Red bean English name: adzuki bean ＜Instrument File Cabinet＞ Main effects: treatment of edema, to go to the feet, blood tonic. Production period: late December to early February of the following year. Nutrition: amino acids and vitamin b, iron. Food Part: Seeds. Mode of consumption: Cooking. Red beans, also known as "Xiaodou" and "Red Kidney Beans", are formally known as "Red Kidney Beans" in both Shennong's Classic of the Materia Medica and Compendium of Materia Medica, and are a medicinal ingredient used for both food and medicine. Red beans are sweet, flat and non-toxic in nature. In traditional medicine, they are mainly used to promote water circulation (e.g., to treat edema), diuretic (e.g., to remove foot fungus), and to strengthen the spleen, i.e., they have the efficacy of strengthening the spleen and inducing diuretic activity, and detoxifying and eliminating edema. Therefore, the Shennong's Classic of the Materia Medica of the Han Dynasty elaborated on its functions: "red beans are used to pass the small intestines, facilitate urination, reduce swelling and expel pus, eliminate heat and detoxify the toxin, treat diarrhea and foot odor, quench thirst and quench wine, and pass breast milk and lower the fetus". Therefore, in Sun Simiao's "The Essential Prescription for Preparing an Emergency Thousand Golds", there is a medicinal meal that utilizes red beans and carp cooked and consumed to improve the edema and foot odor of pregnant women in the late stages of pregnancy, based on the fact that carp is a nourishing tonic and a water booster, while red beans are a water booster, clearing away heat and removing toxins. In Chinese medicine, red beans for the kidneys, heart, foot and other formation of edema has the effect of improving, this is mainly from its saponin compounds contained in the efficacy, in addition to diuretic, prevention of constipation, but also has the role of detoxification, vomiting and so on. And saponin compounds in the red bean seed skin part of the content is particularly high, therefore, cooking red beans do not peel. According to modern nutritional analysis, red beans are rich in vitamin b1, in addition to preventing fatigue substances precipitated in the muscles, to prevent beriberi, but also to make it easier to decompose and burn carbohydrates. Therefore, red beans also have the effect of preventing obesity, "food nature of this herb" said: "long time to eat thin people." The attached red bean carp soup is a famous slimming dish. Red bean is very suitable for women's food, because of its iron content is quite rich, has a very good blood function. Whether it is for pregnant women to improve the situation of postpartum milk deficiency, or general female menstrual discomfort relief, often drink a bowl of hot red bean soup, can play the effect of regulating menstruation and breast milk. However, it must be noted that it is best not to eat with dumplings, dumplings and other sweets mixed, because the calories will be too high, but you can add a little brown sugar, will have a warming effect. ＜Topics of Ingredients--The Secret of Red Bean Nutrition that Tastes Good and Doesn't Hurt Your Body＞ In modern nutritional analysis, red bean has been recognized as a staple food group with extremely high nutrient content. However, in the human digestive process, the bean fiber of red beans is easy to produce gas in the intestinal tract, so people with weak stomachs will often feel uncomfortable after consuming red beans, such as flatulence. In fact, the general public in the consumption of red beans, are accustomed to add some sugar to increase the taste, however, from the point of view of traditional Chinese medicine is that "sweet full of people", so the spleen and stomach qi deficiency of people taking too much sweet food, is indeed more likely to have the discomfort of fullness. So add a little salt when cooking red beans, so that produces "soften and eliminate the role of accumulation", will help eliminate flatulence. In addition, some people cook red beans, in order to remove astringent flavor, will first blanch red beans with water once before cooking, but hot red beans in the water contains dissolved saponin compounds, so do not pour out, can then cook with red beans. Red beans and oats or barley and other grains cooked together, this is because the protein contained in red beans are incomplete amino acids, must be consumed together with grains, the health of the body is also more helpful.