Simple TCM Diet Therapy for Summer - Stay Cool and Healthy

Summer can easily lead to heat-related symptoms such as dizziness, thirst, excessive sweating, irritability, and insomnia. Therefore, it is essential to take extra care to prevent and alleviate these discomforts. Summer diets should focus on light, soft, and easily digestible foods to avoid overburdening the stomach and spleen. At the same time, the hot weather causes more sweating and depletes body fluids, so it's crucial to avoid intense outdoor activities and consuming too much greasy, fried, or spicy food, which can further hinder digestion and deplete energy and fluids.

From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), how can we use diet to achieve a cooling effect during summer? Here are a few simple and easy-to-make recipes:

Winter Melon Soup
Ingredients: Winter melon, tofu, salted egg, ginger
Method: Peel and dice the winter melon, clean the tofu, separate the yolk and white of the salted egg, and wash and slice the ginger. Place the winter melon, tofu, salted egg yolk, and ginger slices into a pot, add water, and cook for 40 minutes. Finally, beat the salted egg white until smooth, add it to the soup, and cook for another 2 minutes.
Effect: Winter melon has cooling properties, but it is quite cold in nature. Adding ginger, which is warm, helps balance the effect.

Raw and Cooked Job’s Tears with Lemon Water
Ingredients: Raw job’s tears, cooked job’s tears, lemon
Method: Soak the raw and cooked job’s tears for 45 minutes, add sliced lemon, and cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Effect: Raw job’s tears are effective for clearing heat, while cooked job’s tears strengthen the spleen and stomach. Both help eliminate dampness, achieving a cooling and dehumidifying effect that also supports the spleen.

Mung Bean Porridge
Ingredients: Mung beans, white rice, dried tangerine peel
Method: Wash all three ingredients, soak them in water for 45 minutes, bring to a boil over high heat, and cook for about an hour.
Effect: Mung beans are well-known for their heat-clearing properties, detoxifying, generating body fluids, and quenching thirst. Adding white rice can neutralise the cooling nature of mung beans and enhance the function of the spleen and stomach.

Since everyone’s constitution is different, if you have any questions about these recipes, please consult a registered Chinese medicine practitioner first. To effectively prevent and treat heat symptoms, in addition to paying attention to your diet, remember to exercise moderately and get adequate rest!

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