August 7th marks the Start of Autumn solar term, signifying that the summer heat is about to leave us.
During this solar term, what should we eat for better health? Chief Chinese medicine health expert and Professor Yang Li from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences advise us: the most seasonal foods for Start of Autumn are corn and loofah.
Corn, also known as "maize," "Indian corn," "mealies," or "pearl millet," is sweet in taste and neutral in nature. It functions to regulate the middle energizer and stimulate appetite, benefit the lungs and calm the mind, clear damp-heat, promote liver and gallbladder function, and delay aging. According to research, corn is native to South America and was introduced to China around the mid-16th century. Currently, China has a large sown area for corn, with varieties including yellow corn, white corn, waxy corn, and mixed corn. It is one of the staple foods for people in northern China, southwestern mountainous regions, and other dryland areas. Corn can be boiled into a soup and consumed as tea, or ground into corn flour to make corn cakes and other pastries.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believes corn is sweet in taste and neutral in nature, and it affects the liver, kidney, and bladder meridians. Its functions include promoting urination to reduce edema, calming the liver and promoting bile secretion, strengthening the spleen to drain dampness, regulating the middle energizer to stimulate appetite, benefiting the lungs and calming the mind, and clearing damp-heat. Consuming it during the Start of Autumn season not only helps to dispel autumn dryness but also contributes to delaying aging.
Modern medicine considers corn to be rich in nutrients such as unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, trace elements, and amino acids. Modern research has confirmed that the unsaturated fatty acids in corn, especially linoleic acid, account for over 60% of its content. Working in synergy with vitamin E from the corn germ, they can lower blood cholesterol levels and prevent its deposition on blood vessel walls. Therefore, corn has certain preventive and therapeutic effects on coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Corn contains flavonoids, which have a beneficial effect on the macula of the retina, so eating more corn can improve vision.
Corn can prevent cancer and resist aging. The selenium and magnesium in corn have anti-cancer properties: when selenium works together with vitamin E, it can prevent more than ten types of tumors, especially the most common breast and rectal cancers. Additionally, selenium can regulate thyroid function and prevent cataracts. On one hand, magnesium can inhibit the development of cancer cells, and on the other hand, it can strengthen intestinal wall peristalsis, promoting the excretion of waste from the body, which is also important for cancer prevention. It contains a longevity factor—glutathione. With the participation of selenium, it generates glutathione peroxidase, which has the function of restoring youth and delaying aging.
Corn silk also has beauty and weight loss functions. Because the vitamin E in the corn germ can also promote human cell division and prevent skin wrinkles; corn silk has a diuretic effect, which is also beneficial for weight loss. Puffed corn kernels are very large in volume, and after eating, they can eliminate the hunger of obese people, but they contain very low calories, making them one of the diet foods.
The vitamin E rich in corn can increase hormone secretion through the reproductive glands, improve sexual function, and prevent miscarriage.
In addition, the glutamic acid contained in corn also has a certain brain-nourishing function. Below, I will introduce a corn dish—Pine Nut Corn:
Ingredients: Corn, pine nuts, red bell pepper, chopped green onions, sugar, salt.
Method: Remove the seeds from the red bell pepper, wash it, and cut it into 1 cm diamond-shaped pieces. Peel the corn and remove the silk, then strip the kernels. Heat a flat-bottomed frying pan over high heat, scatter in raw pine nuts, and reduce the heat to toast them dry. Stir frequently with a spatula to make the pine nuts roll and color evenly. When toasted until all pine nuts are golden, remove them and spread them on a large plate to cool. Place water in a pot, bring to a boil over high heat, add the corn kernels, reduce to medium heat and cook for 5 minutes, then remove and drain. Heat a wok over high heat, add oil, and when the oil temperature reaches about 180°C (360°F), first sauté the chopped green onions until fragrant, then add the corn kernels and red bell pepper pieces. Stir-fry for a moment, adding an appropriate amount of salt and sugar. Add about 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of water along the edge of the wok, cover, and simmer for 3 minutes. Uncover, add the pine nuts, and stir-fry over high heat until well combined. Corn Diet Remedies:
Corn Silk Drink: Wash 30 grams of corn silk, add 500 grams of water, and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Let it sit for a moment, then strain the liquid and add an appropriate amount of sugar to drink. It can promote urination to reduce edema, reduce jaundice, and lower blood pressure. Patients with edema, high blood pressure, or chronic nephritis can use it as a dietary drink.
Remedy for Infantile Eczema: Use an appropriate amount of cabbage or Chinese cabbage (other fresh vegetables can also be used), chop the leaves and boil them in boiling water for 15 minutes to make a vegetable puree. Cook 20-30 grams of fine cornmeal into a porridge, then add an appropriate amount of vegetable puree rock sugar to make a vegetable porridge, and feed it to the infant in several small portions.
Remedy for Gastric Ulcer (Uyghur Remedy): Use an appropriate amount of lamb intestine. Soak, wash, and turn the lamb intestine inside out. Sprinkle cornmeal on the outside. Turn the intestine back, add an appropriate amount of oil and salt, and cook. Eat 3 times a day for one consecutive month. This remedy is uniquely used by herders in the Turpan region of Xinjiang and has a significant effect on gastric and duodenal ulcers. The lamb intestine used is the duodenum of a 6-month-old sheep or goat. Another suitable food for Start of Autumn is loofah.
Loofah, with its emerald green, fresh and tender appearance, and fresh, crisp, sweet taste, is a very suitable vegetable for the transition from summer to autumn. Loofah is highly nutritious, containing protein, fat, carbohydrates, crude fiber, calcium, phosphorus, iron, citrulline, B vitamins such as riboflavin, vitamin C, and also saponins, an ingredient found in ginseng.
Eating more loofah during the Start of Autumn season is very beneficial to the body. TCM believes that loofah is sweet in taste and neutral in nature, with effects of clearing summer heat and cooling the blood, detoxifying and promoting bowel movements, expelling wind and resolving phlegm, moisturizing the skin and enhancing beauty, unblocking meridians, promoting blood circulation, and promoting lactation. Its vascular network, seeds, vines, flowers, and leaves can all be used as medicine.
Loofah juice is known as "beauty water." Cut the growing loofah vine, and the liquid that flows out can be applied to the face or skin with a cloth to moisturize and prevent wrinkles. Alternatively, you can directly squeeze the loofah, mix in an appropriate amount of honey or glycerin, and apply it for a similar effect.
There are many ways to eat loofah, such as making soup, stir-frying, or making cold salads. The skin should be washed before preparation.
One way to cook loofah is to make a cold salad.
The method is to wash the loofah, slice it, blanch it in boiling water, and then mix with sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, etc., to make a cold loofah salad. Stir-fried loofah is light and delicious, clearing heat and promoting diuresis. Braised loofah with mushrooms benefits qi and blood, and unblocks meridians. Fresh loofah juice, made by squeezing an appropriate amount of fresh loofah and mixing with honey in a 10:1 ratio, has the effect of clearing heat, relieving cough, and resolving phlegm.
Loofah can also be juiced to enhance its therapeutic effects. Loofah Diet Remedies:
Treating Uterine Bleeding: Burn the loofah vascular network (loofah sponge) until it becomes ash, called "loofah frost." Grind it into a fine powder and set aside. Take 3-6 grams each time, taken with salt water or yellow wine, twice daily. It is effective for uterine bleeding or metrorrhagia.
Treating Menorrhagia (Excessive Menstrual Bleeding): Toast loofah seeds or leaves until black, grind them into a powder, and take with salt water. This can also treat menorrhagia. The specific method is to take one old loofah, burn it until charred but not completely carbonized (retain its nature), grind it into a powder, and take 9 grams each time,冲服 with salt water to treat excessive menstrual bleeding.
Treating Dysmenorrhea: Take one dry loofah, decoct it in water, drink twice daily to treat dysmenorrhea.
In addition, loofah vascular network is often used to treat chest and rib pain due to qi and blood stagnation, and mastitis. Loofah seeds can be used to treat persistent lower back pain, moisten the intestines to promote bowel movements, and treat indigestion and jaundice. Loofah leaves, when taken orally, can clear summer heat and relieve fever, and when used externally, they have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects, treating heat rash, boils, and sores.