A common anti-inflammatory plant in the wild, good both as a tea and as a vegetable

Today I want to recommend a special plant to you all. It is extremely common, yet it has special benefits. This is the plantain we often see by the roadside. Yes, this one, this is

plantain

. Regarding plantain, there is also a beautiful legend:

▲ Plantain

One little plant saved an entire army

It is said that during the Warring States period, the famous Eastern Han general Ma Wu led troops to attack the Xiongnu and was trapped. Men and horses came down with "bloody urine disease" and were in mortal danger, yet several warhorses recovered by nibbling an unnamed little plant growing in the ruts of the road. Ma Wu immediately ordered the whole army to take this plant, and a few days later the men and horses recovered and fought their way out of the encirclement.

Ma Wu sighed with emotion: "

The whole army came back from the dead, all thanks to the immortal plant by the roadside before the chariots!

In modern medical terms, this was a urinary tract infection, caused by excessively hot and bitter weather and the inability to take in water for a long time.

From this story, it reveals one piece of information: plantain has a very good curative effect on urinary tract infections, with blood in the urine, painful urination, and other lower urinary tract problems.

The imperial physicians' treatment failed, and a Northern Song politician was cured by a lowly medicinal herb

It is said that the Northern Song politician Ouyang Xiu once suffered from "sudden diarrhea," and the imperial physicians' treatment was ineffective. Ouyang Xiu's wife heard that a certain small pharmacy sold an antidiarrheal herb for just a few coins per dose that was very effective, but Ouyang Xiu disapproved: "

Our internal organs are vastly different from those of ordinary townsfolk, so how could I take such a lowly medicinal herb!

" (Meaning: My stomach and intestines, as a high official, are different from those of common folk, so how could I take a lowly medicinal herb?)

His wife had no choice but to secretly buy the medicine and coax her husband into taking it.

After just one dose, his illness improved greatly.

The medicine seller told Ouyang Xiu, who had learned the truth, "The only medicine used was plantain seed, ground into a fine powder and taken mixed with rice water. Plantain seed can free up urination and open the water passages; when the water passages are open, the clear and the turbid are separated, and when the clear and the turbid are separated, the diarrhea stops." Ouyang Xiu nodded repeatedly, and from then on never dared to call himself noble again.

Plantain is just such a "lowly" but effective medicinal herb. Nowadays we still use plantain in large amounts to treat urinary tract infections. Through modern research it has been found that

plantain can not only treat urinary tract infections, but also has a very good antibacterial and anti-inflammatory function.

It can also have a very good effect on intestinal infections, such as enteritis and dysentery.

At the same time, it also has a very good effect on excessive vaginal discharge in women, which of course is gynecological inflammation

. So this plantain, in both clinical practice and daily life, can be used for infections of our lower body: whether it is a large intestine infection, or a small intestine or bladder infection, or a gynecological infection, plantain can be used for treatment.

If you choose fresh plantain for treatment, generally speaking the dosage should be a bit larger. We go out to the wild to dig up plantain like this; dig 200 g to 300 g, wash it clean, then simply boil it in water and drink it, or you can pick it, wash it clean, and make it into a cold dish to eat. For mild inflammation, it has a preventive and therapeutic effect.

▲ Plantain can be eaten simply by boiling it in water

Plantain formulas and effects

For ordinary household use, just boil it in water and drink the water. Below are some proven recipes for everyone to learn from and exchange ideas about. Please follow your doctor's advice before use.

1. Diuresis, reducing edema

Take an appropriate amount of fresh tender plantain leaf buds and a little honey. Wash the plantain, drain off the water, pound it into about 100 ml of juice, mix in the honey, and drink it all at once, 2 times a day. It can promote urination and reduce swelling, relieve cough and resolve phlegm. 

▲ Plantain can be eaten simply by boiling it in water. In summer you can eat some; it promotes urination.

2. Clearing the liver and brightening the eyes

Take 250 g of fresh tender plantain leaf buds and 150 g of dried tofu. Wash the plantain, blanch it in boiling water until cooked, soak it in cold water to remove the bitterness, drain it, add salt and pickle for 10 minutes, squeeze out the water and cut it fine, add sesame oil and mix well. Cut the dried tofu into strips, blanch briefly in boiling water, rinse with cool boiled water, drain, put into the plate holding the plantain, add white sugar, soy sauce, and MSG, mix well and eat. It can clear the liver and brighten the eyes.

3. Tastes fairly good, can be eaten regularly

Take 50 g of plantain leaf buds, 100 g of rice, and 2000 g of watermelon flesh. Wash the plantain and chop it up. Remove the seeds from the watermelon. Wash the rice, add an appropriate amount of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then switch to low heat and cook until the rice is thoroughly done, add the plantain and refined salt, cook for another 10 minutes, mix in the watermelon flesh and eat. It has the effects of clearing heat, brightening the eyes, resolving phlegm, and promoting urination.

4. Just rub it on mosquito and insect bites

When bitten by mosquitoes in the wild, people often use plantain to deal with it. The method is to crush the plantain leaves with a stone and apply them to the bite, and the symptoms of itchy skin and redness and swelling are quickly relieved. At home, you can also handle it this way.

According to pharmacological research and analysis, plantain has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, and is often used in the treatment of skin irritation, such as poison ivy reactions and mosquito and insect bites. Therefore, using plantain to relieve the itching, swelling, and pain caused by mosquito and insect bites does indeed have a scientific basis.

5. Bedwetting in children

60 g each of plantain and angelica, and 10 g of ephedra. Decoct thickly to 200 ml. Those under 14 years old take 100 ml, those over 15 years old take 200 ml. Take 1 hour before bedtime each night, with 7 days as one course of treatment.

What also needs to be reminded is that plantain is cool in nature, so friends with weak and cold spleen and stomach, who are prone to diarrhea and have cold hands and feet, should not eat it.

Alright, that's the end of introducing the diuretic plantain. A lowly medicinal herb solves a big problem. Don't forget to send it to your friends to see; that is the greatest support for us!

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