These few days are very warm and humid. Such weather affects our spleen the most. When the spleen is weakened, it affects how well our body can absorb nutrients from the food we eat.
For example, a healthy person may be able to absorb 90% of the nutrients from the food he/she eats, but the body of a person with a weaker spleen may only be able to absorb 75% (again, just an example).
The rest of the nutrients that can’t be used by the body will remain in the body as dampness, which can lead to water retention and other issues in different parts of the body in the long run.
Therefore, it is important to strengthen your spleen to help boost the efficiency of nutrient absorption from the food you eat and eventually relieve water retention issues (if any).
Apart from Chinese barley water, today I would like to recommend a highly useful and flexible food ingredient called Fu Ling (茯苓), which is also known as Poria.
Fu Ling is very commonly sold in all TCM retail shops. As its thermal nature is neutral (neither heaty nor cooling), almost everyone can eat it without any issues.
Fu Ling has two main properties – it strengthens the spleen and calms the mind (to improve sleep quality).
Fu Ling can be added to any herbal soup. You can simply add about 15g to 30g of Fu Ling to your soup and cook it for at least 40 minutes before serving.
An even simpler way to add Fu Ling to your diet is to purchase it in powder form (you can purchase it online by searching for “Poria Powder” or 茯苓粉).
The following are some ways that you can enjoy the benefits of Fu Ling in powder form:
1. If you make your own bread, you can add some Fu Ling powder to the flour.
2. Fu Ling powder can be added to your daily soy milk drink as a healthy beverage.
3. You can add Fu Ling powder to your breakfast cereal!
4. Fu Ling powder can also be added to any porridge!
If you are living in Singapore or any country that is warm and humid, it is important to strengthen your spleen because according to TCM, our spleen can be easily affected by dampness.
Extra Information: Fu Ling is very effective in strengthening one’s spleen and this is also one of the reasons why Fu Ling is one of the main four ingredients in Si Shen soup (a soup that strengthens the spleen and improves sleep quality).
Hope you find this information useful!