Introduction: For menstrual cramps, besides the universal "drink more hot water," brown sugar is the go-to remedy. Rich in vitamins and trace elements such as iron, zinc, manganese, and chromium, brown sugar has much higher nutritional value than white sugar. A cup of hot brown sugar water in the winter is truly nourishing for the heart and health.
From ancient times to the present, brown sugar has been a health treasure for women. In China, there has long been a custom for postpartum women to eat brown sugar and for women to drink brown sugar water during menstruation to replenish blood. The folk saying, "A woman should not go without sugar for a hundred days," refers specifically to brown sugar. Professor Jiang Huizhong, a nationally renowned veteran physician of gynecology and obstetrics at Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, states that for women of all ages, brown sugar is an excellent choice.
Brown Sugar and Ginger Soup
Brown sugar is warm in nature and sweet in taste, with the effects of nourishing qi and blood, strengthening the spleen and warming the stomach, invigorating blood circulation, and dispelling stasis. It strongly stimulates the body's hematopoietic function. Young girls can drink brown sugar water during their period to effectively relieve the feeling of abdominal sagging and discomfort, especially for menstrual pain caused by cold exposure or physical weakness. For menopausal women, its strong detoxifying effects can prevent melanin production, smooth the skin, and provide a continuous whitening effect. For elderly and frail women, brown sugar can dispel stasis and invigorate blood, promote bowel movements, and has a very good effect in treating deficiency and delaying aging. Brown sugar can be boiled directly in water or paired with red dates, tremella, goji berries, ginger, etc. It is advisable to consume about 30 grams daily. Brown sugar contains more impurities and can easily breed bacteria, so it should not be eaten raw and is best boiled before consumption. People with yin deficiency and internal heat or diabetes should not consume it.
The Effects and Benefits of Brown Sugar
Warm in nature, sweet in taste, and enters the spleen meridian. It has the effects of replenishing qi and blood, strengthening the spleen and warming the stomach, alleviating pain in the middle jiao, invigorating blood circulation, and dispelling stasis.
1. Tonifying Deficiency
The various monosaccharides and polysaccharide energy substances in brown sugar, such as glucose and fructose, can accelerate the metabolism of skin cells and provide energy for them.
Brown sugar also has an excellent effect of tonifying deficiency and replenishing for the elderly and frail, especially for those recovering from serious illnesses. It can also play a certain therapeutic role in arteriosclerosis and is less likely to induce dental diseases such as cavities.
2. Tonifying Blood and Invigorating Blood Circulation
Brown sugar contains components like folic acid and trace substances that can accelerate blood circulation, increase blood volume, stimulate the body's hematopoietic function, expand blood volume, and improve the supply of nutrition, oxygen, and moisture to local skin.
For women, drinking brown sugar water for menstrual cramps caused by cold exposure and physical weakness, or postpartum, has the effect of tonifying blood and invigorating blood circulation. When suffering from abdominal pain due to cold, brown sugar ginger soup is often used to dispel the cold.
Brown Sugar Millet Porridge
3. Health Care
Some vitamin and electrolyte components in brown sugar can regulate the concentration of certain substances between tissues, balance the water metabolism of the intracellular environment, excrete metabolic waste products, and maintain the cleanliness of the intra- and extracellular environments. In addition, the various vitamins and antioxidant substances in brown sugar can resist free radicals, rebuild and protect the basic structure of cells, and maintain the normal function and metabolism of cells.
4. Skin Care
Substances such as amino acids and cellulose in brown sugar can effectively protect and restore the fiber structure and water-locking ability of the epidermis and dermis, strengthen the skin's structure and elasticity, while also supplementing skin nutrition and promoting cell regeneration. In addition, certain natural acids and pigment-regulating substances in brown sugar can effectively regulate various pigment metabolic processes, balance the amount and distribution of pigment secretion in the skin, and reduce the abnormal accumulation of local pigment.
Hand-Rubbed Brown Sugar Ice Noodles