Black beans are commonly used in soups and seasoning in Asian dishes but do you know what are their benefits from the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) perspective? Read on to find out!
Many people think that black beans are heaty, but in actual fact, they are not. The thermal nature of black beans is neutral, so eating them will not cause heatiness. This also means that it is fine to consume black beans during warm weather.
Black beans have great benefits to the spleen and kidneys:
For the spleen – Black beans help to improve blood circulation, remove blood clots and expel wind.
For kidneys – Black beans can help to improve urination and strengthen the body’s immunity to reduce excessive sweating (due to weakness in the body’s qi).
Best Uses For Black Beans
Black beans are commonly used for relieving difficulty in urination. Black beans are also useful for back and waist pain around the kidney area. It is also recommended for people with poor blood circulation.
People with water retention issues will also find black beans useful as they encourage urination to remove excess water in the body (refer to barley drink for a more effective remedy for water retention).
Black beans are also very useful for people with numbness in their hands and legs as they help to promote blood circulation.
The recommended dosage per person is about 9 grams to 30 grams.
People Who Are Not Suitable to Eat Black Beans
Children should limit their consumption of black beans. People with bloated stomach should also limit consumption of black beans.
Special Usage
In the past, people use black beans (together with Licorice) for the removal of poison due to the wrong consumption of herbs. This is because black beans have a strong detox property on herbs.
Thus, if a person is poisoned with certain herbs, eating black beans and Licorice can help to detox.
How To Eat Black Beans?
- With soup – Black beans can be added to any soup, especially with ingredients like carrot, black fungus, corn, and mushrooms as all these foods also help in blood circulation.
- With soy milk – If you make your own soy milk at home using soy milk machines, you can consider adding black beans together with soybeans as they make a very good combination in strengthening the spleen and kidneys!
Ideally, you should purchase organic black beans like this one.
Hope you find this post useful!