The autumn season refers to the three months from the start of autumn to the start of winter. Its characteristic is the transition from heat to cold, with yang energy waning and yin energy waxing. Hu Bin, a nationally renowned senior physician at the Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, says that autumn is characterized by high skies, crisp air, dryness, gradually decreasing temperatures, and diminishing humidity, with weather that changes abruptly between hot and cold. Therefore, dietary health should focus on moistening dryness and replenishing qi.
Autumn Dietary Recommendations for Tonification
Hu Bin states that in autumn, the climate is cool, and the five internal organs are associated with the lung. The pungent flavor in the five flavors of food disperses stagnation in the lung qi. The dietary principle should be "mainly sweet and neutral," which means eating more foods that clear the liver and reducing the intake of acidic foods. Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that eating too many sour foods in autumn can harm the spleen, causing disharmony among the five organs. Conversely, eating more sweet and neutral foods can enhance the spleen's function, promoting coordination between the liver and spleen.
Foods that can be consumed include wild rice stem, pumpkin, lotus seeds, longan, black sesame, red dates, and walnuts. The wild rice stem can lower blood lipids, clear heat-toxins, and promote urination and bowel movements; pumpkin can moisten the lungs and replenish qi, relieve pain, and prevent miscarriage; lotus seeds benefit the spleen and nourish the heart, secure essence, stop diarrhea, whet the appetite, and calm the mind; longan treats anemia, neurasthenia, and postpartum blood deficiency; black sesame supplements the lungs and spleen, moistens the intestines to relieve constipation, and benefits the skin; red dates nourish the spleen and harmonize the stomach, calm the middle burner and replenish qi, and nourish blood and yin; walnuts tonify the kidneys and nourish blood, moisten the lungs and skin, and help prevent neurasthenia and lower back and leg pain.
Hu Bin believes that meals in autumn should be simple rather than complex. This is because the body's yang energy and stomach qi are weak, and eating a wide variety of foods at one meal is difficult to digest and can easily lead to stomach ailments. For the elderly with weak spleen and stomach, it is advisable to eat warm, cooked, and soft foods.
Autumn Dietary Pairing
Lu Sufei, head nutritionist at the Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, says that as autumn gradually turns cool and the autumn wind begins, rainfall decreases, temperatures drop, and the climate becomes drier. The body may experience some "autumn dryness" reactions. At this time, the diet should focus on light, moistening, and liver-clearing foods.
Staple foods: Rice, wheat, and glutinous rice can be eaten, paired with pine nut porridge to prevent autumn lung dryness cough and intestinal dryness constipation. Side dishes can include fish, beef, black-bone chicken, eggs, and soy products. Vegetables can include celery, bean sprouts, radish, winter melon, tomato, lotus root, spinach, amaranth, cauliflower, carrot, water chestnut, wild rice stem, pumpkin, bok choy, and cabbage. Fruits can include apple, pomegranate, grape, mango, pomelo, lemon, hawthorn, banana, pineapple, pear, as well as pumpkin seeds, chestnuts, lotus seeds, longan, honey, and white fungus. For beverages, more soy milk, thin porridge, milk, and water can be consumed to maintain water metabolism balance and prevent dry skin and the invasion of pathogenic heat.
It is important to eat a rich variety of foods in autumn, as it replenishes the energy expended during summer and prepares the body for winter. However, one should not overindulge, but prevent excessive caloric intake and arrange a balanced diet. Additionally, in autumn, one should eat less spicy, irritating, fried, and grilled food, and avoid raw, cold, and unclean foods to prevent diarrhea.
Can eggplant be eaten in autumn?
Lu Sufei says there is a folk saying, "A rotten autumn eggplant is like poison," but this is a misconception. Autumn eggplants are not poisonous. Fresh eggplant contains three times more protein and calcium than tomatoes and is rich in Vitamin P (rutin), with 720mg per 100 grams, which is the main component of the Western drug Venoruton. Regular consumption of eggplant has certain therapeutic effects for preventing and treating hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and scurvy. In TCM, eggplant clears heat and is beneficial for those with dry stools and hemorrhoids. However, when cooking, do not fry it, as this destroys its nutritional value.
Eating radish with tea in early autumn
Eating radish in early autumn can dispel the internal heat accumulated from the summer heat. There is a saying, "Radish in the first 'fu' period, greens in the second." Another proverb goes, "Radish with tea makes the doctor run all over the floor."
Hu Bin says radish has many medicinal values: its seeds can aid digestion, resolve phlegm, and promote qi descent to relieve asthma; its leaves can stop diarrhea; the old root after the radish bolts is called "dikuluo," which can promote urination and reduce edema. The folk saying "Radish can stop coughing, regulate qi, aid digestion, and resolve water retention" originates from these properties. Fortunately, these medicinal effects of radish complement those of tea. Eating some radish and drinking good tea in autumn is greatly beneficial for eliminating the accumulated toxic and heat from summer and restoring a clear and refreshed mind.
Dietary Do's and Don'ts for Patients with Chronic Illnesses
Lu Sufei believes that for patients with respiratory diseases in early autumn, the diet should be light, low in salt, and consist of small, frequent meals. Avoid spicy and irritating foods; one can eat more foods that calm coughs and resolve phlegm, such as milk, soy milk, eggs, lettuce, celery, cauliflower, white fungus, sesame, rock sugar, and pear.
For patients with cardiovascular diseases, the diet should be low in fat, low in cholesterol, low in salt, and rich in vitamins. They can eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. For example, hawthorn can stimulate appetite, dilate blood vessels, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and strengthen the heart; eggplant and chestnuts can lower cholesterol; lettuce, potatoes, and chestnuts are rich in potassium.
For patients with gastrointestinal diseases, the autumn diet should be mild. Eat less raw, cold, unclean, or spoiled and spoiled foods. They can eat bok choy, cabbage, grain-based foods, fish, apples, and yogurt. Cooking methods should mainly be steaming, boiling, stewing, and braising, and avoid fried foods.