Is chives an acidic food or an alkaline food?

Chives are a common vegetable, also known as cao zhong ru, qi yang cao, lan ren cai, and others. They are a perennial herbaceous plant with persistent roots of the Amaryllidaceae family, Allium genus, cultivated everywhere across our country. The leaves, scapes, and flowers are all eaten as vegetables, and they have effects such as tonifying the kidneys and strengthening the stomach, promoting the flow of qi and refreshing the spirit, and stopping sweating and astringing. Let us take a look below at whether chives are acidic or alkaline!

Are chives acidic or alkaline?

Chives are an alkaline food. Whether a food is acidic or alkaline can be judged by referring to its content of calcium and phosphorus. Foods with much calcium are alkaline foods, and foods with much phosphorus are acidic foods. Common alkaline foods include chives, beans and their products, almonds, coconut, tea leaves, kelp, lemons, onions, tofu, jujubes, and others.

What are the benefits of eating chives?

1. Tonifying the kidneys and warming yang: Chives contain a sexual stimulant that can excite the sexual organs. In pharmacopoeias they are known as qi yang cao (yang-raising herb) and can warm the kidneys and assist yang.

2. Benefiting the liver and strengthening the stomach: The volatile essential oils and sulfides contained in chives help to regulate liver qi, increase appetite, and enhance the function of the digestive system.

3. Promoting the flow of qi and regulating blood: The pungent odor of chives has the effect of dissipating blood stasis and invigorating blood, and promoting the flow of qi and relieving stagnation. It is suitable for symptoms such as nausea, enteritis, vomiting blood, and chest pain.

4. Moistening the intestines and relieving constipation: The vitamins and crude fiber contained in chives can promote gastrointestinal peristalsis and have the effect of treating constipation and preventing intestinal cancer.

5. Enhancing immunity: The sulfides contained in chives have a certain bactericidal and anti-inflammatory effect, helping the human body improve its own immunity.

Who should not eat chives?

1. People with yin deficiency and hyperactive fire, such as those with hot palms and soles and night sweats, should not eat chives.

2. People who do not like spicy food and those prone to allergies should not eat chives.

3. Chives have a certain excitatory effect on the uterus, so pregnant women should not eat chives.

4. Modern medicine believes that people with yang hyperactivity and heat-pattern conditions should not eat chives.

5. People with tonsillitis, sinus empyema, and otitis media should not eat chives.

6. People with indigestion or weak gastrointestinal function are prone to heartburn when eating chives, and should not eat too much.

7. Patients with heat-pattern conditions such as bad breath, mouth and tongue sores, and smoke-induced sore throat should not eat chives.

8. People lacking calcium, iron, and zinc should eat as little chives as possible.

9. People who have just recovered from a serious illness should also eat chives, and it is best to eat more rice porridge and other easily digestible foods.