After the Start of Autumn, the temperature gradually cools from hot to mild, the body's energy expenditure decreases, and appetite begins to increase. Therefore, nutritional intake and diet can be adjusted according to the characteristics of autumn to replenish the body's summer consumption and prepare for the winter. Following the principle of "nourishing dryness with moistening," the diet should mainly consist of foods that nourish yin, clear heat, moisten dryness, quench thirst, and refresh the mind. Suitable foods include sesame seeds, honey, tremella (silver ear fungus), and dairy products. The air in autumn is less humid, and the skin is prone to dryness. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the intake of water and vitamins throughout the autumn season.
In autumn, one should appropriately choose "moistening but not greasy" mildly tonifying foods. Foods with this effect include water bamboo shoots, pumpkin, lotus seeds, longans, black sesame seeds, red dates, and walnuts. For those with a weak spleen and stomach, or indigestion, they can consume foods that strengthen the spleen and nourish the stomach, such as lotus seeds, Chinese yam, and hyacinth beans.
When experiencing symptoms of "autumn dryness" such as a dry mouth and chapped lips, one should choose foods that nourish and moisten, and benefit the middle burner and supplement qi. Such foods include tremella (silver ear fungus) and lily bulbs. On the other hand, one should avoid pungent, barbecued, and "heaty" foods, such as chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, cassia bark, ginger, scallions, and alcohol. These foods are inherently warm in nature, and during the cooking process, they lose a lot of moisture. They require more saliva for digestion, and after consumption, they can easily cause internal heat, worsening the symptoms of autumn dryness. However, using small amounts of scallions, ginger, or garlic as seasonings, or making soups with warm meats and poultry, served with some yin-nourishing and moistening foods like tremella, will not exacerbate the symptoms of autumn dryness.