Sonchus oleraceus, also known as Sonchus oleraceus, is a compositae plant. It has many names, and some of them even look strange. However, once you see the real thing, you will know it immediately, because this kind of wild vegetable is everywhere in most areas in the north.

Northeasters eat bitter vegetables, mostly with bitter vegetables dipped in sauce; Northwest China often uses it to make stuffed buns and dumplings, mix noodles or process sauerkraut; The food in North China is mostly cold salad. I remember very clearly that when I was young, every spring, my parents would serve a few pots of washed bitter vegetables and dip them in soybean sauce. Although it was slightly bitter, it was very refreshing, and I can still recall that delicious food.

Now that I think about it, everything grows in spring, and people are easy to get angry, and some wild vegetables just grow out of the ground at this time. We can eat these wild vegetables, which may be the ingenious arrangement of nature.

Bitter vegetables are cold in nature, which has the effects of clearing away heat and toxic materials, cooling blood and stopping bleeding, and has a good effect on treating colds and tonsillitis. "southern Yunnan materia medica" says that bitter herbs can "cool blood and heat, cold the stomach, make the belly accumulate, and benefit the water." That is to say, bitter herbs have the functions of dispelling stomach heat and blood heat, expelling abdominal stagnation and promoting urination.

If we use the theory of Chinese medicine to analyze, bitter vegetables are separated into blood. When the blood is hot, we can detoxify and cool the blood by eating more bitter vegetables. For example, when our skin has sores and boils, we can take bitter vegetables to detoxify and reduce swelling. It can be seen that bitter vegetables are small and have great effects.

"Life is infinite, only in painstaking efforts", which is the lotus seed heart.

Open the lotus seeds, and there is a small green germ inside, which is quietly held into a small ball. This is the lotus plumule. Although it is only a little, it is very effective. It can "clear the heart fire" and "calm the liver fire" and is an amazing expert in "fire fighting".

Speaking of lotus plumule, as we all know, this is almost synonymous with "bitterness". It is bitter in taste, cold in nature, enters the heart, lung and kidney, and can move from the heart to the kidney, so that the heart fire can pass down to the kidney, and it can rise again, making the kidney water tide in the heart.

Lotus plumule can not only clear fire, but also soothe the nerves. It is best for those who suffer from anxiety and insomnia caused by chronic diseases. Lotus plumule also works wonders for patients who have a high fever and are confused. In addition, plumula Nelumbinis also has the function of lowering blood pressure. People who are upset and insomnia due to high blood pressure can make tea with plumula Nelumbinis. Usually, the tea brewed from the tender lotus plumule tastes light, while the older the lotus plumule, the heavier the bitter taste.

Lotus plumule is a kind of medicine and food that I often use. I found that because the pace of work and life in modern society is too fast, many people are under pressure, and this pressure often turns into a fire of the heart. Sometimes, I went to a unit to feel the pulse of my friends, and finally found that everything I said was the same. This person has the fire of the heart, and so does that person. Later, I was embarrassed to say it.

I concluded that this may be related to the nature of work and the working environment. A strict boss and the following employees are expected to have some passion. What should I do? Work still needs to be done, but the fire can't always be in the body. At this time, I will tell them to use 3 grams of lotus plumule and 3 grams of bamboo leaves to soak in boiling water, and then drink it as tea. Although it tastes a little bitter (in fact, everyone is not too bitter to drink coffee, and it is no problem to drink this), it can drain the fire of the heart, which can make our bodies move forward lightly and avoid the further development of the fire of the heart. Finally enter a state of disease.

Luffa is a common vegetable in our life, and I can see it every time I go to the vegetable market. After I buy it, I usually slice it and fry it with eggs. It tastes smooth, unique and refreshing. But, you know what? Loofah is very popular in Chinese medicine.

First of all, loofah is sweet and cool, and has the functions of clearing away heat and resolving phlegm, cooling blood and detoxifying. When people have bloody stool, hemorrhoid bleeding, dry colon and unfavorable stool, they can eat more loofah. My practice is to cut the towel gourd into slices or strips, fry it in oil first, and then add water and salt, so that the soup is not only delicious, but also can clear away heat and cool blood and benefit the intestines.

In ancient times, the juice of loofah was used to clear phlegm and heat, so how to collect the juice of loofah? The ancients were very clever. Their specific method was to cut off the lower end of the growing loofah, and then put a container under it, so that the juice of the loofah would drip continuously, and people used this loofah juice to treat jaundice and cough.

Of course, there is no such condition in the city now, but we can squeeze the loofah bought from the vegetable market into juice and drink this loofah juice, which can also clear away heat, resolve phlegm and relieve cough.

In addition, loofah is a treasure all over the body. When loofah is old, there will be a kind of netted dry fiber in it, which is often used by ordinary people to brush pots and bowls, and is also sold in grocery stores. However, few people know that it is still a traditional Chinese medicine called loofah, which has the functions of dredging meridians, detoxifying and relieving swelling.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that man and nature are one, and the truth in nature is the truth in the body. Luffa has a strong network structure, so it has a strong dredging effect, which can dredge the meridians blocked by us. When encountering meridian blockage caused by damp heat, such as low back pain, I will use mulberry branches with Luffa to add it to the prescription, which will soon make the meridians unblocked and the pain disappear. When treating rheumatism, this Luffa is also a commonly used drug.

Cutting off the epidermis of loofah is also a traditional Chinese medicine called loofah skin. Luffa skin has the function of clearing away heat and toxic materials, and can be used to treat gold sores and furuncles. In ancient times, it was used to dry the luffa skin, store it, bake it when using it, grind it into powder, and then apply it to the affected area with wine, which can play a therapeutic role.

In short, this loofah is full of treasures, from leaves to vines to fruits, all of which can be used as medicine. From a small towel gourd, we can clearly understand how man and nature are unified, because the towel gourd corresponds to the inside and outside of the human body. So, a small towel gourd reflects our human body:

The meat of towel gourd is inside, so it can treat heat syndrome such as intestinal bloody stool in our body; Loofah's winding is in its middle layer, so it can dredge the meridians in our middle layer and clear away the damp heat in the meridians; The skin of towel gourd is on the outside, so it can relieve the heat toxin on our body surface and treat diseases such as sores and furuncles.

Cucumber is cool and sweet, and enters the lung, stomach and intestines. The diseases treated are: fever and thirst, short and red urine, edema and less urine, fire and water burns, etc.

It is very suitable for patients with fever. For example, if your tongue is red or your tongue coating is yellow, it is better to eat cucumber at this time. Especially when suffering from febrile diseases and body fluid deficiency, using cucumbers as ingredients can increase fluid and nourish yin. When I encounter this situation, I will use pears, watermelons, cucumbers, etc. to juice together, and then let the patients drink this fruit and vegetable juice, and soon the symptoms of dryness will be quickly alleviated.

In fact, cucumber also entered the liver meridian, which was not summarized by ancient doctors. However, we can't limit ourselves because of the understanding of the ancients. After research, cucurbitacin C contained in cucumber has the function of improving human immune function and achieving the purpose of anti-tumor. More importantly, the substance can also treat chronic hepatitis and persistent hepatitis, and prolong the survival of patients with primary liver cancer. In addition, alanine, arginine and glutamine contained in cucumber have a certain auxiliary therapeutic effect on liver patients, especially those with alcoholic cirrhosis, and can prevent and treat alcoholism.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal properties of wine are hot, so it will cause heat syndrome in the body, and cucumber can clear this kind of heat poison and protect the liver. From these studies, we can see that cucumber has the function of clearing the heat of liver meridian, which is a new knowledge we need to know.

In addition, cucumber is rich in vitamin E. It can play a role in prolonging life and resisting aging; Cucumber enzyme in cucumber has strong biological activity and can effectively promote the metabolism of the body. Rubbing the skin with cucumber juice or slices has the effects of moistening skin and stretching wrinkles. Because the medicinal properties of cucumber are cool, it has a good moisturizing effect on hot and dry skin in summer, which is why many women choose to use cucumber to protect their skin.

However, cucumber is not suitable for people with weak spleen and stomach, and the spleen is afraid of being cold. Eating cucumber is easy to hurt the spleen. In short, people with stomachache, diarrhea or cough due to lung cold should eat less or not eat cucumber. "southern Yunnan materia medica" said: "moving cold phlegm, people with cold stomach eat it, abdominal pain and vomiting."

We see celery every day in the vegetable market, but we don't think that celery also has its own taste and tropism. If we master this knowledge, we can use it to adjust our body. So, what part of our body does celery regulate?

It turns out that celery is cool and sweet. When it enters the lung, stomach and liver meridians, it can clear away heat and relieve annoyance, calm liver qi, clear stomach fire, cool blood and stop bleeding. People with constipation and hypertension can eat more.

What I need to tell you here is that the main function of celery is to enter the liver meridian, which is the key point we should grasp. When the liver wind moves in our body, we will feel dizzy and bloated, and our face will be red and our eyes will be red. If we measure our blood pressure, we will find that our blood pressure has increased. At this time, if we eat celery, we can calm the liver and lower blood pressure.

At present, modern pharmacological analysis has also proved this point. The research shows that celery contains acidic antihypertensive components which have obvious antihypertensive effect on rabbits and dogs by intravenous injection; Vascular perfusion can dilate blood vessels; Using aortic arch perfusion method, it can resist the pressor reaction caused by nicotine and theophylline, and can cause hypotension. Clinically, it has curative effect on primary hypertension, pregnancy hypertension and menopausal hypertension.

However, if celery is heated for too long, its effective components for lowering blood pressure will be destroyed, so we can wash celery, scald it with boiling water a little, and then cold it, so that we can keep its effective nutrients to the maximum extent.

Another function of celery entering the liver meridian is to regulate menstruation. As we know, women's liver meridian is very important. Fetus, childbirth, menstruation, etc. are all related to the drainage of liver meridian. If the liver meridian is hot, excessive drainage will occur, which will lead to too long menstrual period. I often receive such consultation, asking what should I do if menstruation comes for ten days? In fact, if we can judge that it is caused by blood heat, we can eat celery. Because celery has the function of cooling blood and stopping bleeding, it was used to regulate menstruation in ancient times, so it is a homologous product of medicine and food, which is often suitable for women. Knowing this, when we go to the vegetable market, we can know under what circumstances we should buy celery to eat when we are faced with so many kinds of dishes.

Another knowledge to tell you is that celery is a porter who dredges the intestines. Many foods we eat now are refined, and there is very little dietary fiber in them, which is a fatal threat to us, especially those who love meat. Because our intestines need a certain amount of dietary fiber to keep the stool unobstructed, if the dietary fiber is insufficient, the stool will stay in the intestine, and many toxic substances will be absorbed by the intestine, which is an important cause of intestinal cancer.

Now the incidence of intestinal cancer has been increasing year by year, which is related to the change of our diet structure. At the same time, these absorbed toxic substances will also lead to the disorder of other systems in our body. Modern medicine believes that many immune system diseases such as rheumatism are related to the absorption of too many toxic substances in the intestine. In the past, people thought that constipation was no big deal. In fact, some stubborn diseases in the body were caused by constipation. Celery is rich in plant fiber, which is the best food to dredge the intestine. It can also speed up the running time of feces in the intestine, reduce the contact between carcinogens and colon mucosa, and achieve the purpose of preventing colon cancer. At the same time, celery will produce a substance called lignin or intestinal fat after intestinal digestion. This kind of substance is an antioxidant, which can inhibit carcinogens produced in enteric bacteria at high concentration.

Therefore, celery is a very good food from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine. I hope everyone can deepen their understanding of it and let it serve our health.