【Mid-Autumn Festival Nourishment】 Food and mooncakes that are good for nourishment should be eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival......

Inheriting Chinese medical culture and serving public health

The bright moon rises over the sea

We meet under the same moon

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, with the full moon, people can reunite with family. Eating a big meal at home is the most anticipated thing about the holiday. After getting used to eating large fish and meat, what would be more nourishing to eat this Mid-Autumn Festival at home? Let me give you two tips!​

Have something light to offset mooncakes

Mooncakes, the main attraction of the Mid-Autumn Festival, contain high amounts of oil and sugar. Elderly people, children and others with weaker digestive systems should not overindulge.

Drinking cold beverages with mooncakes can easily lead to nausea, loss of appetite, stomach ache, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms.

It's best to drink hot tea instead, which can help absorb the oil in the mooncakes while aiding digestion and counteracting oiliness.

Eat something lung-nourishing for the big meal

Nourishing in autumn focuses on moistening the lungs. Since the lungs govern autumn and the lungs correspond to metal, which flourishes in autumn. In terms of autumn diet, one should eat more foods that nourish yin and moisten dryness.

Cordyceps and duck soup: 10-15g cordyceps, 1 duck. Remove the feathers and internal organs from the duck, clean it thoroughly, and blanch it in boiling water, then drain. Place ginger slices and cordyceps inside the cleaned duck stomach, put in a sandpot with an appropriate amount of water and salt, and simmer over low heat for 2 hours before seasoning and eating.

Cordyceps has sweet and warm properties and benefits the lungs and kidneys, stopping coughs and asthma while nourishing vital essence. Duck meat contains abundant linoleic acid and unsaturated fatty acids that protect the heart, lower cholesterol, and are beneficial for preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases.

Ginseng and wood ear mushrooms stir-fried with yam: 200g yam, 50g green beans, 3 wood ear mushrooms, 10g ginseng. Nourishes the spleen and stomach.

Drink something moisturizing with your main meal

In the windy, dry autumn, people's resistance decreases and cases of coughs and colds increase.

If dry coughs are not treated promptly, they can develop into bronchitis or pneumonia.

Drinking congee can replenish bodily fluids and has the functions of nourishing yin and moistening dryness, clearing heat and promoting bowel movements, aiding digestion.

Sesame congee: 10g sesame, 50g rice, honey or salt to taste. Roast the sesame to release its fragrance, cook the rice into congee and add the sesame, seasoning with honey or salt. Sesame can be white or black - white sesame nourishes the lungs and qi, black sesame enters the kidneys and strengthens sinews and bones.

Eat something tangy for fruit

Famous Tang dynasty physician Sun Simiao said: "On the 72nd day of autumn, increase the pungent and reduce the sour to nourish liver qi."

In autumn one should reduce pungent foods and eat more sour foods to nourish the liver according to Traditional Chinese Medicine's five phase theory, the lungs correspond to metal, the kidneys correspond to water, and the liver corresponds to wood.

Metal controls earth, meaning the flourishing lungs can injure the liver, affecting its function of regulating qi and blood. Therefore in autumn one should "reduce the pungent and increase the sour" to boost liver function.

Pomelo: has cold properties, sweet and sour flavors, and can stop coughs and calm asthma, clear heat and resolve phlegm, nourish the spleen and resolve food stagnation, and relieve drunkenness and irritation. Pomelo peel, also known as citrus reticulata, has warming properties and bitter, pungent flavors, regulating qi and resolving phlegm, nourishing the spleen and resolving food stagnation, dispersing cold-damp. Suitable for digestive disorders, chronic bronchitis, coughs, phlegm, asthma. Not suitable for people with qi deficiency, abdominal coldness, or those prone to diarrhea. Cannot be eaten with pomelo if taking antihypertensive medications to avoid adverse reactions.

Have some kidney-nourishing nuts

In autumn, follow the principle of "nourishing yin in autumn and winter" outlined in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic. Eating some kidney-nourishing nuts can prevent autumn dryness from damaging yin.

Walnut meat: sweet flavor, warm nature, enters the lungs and kidneys, nourishes the lungs and kidneys, strengthens the waist and knees, and benefits wisdom and brain. Walnut meat contains abundant protein, fat, beta-carotene, niacin and various trace elements necessary for the human body like calcium, phosphorus and iron. Regular consumption can have antioxidant and anti-aging effects.

I hope this Mid-Autumn Festival nourishment menu brings you a healthy and joyous holiday reunion!