A few slices of pear with a few drops of vinegar is a simple tip from Chaoshan people in Guangdong for protecting the liver and improving eyesight in the spring.
Peel the pear, slice it, and place a drop of white vinegar on each slice to eat directly. Eating 10 slices a day, that's the simplicity of the Chaoshan liver-protecting remedy. Whether adults or children, as long as there are no gastrointestinal issues, this remedy can be used. This is because "sour and sweet generate yin"; the sour flavor enters and nourishes the liver, and the combination of sour and sweet can nourish liver yin. In the dry spring, this way of eating pears can relieve eye soreness and dryness, achieving the effect of improving eyesight.
Spring can elevate one's mood, but it can also easily lead to excessive liver fire, causing irritability and anger. Moreover, in spring, it's easier to experience eye dryness, grittiness, swelling, and blurred vision, which is also because excessive liver fire rises upward. The liver meridian is connected to the eye meridian, directly affecting the eyes.
In terms of clearing the liver and improving eyesight, the practices of health-conscious people from Guangdong are worth learning from. Even simpler than eating a few slices of pear mentioned above is to have a pot of Hangzhou chrysanthemum tea after meals.
There are many other recipes for food therapy and medicinal diets. For example, when stewing pork ribs or chicken, add fresh chicken bone grass and wolfberry grass. Have one or two small bowls during morning or afternoon tea.
A dish of stir-fried lean pork with lily for lunch can reduce internal heat and moisten dryness, and has a certain nourishing effect.
Cook an appropriate amount of mung beans in a clay pot with water until tender. Eat it 20 minutes before each meal for a week in a row to nourish and protect the liver. Dishes like porridge with wolfberry greens and pork liver, or abalone porridge, are also essential in every household during the spring.
Traditional Chinese medicine also says that the liver and spleen have a "mother-child" relationship. Therefore, the principle of dietary therapy in spring should focus on nourishing the liver and strengthening the spleen. This is especially important if one is prone to "spring fatigue," heavy legs, or a feeling of a heavy head during the spring.