Eating staple foods soaked in soup or water not only hinders digestion and absorption but also affects the function of the spleen and stomach, with a greater impact on children and the elderly.
Everyone knows the story of "swallowing a date whole," but from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, eating staple food soaked in soup or water while eating is also a kind of "swallowing a date whole."
Why do we say that? There's a saying among ordinary people: "Rice soaked in soup is hard to chew." This means that if you always soak your staple food in water before eating, the food won't be properly chewed before you swallow it, which is not good for digestion and absorption and will also affect the function of your spleen and stomach.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the spleen governs transformation and transportation, meaning it converts food into nutrients and then transports them to various organs and tissues throughout the body. The spleen acts like a processing plant, turning semi-finished products (chewed by the teeth) into finished products. If any raw materials contain defective or coarse elements-for example, some food not fully chewed-then the finished product produced during this "reprocessing" process will naturally be substandard. Even worse, it can increase wear and tear on the "machine," leading to problems with the spleen and stomach.
Then there are young children. Some parents like to chew food thoroughly before feeding it to their young children, which is also harmful to their spleen and stomach. Just like how limbs become lazy if not used, eating food soaked in soup is even worse. Because children's spleen and stomach are not yet fully developed, if food is swallowed without being chewed properly, it not only affects the digestion and absorption of nutrients, but also hinders the development of the child's spleen and stomach functions.
At this point, some people might ask, isn't soaking rice in water the same as drinking porridge? Doesn't drinking porridge also hurt the stomach? Actually, soaking rice in water and drinking porridge are fundamentally different. Porridge is made by dissolving the nutrients from the rice into the broth; in short, it's grain juice. But soaking rice is different; it's just water and rice, making it difficult to fully extract the nutrients from the rice, which is not conducive to absorption.
From a modern medical perspective, soaking food in water while eating can easily dilute stomach acid, leading to indigestion. Studies have found that the longer food is chewed and the finer it is ground, the better it is for nutrient absorption. Furthermore, some carcinogens, such as aflatoxin and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, found in certain foods can be partially broken down by saliva. Soaking food in water doesn't take full advantage of this healthy eating habit.
Therefore, I advise those who are used to eating rice soaked in soup or drinking water while eating to change their habits for the sake of their health!
Many children are so thin they're practically skin and bones, and no matter how much nutrition they consume, they can't gain weight. This is largely due to their diet of rice soaked in soup. As living conditions improve, people are also spoiling their children more and more, always trying to satisfy their appetites and letting them eat whatever they want. This unhealthy eating habit should be changed.
We all know that children often prefer eating to drinking, and prefer cold to hot food-this is a physiological phenomenon. In addition, children love to play and are very active, and they don't understand the importance of drinking water. Therefore, many parents tend to soak their children's food in water to get them to drink. For the sake of children's health, it's better to return their eating habits to normal. For example, preparing some soup that they like before or after meals can be nutritious and help alleviate dehydration.
Besides children, the elderly are another serious victim of eating rice soaked in soup. As people age, consuming rice with soup can easily worsen their already weakened digestive systems. Because the functions of various organs gradually decline in the elderly, eating rice soaked in soup means swallowing food before it's properly chewed. The digestive system can't handle such large pieces of food, leading to indigestion. For the elderly, it's crucial to chew food thoroughly and slowly to promote nutrient absorption; they should never rely solely on soup to eat rice.
