Be cautious when eating seafood hot pot on cold days.

Seafood hot pot is a favorite dish, easy to eat, doesn't cause weight gain... and is the number one choice on cold days, but if you're not careful, you can easily get a stomach ache or even food poisoning.

On cold days, for gatherings with friends and family, seafood hot pot is a delicious, light, easy-to-digest, non-fattening, and highly nutritious dish that's always at the top of the list. According to culinary experts, it tastes even better when eaten cold.

However, there are still certain risks and taboos. Some people should avoid eating seafood hot pot, such as:

- Pregnant women eating hot pot can easily damage their stomachs and intestines. Eating undercooked ingredients can lead to parasitic diseases such as liver flukes…

- People with gout, diabetes, or high blood pressure should avoid eating mushrooms and seafood because, while nutritious, they are high in purines and cholesterol, which can trigger these conditions.

- People with stomach problems or poor digestion should avoid eating overly spicy hot pot as it can damage the digestive system, irritate the stomach and cause pain... Hot pot dishes must always be eaten after being heated, and the addition of spicy seasonings can easily lead to inflammation, ulcers, clinical abdominal pain, acute pancreatitis, and even stomach bleeding or perforation...

- People with weak spleen and stomach, poor appetite, slow digestion, and loose stools should not eat clams (because clams are salty and have a cold nature).

Conversely, people with yin deficiency (thin, prone to dizziness, night sweats, hot palms and soles, dry mouth and throat, etc.) will find this very beneficial.

- Regarding oysters and jellyfish, people who have recently recovered from leprosy, acute or chronic skin diseases, or have weak spleen and stomach should avoid eating them. However, they are very good for people with asthma, constipation, arthritis, and gastrointestinal ulcers.

Illustrative image.

How to eat safely?

Hot pot dishes often include raw meat, raw fish, and raw vegetables. During consumption, there's a risk of contracting pathogenic microorganisms and parasitic eggs. Therefore, it's essential to boil the ingredients while eating to ensure effective sterilization.

- Avoid eating food that is too hot to prevent damage to the mouth and esophageal lining, leading to mouth and esophageal ulcers, or harm to teeth and gums, causing toothache or allergic reactions.

- Hot pot should not be eaten for extended periods because it can disrupt the normal secretion of gastric juices, bile, pancreatic juices, and other digestive glands, leading to digestive disorders, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

- The best broth for hot pot is freshly prepared. Hot pot broth should not be reused multiple times, and should definitely not be reused after being left overnight.

- Avoid adding too many ingredients to the hot pot at once and don't overcook the food. If you add fresh seafood along with raw meats, animal organs, and starchy potatoes, your hot pot will become a hodgepodge of flavors. Moreover, you risk contracting parasites that can harm your digestive system.

Folk superstitions

- Avoid eating seafood with fruit because it reduces protein and calcium levels. It also causes acid to combine with seafood protein, forming indigestible deposits that irritate the digestive system, leading to stomach pain, nausea, or vomiting. Vitamin C should also not be taken with shellfish as it can be converted into other substances harmful to the body. If you want to eat fruit, wait two hours after eating seafood.

- Do not eat sea shrimp with goat meat. Do not take vitamin C after eating shrimp.

- Avoid eating clams, mussels, and oysters while drinking beer, as beer will cause excess protein to accumulate in the body, leading to joint pain and swelling, and causing sudden pain for those with gout.

- After swimming, you shouldn't drink beer with seafood because it can easily trigger gout attacks.

And there are many other folk superstitions, some true, some lacking a reliable basis. But seafood is high in protein, so you shouldn't eat fruit immediately after eating it because digestion is slower than usual. You also shouldn't eat a lot of seafood at once, or in one day, as it can easily cause stomach pain and diarrhea.

If you experience stomach pain or dizziness after eating seafood hotpot, you should induce vomiting or go to the hospital immediately so that they have the necessary solutions, equipment, and emergency medication.

According to giadinh.net