The season of "internal heat" is upon us again. It's a traditional habit for Guangzhou residents to buy Chinese herbs to boil herbal tea or to enjoy a cup from a street-side tea shop. However, health experts point out that the concept of "drinking herbal tea to reduce internal heat" is long overdue for an update. The modern health perspective is: food supplements are better than medicinal supplements.
Chen Ruifang, director of the Health Prevention Department at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, explains that herbal tea is a liquid decoction made from one or more Chinese herbs. While the properties of Chinese herbs are not as potent as Western medicine, they are still medicine. You should already be aware of the principle that "all medicine has some toxicity."
Furthermore, in Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, Chinese herbs are classified as either "cold" or "hot" in nature, and the human body constitution is also divided into "cold" and "hot" types. Without distinguishing your own body constitution and current physical condition, randomly choosing herbal tea not only fails to alleviate symptoms but can even have the opposite effect. For example, if you have a "cold" body constitution, feeling aversion to cold and fear of cold, drinking "cold" herbs like honeysuckle and prunella may cause uncomfortable reactions such as diarrhea, bloating, and nausea.
If you can't determine your constitution, don't choose herbal tea.
Can you accurately distinguish your body constitution? Can you also accurately determine the properties of Chinese herbs? It's better not to randomly choose herbal tea if you have only a superficial understanding. You should be aware of the troubles caused by prunella!
Nowadays, many elderly people in Guangzhou like to buy Chinese herbs to make herbal tea themselves, brewing a large pot for the whole family to drink. This is quite unscientific. It is difficult for ordinary citizens to accurately distinguish the "cold" or "hot" nature of various herbs, let alone the different constitutions of family members.
Chen Ruifang says that most herbal teas on the market today are "cold" in nature. People with a "cold" or deficient constitution, or those with a weak spleen and stomach, are not suitable for drinking them, as it may cause gastrointestinal discomfort like diarrhea, bloating, and nausea. The physical characteristics of such individuals are: aversion to cold and wind, and excessive sweating.
In addition, if women during their menstrual period drink "cold" herbal tea, it can easily lead to stagnation of qi and blood due to cold, causing poor discharge of menstrual blood and triggering menstrual cramps.
Summer vegetables can also "reduce internal heat".
Only those with a "damp-heat" body constitution can drink herbal tea in moderation. The physical characteristics of such people are the opposite of those with a "cold" constitution, more easily manifesting as heavy limbs, noticeable afternoon fever, a yellow and greasy tongue coating, and short, dark urine.
In fact, reducing internal heat doesn't have to involve drinking herbal tea. Chen Ruifang says that people's traditional concepts should be updated. There is no need to deliberately brew herbal tea, as medicinal supplements are far inferior to food supplements. Over 80% of summer vegetables have the effect of clearing heat and reducing internal fire. Moreover, vegetables are rich in vitamin C, providing nutrients for the body. From a nutritional perspective, a person should eat at least half a jin (250g) of vegetables a day. This reduces internal fire without any side effects—why not do it?
It's best to eat seasonal vegetables, as they are not only the cheapest, most flavorful, and most nutritious, but also possess the food properties that the human body needs for that season. For example, chives are abundant in spring; their "warm" nature perfectly matches the body's need for "warming and supplementing" during that season.
Summer vegetables include water spinach, amaranth, and various gourds such as cucumber, loofah, and bitter gourd, all of which have the effect of clearing heat and reducing internal fire. If you feel you have a lot of "internal heat," eat more of these vegetables and drink some vegetable or gourd soup.