If you go to a restaurant in Western countries, they usually serve you a cup of cold water, sometimes even with ice. And every time Chinese people ask the waiter if they can change it to hot water, actually they may receive a strange look from the waiter or people nearby. Hot water? Seriously? Many westerners scratch their heads at this practice. But for many Chinese people, nothing is more common than drinking hot water every day. Why?
Many Chinese people believe that hot food is better for the stomach. Based on traditional Chinese medicine, cold food may decrease the temperature of your internal organs, which can cause a chill in your body and make you suffer from a cold easily. But hot water can warm your stomach, making your stomach function properly, which gives less chance of gastrointestinal (肠胃的) diseases and is better for digestion.
On the contrary, most Westerners believe that drinking hot water may weaken the body’s protective functions. If you are used to drinking hot water, the body becomes unable to stand water below its temperature after a long period of time. That is to say, the body’s endurance (耐力) declines, which goes against the state of natural survival.
In addition to drinking hot water, Chinese people are also accustomed to warm food. This is the reason why waiters always serve you a glass of hot water or hot tea when you are in a Chinese restaurant. In Western countries, people prefer raw food and similarly drink water cold. At the same time, they are fond of hamburgers, cheese and fried stuff, which are all high in calories. Therefore, they rely on cold drinks to cool down.
Making warm water part of our daily routine can be a simple and effective way to support overall health and well-being. And an increasing number of Chinese doctors are encouraging more people outside China to take up the habit of drinking hot water, especially for women during their period, as it is more soothing to the stomach than cold water.