Chushu Season Recommended Foods to Prevent "Autumn Dryness"
The Chushu solar term marks the transition period from hot to cool. The yang energy in nature shifts from dispersal to astringency, and the fluctuation of yin and yang energy within the human body also transforms accordingly. At this time, daily routines and sleep schedules should be adjusted accordingly. For autumn health preservation, the first adjustment is to sleep early and rise early, a well-known practice. Scientific health preservation requires a comprehensive understanding of sleep patterns and methods.
Dietary health preservation methods are very effective in preventing "autumn dryness." It is especially recommended to eat more cool, moist vegetables, fruits, and liquid foods, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, winter melon, lilies, white radishes, carrots, and pears, apples, grapes, water chestnuts, sugarcane, citrus, bananas, persimmons, pineapples, monk fruit, red dates, and soups and congee. This not only helps supplement vitamins but also increases water intake. In terms of diet, one should eat less of pungent and heating foods like Sichuan pepper and chili, and even avoid grilled foods to prevent worsening the symptoms of autumn dryness.
Increase water and liquid food intake, and adopt the "5-1-2" method: "5-1" means five 1-cup servings, which is one cup of plain water after waking up in the morning, one cup of soy milk at breakfast, one bowl of soup at lunch, one bowl of congee at dinner, and one cup of milk half an hour before bedtime. "2" means drinking two cups of tea each in the morning and afternoon.
After Chushu, the temperature is warm during the day and cool at night. The nutrients absorbed by crops during the day are stored at night, which is very beneficial for the production and accumulation of dry matter within the plants.
Shanxi: After Chushu, the fields change overnight;
Shandong: Three days after Chushu, there is no green grain;
Zhejiang: Three days after Chushu, the rice is with seed;
Hubei: After Chushu, the fields are all yellow, every household repairs their granaries;
Henan: Chushu or not Chushu, eat rice and millet on the fifteenth of the seventh month. This indicates that the fields change quickly after Chushu, and the autumn harvest is imminent.
Another saying: Chushu flowers, do not return home; Chushu not head, cut to feed the cattle. This means that crops not planted on time and missed the farming season will not have a harvest, whether it is cotton or grain crops.
Chushu symbolizes the final withdrawal of the southeast monsoon and the beginning of the north monsoon. After this, the temperature gradually decreases, which is the reason for the saying "The heat of Chushu does not come." Chushu is also known as Shu Tui (heat retreat), when the temperature is generally 15-17°C, the most comfortable temperature for the human body. Therefore, it feels very pleasant. Lu You, a poet of the Song Dynasty, wrote two lines: "All four seasons are delightful, but the best is the time of early autumn."
Chestnuts
Autumn is the season when various fruits and vegetables mature and are abundantly available, with cucumbers, bitter melon, winter melon, and pumpkin being particularly cheap. Gourds are rich in nutrition, containing essential amino acids, vitamins, carotene, and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, and potassium. They also have certain medicinal value. Among all summer vegetables, gourds have the highest water content, generally over 90%. Eating 500 grams of gourds is equivalent to drinking 450 ml of high-quality water. Gourds have low sugar content; compared to rice, their energy and sugar content is one-tenth or one-thirtieth. They also have almost no fat and will not cause weight gain.
Chestnuts are delicious and of high quality, making them an excellent health food. A variety produced in Yixing, Liyang in Jiangsu and Guangde in Anhui, generally matures around Chushu, hence it is called Chushu Hong. Because the fruit matures early, it is also called Tou Huang Zao. This variety is high-yielding, with large, fine, sweet, fragrant, and beautiful fruit, and is mainly used as a vegetable chestnut.
During the Chushu season, the sea temperature around Taiwan is still relatively high, so fish schools remain in the surrounding waters. Sailfish can be caught along the eastern coast. A very famous fruit in Taiwan during this solar term is "Hengshan Pear," which grows in low-altitude areas of Taiwan. The flesh is relatively coarse, but due to successful grafting with "High Mountain Pear," it is also called "Grafted Pear."
Eating Duck During Chushu
The old duck is sweet in taste and cool in nature, so there is a tradition of eating duck during Chushu. The methods of preparation are varied, including white-cut duck, lemon duck, ginger duck, roasted duck, lotus leaf duck, and walnut duck. Beijing still preserves this tradition. On Chushu, Beijingers usually go to shops to buy Chushu lily duck, etc. In Japan, there is a custom of splashing water to cool down. During the month from Great Heat to Chushu, there are organized activities of splashing water to cool down across Japan.
At the same time, eat more foods rich in vitamins, such as fresh vegetables and fruits. Because vitamins can help the body quickly expel metabolic products accumulated during fatigue. Vegetables and fruits are alkaline foods, and their metabolic products can neutralize the acidic substances produced by muscle fatigue, thus relieving fatigue. In fact, nature has already arranged this for us. Autumn itself is the golden period for fruit production. Apples, pears, tomatoes, oranges, and sugarcane are all good choices at this time. In addition, eat more potassium-rich foods, such as dried fruits, legumes, and seafood. They can maintain cellular moisture, enhance their activity, and help the body recover its vitality.
1. Pear Congee: 2-3 pears, washed, cored, and chopped, add 100 grams of rice, and cook with water. Pear is sweet and sour in taste, cool in nature, with the effects of promoting fluid production, moistening dryness, clearing heat, and resolving phlegm. Rice strengthens the spleen and replenishes qi. Cooking them together as congee has the effects of replenishing qi, strengthening the spleen, nourishing yin, and moistening dryness, and can be used as a health food to prevent autumn dryness.
2. Lily and Tremella Congee: 50 grams of fresh lily, 10 grams of tremella, 100 grams of rice. Wash and chop the lily, soak the tremella in warm water, then wash and chop it, and cook with rice into congee. Lily is sweet in taste, slightly cold in nature, with the effects of nourishing yin, moistening the lungs, clearing the heart, and calming the mind. Tremella is sweet and bland in taste, neutral in nature, with the effects of nourishing yin, moistening the lungs, nourishing the stomach, and promoting fluid production. Rice replenishes qi and strengthens the spleen. Cooking them together as congee has the effects of moistening yin and dryness, nourishing the lungs and heart, strengthening the spleen, and promoting fluid production, suitable for consumption during the dry autumn season.
3. Tremella, Lily, and Autumn Pear Soup: 10 grams of tremella, 10 grams of lily, 1 autumn pear, and an appropriate amount of rock sugar. Wash the autumn pear, core it, and cut it into small pieces. Add soaked tremella, lily, and rock sugar, place in a bowl, and steam for 1 hour. Eat the pear and drink the soup. It has the effects of nourishing yin, moistening dryness, relieving cough, and resolving phlegm, suitable for autumn dryness cough and dry cough with little phlegm.
In addition, the ancients also emphasized the importance of "Ziwu Jiao" (sleeping at the hours of the rat and horse, i.e., 11 PM-1 AM and 11 AM-1 PM) in sleep health preservation. During the Ziwu hours, yin and qi intersect, reaching a peak or decline, and the body's qi, blood, yin, and yang become imbalanced. One must lie quietly to wait for the qi to recover. Modern research has found that from 12 AM to 4 AM, the function of various organs in the body reaches its lowest point; from 12 PM to 1 PM is the time when the body's sympathetic nerve is most fatigued. Statistics show that elderly people who sleep during Ziwu hours can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
During the Chushu solar term, it is advisable to eat foods that clear heat and calm the mind, such as tremella, lily, lotus seeds, honey, yellow croaker, dried scallops, kelp, jellyfish, celery, spinach, glutinous rice, sesame, legumes, and dairy products.