous food and small animals, so they are very prone to trichinosis. If you eat dog meat carrying trichinella larvae that has not been fully cooked, you can easily become infected with trichinosis, which can multiply in large numbers in the human body and parasitize within the muscles, causing severe symptoms such as muscle pain and atrophy.
In addition, after eating dog meat you should not immediately drink tea. “This is because the tannic acid in tea leaves combines with the protein in dog meat to form a substance called tannic acid protein. This substance has a certain astringent effect, which can weaken intestinal peristalsis and reduce the water content in the stool, leading to constipation.” the expert explained.
On the other hand, people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases should not eat too much dog meat, and people who have just recovered from a serious illness should also not eat it. Patients with cough, cold, fever, diarrhea, etc. had best also avoid dog meat.