Autumn Diet: Emphasize Nourishing Yin, Reduce Spicy Foods
Introduction: Autumn diet requires attention as climate has a significant impact. One should eat more foods that nourish yin and moisten the lungs, and consume fewer spicy foods. Additionally, you can eat more fruits and vegetables, acidic foods, fish, and porridge, as well as other high-protein foods like meat. Here are some key points for an autumn diet.
1. Eat More Foods that Nourish Yin and Moisten Dryness
The autumn season corresponds to the lung in the body. The lung is an important respiratory organ and the source of the body's true qi. The prosperity or decline of lung qi is related to the length of one's life. The autumn climate is dry, which can easily damage lung yin, leading to respiratory issues such as a dry nose, sore throat, cough, and chest pain. Therefore, diet should focus on nourishing the lungs. Eat more foods that nourish yin and moisten dryness, such as tremella, sugarcane, bird's nest, pears, sesame seeds, lotus root, spinach, soft-shelled turtle meat, black-bone chicken, pig lung, soy milk, malt sugar, duck eggs, honey, turtle meat, and olives. Consume more sesame seeds, walnuts, glutinous rice, honey, and sugarcane.
2. Eat More Seasonal Autumn Fruits and Vegetables
Eat more seasonal autumn fruits and vegetables such as eggplant, pumpkin, lily, garlic sprouts, bitter melon, zucchini, okra, daylilies, water spinach, loofah, winter melon, monk fruit, fresh lotus seeds, crown daisy, cowpeas, edamame, amaranth, lettuce, tomato, lotus root, cucumber, corn, cauliflower, onion, chili, shepherd's purse, rapeseed, celery, bottle gourd, mung beans, red beans, lychee, peach, plum, grape, watermelon, longan, muskmelon, banana, blueberries, cranberries, and avocado.
3. Eat More Acidic Foods
Eat more sour foods to supplement the liver's qi, such as: apples, pomegranates, grapes, mangoes, cherries, pomelos, lemons, hawthorn, and tomatoes. Fruits like apples, oranges, hawthorn, and kiwi can also help astringe the lung qi.
4. Eat More Fish
Autumn is a season for nourishment, but many people are afraid of gaining weight from excessive supplementation. You might consider eating more fish. Fish is low in fat, and its fatty acids have been proven to have effects on lowering blood sugar, protecting the heart, and preventing cancer.
5. Eat More Porridge
In the early autumn, the weather is still quite hot, and the air is humid and muggy. With the ripening of autumn fruits, it's easy for people to overindulge. These factors can damage the spleen and stomach. Therefore, eating more porridge in the morning can both strengthen the spleen and nourish the stomach, and also provide a refreshing start to the day. Commonly eaten porridges in autumn include: hawthorn and japonica rice porridge, duck pear and japonica rice porridge, rabbit meat and japonica rice porridge, white radish and japonica rice porridge, almond and japonica rice porridge, tangerine peel and japonica rice porridge, and dried persimmon and japonica rice porridge.
6. Temporarily Reduce High-Protein Foods Like Meat
After a hot summer, after the beginning of autumn, many people who had a poor appetite during the "bitter summer" find their appetite gradually improving. However, the body's digestive function is still weak and has not fully recovered. Eating too much meat and other high-protein foods will increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract and affect its function. Therefore, meat consumption should be moderate. It's best to wait until the weather truly cools down before increasing meat intake.
7. Avoid or Eat Less Spicy and Barbecued Foods
During the dry autumn season, it's also important to avoid or eat less spicy and barbecued foods, such as chili, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, ginger, scallions, and alcohol, especially ginger. These ingredients are considered "heaty" and lose a lot of moisture during cooking, which can easily lead to "internal heat" (上火). Ancient medical books also contain such a warning: "Do not eat ginger in autumn within a year; do not eat ginger at night within a day."