Food Benefits in TCM

Fresh Lychee Season

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fresh lychee tcm

Recently, you might see quite a lot of fresh lychee selling in the markets. Do you know that lychee also has healing properties in TCM?

In《全国中草药汇编》, it is stated that lychee has the property of 益气补血. This means that lychee can help to strengthen Qi flow in the body (improving energy and immunity) and act as a blood tonic (suitable for people with blood deficiency).

Given that lychee has a warm thermal nature, do note that it can cause heatiness. Thus for people who are Yin deficient and people who are having sore throat or flu, it is better not to consume lychee for the time being.

If you’re unable to find fresh lychee in your area, you can also purchase dried lychee as an alternative (see image below).

dried lychee

Dried lychee has the same health benefits as fresh lychee (strengthening Qi and blood). In fact, dried lychee has the added benefit of being less heaty than fresh lychee.

For hundreds of years, dried lychee has been used to treat children’s bedwetting and chronic diarrhea conditions (that often occur in seniors between 3 to 5am). For treatment of chronic diarrhea in this case, the dried lychee has to be cooked with rice and served as porridge.

Food Recommendation – Lily Bulb

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These few weeks, some people may have difficulty falling asleep, especially if you have Yin deficiency. One of the reasons for this is that during summer months, it is easier for us to accumulate heart fire (心火), thus affecting the quality of our sleep.
 
The food that I would like to recommend today is lily bulb (百合).
 
Lily bulb has two main properties – one is 养阴润肺. This means it nourishes Yin and moisturises the lungs.
 
The other property is 清心安神, which means it clears heatiness in the heart and helps to improve sleep quality.
 
We will focus on the latter property in this post.
 
In one of the popular TCM classic《日华子本草》, it says lily bulb can 安心，定胆，益志，养五脏. What this means is, not only does lily bulb have great benefits for improving sleep quality, it can also nourish all five organs (heart, liver, kidneys, spleen and lungs).
 

Where To Buy And How To Eat Lily Bulb

Lily bulb is sold in both fresh and dried forms. You can purchase dried lily bulb at most TCM shops, or fresh lily bulb at some supermarkets (as shown in the images below).

For dried lily bulb, you’ll need to soak them in warm water for about 30 to 45 minutes before you cook them. Dried lily bulb is typically used in soups.
 
For fresh lily bulb, you’ll need to clean and wash them thoroughly before cooking as it can be quite dirty because of the soil. What I do is I remove the outermost layer and consume only the inner layers that are whiter in color.
 
Fresh lily bulb can be consumed in many ways. You can stir fry them with vegetables or add them in your soup or dessert. They do not need to be cooked for long. In fact, they can be eaten raw!
 
For me, I simply blanch the fresh lily bulb for 2 to 4 mins, then add them to my mixed grains bowl.
 
Just a note regarding the medicinal effect of lily bulb – the shorter the cooking time, the stronger the benefits (清心安神) for improving sleeping quality.
 
Special note: Lily bulb is only effective for acute insomnia where you suddenly experience difficulty with sleeping due to summer heat or heavy/irregular heartbeat. For chronic insomnia, it is best to consult a physician to diagnose the cause and use other appropriate herbs.
 

Adzuki beans with Chinese barley dessert (赤小豆薏苡仁饮)

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red beans tcm
These few days have been very humid in Singapore, and it is the perfect time to consume Adzuki beans with Chinese barley to help reduce heatiness and dampness (祛湿) in the body.
 
This dessert is simple to prepare and can also be enjoyed as a tea-time snack. Let me share with the recipe below:
 
 
Ingredients (for 1 pax):
  • Chinese barley (30g)
  • Adzuki beans (赤小豆) (30g)
  • Dried tangerine peel (3g)
  • Honey dates (1 to 2pcs) or rock sugar (up to individual preference)
Steps:
1. Soak the Chinese barley and red beans for 1 to 1.5 hours.
2. Cook all the ingredients in a pot of water (500 cc). Once the water comes to a boil, switch it to the smallest fire and simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour.
3. Serve and enjoy!
 
Preparation note: The appearance of Adzuki beans is thinner as compared to normal red beans. Be sure to purchase the right type (as shown in the picture below) if your primary objective is to reduce dampness in the body.
 
 
Extra note: Avoid consuming this dessert at night (especially nearer to sleeping hours) as it will increase the urination frequency.
 
Caution: This dessert is not suitable for pregnant women!
 

Red Bean Benefits In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) 

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red beans tcm

It has been raining these few days in Singapore and one of the foods that I would recommend most people to eat (if you live in a humid area) is red bean.

The reason is that red bean has strong properties in removing dampness in the body. Dampness will start to accumulate in the body when the environment is humid (warm and wet).

Dampness is also one of the main reasons why many people have skin rashes or eczema issues in tropical countries.

Do take note that not all types of red beans have dampness removal properties. When purchasing red beans for dampness removal, you should look out for 赤小豆 (that is thinner in shape), and not 红豆 (which is rounder).

Some stores out there will label 赤小豆 as adzuki beans. To be sure, do check the shape of the beans that you are buying to make sure it is thinner and longer, instead of rounder.

This is the kind of red bean (赤小豆, adzuki beans) with dampness removal properties.

The first property of red bean (赤小豆) is 利水消肿 – which means red bean can help to relieve swelling (due to water retention) by getting rid of dampness in the body (through urination).

The second property of red bean (赤小豆) is 解毒排脓 – which means it can help to detox and expel pus from the body.

Both of the above properties are very similar to Chinese barley. That’s why there is a popular recipe (which I will share later in this post) that uses both Chinese barley and red beans to clear body dampness.

There is another lesser-known property of red bean – according to one of the TCM classic records, <食性本草>, it says 赤小豆久食瘦人. It means red beans can help with weight loss when consumed in the long term.

The following is the popular recipe that uses both Chinese barley and red beans (赤小豆). This dessert recipe is effective for weight loss (long-term consumption), relieving eczema/skin rashes, water retention, and athlete’s foot.

Ingredients (for 1 pax):

  • Chinese barley (30g)
  • Red beans (赤小豆) (30g)
  • Dried tangerine peel (3g)
  • Honey dates (1 to 2pcs)

Steps:

  1. Soak the Chinese barley and red beans for 1 to 1.5 hours.
  2. Cook all the ingredients in a pot of water (500g to 750g). After the water comes to a boil, turn to small fire and simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour.
  3. Serve and enjoy!

The dried tangerine peel in the recipe will increase the effectiveness of this recipe and also add flavor to this dessert.

If you do not have the time to prepare the above dessert, you can also purchase ready-made powder/tea bags like the following.

red bean chinese barley drink

You can use keywords like “赤小豆薏苡仁” on Amazon or your local popular e-commerce platform to search for related beverages.

Hope you find this post useful!

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