Lotus seed is another popular food and ‘chinese herb’ that has very good benefits for most people. In this post, I will share what are the benefits and how you can get the most benefits out of lotus seeds!
The thermal nature of lotus seed is balance. This means it is very suitable for most people to eat them.
Lotus seeds have benefits for the spleen, kidney and heart (mind).
The main benefit of lotus seed is to strengthen the spleen and stomach. It is very suitable for people with weak spleen (poor food absorption) and loose stools. If a person has diarrhea, lotus seed can also relief it but it is rare that people use lotus seed just to relief diarrhea.
Lotus seed can also relief insomnia because it can clam the mind. Thus, it is used commonly to help people with insomnia.
Do note that the lotus seed we meant here are those without the inner seeds (green color). The inner seed inside lotus seed has a very cooling effect. Unless you are very heaty, else you should remove the inner seed when you are eating lotus seed.
Lotus seed is suitable for most people. One very common usage is in the Si Shen soup (I will be posting more details about the Si Shen soup in the future).
Lotus seed’s side effects
Take caution that lotus seed is not suitable for people with constipation because it will make the symptom worse. Other than that, most people are safe to consume lotus seed.
The recommended dosage per person is 7 to 10g. Do not consume more than the recommended dosage unless under the physician’s instructions.
How to eat lotus seeds?
The most convenient way is to eat it as snacks. But take note not to over-consume them every day. You can consider trying out the lotus pops.
If you prefer to cook yourself, you can buy this kind of dried ones (that already has the inner green seed removed).
For dried lotus seeds, you can put them into any porridge and cook together with the rice. Or if you are cooking any soup, you can add them into the soup as well! Just make sure you cook them for at least 15 to 20min.
The best soup to have lotus seed is Si Shen soup which I will be posting a detailed post soon!
Hope you find this post helpful!