How to eat mushrooms so that they are not hard to digest? First of all, you need to know which dishes can be combined with them and which will additionally burden the digestive system. The form in which mushrooms are consumed is also important (sauces, soups, marinades, fried mushrooms, cooked mushrooms). Check how to eat mushrooms so that they are not heavy, from which age you can give mushrooms to children without fear and why you should not combine mushrooms with alcohol
How to eat mushrooms so that they are not hard to digest?
Just follow a few basic rules. Thanks to them, each of us will be able to enjoy the amazing taste and aroma of mushrooms without worrying about stomach problems.
Mushrooms, despite being low in calories (90% water), are classified as hard to digest. The fungal cell walls contain chitin. It is a polysaccharide that resembles cellulose but is not digested by the human stomach. In addition, mushrooms contain a lot of protein types, which are poorly dissolved by stomach acids.
For this reason, it is recommended to stew mushrooms only in their own sauce, and not in other, often difficult to digest. It is sauces that contain cream, roux and too few herbs to facilitate digestion, such as rosemary, thyme, marjoram, savoury, cumin, juniper, make the mushrooms even more difficult to digest. It is also difficult to digest a dish in which stewed mushrooms are an addition to meat.
It is safest to eat mushrooms that have undergone a heat treatment (preferably cooking for about 30 minutes in ~100 Celsius degrees). Mushrooms can also be fried. It is not recommended to eat mushrooms grilled over a bonfire or fried on a baking sheet, as they burn quickly, while inside they remain raw. And raw mushrooms can contain dangerous toxins that can cause more serious problems with the digestive system.
If fungi play a major role in the menu, the remaining products should be easily digestible so that they do not burden the stomach. Avoid combining fungi with foods that are difficult to digest, such as beans. It is better to replace them with potatoes and lettuce. Because mushrooms stay in the stomach for a long time, they should not be eaten in the evening.
Do not combine mushrooms with alcohol!
You should not combine mushrooms with alcohol, because it traps the protein of the fungus in the stomach, which becomes even more resistant to the effects of digestive juices, and thus – they stay even longer in the stomach, which can be potentially dangerous.
It is not recommended to consume alcoholic beverages, as well as medicines containing alcohol about 2 days before and about 3 days after eating mushrooms.
Mushrooms should not be given to children!
The general recommendations are that mushrooms should not be given to children under 3 years of age. However, some specialists believe that this age limit should be shifted to nine or even twelve years. It is believed that the livers of children are not able to digest compounds that are contained in mushrooms. In addition, mushrooms do not contain basic nutrients, such as vitamins, in an amount that would meet the needs of growing children. Therefore, it makes no sense to include mushrooms in your child's menu.
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