After the Start of Autumn, Eat More of These 4 Herbs - Better Than Taking Tonic Medicine

After the Start of Autumn, it's time to begin nourishing the body! However, with the summer heat still lingering in many parts of the country, it's really not advisable to rush into heavy tonics.

At this time, eating some "herbs" (medicinal plants) with health-promoting benefits not only benefits the body but also enriches your menu - a win-win!

The herbs mentioned here (along with many other flowers, grasses, and trees) are, in fact, the "true form" of medicinal plants in everyday life. Medicinal plants are the largest category within traditional Chinese medicine, and they don't only exist in medical textbooks and hospital pharmacies.

Today, let's talk about this category. Don't underestimate them! You should know that these herbs may look unremarkable, but their health benefits are remarkable - and if you know how to eat them, they can even help prevent disease! Don't believe it? Just follow along and take a look one by one~

Chicken Bone Herb (Abrus cantoniensis)

The Nemesis of Damp-Heat, a Fine Liver-Protecting Medicine

Chicken Bone Herb, also known as Yellow Head Herb, Yellow Boy Strong, or Large Yellow Herb, is abundantly produced in Guangdong, Guangxi, and other places. Its taste is sweet and slightly bitter, its nature is cool, and it enters the Liver and Stomach meridians.It has the effects of clearing heat and draining dampness, detoxifying and reducing jaundice, and soothing the liver and relieving pain.

Functions:Chicken Bone Herb is cool in nature and is suitable for people with a damp-heat constitution. People with this constitution can use it when experiencing discomfort in both flanks, distension and stuffiness in the stomach area, poor appetite, bitter and sticky mouth, constipation, and dark yellow urine.

For those newly diagnosed with hepatitis, whose constitution is relatively robust and often related to damp-heat, especially those with acute icteric hepatitis or chronic hepatitis with acute onset accompanied by jaundice, Chicken Bone Herb stewed with lean pork is most suitable for conditioning.

It should be noted that when Chicken Bone Herb is used to treat hepatitis patients, the course of disease should be recent rather than long-standing.

Cautions:The seeds of Chicken Bone Herb contain toxic proteins and are poisonous. After accidental ingestion, symptoms of poisoning such as a burning sensation in the mouth, abdominal pain, and vomiting may occur. Be sure to remove the fruits completely before use. People who are normally averse to cold and have a deficiency-cold constitution should also avoid consuming too much Chicken Bone Herb.

Mugwort (Artemisia argyi)

Warms the Meridians and Stops Bleeding, Disperses Cold and Relieves Pain

According to the Pharmacopoeia (2015 edition), mugwort leaf is pungent, bitter, and warm, with mild toxicity, and enters the Liver, Spleen, and Kidney meridians.It can warm the meridians and stop bleeding, disperse cold and relieve pain, and when used externally, dispel dampness and relieve itching.It is commonly used for hematemesis, epistaxis, abnormal uterine bleeding, menorrhagia, threatened miscarriage with bleeding, cold pain in the lower abdomen, irregular menstruation due to cold, and infertility due to a cold uterus; externally, it treats skin itching.

Functions:When wind-cold first appears, or for people with a yang-deficiency constitution (averse to cold, cold limbs) experiencing dysmenorrhea or for daily conditioning, take an arbitrary amount of aged mugwort leaves and several slices of fresh ginger, boil in water, let it cool to warm (do not add cold water), and soak the feet.

Fresh tender mugwort leaves can be eaten as a vegetable, cooked together with ingredients such as eggs and meat. Mince the mugwort, grind it into juice, or boil it until soft and then mix it into glutinous rice flour to make traditional snacks such as qingtuan and ai ci.

In addition, fresh or dried mugwort and mugwort root can also be used to make tea or stew soup.

Cautions:All medicines have their biases. Although mugwort is good, excessive use is not appropriate. When used externally for foot soaking or added to meals, attention should be paid to the dosage and frequency, and it should not exceed 3 times per week.

Recommended Recipe: Mugwort Leaf and Brown Sugar Soup

Ingredients:5 slices of ginger, 5 jujubes, 15 grams of mugwort leaf, and an appropriate amount of brown sugar.

Method:Decoct all ingredients in water and take.

Main Effects:Warms the meridians, disperses cold, and relieves pain. Mainly used for deficiency-cold dysmenorrhea.

Plantain Herb (Plantago asiatica)

Clears Heat and Promotes Urination, Cools the Blood and Detoxifies

According to the Pharmacopoeia (2015 edition), it is "sweet and cold, and enters the Liver, Kidney, Lung, and Small Intestine meridians."

The Whole PlantCan clear heat, promote urination and treat strangury, eliminate phlegm, cool the blood, and detoxify.It is commonly used for painful heat strangury, edema with scanty urine, summer-damp diarrhea, phlegm-heat cough, hematemesis and epistaxis, and carbuncles and sores.

Its SeedsCan clear heat, promote urination and treat strangury, drain dampness and stop diarrhea, improve eyesight, and eliminate phlegm.It is commonly used for painful heat strangury, edema and distension, summer-damp diarrhea, red and swollen eyes with pain, and phlegm-heat cough.

Functions:During a gout attack, take 30-60 grams of dried plantain herb, or double the amount if fresh, decoct twice and take, 1 dose per day, continuously for 1-2 weeks, which helps relieve symptoms.

Cautions:Plantain herb is cold in nature and should not be taken over a long period.

Recommended Recipe: Plantain Stewed Pig Bladder

Ingredients:About 200 grams of pig bladder, 100 grams of lean meat, 90 grams of fresh plantain herb, and appropriate amounts of ginger slices, cooking wine, salt, MSG, pepper, and scallion sections.

Method:

1. Wash the pig bladder, put it in a pot of boiling water, cook until done, remove, wash off the gamey smell, cut into pieces and set aside;

2. Wash the lean meat, cut into pieces, blanch in water and set aside;

3. Pick and wash the fresh plantain herb;

4. Put all ingredients, ginger slices, and cooking wine into a soup pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over medium-low heat until thoroughly cooked. Add salt, MSG, pepper, and scallion sections, cook briefly, then turn off the heat.

Motherwort (Leonurus japonicus)

Activates Blood and Regulates Menstruation, Promotes Urination and Reduces Swelling

Motherwort is well known in the medical field for its precise efficacy in treating women's menstrual and childbirth problems.

Motherwort is bitter and pungent, slightly cold. It enters the Liver, Pericardium, and Bladder meridians.It can activate blood and regulate menstruation, promote urination and reduce swelling, and clear heat and detoxify.It can be used for irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea, incomplete lochia, edema with scanty urine, and sores and toxic swellings.

Functions:For scanty menstrual flow, amenorrhea, blood-stasis dysmenorrhea, and postpartum blood-stasis abdominal pain, take 30 grams of fresh motherwort, or 15 grams of dried, decoct into 1 bowl, add 1 spoonful of yellow rice wine and take warm. When regulating menstruation, take continuously for 3-5 days before menstruation until menstruation begins.

For boils and furuncles (suppurative folliculitis), mash fresh motherwort and apply externally, and separately squeeze 150 milliliters of juice for internal use.

⊙Note: The content of this article is only for popularizing common knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine and is not intended as a prescription. If

needed, please take it under the guidance of a doctor.

Copyright Statement:This article is compiled from the internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author.

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