Top 10 Disease-Preventing and Health-Promoting Foods in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Introduction: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) points out that some common foods not only have health-preserving effects but can also prevent and treat illnesses, and even prolong life. Here, TCM recommends 10 disease-preventing and health-promoting foods, hoping to help everyone stay away from diseases and maintain health through proper diet.
1. Ginger: A Man Should Not Go a Hundred Days Without Ginger
In China, people have been eating ginger for 3,000 years. "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that ginger is pungent and warm, affecting the five organs, expelling wind and cold, and resolving phlegm. Fresh ginger is pungent and warm, driving out cold and inducing sweat; dried ginger warms the middle to dispel cold, restores yang and unblocks the pulse, and warms the lungs to transform phlegm. >>> Note: Five Important Points About Eating Ginger That You Cannot Ignore
TCM points out that ginger is an indispensable ingredient in Chinese cooking and also has disease-preventing and therapeutic effects. Folk health wisdom includes sayings like "Three slices of ginger in the morning are better than drinking ginseng soup," "Having ginger at home keeps minor illnesses at bay," and "Eating radish in winter and ginger in summer saves you the doctor's prescription." According to TCM theory, ginger is a yang-tonifying food, hence the ancient saying, "A man should not go a hundred days without ginger."
Chewing Fresh Ginger Enhances Appetite and Delays Aging
The secret to the longevity of the old monk from Qiantang in Hangzhou, recorded in "Dongpo Miscellaneous Notes," was that he sliced fresh ginger with its skin every day, held it in his mouth for a moment, chewed it, and swallowed it with warm water, doing this for over forty years. This method is widely used in TCM to treat patients with habitual vomiting after cancer and chemotherapy, with significant effects.
Treatment Method: Have the patient hold one thin slice of ginger in their mouth half an hour before each meal. Utilizing the fresh ginger's anti-nausea and middle-warming, cold-dispelling effects to stimulate digestive secretions, improve appetite, and thus ensure adequate nutrition intake to strengthen the patient's constitution. Furthermore, TCM clinical practice has confirmed that for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, taking about 5 grams of fresh ginger daily for three consecutive months can significantly activate qi and blood, reduce pain, and increase joint flexibility.
For middle-aged and elderly men who are physically weak due to long-term stomach cold, vomiting, abdominal pain, or loss of appetite, they can often take fresh ginger slices to stimulate gastric juice secretion and promote digestion. The method is to cut 4-5 fresh ginger slices in the morning, drink a glass of warm water, then place the slices in the mouth to chew slowly, allowing the ginger's aroma to spread in the mouth, and diffuse into the stomach and nasal passages.
2. Citrus: The "Golden Fruit" That Is Treasure from Top to Toe
Pulp of Citrus
The most commonly used citrus fruit in TCM is the orange, which we often call "tangerine." Its pulp is fresh and juicy, making it a great moisturizing food. In autumn, when pathogenic dryness prevails, eating some oranges can promote the production of body fluids and quench thirst, which is very suitable. The pulp of oranges is rich in nutrients, including carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose), vitamins, malic acid, citric acid, protein, fat, dietary fiber, and various minerals. A foreign nutrition research report once showed that eating three oranges a day can meet a person's daily requirement for vitamin C.
Oranges are also excellent medicinal materials. Besides the pulp, TCM uses at least five other parts of the orange: orange leaves, orange peel, orange pith, orange seeds, and orange membranes, making it a truly "golden fruit" for autumn health preservation.
Orange Leaves
Orange leaves are pungent and bitter in taste, neutral in nature, and enter the Liver meridian. They have the effects of soothing the liver and moving qi, transforming phlegm and resolving nodules, and relieving pain and reducing swelling. Folk remedies often use pounded orange leaf juice mixed with a small amount of medicine for oral administration (or apply pounded orange leaves externally) to treat flank pain in women, mastitis (breast inflammation), breast pain, and abdominal masses, with certain effects for reducing swelling and toxicity.
In the south, there is a custom of using orange leaves to wrap and steam glutinous rice cakes. The cakes made this way are fragrant and not greasy, and the elderly and children rarely suffer from food stagnation or acid reflux, which may be related to the qi-moving and stagnation-resolving effect of orange leaves.
3. Tremella (Snow Fungus) Moisturizes and Stops Bleeding
Tremella, also known as white fungus or snow fungus, was once a court food and is a famous edible and medicinal fungus in China, known as the "king of fungi."
Tremella has long been listed as a "superior grade" food and health supplement. As early as in the "Shennong Ben Cao Jing" (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica Classic) of the Han Dynasty, the health benefits of tremella were recorded. "Ben Cong Xin" (New Materia Medica) considers tremella "moisturizing the lungs and nourishing yin." "Ben Wen Da" (Questions and Answers on Materia Medica) also records that tremella "treats dry mouth, lung flaccidity, and phlegm stagnation with coughing and reversal." Zhang Ren'an's "Ben Shi Shi Jie Yao Xing Zhu" (Poems and Notes on the Nature of Materia Medica) from the Qing Dynasty further states: "This substance has the moisture of Ophiopogon but not its coldness, the sweetness of Solomon's seal but not its greasiness; it is truly a key product for moistening the lungs and nourishing yin." TCM believes tremella is neutral in nature, sweet and bland in taste, non-toxic, and enters the Lung, Stomach, Kidney, Spleen, and Large Intestine meridians. It can clear heat from the lungs, nourish lung yin, moisten kidney dryness, and treat lung heat cough, chronic cough with a scratchy throat, coughing up blood, lung heat gastritis, as well as constipation and bloody stools.
Modern nutritional research also fully proves the nutritional value of tremella. Every 100 grams of dried tremella contains 5 grams of crude protein, 0.6 grams of crude fat, 2.6 grams of crude fiber, 3.1 grams of ash, 380 mg of calcium, 250 mg of phosphorus, 30.4 mg of iron, etc. The protein contains 17 amino acids, the vast majority of which are essential for the human body. In addition, it also contains polysaccharides and various vitamins, which are also very beneficial for human health.
4. Eating a Lot of Vinegar is Also Healthy
Vinegar is a condiment that has existed in China since ancient times. Vinegar is generally made from grains, sugars, or distiller's grains, fermented by acetic acid yeast. Depending on the raw material, it is divided into rice vinegar, sugar vinegar, and wine vinegar. Eating vinegar frequently in summer can kill pathogenic bacteria in the intestines and has the effect of preventing intestinal infectious diseases.
Vinegar not only harmonizes the flavor of dishes and increases their fragrance but also has many medicinal uses. As early as in the "Shang Han Za Bing Lun" (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases) by Zhang Zhongjing of the Han Dynasty, there are records of using vinegar to treat diseases, and vinegar was called "kujiu" (bitter wine). "Compendium of Materia Medica" records the medicinal effects of vinegar: "Vinegar is generally used to treat various sores, swellings, masses, heart and abdominal pain, phlegm and water diseases, and blood disorders. It kills toxins in fish, meat, and vegetables and various insect poisons, all of which are due to its astringent effect, and it also has the functions of dispelling stasis and detoxifying." "Ben Bei Yao" (Essentials of Materia Medica) states: "Vinegar can remove dampness, dispel stasis, detoxify, lower qi, promote digestion, and whet the appetite." Legend has it that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty drank a cup of vinegar every night before bed as one of his "imperial recipes" for longevity, which was quite effective.
Women Who Often "Eat Vinegar" Have Smooth Qi and Blood and a Beautiful Complexion
TCM believes that sourness enters the Liver, and the Liver governs blood. Many gynecological diseases are caused by Liver qi stagnation. Vinegar is sour and specifically enters the Liver meridian, which can enhance the effect of herbs in soothing the liver and relieving pain, and can also activate blood circulation to resolve stasis, soothe the liver and resolve depression, and dispel stasis to relieve pain.
"Vinegar processing" is an important method in the processing of Chinese medicine. TCM clinics often use vinegar to process various medicines, such as common gynecological medicines like vinegar-processed Bupleurum, vinegar-processed Angelica sinensis, and vinegar-processed White Peony root, to treat menstrual disorders, metrorrhagia, and leukorrhea. Specific folk remedies include dividing Cyperus rotundus into three parts, soaking them respectively in salt, vinegar, and yellow rice wine, making them into pills for oral administration to regulate menstruation and relieve pain. Another remedy is to decoct 50 grams of Sanguisorba root (charred) and 50 grams of rice vinegar in water, which is suitable for excessive menstrual bleeding and uterine bleeding due to blood heat.
5. A Bowl of Porridge with Goji Berries for Morning Breakfast
The famous Song Dynasty poet Lu You lived to be 86 years old, and one of his secrets to longevity was eating goji berries regularly. His poem "Snow has cleared, the thatched hall is quiet with the sound of bells and chimes, for morning breakfast, a bowl of porridge with goji berries" is proof of this. In fact, goji berries not only have the effect of prolonging life but also nourish the liver and kidneys.
According to "Compendium of Materia Medica," goji berries can nourish the kidneys and improve vision. "Yao Xing Lun" (Discussion on the Nature of Medicines) also believes that goji berries can "supplement all deficiencies of essence."
Why can goji berries nourish the liver and kidneys? We know that friends with liver and kidney deficiency often have symptoms such as soreness in the lower back and knees, general fatigue, and even premature ejaculation and impotence. The main problem lies in the deficiency of essence and blood. Goji berries can generate essence and blood by nourishing the kidney—when essence is produced, kidney qi is sufficient, yin and blood are nourished, and liver blood is subsequently replenished. For friends with kidney deficiency, goji berries can be called a miraculous medicine.
6. The "Ageless Myth" Hidden in Black Sesame
Although there is no art of immortality, there are ways for health and longevity—at least to have sharp ears and clear eyes, and black hair even in your seventies or eighties.
Consistently eating black sesame can help you age without decline and maintain black hair
TCM points out that hair is closely related to the kidneys. If a person's hair turns white, it is mostly due to insufficient kidney qi. The elderly, after decades of consumption, have gradually declining liver blood and weakened kidney qi, which leads to white hair and tooth loss. Therefore, the elderly need to nourish the kidneys. According to the five-element theory of TCM, the color black corresponds to the kidney. Black sesame seeds enter the Liver, Kidney, and Large Intestine meridians and can nourish the liver and kidneys, benefit essence and blood, and moisten the intestines. They can treat dizziness, premature graying of hair, hair loss, soreness in the lower back and knees, weakness in the limbs, difficulty walking, deficiency of the five organs, dry skin and withered hair, and constipation due to liver and kidney essence and blood deficiency.
7. Chestnuts: Cooked Ones Tonify the Middle and Benefit the Spleen and Stomach; Raw Ones Strengthen the Kidneys and Legs
Every year at the time of the Frost's Descent festival, the warm and sweet aroma of sugar-roasted chestnuts begins to drift through the streets and alleys, as if reminding people that winter is approaching and they should pay more attention to their health.
Chestnuts are sweet and delicious, making them suitable as a snack or a condiment for dishes. They not only contain a large amount of starch that can be eaten as a meal but also contain various nutrients such as protein, fat, and B vitamins, giving them good therapeutic and health-preserving functions.
Chestnuts have always been highly valued in TCM health preservation. "Ming Yi Bie Lu" (Other Records of Famous Physicians) says that chestnuts "mainly benefit qi, strengthen the intestines, and nourish kidney qi." They enter the Spleen and Kidney meridians. Folk methods of using chestnuts for nourishment and treatment are numerous, but many people may not know that there are specific considerations for eating chestnuts cooked versus raw.
Chestnuts are sweet and warm in nature and can be stir-fried or boiled, with the effect of harmonizing the stomach and strengthening the spleen. Nowadays, due to improved living conditions, parents' care for children's nutrition is often overly meticulous, and overfeeding or picky eating can lead to the common pediatric syndrome of spleen deficiency in clinical practice. "Spleen deficiency" refers to children with a dull complexion, fatigue, a lean body, and loss of appetite or refusal to eat. At this time, steamed and ground chestnut kernels can be made into cakes, suitable for children with poor appetite, a thin body, and frequent diarrhea, to increase their appetite, stop diarrhea, and regulate the digestive system. In the early stages of pregnancy, pregnant women often have poor appetites and don't even want to eat their favorite dishes. Family members can persuade them to eat some cooked chestnuts to help improve their digestive function.
In addition, chestnut porridge made with chestnuts and japonica rice is suitable for all ages. Chestnuts and japonica rice together strengthen the spleen and stomach, increase appetite. It can be used for the recovery of patients with chronic diarrhea due to spleen and stomach cold deficiency, and it is also suitable for long-term treatment of elderly people with poor appetite and fatigue due to functional decline.
8. A Great Winter Tonic: Lamb
As the saying goes: "Eating lamb in winter is better than ginseng; eating it in spring, summer, and autumn also strengthens the body." Every winter, whether in the picturesque south or the freezing north, the aroma of lamb soup drifts through the streets, sometimes light and sometimes rich, making people stop, take a deep breath, and enjoy the pleasure of the aroma lingering in their bodies.
In winter, the temperature is low, and the body's yang energy is stored internally. If cold hands and feet occur, it is necessary to consume warm-natured foods to increase yang energy to resist the cold. Lamb, due to its warm nature, has the effects of tonifying the kidneys and strengthening yang, warming the middle to dispel cold. Eating lamb in winter can not only resist the cold wind but also generate kidney yang and strengthen the body, making it a winter tonic. The statement in "Compendium of Materia Medica" that lamb "warms the middle, tonifies deficiency, whets the appetite, strengthens the body, and nourishes kidney qi" also verifies lamb's extraordinary effects.
There are many ways to eat lamb, such as scallion lamb, grilled lamb skewers, and hot pot lamb. In fact, the author believes that carrot stewed lamb is a better tonic method.
500 grams of carrots are washed and cut into pieces. 1000 grams of lamb is washed, briefly blanched, then removed and cut into small cubes. 20 grams of ginger is washed and smashed. Place an appropriate amount of water in a casserole, add the lamb and ginger, bring to a boil over high heat for 20 minutes, then add an appropriate amount of cooking wine and 5 grams of licorice. After another 10 minutes, add the carrots and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until cooked. Add an appropriate amount of salt and monosodium glutamate, and sprinkle with chopped green onions.
9. Brown Rice Cultivates a Good Complexion
The white, soft rice we usually eat is called polished white rice, which is a product obtained by milling off the outer layers of the rice during processing. Although white rice is white and delicate, you may not know that during the milling process of polished rice, the germ, the aleurone layer, and the bran are all ground away, causing a large loss of nutrients. Furthermore, repeated washing during cooking further loses the outer vitamins and minerals, leaving mainly starch and some protein. For example, the fat content in polished rice is 5%, while in the fine bran it is as high as 17%. Moreover, vitamin E, B vitamins, and rich dietary fiber are lost in the bran, greatly reducing its nutritional value.
Compared to polished white rice, brown rice is rice that still retains some outer layers, such as the pericarp, aleurone layer, and germ, after dehulling. Don't underestimate the nutritional value of these outer layers retained in brown rice. 60% to 70% of the vitamins, minerals, and many essential amino acids in rice are concentrated in them.
Activates Qi and Blood, Benefits the Skin and Hair
The B vitamins rich in brown rice are health guardians for the skin and mucous membranes. Common problems like dandruff, greasy hair, or hair loss in many people are closely related to a deficiency of B vitamins. Acne and pimples, common in young women, are also related to a lack of these vitamins. In addition, B vitamins also have significant therapeutic effects on eczema, tinea, and dermatitis. Therefore, regular consumption of brown rice can moisturize the skin, regulate oil secretion, make women's skin smooth, soft, and fair, with a ruddy complexion, and reduce hair loss, dry hair, and gray hair.
10. Shepherd's Purse Flowers Bloom by the Stream in Spring
When spring arrives, all things come to life, and many edible wild vegetables with delicious flavors and