In midsummer, not only does the temperature rise, but there are also storms, showers, and thunder. The dampness and heat easily accumulate in the body, making people uncomfortable.

Generally speaking, the etiology and pathogenesis of the disease in summer, the last month of summer, have the following three points.

●After the summer enters the dog days, the weather is hot and it is easy to produce symptoms such as restlessness, fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness and other symptoms. At this time, attention should be paid to preventing common summer diseases such as heatstroke, diarrhea, and dysentery. In the hot summer, you can eat cold and cool foods appropriately to relieve the evil of fire and heat.

●During the summer season, the humidity is high, the weather is sultry, and the human body is prone to sweating. At this time, the evils of cold and dampness easily take the opportunity to invade the human body, and it is easy to add symptoms of yin and heat during the cooling off.

●In the hot summer season, the days are long and the nights are short, which generally affects people’s sleep. At this time of year, you should go to bed early and get up early to ensure rest time. If possible, it is best to take a nap for half an hour at noon to give the brain a rest. In addition, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, facial paralysis, summer cold, etc. are high-risk diseases at this time.

Examples of food selection in summer

Grains: wheat, fresh corn, mung beans, red beans, soybeans, and japonica rice. Vegetables: rapeseed, onions, radish, lettuce, potatoes, cucumbers, and bitter gourds.

Fish and meat: beef, ribs, eel, tilapia, mandarin fish.

Fruits: watermelon, lychee, longan, cantaloupe, dragon fruit, durian.

Condiments: chili sauce, pepper, sesame oil, cinnamon, bay leaves, star anise.

Bitter melon: cold in nature, bitter in taste, enters the heart and liver meridians. It can clear away heat and heat, improve eyesight and detoxify, diuretic and cool blood. Helps promote appetite, relieve summer heat and reduce fever. Bitter melon is cool in nature and should not be eaten by those with spleen and stomach deficiency.

Mung beans: cold in nature, sweet in taste, non-toxic, enters the heart and stomach meridians. It can clear away heat and detoxify, relieve heat and relieve irritability, quench thirst and strengthen the stomach, diuresis and reduce swelling. Helps increase appetite, etc. Mung beans are cold in nature, so those with a weak and cold body should not eat too much or for a long time, and those with a weak spleen and stomach who have diarrhea should use it with caution.

Ophiopogon japonicus: sweet, slightly bitter, slightly cold in nature, enters the lung, heart and stomach meridians. Function: nourish yin and promote fluid production, moisten the lungs and clear the heart. It is suitable for symptoms of dry cough due to dryness of the lung, cough due to fatigue, thirsty drinkers, restlessness, poor sleep, and constipation. In addition, Ophiopogon japonicus also has the effect of "beautifying the color and pleasing the skin".

Hawthorn: neutral in nature, sweet and astringent in taste, enters the spleen, stomach and liver meridians. It has a therapeutic effect on acid swallowing, diarrhea, low back pain, hernia, dietary stagnation, postpartum stasis and abdominal pain, etc. It has the effects of regulating blood lipids, lowering blood pressure, and promoting digestion.

This product has a sour taste. Excessive consumption will make people noisy, prone to hunger, and damage teeth. People with weak spleen and stomach should use it with caution.

Bitter melon and chrysanthemum porridge (summer, clearing away heat and detoxifying)

Summer is also a period of high incidence of digestive system diseases, but it is different from spring. In spring, because the weather suddenly turns warm and cold, and the climate changes constantly, there are more patients with gastric diseases. In summer, most patients with intestinal diseases come to the hospital. Dysentery is a typical summer intestinal disease. "Suwen·Taiyin Yangming Lun" says: "Eating and drinking without moderation and living from time to time... It will cause diarrhea when going down, and intestinal irritation for a long time." The onset of dysentery is mainly due to not paying attention to food hygiene, or close contact with patients with dysentery. Caused by. The incidence rate in children is higher than that in adults, so we would like to remind parents to pay more attention to food hygiene in summer, ensure that food is fresh and clean, and it is best not to eat food that has been stored in the refrigerator for a long time.

In summer, you might as well eat some bitter melon and chrysanthemum porridge, which has the effect of clearing away summer heat and can also stop dysentery and detoxify. It is especially suitable for patients with heat stroke and dysentery. I would also like to remind you that when drinking porridge, you should avoid eating anything warm, spicy, and greasy, such as garlic, chili, pepper, fennel, wine, leeks, etc.

Ingredients: 100g bitter melon, 50g chrysanthemum, 60g japonica rice, appropriate amount of rock sugar.

Method: Wash the bitter melon, remove the pulp, cut into small pieces and set aside. Wash the japonica rice and rinse the chrysanthemums. Put them into the pot together, pour in an appropriate amount of water, and cook over high heat until the water boils. Put the bitter melon and rock sugar into the pot and continue to cook over low heat until the rice is cooked.

Usage: Take 1 bowl warm in the morning and evening for 2 days.

Kelp, winter melon and watercress soup (summer, relieving heat and diluting water)

Some people will have symptoms of edema, lethargy, and unresponsiveness in summer. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it is common in spleen deficiency, People with bad spleen and bad luck. Poor spleen transportation is caused by factors such as surgery, fatigue, old age, and improper diet, which damage the spleen and stomach Qi, resulting in weak spleen and abnormal spleen function.

The main function of the spleen is to transport and transform the essence of water and grain. When the spleen is not functioning well, the person's digestion and absorption function will be weakened, and the nutrients in the blood circulation will be reduced. Therefore, indigestion, lethargy, slow reaction, memory loss, etc. may occur. . When the body is in this malnutrition state for a long time, it will affect metabolism, slow down blood circulation, and make edema easy. Although weak spleen can be seen in all four seasons, it is more obvious in summer, especially in June and July of the lunar calendar. The climate is humid, and the spleen likes dryness and hates dampness. The symptoms of weak spleen and poor health and fortune will be aggravated.

Treatment for this type of patients should focus on strengthening the spleen, replenishing qi and removing dampness. They can also consume some kelp, winter melon and watercress soup appropriately. The ingredients for this soup are simple, just soak kelp, peeled winter melon, peeled broad bean wedges and seasonings. This soup has a refreshing taste and has good heat-relieving and diuretic effects. In addition to hypometabolic syndrome caused by hypothyroidism, it is also suitable for patients with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and patients with heat stroke, polydipsia, edema, excessive sweating, headache and dizziness. Both winter melon and kelp have a good diuretic effect, and broad beans have a good spleen-strengthening effect. Therefore, after drinking it for a few days, you can obviously feel that you urinate more and your edema improves.

Ingredients: 60 grams of soaked kelp, 250 grams of winter melon, 5 grams of peeled broad beans, and appropriate seasoning.

Method: First put the washed and cut kelp into slices and the broad bean wedges in the pot together, stir-fry with sesame oil, then add 200 ml of water, cover and bring to a boil. When the broad beans are about to be cooked, put the winter melon cut into cubes into the pot together with salt, and cook the winter melon until cooked.

Usage: Take with food, appropriate amount.

Precautions: Those who are allergic to broad beans should not take it, or you can leave out the broad beans.

Perilla leaf mint porridge (summer, clearing away heat and detoxifying)

Be careful of summer colds in summer. In summer, there are generally air conditioners indoors, which are relatively cool, but the outdoor temperature is high and the air humidity is relatively high. It is easy to catch a cold in this hot and cold space. At the same time, the throat will feel very dry and a dry cough will occur. Therefore, you should pay attention to removing damp heat from the body in summer to prevent the occurrence of damp heat colds. If you suffer from a damp-heat cold, you can drink perilla leaf mint porridge to help you recover faster. This porridge has the effects of clearing away heat, detoxifying, clearing and soothing the throat, and is suitable for treating wind-heat and summer-wet colds. It is important to note that it can only be eaten in summer and should not be eaten in large quantities.

Su Ye is known to dispel cold, regulate qi and regulate qi, and has the effect of treating wind-cold, cold, aversion to cold, fever, cough and asthma. Mint is cool in nature and pungent in nature, and has the effects of dispersing wind and heat, clearing the head and eyes, and clearing up rash. The combined use of the two is effective in treating damp-heat colds. The reason why it is not advisable to take too much is because both are cold in nature, and taking too much can easily damage the spleen and stomach.

Ingredients: 15 grams of fresh perilla leaves, 15 grams of fresh mint (10 grams of dried product), 90 grams of japonica rice, and appropriate amount of rock sugar.

Method: Wash the perilla leaves and mint first, put them into a casserole, add an appropriate amount of water and cook until the juice is thick, then stop the fire and filter out the juice. Then put the washed japonica rice into the pot and cook the porridge. When it is cooked, add the perilla leaves, mint juice and rock sugar, and cook for another 3 minutes until it boils.

Usage: Take 2 times a day, after lunch or dinner.

(Excerpted from "Nursing in the Twenty-Four Solar Terms" published by China Medical Science and Technology Press and edited by Tang Boxiang)