Traditional Chinese medicine teaches you how to deal with haze!

6 min read

Recently, the sky over Malaysia has been enveloped layer upon layer by haze, with a pungent, choking smell of burning lingering in the air. The air pollution index in multiple areas has not only failed to improve but has also been steadily rising. The whole body feels heavy and sluggish. The haze situation in Malaysia is likely to remain severe. Today, let's talk about how traditional Chinese medicine health practices can help combat the onslaught of haze.

"Smog damages Yin fluid and lungs"

First, let’s look at the pathogenic characteristics of “haze”:

1. Haze is yang and can easily damage yin fluid

Excessive yang evil easily harms the body's yin fluids, leading to symptoms of yin deficiency. For example, damage to the lungs results in a dry cough with little or no phlegm, or phlegm that is scanty and sticky, nasal dryness, and dry skin.

2. Haze is dry and can easily affect the lungs

There is a saying in traditional Chinese medicine: "The lungs are delicate and susceptible to evil influences; they prefer moisture and dislike dryness." Dryness is the most likely to harm the lungs. In addition to the symptoms mentioned above, severe cases may develop chronic pneumonia, leading to more serious diseases.

3. Haze is foul air that can easily block the clear orifices

Turbid qi easily blocks the clear orifices, causing dry eyes, blurred vision, dizziness, and it easily obstructs the ascending and descending of clear qi in the body, leading to symptoms such as nausea and chest tightness.

"Dealing with smog: eat 'white' foods to nourish the lungs, and eat sour foods appropriately"

According to the theory of the Five Elements in traditional Chinese medicine, the color white corresponds to the lung meridian. At this time, it is advisable to eat more white foods to nourish the lungs and moisten dryness, such as: yam, chestnut, lotus root, white fungus, lily, lotus seed, etc. You can also make some homemade health-preserving dishes, such as: white radish crucian carp soup, white fungus lily lotus seed soup, rock sugar pear soup, etc. According to the principle of mutual generation and restriction among the Five Elements, when the lung (metal) is strong, it restrains the liver (wood). In autumn, lung qi is vigorous, which can easily damage the liver wood. Since sourness corresponds to the liver meridian, based on the ingredients introduced earlier, one should eat more sour foods to nourish and support the liver, such as honey, grapes, pears, persimmons, vinegar, etc.; at the same time, spicy, warming, drying, fried, and stir-fried foods should be eaten less to avoid depleting lung fluids.

"Tea therapy and medicinal diet can also help you"

Tea therapy recommendation:

Eye protection tea therapy for staying up late Stay overnight

*5pcs per pack*

Ingredients: Chrysanthemum, wolfberry, cassia seed, licorice

Clears heat and brightens the eyes, fights fatigue, suitable for staying up late or long-term computer use

Directions: Pour in boiling water and cover.15Ready to drink in minutes, can be brewed3～4times, until the tea has no taste.

Dry lips tea therapy Dry mouth and lips

*5pcs per pack*

Ingredients: Ophiopogon japonicus, Polygonatum odoratum, Ginseng root, C

Nourishes yin, clears heat, and promotes fluid production; suitable for staying up late, frequent dry mouth, or chapped lips.

Directions: Pour in boiling water and cover.15Ready to drink in minutes, can be brewed3～4times, until the tea has no taste.

Dry Throat Tea Dry throat

*5pcs per pack*

Ingredients: Platycodon grandiflorum, Momordica grosvenori, Scrophularia ningpoensis

Clears heat and soothes the throat, suitable for throat discomfort or hoarseness caused by excessive talking

Directions: Pour in boiling water and cover.15Ready to drink in minutes, can be brewed3～4times, until the tea has no taste.

*Note: People with sore throat and phlegm should not take this product

Tea therapy for dry and itchy skin Dry itchy skin

*5pcs per pack*

Ingredients: Dictamni, Licorice, Radix Rehmanniae

Clears heat and dampness, cools the blood and moisturizes, suitable for dry or red, itchy skin

Directions: Pour in boiling water and cover.15Ready to drink in minutes, can be brewed3～4times, until the tea has no taste.

Besides that, if you have time at home, you can also try any of the following three soups; they are simple and effective!

【Beauty-nourishing and moisturizing fruit soup】

Ingredients: 4 pieces of papaya, 4 pieces of apple, 4 pieces of pear, 10g of coix seeds
practice:

Wash all materials
Cut three kinds of fruit into four pieces each, and soak coix seeds for half a day (or soak them overnight until the next morning).
Add fruit, coix seeds, and the water soaked with coix seeds into the stew pot, filling it up to 80% full.
Place in a slow cooker and simmer for 2 hours.

Efficacy: Apple has a sweet and cool nature, enters the spleen and lung meridians, can generate fluids and moisten the lungs, relieve irritability and dispel summer heat; Papaya has a sweet and neutral nature, enters the liver and spleen meridians, can relax tendons and activate collaterals, harmonize the stomach and transform dampness; Duck pear has a sweet and slightly sour cool nature, enters the lung and stomach meridians, can generate fluids and moisten dryness, clear heat and resolve phlegm; Coix seed has a sweet and bland slightly cold nature, enters the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians, can strengthen the spleen, promote urination and eliminate damp-heat. The above ingredients mainly clear heat, generate fluids, and remove dampness, which can help hydrate the skin, increase skin elasticity, and also clear damp-heat to prevent skin dehydration and improve frequent acne problems!

Notice:

This fruit soup is suitable for people with a constitution that tends to be hot or damp-heat, and it works quite well for acne and oily skin caused by an imbalance of oil and moisture on the face.
People with a cold constitution (sensitive to cold, poor appetite, etc.) should not drink this fruit soup for a long time.
If the fruit is already soft and rotten, you can skip eating it and just drink the soup and coix seeds.
If you like sweet food, you can add some red dates or candied dates

【Lung nourishing and refreshing soup】

Ingredients: 8 slices of dried Chinese yam, 50g of Solomon's seal, 3 pieces of Codonopsis, 8 red dates, 20g of goji berries, 30g of coix seeds, appropriate amount of rock sugar
practice:

Wash Chinese yam, codonopsis and polygonatum, and cut into small pieces.
Wash the coix seeds, red dates and wolfberries.
Pour 4L of water into the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Pour all the ingredients in, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 1.5 hours.
Add an appropriate amount of rock sugar according to personal preference before taking it off the heat for seasoning, then it is ready to eat.

Efficacy: This soup primarily uses Huai Shan to boost qi and nourish the lungs, Dang Shen to replenish qi and generate fluids, Yu Zhu to nourish yin and moisten the lungs, red dates to enrich the blood, and goji berries to improve eyesight and moisten the lungs. It can enhance the body's immunity while also generating fluids to protect the lungs and eyes, effectively preventing discomfort in the eyes or respiratory tract caused by smog. The heat-clearing and dampness-draining effect of coix seed makes this soup nourishing without being greasy, suitable for the whole family, men and women, young and old!

Tips:

This soup can also be refrigerated and eaten, the taste is more refreshing
You can add Tremella to make the syrup more chewy according to your personal taste.

【Lily Duck Soup】

Ingredients: 1 old duck, 150g lily bulbs, 10g lotus seeds, 5g dried tangerine peel, 1 piece of ginger, a little cooking wine and salt
practice:

Wash the old duck, cut into pieces and blanch.
Wash the lilies, lotus seeds and tangerine peel, and slice the ginger for later use.
Add appropriate amount of water into the casserole and bring to boil.
Add duck meat, lily bulbs, lotus seeds, and dried tangerine peel. Bring to a boil over high heat, then add a little cooking wine.
Simmer on low heat for about 1 hour, then add a little salt to taste.

Efficacy: Warmly tonify qi and blood, replenish deficiency and generate fluids, reduce autumn dryness, and nourish the five organs; duck meat is sweet and salty in taste, cool in nature, with effects of nourishing yin and stomach, strengthening the spleen and replenishing deficiency, promoting urination and reducing swelling; lily is sweet and slightly cold in nature, can help moisten the lungs and stop cough, and together with lotus seeds can help clear the heart and calm the mind; aged tangerine peel is pungent and bitter, warm in nature, can help regulate qi and harmonize the middle, dry dampness and resolve phlegm; ginger can help harmonize other ingredients and also warm the middle and stop vomiting.