It is sultry in summer, and people sweat a lot, which is easy to consume heart yin and damage heart yang. Chinese medicine believes that the heart is the official of the monarch, and all the five internal organs listen to the heart and move, so the blood vessels are smooth and the five internal organs are peaceful. Therefore, keeping healthy in summer focuses on clearing the heart and nourishing the heart, so how should we nourish the heart in summer?
Su Wen Xuanming's Five Qi Articles says: Five flavors enter the liver, bitter enters the heart, sweet enters the spleen, pungent enters the lung, salty enters the kidney, and the heart belongs to fire. Summer is the most vigorous time for heart yang. When the heart is too strong, people are easy to get angry and impetuous. Nourishing the heart in summer can be adjusted by bitter food in daily life, and bitterness can reduce the heart fire. Proper consumption of bitter food can dispel dampness, clear away heat and toxic materials, remove annoyance and refresh the brain, relieve summer heat and strengthen the spleen, which can be described as having many effects.
(1) plumula nelumbinis
Summer is easy to feel sad and irritable, and there will be loss of appetite. At this time, you should eat more foods that soothe your nerves and stimulate your appetite. You can choose lotus seeds as a diet to soothe your nerves and nourish your heart. Although lotus seeds are bitter, they have a good effect of clearing the heart, and it is very effective to cook porridge with japonica rice. Lotus seeds are slightly cool, sweet and astringent, and have the functions of nourishing heart, strengthening spleen and tonifying kidney.
Lotus plumule often enters the heart and lung meridians with Baiji, which has the functions of calming the heart, calming the nerves, moistening the lungs and relieving cough. In summer, when the heart is inflamed, there will be clinical manifestations such as tongue sore, oral erosion, upset insomnia and red tongue tip.
The combination of the two can not only clear the heart fire, but also help sleep. It is very effective for summer heat anxiety, insomnia and dreaminess, and is very suitable for eating in summer.
(2) Bitter gourd
Ancient Chinese medicine records that bitter gourd tastes bitter, cold when it is born and warm when it is cooked. Raw food can clear away heat, relieve summer heat and purge fire, and clear away heat and trouble; Cooked food nourishes blood, liver, spleen and kidney. Using bitter gourd in summer has the effects of clearing away heat and relieving summer heat, improving eyesight and detoxifying.
Second, eat more red food.
Red was also called red in ancient times. In summer, the sun is the most abundant, and red is yang, so the corresponding red food is put into painstaking efforts. Generally speaking, red food can replenish blood and nourish the heart, promote blood circulation, protect cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, and clear the heart and soothe the nerves. Eating more red food is especially beneficial to people with heart-yang deficiency, heart-blood deficiency, blood stasis, cardiovascular diseases, anxiety, palpitations and insomnia.
Our common red foods are: tomatoes, adzuki beans, beetroot, peanuts, carrots, red peppers and so on.
(1) tomato
Tomato, cool in nature, sweet and sour in taste, belongs to liver, heart, spleen and stomach meridian, and has the effects of invigorating spleen and appetizing, clearing away heat and promoting fluid production, nourishing blood and cooling blood, nourishing liver and protecting heart. Therefore, tomatoes have a good heart-protecting effect. Usually we can use them to make cold dishes, soup and noodles.
(2) adzuki bean
Adzuki bean, flat in nature, sweet, sour and pungent in taste, enters the channels of heart, spleen and small intestine, which is beneficial to diuresis, detumescence, heat and detoxification. According to the "Interesting Life Diet Spectrum", it can tonify the heart and spleen, induce diuresis to reduce swelling, eliminate phlegm and expel pus, but if you don't eat it every day, it will be easy to dry and dry the skin, just in moderation.
Like everything else in the world, TCM health preservation has the laws of yin-yang opposition, mutual utilization, growth and decline balance and mutual transformation, and also pays attention to the "balance of yin and yang" The four seasons of "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Tibet" are the manifestations of Yin and Yang adapting to the changes of external factors, so Chinese medicine also has the saying that "the five elements should correspond to the five internal organs". According to the theory of five internal organs and five elements in TCM theory, the liver belongs to wood, the heart belongs to fire, bitter enters the heart, and red nourishes the heart. These two kinds of food are the first choice of health food in summer.