Many people drink mung bean soup and herbal tea when the weather is hot. For the sake of their health, one should still be cautious when drinking herbal tea and consult a physician when necessary.
The effects of herbal tea are generally to clear heat and detoxify, remove dampness and promote fluid production, reduce internal fire, and improve eyesight. However, many people only know one aspect of herbal tea and not the other, and there are some misconceptions about it. Dr. Guo Meiling analyzes the reasons for these misconceptions. Misconception 1: Drinking herbal tea regardless of one's constitution?
When the weather is hot and the summer heat is unbearable, "internal fire" is more likely to rise during abnormal climate changes, which is easy to "get heatstroke." Various herbal teas become popular. The effects of herbal tea are generally to clear heat and detoxify, remove dampness and promote fluid production, reduce internal fire, and improve eyesight. However, many people only know one aspect of herbal tea and not the other; there are some misconceptions about it.
Dr. Guo Meiling, a Traditional Chinese Medicine physician, said that although herbal tea can reduce "fire," it should not be drunk indiscriminately. The consumption of herbal tea should be based on an individual's different constitution. Many people drink herbal tea without considering its effects, resulting in the opposite effect of treating their symptoms; especially for those with poor health and a weak spleen and stomach, they should be even more cautious.
Dr. Guo Meiling pointed out that the herbal teas commonly available on the market generally have two effects: clearing heat and removing dampness, or removing damp-heat. "Dampness-removing" herbal tea focuses on removing dampness while reducing fire, while "heat-clearing and detoxifying tea" focuses solely on reducing fire. Therefore, when the weather is extremely humid, a dampness-removing herbal tea is more suitable.
If one feels heavy in the body, has a bloated abdomen, a sticky mouth, and loose stools, it is a symptom of "damp-heat." Dr. Guo said that Singaporeans often drink herbal tea to remove heat and tend to neglect removing dampness. Therefore, even if the body feels "damp-heat," drinking only heat-removing tea and forgetting to also drink some herbal tea with dampness-removing effects is a mistake.
Dr. Guo Meiling said that herbal tea should not be too cold. In general, one can choose Five-Flower Tea, barley water, Prunella, or Houttuynia cordata, which are all good choices. She said that cooking more homemade soups regularly is also a good idea, such as old cucumber soup or loofah soup.
Also, Dr. Guo Meiling said that the Five-Color Bean Sweet Soup also has good therapeutic effects. She said that the five-color beans are mung beans, red beans, hyacinth beans, black beans, and soybeans. After cooking them, add rock sugar or slab sugar to make a sweet soup, which not only has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying but is also beneficial to the skin. The effects of herbal tea are generally to clear heat and detoxify, remove dampness and promote fluid production, reduce internal fire, and improve eyesight. However, many people only know one aspect of herbal tea and not the other. Misconception 2: Drinking mung bean soup like water?
When the weather is hot, many people also like to drink mung bean soup. Because traditional medicine believes that mung bean is cool in nature and sweet in taste, and has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, relieving summer heat and quenching thirst. Some people, in their eagerness to reduce "fire," even drink mung bean soup as if it were water. Dr. Guo Meiling said: Although there are no obvious contraindications to drinking mung bean soup, people with a weak constitution should not drink too much of it. Most importantly, do not drink it like a beverage.
People with a cold constitution, such as those with symptoms of cold limbs, abdominal bloating, or loose stools, are not suitable to drink it frequently. Eating mung beans can instead worsen the symptoms. Also, avoid making the mung bean soup too cold. It is not necessary to drink mung bean soup; one can choose another way to eat it, which is mung bean congee. The method is to wash the rice and mung beans separately, and cook them together in a pot with water to make congee. At the same time, if you want to cook sweet water with mung beans alone, you must cook the mung beans until they are soft so as not to eat something too cold, because mung beans are the coolest to eat when they have just begun to bloom in the pot. Misconception 3: Is chrysanthemum tea suitable for everyone?
Traditional medicine believes that chrysanthemum tea is sweet in taste and cold in nature, and has the effects of dispelling wind-heat, calming the liver, and improving eyesight. Therefore, many people drink chrysanthemum tea with great confidence, and many people believe it is suitable for everyone, but this is not the case. However, because chrysanthemum is ultimately cool in nature, people with a weak constitution or a cold stomach should not drink too much of it. Dr. Guo Meiling suggests that drinking chrysanthemum tea should also be limited, and it is best not to brew more than 100 grams of chrysanthemum per day.