Chinese customs of tobacco, wine and tea

Tobacco, wine, and tea

Don’t smoke, drink less alcohol, and drink more tea

Tobacco, wine, and tea seem to be closely related to people’s lives. For many people, if there are no cigarettes, wine, or tea, they will feel that there is something missing. Especially at some decent banquets, there must be good smoke, good wine, and high-end tea, otherwise it will not be a banquet. The banquet is like this. Even if there is a guest at home, cigarettes, wine and tea are indispensable. In normal times, even if there are no guests, people seem to be inseparable from cigarettes, wine, and tea, which are really important parts of life. Precisely because tobacco, alcohol, and tea are closely related to human health, when talking about health preservation, tobacco, alcohol, and tea must be studied.

-No smoking

-Drink less alcohol

-Drink more tea

First of all, it is better not to smoke.

Smoking is harmful to human health. But in recent years, more and more people smoke in our country. Not only middle-aged people smoke, but also young people smoke. Some eight or nine-year-old children are also learning to smoke. Female smokers are also growing rapidly. Although the most precious thing for a person is life, smoking is equivalent to chronic suicide, but for those who smoke, this seems to be a deaf ear, and they cannot live without smoking. Therefore, we must shout loudly: For your health and the prosperity of the country, it is better not to smoke! So, how can you stop smoking?

(1) We must truly understand the dangers of smoking.

Someone has made some statistics: 90% of lung cancer, 75% of emphysema and 25% of coronary heart disease are caused by smoking. About 2.5 million people around the world die from various diseases caused by smoking every year, an average of one person every 13 seconds. Every year, 4,000 to 5,000 people die from passive smoking in the United States, 1,000 in the United Kingdom, and 500 in Canada.

The nicotine contained in one cigarette can kill a mouse, and the nicotine contained in 20 cigarettes can kill a person.

The countries with the highest male smoking rates in the world are developing countries, such as Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand. More than 70% of men in these countries smoke. The countries with the lowest male smoking rates are all developed countries, such as Austria, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States. Less than 40% of men smoke in these countries.

The life of a smoker, based on smoking a pack of low-end cigarettes costing 7 cents a day, will cost 255 yuan a year. If you smoke from the age of 20 to the age of 60, 10,220 yuan will be turned into smoke. If you deposit 21 yuan per month in the bank, including the principal and interest, it will eventually become a 10,000 yuan account.

All the above statistics show that people must not be indifferent to quitting smoking and must be determined to quit smoking. But for many people, why can’t they make up their minds? There are naturally many reasons for this. Smoking does have a role that cannot be replaced by anything else. There is a couplet in a cigarette shop that says: "I don't have to drink wine to get drunk, but tea can be used as a guest." This shows the convenience and comfort of cigarettes. Smoking can also relax people's nerves, and talking can lighten the atmosphere. In movies, television and literary works, most great people, celebrities and protagonists of works smoke. There are many smokers in life, which undoubtedly provides psychological support and influence to those who want to learn to smoke. In fact, as long as people truly understand the dangers of smoking or have health reasons, they can quit smoking. There are many famous people in history and real life who were able to make the decision to quit smoking. Here are just a few examples.

Qianlong liked smoking very much and smoked almost whenever he had time. Later, he often coughed and asked the imperial doctor for treatment. The imperial doctor said: "The emperor's cough is caused by smoking that damages the lungs. If you want to cure the cough, you must first quit smoking." Qianlong listened to the imperial doctor's advice, quit smoking, and his cough was cured.

Marx was once a heavy smoker and often smoked while working. He once said that the royalties from "Das Kapital" were not enough to pay for the cigars I needed to smoke while writing. Later, he got bronchitis and the doctor prohibited him from smoking, so he decided to quit smoking.

In the past, former US President Ronald Reagan smoked a pipe. Since 1985, he believed that smoking was very dangerous to the body and decided to quit smoking. In 1988 he signed a bill requiring cigarette box advertisements to carry more warnings about the dangers of smoking.

The United States is working hard to create a "smoking-free" society by the year 2000.

The above shows that as long as you make up your mind, you can quit smoking.

(2) Smoking cessation measures should be taken according to different situations.

Tobacco is not addictive or pathologically dependent. It is just a habit formed in long-term life or called a conditioned reflex, which is a mental and psychological reaction. When some people start quitting smoking, they may feel a sense of loss, a little restless, and some may feel slightly lethargic and have increased salivation. This is mainly a manifestation of conditioned reflexes and will pass after a few days.

Nowadays, more and more teenagers are getting into the habit of smoking. According to statistics, at least 1/3 of young people aged 15 to 25 in large and medium-sized cities smoke, and even some young women have begun to smoke. How to persuade them to quit smoking? The key is to patiently do persuasion work based on their ideological status. Some people smoke out of curiosity, mostly middle school students. They have a strong sense of adulthood and adult desires, and they imitate every move of adults intentionally or unintentionally. This is one of them. The second is vanity, which is common among young workers around the age of 20. They think that if they don't smoke, they are afraid of being ridiculed as being unsociable. In order to appear "luxurious", they have to use "Peony" and "Hilton" to show off their appearance. The third is a sense of fashion. This kind of mentality is mostly among young women. They think that holding a thin and long cigarette between their blood-red nails seems very fashionable and trendy. Young people have not been smoking for a long time and it is easier to quit smoking. As long as they are patiently persuaded and guided correctly, most people will quit.

For ordinary people, there are five levels of preparation for quitting smoking:

The first is the level of hard work and fatigue, that is, when you feel tired or use your brain or write materials, you must not forgive yourself , regard smoking as a comfort product or stimulant, and try to use smoking to relieve fatigue.

Secondly, when celebrating a new year, participating in festive activities, or entertaining old friends or guests from afar that you haven’t seen for many years, you cannot use smoking as an exception to celebrate.

The third is joy, anger, sorrow and joy. When there is a wedding or funeral, when you are depressed or troubled, or when you see a good cigarette, you should not smoke another one just by chance.

The fourth is self-esteem. Friends often use quitting smoking as a joke. Some say that quitting smoking is to save money, while others say that quitting smoking is due to "tracheitis" (strict wife control). Often, when a friend "checks", "self-esteem" rises. , so all previous efforts were wasted.

Fifth is the "final" level. People who quit smoking often comfort themselves that this is the last one, and there will be no next one. The last one will be the last one, and there will be another one after that. As long as you can't get through any of the above hurdles, you will relapse and all your previous efforts will be wasted. Therefore, you must not take it lightly when quitting smoking.

For smokers, there are several situations that should be paid special attention to. You may wish to start quitting under these situations first.

Don’t smoke immediately after eating. Many people often say: "A cigarette after a meal is better than a living god." This is totally wrong. Because the human body functions and metabolizes vigorously after a meal, many organs are in the best state to absorb substances. If you smoke one cigarette immediately after a meal, the poisonous dose will be greater than the usual 10 cigarettes.

Second, avoid smoking after taking medicine. Because smoking will reduce the efficacy of drugs, this is because drugs taken orally or injected into the human body are metabolized by the liver, and smoking will increase the activity of liver drug-metabolizing enzymes and reduce the concentration of drugs. A hospital in New York City, USA, also found that smokers who took certain medicines for half an hour had only 1.2% to 1.8% of the active ingredients in the blood, while non-smokers had 21% to 24%, which is about 20 times the former.

Third, avoid drinking and smoking at the same time. Because the carcinogens contained in the smoke inhaled into the mouth precipitate in the smoker's mouth, nose, throat, lungs, etc., when drinking and smoking, the smoke oil adhering to the mouth and throat will be consumed with the drink, and then Dissolves quickly and is absorbed into the bloodstream. Because alcohol needs to be metabolized by the liver, and the liver breaks down the alcohol and is unable to remove the toxins in time, making the toxins even more harmful to human health.

Fourth, avoid smoking when going to the toilet.

The ammonia concentration in the toilet is very high and the oxygen content is insufficient. Due to incomplete combustion of tobacco under low oxygen conditions, more sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide will be produced. In this way, more harmful gases will be inhaled into the body, which can easily induce angina in patients with coronary heart disease. Acute exacerbation in patients with tracheitis.

Fifth, avoid smoking when pregnant women or children are present. Pregnant women may suffer miscarriage or premature birth if they smell smoke for a long time; children living in an environment of passive smoking for a long time can cause reduced lung function and respiratory diseases.

Second, how to drink well?

For thousands of years, people have developed a deep friendship with wine. It is a symbol of friendship and a symbol of victory. Wine is needed for joy, anger, sorrow, and joy. Therefore, "wine meets a close friend, and a thousand cups are too little." To this day, wine is still a "friend" that people can't live without. As the saying goes: "There is no feast without wine." During the Chinese New Year and festivals, when entertaining relatives and friends, drinking wine and conversing can increase friendship and joyful atmosphere.

Wine is a beverage made from various grains, koji or fruits. It is divided into two categories: distilled wine (shochu, white wine) and non-distilled wine (yellow wine, wine), both of which contain alcohol (ethanol). ).

Liquor: The main ingredients are alcohol and water. Alcohol is not only a condiment, stimulant, but also a nutrient. Animal experiments have proven that 70% of the chemical energy of alcohol (ethanol) can be utilized by the human body, that is, 1 gram of ethanol can provide 5 kcal of heat energy.

Wine: In addition to alcohol and water (about 89% to 90%), it also contains large amounts of sugar, glycerin, protein, organic acids, organic salts and minerals. Wine has a mild sour taste, and this acidity is close to the acidity of human gastric juice (pH 2 ~ 2.5). It is the best drink to accompany egg-based foods. Wine is rich in vitamin B, but lacks vitamin C; it is also rich in potassium and magnesium salts, but low in phosphoric acid and calcium.

Beer: It is a low-alcohol fermented wine. Each liter of beer can provide 400 kcal of calories, half of which comes from alcohol and the other half from various sugars. Beer can stimulate insulin secretion and carbohydrate metabolism, and contains a large amount of B vitamins, especially vitamin B12.

Yellow wine: It is the most common low-alcohol drink in my country. It can remove fishy smell and can also be used as a medicine, so it is deeply loved by people. Rice wine can remove the smell of fish and shrimp and remove the smell of mutton. What causes the fishy smell of fish and shrimp is trimethylamine, etc., which can dissolve in the alcohol of rice wine. When heated and cooked, the fishy smell evaporates and disappears with the alcohol. "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: All wines have different alcohol contents, but rice wine is used for medicinal purposes. The so-called medicinal use means that it is used as a drug introduction in traditional Chinese medicine.

Medicated wine: This refers to wine made by adding a certain amount of certain foods and medicines to wine, which is used to prevent diseases and keep fit. For example, ginseng wine can treat neurasthenia, fatigue, palpitations, shortness of breath, impotence and other symptoms; hawthorn wine can treat overwork, physical fatigue and women's dysmenorrhea; wolfberry wine can treat liver and kidney deficiency, dark eyes, weak vision, and wind exposure. It can treat eye diseases such as tearing, grow muscles, and improve complexion; safflower wine can treat women's blood deficiency, blood stasis dysmenorrhea, etc.; Atractylodes wine can strengthen teeth, make the face shiny, cure diseases, and prolong life.

People have mixed opinions about wine, and this phenomenon has probably not changed much since ancient times. In fact, alcohol can be a blessing or a curse. "Li Dabai was drunk and wrote barbaric books" in "Wonderful Views of Modern and Ancient Times", which tells that after drinking heavily, Li Bai concentrated his passion on his pen, repaired his books with a swipe of brush, and greatly boosted his country's prestige. Li Bai was addicted to drinking, and only by drinking could he flourish in poetry, so there is a saying that "Li Bai wrote one hundred poems about drinking wine". In "Water Margin", Wu Song was drunk and fought a tiger, which also made the hero brave. Cao Cao and Liu Bei "discuss heroes by boiling green plums in wine", and Zhao Kuangyin "releases military power with a glass of wine", both of which are based on wine. But wine can also ruin things. For example, the downfall of King Zhou of the Yin Dynasty was related to the "wine pond and meat forest"; the mournful cry of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was also related to "indulging in wine and sex"; Meng Zhangfei was also drunk and beat people randomly, and his head was cut off in a daze. Even in the 1990s, there were many tragedies involving deaths caused by drinking.

Since wine has dual effects on the human body, how to drink it is good for health?

First of all, it is better to drink less but not too much.

The famous poet Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty advocated that people only need to drink tea instead of taking medicine if they have minor illnesses. There is a poem that says: "Why should Emperor Wei need a pill to drink seven bowls of tea from Lu Tong?" Lu Tong was a famous tea drinker in the Tang Dynasty in history. Literary man, he vividly described the beauty of drinking tea in his poem "Xie Meng's Admonition to Send New Tea": "One bowl moistens the throat, two bowls break the loneliness, and three bowls search the dry intestines. Only five words can be found." Thousands of rolls; four bowls will cause light sweating, and life's injustice will be dispersed into the pores; five bowls will clear the muscles and bones, six bowls will clear the spirits, and seven bowls will not be eaten, but the two sides will feel the breeze. "This is the world-famous " The popular "Lu Tong Seven Bowls of Tea".

Our country is the earliest country to produce tea in the world and the hometown of tea. The world's first tea masterpiece "Tea Classic" written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty discussed the origin and varieties of tea. , tea growing technology, processing methods, cooking methods, drinking methods and various utensils related to harvesting, cooking and drinking, etc. This scientific and technical monograph on tea spreads the knowledge of tea. It not only made a great contribution to the development of tea in our country, but also had a profound impact on the development of tea in the world. The export of Chinese tea gradually led to the development of tea drinking in the world, making tea one of the three major beverages in the world. Why is tea so popular? This is mainly due to the health-care effects of tea on people.

Tea not only has good curative effects, but also has many functions and can prevent and treat many diseases. As early as the Tang Dynasty, the medical scientist Chen Zangqi saw this and proposed: "All medicines are medicines for various diseases, and tea is medicine for all diseases." He spoke highly of the health-care effects of tea on people. Specifically, he said that the main functions of tea are:

(1) Refreshing and refreshing. "I lie high by the north window and snore like thunder, who sends vanilla to exchange my dreams?" This is an elegant line in Lu You's "Tea Test" poem, which shows that tea has a refreshing effect. Even Bai Juyi, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, praised the refreshing effect of tea with the poem "break sleep and see the power of tea". The reason why tea is refreshing is because it contains caffeine, and caffeine has the effect of stimulating the central nervous system.

(2) Diuretic and cardiotonic. As the saying goes: "Thick tea leaves will make the urination easier. Three cups of tea will relieve the pain." This refers to the diuretic effect of tea, so drinking tea can treat a variety of urinary system diseases, such as edema, cystitis, urethritis, etc.; For urinary system stones, tea also has a certain effect in removing stones. Fujian Medical University once conducted a survey of 1,080 people in the Anxi tea area and found that drinking tea is closely related to reducing the occurrence of coronary heart disease. The incidence rate of coronary heart disease among people who do not drink tea is 3.1%, that among those who occasionally drink tea is 2.3%, and that among those who drink tea regularly is 1.4%. It can be seen that regular drinking of tea is indeed beneficial to preventing coronary heart disease. This is because the caffeine and theophylline contained in tea can directly excite the heart, expand the coronary arteries, allow blood to fully flow into the heart, and improve the function of the heart itself.

(3) Produce fluid and quench thirst. "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: "Tea is bitter and cold, and... can best reduce fire. Fire is responsible for all diseases, and when fire is reduced, the upper body will be clear." The "Supplement to Materia Medica" of the Tang Dynasty also said: "Tea is a valuable drink to quench thirst and eliminate diseases." Especially in summer, tea is a good drink to prevent heatstroke, cool down, and eliminate diseases.

(4) Digestion and hangover. Drinking tea can remove greasiness and help digestion. During holidays, add vegetables and meat, and drink a cup of strong tea to easily resolve greasiness and digestion. This is because tea contains some aromatic compounds that can dissolve fat and help digest meat. Some ethnic minorities in my country's border areas who mainly eat meat understand this very well. They say: "It would be better to live without oil and salt for a day than to live without tea." The reason why tea relieves hangovers is because the caffeine in tea can increase the liver's ability to respond to alcohol. The ability to metabolize substances, enhance blood circulation, help expel alcohol in the blood from the body, and alleviate and eliminate the irritation caused by alcohol. Therefore, drinking a cup of tea after drinking can help sober up and detoxify.

(5) Sterilize and reduce inflammation. Experiments have shown that tea has an inhibitory effect on E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and viruses. This is because polyphenols such as catechins and theaflavins in tea combine with viral proteins, thereby reducing the activity of the virus. Tea infusion or decoction has antibacterial effects on various types of Shigella dysenteriae, and its antibacterial effect is comparable to that of coptis.

(6) Lower blood pressure, anti-aging and anti-aging. Tea polyphenols, vitamin C and vitamin PP are all active ingredients contained in tea. These active ingredients can lower lipids, lower blood pressure and improve vascular function.

In addition, drinking too much tea can cause anemia. In Israel, tea is a common drink for infants, and the incidence of iron deficiency anemia in infants there is as high as 26% to 68%. This is because the tannic acid in tea can combine with iron to form insoluble iron tannate salts in the intestines, which cannot be absorbed and utilized by the body. Because the absorption of iron is affected, the storage capacity of iron is reduced, and anemia occurs over time. Some people like to take medicine with tea, which is also wrong. Tea cannot be consumed at the same time as baking soda, sleeping pills, quinine, iron and other drugs, because tea contains a large amount of tannic acid, which can react chemically with proteins, alkaloids and metal salts in the drugs to cause precipitation, affecting the efficacy of the drugs. , or even invalid. It should also be pointed out that it is not advisable to take a large amount of strong tea before going to bed, as this will cause insomnia, and even taking sedative drugs will not help.

Tea has been used as a beverage for human consumption for a long time, but its use as a tea bath is only recent. Tea bath is actually a type of medicinal bath. The active ingredients of various tea leaves dissolved in the bath water enter the body through the absorption of skin capillaries. Some active ingredients of tea leaves can evaporate with steam and enter the body through the respiratory tract, synergistically exerting the effect of tea bath. Modern medical research believes that bathing with tea is beneficial to health. Because tea contains tannic acid, caffeine and aromatic oils, which can help remove dirt and body odor, make people feel refreshed and relieve fatigue after bathing. Tea also contains tannic acid and lipopolysaccharide. People who often watch TV or work under the hot sun for a long time often bathe with tea to help prevent the damage of light radiation to the skin.