Ginger - relieves the surface and dispels cold

Sun Simiao, the king of medicine, said: "As a doctor, you must first understand the source of the disease, know its cause, and treat it with food. The meaning of this passage is that for diseases, our first choice of treatment should be food. If food is not effective, medicine should be the last choice.

So, how to choose food? The first step is to figure out the state of your body. Find out whether you are suffering from yin deficiency and internal heat, or yang deficiency and internal coldness, and then figure out the yin and yang of food, cold and heat. Finally, hot will be cold and cold will be hot. Use the yin and yang of food to regulate the yin and yang of the body.

In the previous section, we introduced the top ten yin foods, and this section will introduce the top ten yang foods. Among the top ten yang foods, ginger ranks first.

Ginger has a pungent taste, warm nature, aromatic and light smell, and is a typical yang food.

Everyone should remember that the biggest characteristics of yin foods are that they are cold in nature, bitter in taste, and have negative medicinal properties. When the yang energy in the human body is too strong and the internal heat is too high, we will It can be used to reduce the yang energy in the body to achieve a balance of yin and yang. The biggest characteristics of yang foods are that they are warm in nature, light in pungent taste, and have upward medicinal properties. Their main function is to increase the yang energy in the body. rise.

Therefore, when the yin energy in the human body is too strong and the internal cold is too great, we can use it to increase the yang energy, warm the meridians and dispel the cold.

The biggest function of ginger is to promote yang and disperse qi. People often say: "Go to bed with carrots and get out of bed with ginger, so it doesn't take the doctor to prescribe medicine." This means that in the morning, when the body's yang qi rises, ginger is pure It is a yang thing. At this time, when people eat ginger, it can help the growth of yang energy, promote the circulation of qi and blood, and make people energetic throughout the day.

Not only that, because ginger has a dispersing effect, when people suffer from wind and cold, they can use ginger to boil water to dispel the cold on the surface of the body.

At the same time, if a person catches a cold and expands with heat and contracts with cold, the Qi in the body will solidify. At this time, the person will vomit and hiccup. When encountering this situation, I often Let them drink some ginger water, because ginger has a pungent taste and light Qi. It has a strong dispersing effect and can disperse Yang and Qi. Once the solidified Qi in the body is dispersed, the disease will naturally be cured. Therefore, Chinese medicine often says: "Ginger is the holy medicine for vomiting."

It should be noted that people with yin deficiency and excessive fire, red tongue and yellow coating, or red eyes with internal heat are best not to eat ginger.

Leeks - nourishing the kidneys and activating yang

Leeks are also called "yang grass". From this name alone, it can be seen that leeks are undoubtedly "yang" food. It is warm in nature, pungent in taste, and has the effect of nourishing the kidneys and stimulating yang. Therefore, there is a folk saying that "men cannot live without leek, and women cannot live without lotus root." Leeks are yang, so they are suitable for men to eat and can strengthen yang; lotus roots are yin, so they are suitable for women to eat and can nourish yin.

Leeks are suitable for people with cold constitution to eat more. However, people with stomach deficiency and heat and yin deficiency and excessive fire are not suitable to eat leeks.

Leeks are suitable for spring consumption. "Food in spring is fragrant, food in summer is smelly." In spring, the wind in the liver and wood stimulates the growth of yang energy. Eating leeks is beneficial to replenishing the qi of the spleen and stomach. Replenishing qi of the spleen and stomach means replenishing the qi of the whole body, which is conducive to maintaining the body's yin and yang in the cold spring weather. peaceful.

Fennel - warms the lower abdomen

Fennel can remove the fishy smell of meat and add the aroma of meat, so it is named "fennel". Please note that there are two kinds of fennel ——One is anise, the other is fennel. Anise is what we call star anise, and the shape of the small seedlings is like grains.

Fennel has a pungent taste and warm nature, and belongs to the liver, kidney, spleen and stomach meridians. It can warm the liver and kidneys, warm the spleen and stomach, regulate qi and harmonize the heart. Miraculously, it can also treat hernia, also known as "intestinal gas". For this reason, a good story has been left.

According to legend, in the late Qing Dynasty, the wealthy Russian businessman Mikhailov was visiting the West Lake. While he was intoxicated with the beautiful scenery of the south of the Yangtze River, a hernia broke out at an untimely time, causing Mikhailov to hold him in pain. My stomach is yelling. In such an emergency, the doctor accompanying the wealthy businessman was helpless. The boatman quickly recommended an old Chinese medicine doctor to him.

After the old Chinese medicine doctor came, he ground one or two fennel into powder and asked the patient to drink it with Shaoxing rice wine. After about twenty minutes, Mikhailov suddenly felt that the pain was less. , and after a while it no longer hurts at all.

He thought the Chinese medicine doctor had used some rare medicine for him, but when he asked, it was cumin, and he even said it was miraculous.

It turns out that fennel can dispel cold, relieve pain, and regulate stomach and qi. Hernia, also called small intestinal gas, is mainly caused by cold air accumulating in the small intestine, causing pain in the lower abdomen and testicular distension. Fennel is pungent and warm in nature, and has the function of dispelling coldness in the spleen, stomach and small intestine. Therefore, it cured the hernia of a wealthy Russian businessman. Since fennel has the effect of warming the lower abdomen, if female friends experience menstrual cramps caused by cold, they can also drink fennel decoction.

Cumin is generally used for cold syndrome. If you are a person with excessive fire in the stomach, kidneys, or small intestine, using fennel will aggravate the symptoms. Therefore, people with heat toxins in the body are prohibited from using fennel. .

Sichuan pepper—repelling cold and dampness

Speaking of Sichuan pepper, northerners may be confused. What is Sichuan pepper? Never heard of it. In fact, its common name is Zanthoxylum bungeanum. Those produced in Qin are called Qin peppers, and those produced in Shu are called Sichuan peppers.

Sichuan peppercorns are pungent, hot in nature and poisonous. Of course, this refers to when the peppercorns are raw. "Sichuan peppercorns, those who keep their mouth shut will kill people."

Sichuan pepper, a hot pure yang, can enter the spleen, stomach, lung, and kidney meridians. It can warm the spleen and stomach, replenish vitality, dispel yin and cold, drive away roundworms, relieve pain, and relieve rheumatism. It is very effective. many.

Soaking your feet in boiled Sichuan pepper water can remove dampness and dispel cold. The famous Chinese medicine doctor Shi Jinmo’s health habit is to soak your feet in Sichuan pepper water every night. The reason is that pepper water can remove dampness and cold, warm the spleen and stomach, and nourish the body. Mingmen. The spleen and stomach are the foundation of acquired nature, and the gate of life is the foundation of innateness. Warming the foundation of innateness and replenishing the foundation of acquired nature are important methods to strengthen the foundation and cultivate the vitality. However, if dampness evil enters the body, it is the most difficult to get rid of. It will become a lifelong disease. Therefore, Mr. Shi Jinmo figured out these key points and figured out such a health-preserving method for himself-soaking feet in boiled pepper water.

It is recommended that everyone insist on using this method, especially friends in the south, must use it. Because there is a lot of rain and humidity in the south.

Speaking of removing dampness, we must mention chili peppers. Southerners love to eat spicy food, not only for their taste preference, but also for their daily needs. It can help eliminate dampness and cold, and maintain the harmony of yin and yang in the body. But some southerners still like to eat chili peppers when they go to the north, but later they find something is wrong. They didn't get acne before, but now they eat chili peppers, and their noses become red and they get acne on their faces. This is all because the environment has changed. In the past, eating chili peppers can remove moisture, but now the north is already dry. After eating it, it can only increase the heat and dryness of the body, but the fire of the spleen and stomach rises, so acne also appears. . In the same way, northerners must use less pepper when cooking, otherwise it will only cause the body to become cold and heat imbalance. People with yin deficiency and excessive fire, as well as pregnant women, should not eat Sichuan peppercorns.

Pepper - warming the body and dispersing cold

Pepper is pungent, hot and pure yang. If you are cold, eating it can drive away the cold, but if you are hot, you may be prone to fever. If a person eats it, it will cause anger and anger, aggravating the condition.

Li Shizhen wrote in "Compendium of Materia Medica" that he had been particularly fond of eating pepper since he was a child, to the point of being obsessed with it. As a result, he suffered from eye diseases every year. At that time, he did not suspect that it was pepper. Later, Gradually I understood it, so I gritted my teeth and got rid of this habit, and my eye disease was cured.

Why does pepper have these characteristics? It is because it can stimulate the growth of yang energy in the body. The pungent flavor makes people angry, and the heat helps fire. Therefore, people with sore throats, toothaches, and eye diseases must avoid eating pepper.

Take medicine and eat according to the symptoms. Pepper is not suitable for people with heat in the body, but it is the best medicine for people with cold body. Pepper can warm the body, dispel cold, and strengthen kidney qi. If you have stomach cold, diarrhea, or cold deficiency, you can eat some pepper appropriately.

At the same time, pepper has an appetizing effect. I once wrote about Zhang Jingyue, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty. When treating his son, he clearly knew that he needed warmth and tonic, but the child just couldn't take the medicine, and he became very anxious. , what to do? The last solution he came up with was to use pepper, soak it in porridge, and give it to the child. As expected, the child's appetite increased and he could take medicine, and he was finally saved.

Today, we can also use it this way. If we have a bad appetite for a certain period of time, especially if it is caused by cold, we can add a little pepper when cooking, which can help us open up the food. Appetite, increase appetite.

Pumpkin - Warming and tonifying the spleen

Pumpkin, bitter melon, carrot, tomato, garlic and black fungus are called the "Six Friends of Vegetables", of which the aforementioned bitter melon is a genus. Yin, tomatoes and black fungus are also yin, pumpkin and garlic are yang, and carrots are neutral.

Pumpkin is warm in nature and sweet in taste. It enters the spleen and stomach meridians and can replenish qi. It is very beneficial to people with spleen deficiency and qi weakness. For diabetic patients, pumpkin is a good vegetable because it can prevent the rapid rise and fall of blood sugar and stabilize the condition. This is similar to the spleen-tonifying theory discussed in traditional Chinese medicine.

My mother had high blood sugar. At that time, we did not take medicine to treat it. Instead, we used food therapy, that is, eating yams, pumpkins, and bitter gourds. We often used them in cooking. As a result, the blood sugar level dropped. It's been controlled very well, it's been many years, and it's still within normal limits. Our method of making pumpkin is very simple, that is, cut the pumpkin into several pieces and steam them in a pot. It tastes sweet and delicious.

However, people who have always been on the hot side or have stomach heat should eat less. Pumpkin replenishes qi, so people suffering from qi stagnation and dampness should not eat it or eat less pumpkin.

Don’t eat too much pumpkin. If you eat too much, it will easily cause athlete’s foot and jaundice. Traditional Chinese medicine originally emphasizes the use of color to complement color. Pumpkin is yellow in color. If you eat too much, you will get jaundice. I have seen such a thing. A girl loved pumpkin very much and drank pumpkin porridge every day. After a while, she found that her skin turned yellow and the palms of her hands also turned yellow. She thought she had liver disease and ended up going to the hospital. Checked, no problem. The doctor asked questions back and forth, and finally found out that she had eaten too much pumpkin.

Cilantro - dispels cold and promotes qi

When going out to dinner, the waiter will often ask, do you eat cilantro? Some people quickly said, yes; some people quickly shook their heads, no. People who like to eat don't need to know its benefits to love it; people who don't like to eat may know its benefits and be able to accept its taste.

Coriander is named "cilantro" because it can enhance fragrance. It is commonly known as "coriander" in the north. It is a spice vegetable that people often eat. The fragrance of coriander is stimulating and can relieve colds and dispel colds. Especially for people suffering from external cold, it can dispel colds and induce sweating. In this regard, coriander and scallions have similar functions.

"Compendium of Materia Medica" believes that: Coriander is pungent, warm and fragrant, which can connect the heart and spleen internally and reach the limbs externally. It can ward off unhealthy qi and promote healthy qi in the heart and spleen.

But because coriander can activate qi, it is a hair-raising substance. Eating it can easily lead to relapse of old diseases.

In addition, a special reminder is that people with body odor should not eat coriander, and people with bad breath should not eat coriander. After eating it, the problem will be aggravated. Even people with a normal constitution should not eat too much. Eating too much will affect vision and deplete yin and yang energy.

Chestnuts - Warm and tonify the spleen and kidneys

Chestnuts are a yang food and very tonic. Its tonic effect is even comparable to that of angelica, ginseng and astragalus. However, eating too much can easily cause spleen and stomach problems. Accumulated heat.

Chestnuts are warm in nature and sweet in taste. They enter the spleen, stomach and kidney meridians. They are known as "hardcore crops" and "woody food" among the people. For people with spleen and stomach deficiency, it can replenish qi, strengthen the spleen, and nourish the stomach and intestines. Moreover, chestnuts also have the function of tonifying the kidneys. In ancient times, people called chestnuts the fruit of the kidney. If the elderly suffer from backache due to kidney deficiency, they can eat them to replenish their health. But be sure not to eat too much. Chestnuts are "extremely difficult to digest when raw, but easy to stagnate when cooked." It can be seen that everything must be done appropriately and appropriately.

Onions - exude coldness

Many people don’t like green onions, garlic, and onions. The main reason is that they are afraid of their taste. After eating, others will avoid talking to them. So many people refuse to eat onions. And when I was chopping onions, I would shed tears. However, in foreign countries, onions are known as the "Queen of Vegetables". You can also find that onions are often used in Western food.

We can summarize that all spicy and pungent foods like chili peppers, Sichuan peppers, peppers, onions, scallions, and garlic are mostly yang foods, and they can stimulate the yang energy in the body after eating them. . "Huangdi Neijing" says: "Pincid, sour, sweet and slow, bitter and hard, salty and soft."

The pungent smell has a dispersing effect, so it can stimulate Yang Qi, induce sweating and relieve symptoms.

If you feel wind and cold from outside, using them to drive away the cold is very effective.

Onions are sweet in taste, slightly pungent, and warm in nature. They enter the liver, spleen, kidney, and lung meridians. However, its main function is to dissipate wind and cold. If you have a cold and feel cold but don’t sweat, you can eat more onions or boil onions in water and drink it. You will find that there is no sweating or nasal congestion. Symptoms of obstruction are quickly relieved.

However, people with body heat are not suitable for eating onions. I know a friend who will cough whenever he eats onions, no matter how much. This is because he has heat in his body. After eating onions, he gets hot. If you heat it up, you will of course cough.

Green onions - Tongyang

Green onions are pungent in taste and slightly warm in nature, and have the effect of Tongyang. As the saying goes: Onions are spicy for the eyes, garlic is spicy for the heart, and chili peppers are spicy for both ends. The smell of green onions is very pungent. This pungent smell can help the body to clear away the cold from the surface, thus relieving the symptoms of colds and chills.

When used to treat colds, we usually use the bulb part of scallions, which is commonly known as scallion white. Scallion white belongs to the lung meridian and stomach meridian. "Compendium of Materia Medica" believes that scallion white "maintains typhoid, cold and heat, and sweating and stroke."

When you have a cold, boil water with scallions, drink it while it’s hot, and then cover your head with a little sweat. The symptoms of nasal congestion and chills will be relieved. The folk recipe Sangen Decoction, which is a soup made with green onion roots, cabbage roots, and radish roots, is also used to treat mild colds and also plays a role in dispersing superficial cold.

In fact, our Chinese medicine practitioners have been using green onions for a long time, and Zhang Zhongjing is a master of using green onions. For example, in "Treatise on Febrile Diseases", he wrote about scallion in several places. The most famous one is Baitong Decoction, in which scallion is the main medicine. This prescription is for the treatment of Shaoyin syndrome in which yin is excessive and yang is suppressed. At this time, the yin and cold inside the human body are excessive, and the deficient yang is blocked from the outside. This is a critical syndrome. Zhang Zhongjing used scallion white to clear the upper and lower parts, and break the The situation where yin and yang are in conflict, so that yang energy can come back and yin and yang be reconciled.

After understanding this truth, we understand why Chinese people always add chopped green onions in cooking. In fact, on the one hand, it tastes good, and on the other hand, it can regulate Qi and unify Yin and Yang. , this is the wisdom of our ancestors. There are health-preserving principles everywhere in life, which we must not know.