Recently, it has been rainy and humid for days, making the body quite damp. Excessive internal dampness can lead to drowsiness, heavy limbs, loss of appetite, skin eczema and rashes, and even gastroenteritis. So, how can one remove dampness from the body? Traditional Chinese Medicine suggests that it is beneficial to often consume foods with dampness-removing and health-preserving effects. Here are 10 types of dampness-removing foods suitable for summer. Follow the editor to learn more!
1. Job's Tears
Job's Tears is a common traditional Chinese medicinal herb and also a widely consumed food. It has a sweet, bland, and slightly cool nature. It functions to promote urination and reduce swelling, strengthen the spleen to remove dampness, relax muscles and relieve arthralgia, clear heat and expel pus, making it a common diuretic and dampness-draining herb. Job's Tears is also a beauty food. Regular consumption can maintain the skin's radiance and smoothness, and eliminate acne, freckles, age spots, chloasma, and butterfly rash. It is also effective for treating skin problems like scaling, acne, chapping, and roughness. Job's Tears also promotes blood circulation and water metabolism in the body, exerting a diuretic and de-swelling effect, which helps improve edema-type obesity. Job's Tears water is a great detoxification method. Simply boil the Job's Tears in boiling water until soft, add a little sugar according to personal taste, and it becomes a natural skincare product for skin whitening.
Job's Tears and Pork Rib Soup
2. Millet
Millet is highly nutritious, rich in protein, fat, and vitamins. It is not only edible but also used medicinally to clear heat, relieve thirst, nourish yin, tonify the spleen, kidneys, and stomach, promote urination, and treat diarrhea. It can also be used to make wine. Moreover, millet is gluten-free, does not irritate the intestinal wall, and is a relatively gentle fiber that is easily digested, making it suitable for detox diets. Millet porridge is excellent for detoxification, with the effects of clearing heat and promoting urination. It is nutritious and also helps with skin whitening.
Millet porridge is a healthy food. It can be boiled on its own or with ingredients like red dates, red beans, sweet potatoes, lotus seeds, and lilies to create nutritious porridges with different flavors. When ground into flour, millet can be used to make delicious pastries. The sprouts of millet, like malt, contain a large amount of enzymes and are a traditional Chinese medicine that aids digestion and promotes appetite. Millet porridge also has a calming effect.
Pumpkin and Millet Paste
3. Red Beans
Red beans are slightly cool in nature, with a sweet flavor. They contain protein, fat, carbohydrates, B vitamins, potassium, iron, phosphorus, etc. Red beans can activate the cardiovascular system and promote urination. People who often feel cold, have low blood pressure, or get tired easily can improve these conditions by regularly eating red beans. Additionally, red beans have the effects of strengthening the stomach, promoting fluid production, removing dampness, and replenishing qi, making them a good medicinal and health food.
Red beans are also a good friend to women's health. Their rich iron content can improve complexion. Consuming more red beans can also help with blood replenishment, promote blood circulation, strengthen physical energy, and boost immunity. For breastfeeding women, eating more red beans can promote milk secretion.
Red Bean and Jujube Dumplings with Rose Sauce
4. Corn
Corn is rich in fiber, which not only stimulates gastrointestinal motility to prevent constipation but also promotes cholesterol metabolism and accelerates the elimination of toxins from the intestines. Corn oil, extracted from the germ, contains a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids, of which linoleic acid accounts for 60%. It can remove harmful cholesterol from the blood and prevent arteriosclerosis. Corn also regulates the middle jiao to stimulate appetite, reduces turbidity, and promotes urination. It is suitable for conditions like urinary tract stones, chronic nephritic edema, hypertension, and loss of appetite. Notably, corn contains lysine and trace element selenium, which have anti-tumor effects. Corn is also rich in B vitamins and niacin, which are effective in protecting nerve conduction and gastrointestinal function, and preventing beriberi and myocarditis.
Corn and Tuna Whole Wheat Sandwich
5. Winter Melon
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, winter melon is considered sweet and cold in nature, with the effects of clearing heat, promoting urination, and reducing swelling. Winter melon has a low sodium content and is beneficial as an auxiliary treatment for arteriosclerosis, cirrhotic ascites, coronary heart disease, hypertension, nephritis, and edema. "Sui Xi Ju Yin Pu" (a classic on diet) states: "If pregnant women often consume it, it can detoxify the fetus and keep the child free from disease." Winter melon also has the function of detoxifying fish poison. The malonic acid contained in winter melon can effectively inhibit the conversion of carbohydrates into fat. Coupled with the fact that winter melon itself is fat-free and low in calories, it is very important for preventing weight gain and helping to maintain a beautiful figure. The seeds and skin of winter melon can also be used as medicine. The flesh and pulp of winter melon have diuretic, heat-clearing, phlegm-resolving, and thirst-quenching effects. It can also treat edema, phlegmatic wheezing, summer heat, and hemorrhoids. Drinking winter melon soup with the skin on can achieve the effects of reducing swelling, promoting urination, clearing heat, and relieving summer heat.
Blackcurrant and Winter Melon Balls
Lazy pork chops
Squirty lemonade
♪ Fresh hands ♪
SpongeBob
Plum yogurt