Introduction: What to eat for lung heat? In the dry autumn, it's easy to develop lung heat and cough. At this time, you should eat more foods that clear lung heat to alleviate the symptoms. So, what are the foods that clear lung heat? Below, the editor recommends 10 foods to help you stay away from lung heat!
1. Fritillary Bulb
Fritillary bulb contains various alkaloids, sterols, and starch. It has a sweet, bitter, and slightly cold nature, and its functions are to clear heat, moisten the lungs, and transform phlegm. It is effective for various types of coughs and is a key medicine for resolving phlegm and stopping cough. Therefore, fritillary bulb is included in many traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions or patent medicines for treating acute tracheitis, bronchitis, tuberculosis, etc., such as She Dan Chuan Bei Lu and Chuan Bei Pi Pa Lu, to enhance the therapeutic effect.
Prepare 1 snow pear, 6 grams of fritillary bulb, and 20 grams of rock sugar. Wash the snow pear, cut it in half lengthwise, and remove the core. Next, grind the fritillary bulb into a powder and place it into the snow pear. Use a toothpick to secure the pear back into its original shape. Place the pear in a bowl, add the rock sugar and water, and steam for 30 minutes. This dietary remedy can treat symptoms of lung heat cough.
Fritillary Snow Pear
2. Malva Nut
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, malva nut is considered sweet in taste and cool in nature, with the functions of clearing lung heat, soothing the throat, detoxifying, and moistening the bowels. It is used for hoarseness due to lung heat, sore throat, constipation due to heat accumulation, and hoarseness caused by overuse of the voice. It also provides auxiliary therapeutic effects for throat swelling and pain caused by external pathogens, acute tonsillitis, and other throat diseases.
The typical dosage for malva nut is 3 to 5 nuts, which can be decocted for drinking or used as an infusion. In clinical practice, it is often used for conditions like lung qi stagnation, phlegm-heat cough, hoarseness, and sore throat, and is commonly combined with bitter platycodon, raw licorice, cicada slough, mint, honeysuckle, and ophiopogon.
Malva Nut Cool Tea
3. Ophiopogon
Ophiopogon, also known as Mai Men Dong, is sweet and slightly bitter in taste, and cold in nature. Its functions are to nourish yin and moisten the lungs, benefit the stomach and promote body fluids, and clear heart heat and relieve restlessness. In summer, it is often used with licorice to prevent dry-heat from damaging the lungs. When used with Scrophularia, Salvia miltiorrhiza, and Rehmannia root, it also has the effect of clearing heart fire.
Clinically, ophiopogon is often combined with ginseng and Schisandra to enhance its effect of nourishing yin and moistening dryness, treating symptoms caused by insufficient lung yin such as throat itching, non-productive cough, thirst, dry throat, and dry constipation. Take 10 grams of ginseng, 10 grams of ophiopogon, and 6 grams of Schisandra. Infuse with boiling water and drink as tea frequently, or decoct the herbs in water and drink one dose daily, divided into two servings. It is very effective for relieving symptoms like summer sweating, palpitations, and heart flutters.
Shen Mai Dong Stewed Chicken Soup
4. Apricot Kernel
Apricot kernels are divided into southern and northern types, but both have the effect of moistening the lungs and stopping cough, though their natures and functions differ slightly. Sweet apricot kernels are sweet and slightly pungent, while bitter apricot kernels are bitter and warm with slight toxicity. Southern apricot kernels can help relieve dry cough without phlegm and chronic cough due to lung deficiency. Northern apricot kernels have the function of moistening the lungs and calming asthma, and are significantly effective for symptoms like excessive phlegm, cough, and wheezing caused by colds.
Since apricot kernels mainly act on the lung meridian and have a property of promoting circulation and opening up, they can be combined with various Chinese herbs to adapt to different lung cough and asthma conditions. For wind-cold cough and asthma, they are combined with ephedra and licorice to dispel wind-cold and ventilate the lungs to calm wheezing, as in the formula San Ao Tang. For wind-heat cough, they are combined with mulberry leaf and chrysanthemum to dispel wind-heat and ventilate the lungs to stop cough, as in Sang Ju Yin. For dry-heat cough, they are combined with mulberry leaf, fritillary bulb, and glehnia to clear the lungs, moisten dryness, and stop cough, as in Sang Xing Tang.
Apricot Sesame Soy Milk
5. Water Chestnut
Water chestnuts are shaped like horse hooves and also resemble chestnuts or taro, so they are also called horse hoof, earth chestnut, or black taro. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, water chestnuts are considered cold in nature and sweet in taste, entering the lung and stomach meridians. Their functions are to benefit qi and secure the middle, clear heat and quench thirst, stimulate the appetite and aid digestion, soothe the throat and improve eyesight, and transform dampness and resolve phlegm. They are often used for conditions like fluid injury from febrile diseases, vexation and thirst, nausea and vomiting, dry lung cough, and dry stools.
Water chestnuts are delicious, but attention must be paid to hygiene when eating them because they grow in marshes and their surface is covered with numerous bacteria and parasite eggs, especially those of the liver fluke. Therefore, people who like to eat them raw must be careful to clean them thoroughly. When eating raw, rinse with tap water, peel, and blanch in boiling water before consumption.
Water Chestnut and Tremella Soup