Summer Diet Tips to Relieve Heat
Summer weather is hot and scorching. Most people experience thirst, a bitter taste in the mouth, red eyes, and dizziness. Some even develop symptoms of "internal heat" such as a sore throat, a burning sensation, or mouth ulcers. However, as long as we lay a good foundation in this early summer and learn more about preventing heatstroke, we can stop our body's "little universe" from overheating.
Common symptoms of "internal heat" include "heart fire" and "liver fire," with "heart fire" being more common in the summer.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the tongue is considered the orifice of the heart and a reflection of its condition. The tongue, in general, can represent the heart's health.
A common symptom of "heart fire" is mouth ulcers, which can appear one after another.
What to do about "heart fire"?
Here is a dietary remedy recommended for "heart fire." Frequently drink water infused with lotus plumule, honeysuckle, and chrysanthemum. For a stronger effect, use gardenia, and for even more severe cases, use coptis. Chinese patent medicines like Huanglian Shangqing and Niuhuang Shangqing can also be used. As the name suggests, "Shangqing" is for clearing heart fire.
Difference between "Heart Fire" and "Liver Fire"
The summer is dominated by "heart fire," while the spring is dominated by "liver fire." Both are associated with anxiety, but the difference lies in the cause. "Heart fire" is caused by specific, real troubles.
For example, you're anxious and upset because you can't buy a train ticket home for the Spring Festival—that's "heart fire." "Liver fire," on the other hand, results from prolonged emotional distress leading to liver stagnation, without any specific trigger.
Fighting Fire with Diet
As the saying goes, "food supplementation is better than medicinal supplementation." The same principle applies to relieving "internal heat," especially with seasonal summer fruits and vegetables, which seem like nature's prepared "fire extinguishers." By learning more about these foods and incorporating them into your daily diet, you can have a cool and refreshing summer.
Seven Foods to Eat More Of
Watermelon
During the hot summer, eating a few pieces of watermelon can not only clear heat and detoxify, relieve restlessness and quench thirst, but also promote urination and aid digestion. Therefore, it's essential to eat watermelon in the summer.
Nutritional Value: Watermelon juice is rich in nutrients the body needs, such as sucrose, glucose, fructose, citrulline, propionic acid, alanine, glutamic acid, arginine, phosphate, malic acid, salts, as well as carotene and vitamin C.
Note: Don't eat too much at once, as it can dilute stomach acid and lead to indigestion. Also, avoid watermelon that has been chilled for too long, as it can harm the spleen and stomach and cause various illnesses. Generally, it shouldn't be chilled for more than 3 hours.
Bitter Melon
Bitter melon has the effect of clearing summer heat, detoxifying, and improving vision.
Nutritional Value: It contains a high amount of vitamin C, as well as protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, carotene, and vitamin B.
Note: In the book "Sui Xi Ju Yin Shi Pu" (Dietary Manual for Daily Living), it says: "Bitter melon, if cold, can clear heat, brighten the eyes, and calm the mind. It can be made into a sauce or pickled. When fresh, it should be blanched before cooking with meat to remove the bitterness. Even in high summer, the meat juice can congeal. Those with a cold constitution should not eat it."
Tomato
Traditional Chinese Medicine considers it to have a sour-sweet taste and a neutral nature, with effects to clear heat and detoxify, cool the blood and pacify the liver, and relieve summer heat and thirst. It is suitable for conditions such as heatstroke, high blood pressure, gum bleeding, stomach heat with a bitter taste, and fever with thirst.
Nutritional Value: Its vitamin C content is far higher than other fruits and vegetables.
Note: It should not be consumed on an empty stomach. Tomatoes contain a large amount of soluble astringents that can react with stomach acid to form insoluble clumps, easily causing discomfort like bloating and pain.
Cucumber
The book "Ben Cao Qiu Zhen" (True Seeking in Materia Medica) mentions that cucumber has a "sweet and cold nature, and taking it can clear heat and promote urination." Fresh cucumber also contains malic acid, which can inhibit the conversion of carbohydrates into fat. Eating more cucumber can help with weight loss, which is very beneficial for overweight people.
Nutritional Value: Cucumbers are 96% to 98% water, the highest among vegetables. They also contain vitamins A and C, carbohydrates, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and iron.
Note: Cucumber is considered cooling in nature, so people with a weak spleen and stomach or those who have been chronically ill should eat less of it. People with liver disease, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal issues, or high blood pressure should not eat pickled cucumbers.
Strawberry
It has effects such as clearing summer heat, relieving heat, moistening the lungs, resolving phlegm, promoting urination, stopping diarrhea, and aiding digestion.
Nutritional Value: Strawberries are rich in vitamins B1, B2, and C, as well as essential minerals and some trace elements like calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, zinc, and chromium. Strawberries are also an important source of flavonoids and other components the body needs.
Note: People with urinary tract stones or poor kidney function should not eat too many, as strawberries contain a high amount of calcium oxalate, and excessive consumption can worsen their condition.
Mung Bean
It has the effects of clearing summer heat, quenching thirst, and promoting urination. More importantly, mung beans can counteract all kinds of poisoning, such as from alcohol, wild mushrooms, arsenic, cinnabar, and drugs, especially food poisoning.
Nutritional Value: The protein content of mung beans is almost three times that of japonica rice, and it contains more vitamins and trace elements like calcium, phosphorus, and iron.
Note: Mung beans should not be cooked for too long, as this can destroy organic acids and vitamins, reducing their heat-clearing and detoxifying effects. Mung beans are cooling in nature, so people with a weak digestive system should not eat too many. Do not eat mung bean products when taking medication, especially warming tonics, as it may reduce the drug's effectiveness. Undercooked mung beans have a strong, fishy smell and can easily cause nausea and vomiting after consumption.
Homemade Specialty Herbal Teas
Vanilla and Orchid Herbal Tea
Preparation: Wash 9g of Agastache rugosa and 9g of Eupatorium fortunei, and place them in a teapot with 6g of tea. Brew with 500ml of boiling water, cover, and steep for 5 minutes. Add ice cubes to cool before drinking.
Effects: Can relieve heat and expel wind, clear summer heat and transform dampness, whet the appetite, and stop vomiting.
Watermelon Peel Herbal Tea
Preparation: Wash and chop the green outer rind of the watermelon, then squeeze out the juice and remove the dregs. Add a small amount of sugar.
Effects: Relieves summer heat, promotes urination, and detoxifies.
Perilla and Mint Herbal Tea
Preparation: Add 3g of mint leaves, 6g of perilla leaves, and 6g of licorice root to about 500ml of water. Boil for 5 minutes, then stir in sugar.
Effects: Refreshes the mind, prevents the flu.
Dried Tangerine Peel Tea
Preparation: Place 10g of dried tangerine peel in a teapot, add water and boil for about 5 minutes. Add a small amount of sugar.
Effects: Regular consumption of this tea can relieve summer heat, as well as relieve cough, resolve phlegm, and invigorate the stomach.
Lotus Leaf Herbal Tea
Preparation: Tear half a lotus leaf into small pieces and cook with 30g of Job's tears in water for about 20 minutes. Strain out the dregs, stir in a small amount of sugar, and cool before drinking.
Effects: Prevents heatstroke and lowers body temperature.
Green Plum Soup
Preparation: Buy fresh green plums in season, wash them, and layer them with coarse salt. After about a month, when the plums become soft, you can drink the water they are steeped in (plums steeped for a year work even better).
Effects: Effective for dry throat, sore throat, and hoarseness.
Common Mistakes in Relieving "Internal Heat"
1. It's not better to eat more "bitter" foods.
Although bitter foods can clear heat and purge fire, they don't necessarily clear "heart fire." For example, Kuding tea can clear liver heat and brighten the eyes, detoxify, and lower blood pressure and lipids. Dandelion can clear heat and detoxify, benefit the gallbladder, and protect the liver. Tartary buckwheat can clear heat and lower fire, aid digestion, and resolve food stagnation. Bitter vegetable can clear heat, cool the blood, and detoxify. Most of these bitter foods purge the liver, gallbladder, and stomach fire, not the heart fire. Moreover, consuming too many bitter foods can cause stomach discomfort, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
2. Don't overindulge in cold foods and drinks, as this not only fails to clear heart fire but can also damage the spleen and stomach's "yang" energy.
3. Don't stay in a low-temperature air-conditioned environment for too long. Overindulging in coolness can also harm the body.
4. Don't randomly take medicinal diets to reduce fire, especially those with "yin deficiency and blazing fire." Randomly reducing fire can make the body weaker and the fire more rampant. It's best to seek timely medical treatment and receive targeted treatment under a doctor's guidance.