Traditional Chinese medicine believes that white-colored foods are beneficial to the lungs, as they can nourish yin, moisten dryness, and replenish qi.
What to Eat for Autumn Health Preservation
Recommended Autumn Vegetable One: Lotus Root
Lotus Root - Raw, it is crisp and refreshing, clearing heat and moistening the lungs. Cooked, it becomes soft and tender. Having grown up in the south, lotus root has always been my favorite. As a child, I would spear the holes of a steamed lotus root with two chopsticks and run off happily to play. When eating hot pot, boiled lotus root has a wonderful texture and flavor.
Fresh lotus root is rich in vitamins and minerals. Among tuber vegetables, it has a relatively high iron content, making it ideal for those with iron-deficiency anemia. This is the principle behind using lotus root with other ingredients in soups to nourish the blood. The sugar content of lotus root is not very high, and it contains a good amount of Vitamin C and dietary fiber, making it highly beneficial for people with conditions like liver disease, constipation, and diabetes, or any condition characterized by weakness. Lotus root is rich in Vitamin K, which has a hemostatic effect, making it extremely suitable for those with bloody stools and for postpartum women.
When eaten raw, such as by juicing fresh lotus root, its effects are even more potent. In ancient times, a mixture of fresh lotus root juice, fresh pear juice, fresh water chestnut juice, and sugarcane juice was often used to treat symptoms like thirst and yin damage caused by febrile diseases, as well as restlessness and irritability. When cooked, lotus root can strengthen the spleen and whet the appetite, making it suitable for all ages. Women can eat lotus root after childbirth; although raw and cold foods are generally avoided postpartum, lotus root is an exception due to its hemostatic and blood-stasis-resolving properties. Furthermore, lotus root has the effect of clearing the lungs and stopping bleeding, making it especially recommended for smokers.
Lotus root clears heat, removes dryness, and promotes the production of body fluids to quench thirst. When selecting lotus root, choose those with yellowish-brown skin, thick, white flesh. If it is black or has an off smell, it should not be eaten. It is best to choose lotus roots with short nodes and thick stalks; the second section from the tip is considered the best. An uncut lotus root can be kept at room temperature for about a week. However, because lotus root tends to turn black and the cut parts can easily rot, a cut lotus root should be wrapped in plastic wrap at the cut end and can be refrigerated for preservation for about a week.
When eaten raw, such as by juicing fresh lotus root, its effects are even more potent. In ancient times, a mixture of fresh lotus root juice, fresh pear juice, fresh water chestnut juice, and sugarcane juice was often used to treat symptoms like thirst and yin damage caused by febrile diseases, as well as restlessness and irritability.
For bronchitis and persistent coughs, drinking lotus root juice can be beneficial. It is also effective for those who find blood streaks in their sputum in the morning or have a hoarse voice at night.
When you have a fever and severe thirst, drinking fresh lotus root juice can help reduce the fever and quench your thirst. The effect is even better when pear juice is added. Cooking lotus root with soaked rice to make a congee has the same effect.
Mixing lotus root juice with ginger juice, or diluting lotus root juice with hot water and drinking it twice a day, one small cup each time, can quickly relieve fatigue caused by alcohol intoxication.
Recommended Autumn Vegetable Two: Chinese Yam
The Start of Winter is approaching soon. For those planning to "tonify" their bodies during winter, it is recommended to eat some Chinese yam first to enhance the absorption of the tonifying foods. Chinese yam is a Qi-tonifying and Qi-replenishing herb that benefits the spleen and stomach, making it especially suitable for those with a weak spleen and stomach before they start taking other tonics. A good choice is to cook a congee with Chinese yam, 20 grams of red dates, and a mix of polished and glutinous rice.
For those planning to lose weight: Chinese yam is a great helper for slimming because it is low in energy and high in nutrition. It is rich in coarse fiber, which increases satiety and helps control the desire to eat. Moreover, Chinese yam has a very low fat content, only 0.2 grams per 100 grams, thus achieving the goal of weight loss.
For women with cold hands and feet: Traditional Chinese medicine believes that cold hands and feet are closely related to a weak constitution. Both Chinese yam and black-bone chicken soup and longan Chinese yam pudding have excellent effects in strengthening the middle, replenishing Qi, and nourishing the blood, making them particularly suitable for those with cold hands and feet.
For patients with recurring "chronic stomach problems": Among patients with chronic stomach issues, a significant number suffer from ulcers, and autumn and winter are seasons when ulcers are prone to occur or recur. Modern pharmacological research has confirmed that the allantoin in Chinese yam helps repair the gastric mucosa. You can make Chinese yam and hyacinth bean cake or millet and Chinese yam cake with fresh Chinese yam and steam it for consumption.
For the elderly who are prone to catching colds: Chinese yam has the effect of strengthening the spleen and replenishing Qi. Therefore, Qi-deficient patients who sweat excessively or catch colds frequently should moderately increase their intake of Chinese yam in autumn and winter. It can be stir-fried, steamed, made into candied yams, or cooked into a congee with rice, millet, and red dates.
For those with indigestion: Chinese yam contains substances like amylase and polyphenol oxidase, which are beneficial to the digestive and absorption functions of the spleen and stomach. It is a mild tonic for the spleen and stomach that is both a food and a medicinal herb.
Recommended Autumn Vegetable Three: White Radish
White radish contains mustard oil, amylase, and coarse fiber, which can promote digestion, enhance appetite, speed up gastrointestinal motility, and relieve coughs and reduce phlegm. Traditional Chinese medicine theory also holds that this food is pungent and sweet in taste, cool in nature, and acts on the lung and stomach meridians. It is an excellent dietary remedy that can treat or assist in treating various diseases. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" calls it "the most beneficial among vegetables." Radish contains lignin, which can enhance the activity of macrophages to engulf cancer cells. Additionally, the various enzymes in radish can decompose carcinogenic nitrosamines, giving it an anti-cancer effect.
Every morning, cut half a white radish into shreds, add a few drops of honey, and eat it as a cold salad to nourish yin and moisten dryness.