Vegetables contain a large amount of dietary fiber, which has a good laxative effect on the human body and can reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that people with different constitutions should choose different seasonal fresh vegetables. Below is a brief introduction to the therapeutic effects of several seasonal fresh vegetables and their suitability or contraindications for different body types.
1. Shepherd's purse is sweet and warm in nature. Li Shizhen said: "It sprouts after the Winter Solstice, grows stems of five to six inches in the second and third months, and bears small white flowers, neat and uniform." Shepherd's purse is the earliest seasonal wild vegetable to announce the arrival of spring. Because of its fresh and pleasant aroma, it is commonly used by people to make wontons, stir-fry with wild chicken, or cook with tofu into a soup. However, most people are unaware of its medicinal value. Clinically, it is often used to treat various bleeding diseases, such as hematuria, functional uterine bleeding in women, fundus hemorrhage in patients with hypertension, gingival bleeding, etc. Its good hemostatic effect is mainly due to the shepherd's acid it contains. Currently, there are two types of shepherd's purse on the market: one has short leaves, a unique fragrance, and good hemostatic effect; the other is artificially cultivated, with broad leaves, not very fragrant, and poorer medicinal efficacy.
2. Water spinach, also known as空心菜 (kong xin cai), is sweet and neutral in nature. It can be stir-fried, made into soup, or eaten cold. Because of its bland taste, it is often overlooked by people, who neglect its medicinal value. Ji Hui's "Fang Caomu Zhuang" calls it "a rare vegetable of the south" because it can detoxify, such as poisoning from mushrooms, arsenic, wild gourd, and cassava; it treats bites from centipedes and venomous snakes; it treats strangury, hematochezia, leukorrhea in women, hemoptysis due to lung heat, epistaxis, and unknown poisonings. Some records state that taking it orally can treat dysentery caused by heat, and applying it externally can sores, carbuncles, and swellings. Purple water spinach contains insulin-like substances, so diabetic patients can benefit from it by consuming it to help control blood sugar.
3. Crown daisy is sweet, pungent, and neutral in nature. As early as the Tang Dynasty, it was listed as a food for medicinal therapy. The Tang dynasty physician Sun Simiao, in his "Qian Jin Fang," stated that it could "calm the mind, nourish the spleen and stomach, and resolve phlegm and fluid retention." Crown daisy has a significant effect of calming the liver and clearing deficiency-heat. It is effective for symptoms of liver yang rising, such as dizziness and head fullness in hypertension, vexation and heat, and poor sleep, as well as for hot cough with phlegm. It has the effect of moistening the intestines to promote bowel movements and is especially suitable for those with constipation due to internal heat.
4. Ginger is pungent and slightly warm in nature. In daily cooking, a little ginger is often added as a seasoning when cooking fish, meat, chicken, duck, shrimp, crab, etc. The medicinal effects of ginger include dispelling cold, removing fishy odor, stopping vomiting, inducing sweating, relieving coughs, and preventing nausea. Ginger peel promotes urination and can be used to treat bacillary dysentery. For dysentery caused by heat, the ginger peel is kept on; for dysentery caused by cold, the peel is scraped off. Because ginger has an ascending nature, it is not advisable to eat it at night, because the body's Qi is converging at night, and it is contrary to its ascending nature. Drinking a decoction of 3 slices of ginger and 10 red jujubes is highly effective for treating stomach and duodenal ulcers, as well as diarrhea caused by deficiency and cold in the spleen and stomach. It must be noted here that ginger should be avoided by those with a strong tendency of internal heat and those with a yellow and dry tongue coating.
5. Chives are sweet, pungent, and warm in nature. They are a good tonic with a stimulating effect, and have the functions of strengthening the stomach and improving yang. Those suffering from nocturnal emissions, spermatorrhea, lumbar soreness, frequent urination, bedwetting in children, or excessive leukorrhea and lumbar soreness in women due to kidney yang deficiency can often eat chives, hence its other name, "Yang-raising grass." Its effect is better when stir-fried with dried small shrimp (shrimp mi). However, chives should be avoided by those with internal heat and constipation, dry mouth, and a dry tongue. Chives are said to be detrimental to the eyes, so those with eye diseases, such as conjunctivitis, should also avoid eating them.