Qingming, also known as “Tomb Sweeping Day”, is the fifth of 24 solar terms which falls from April 4 to 6 each year. In Qingming time, the weather starts to get warmer, during which it rains a lots that is upset things. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM), it is a time for nourishing the liver by changing daily routine. In addition to nourishing the liver, we should also pay attention to invigorating the spleen, removing dampness and relieving heat. In Qingming, a better results of staying healthy can be achieved by following the five principles:
- Avoid “Stimulating foods“
During Qingming time, the liver is in a vigorous state, you should avoid eating stimulating foods which, in the view of TCM, are referred to foods that can generate phlegm, produce poison and support fire and evil. Which foods belong to “stimulating foods”?
In our daily menu, the stimulating foods are categorized as follows:
Vegetables: bamboo shoots, mustard greens, pumpkins. These vegetables can easily induce skin sores and swelling.
Fruits: peaches, apricots. Predecessors have pointed out that eating more peaches can easily generate heat, carbuncle, sore, gangrene, boils, and worms, and eating more apricots can cause carbuncles, which can damage bones and muscles.
Livestock: roosters, chicken necks, pig heads, goose meat, chicken wings, chicken feet. These foods can actively stimulate sexual desire and raise yang Qi, leading liver-yang headaches, liver-wind and brain dizziness. In addition, it can induce or aggravate skin sores and swelling.
Sea foods: hairtail, yellow croaker, pomfret, mussel meat and crab. Most of these foods are salty, cold and fishy. For people with allergies, it can easily induce such allergic diseases as asthma and urticaria, and skin diseases such as sores and swelling.
Edible fungi: mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms. Excessive consumption of these foods can easily activate internal stirring wind and yang-energy, triggering liver-yang headaches, dizziness due to endogenous wind of liver, and induce or aggravate skin sores and swelling.
- Detoxification, antipyretic and nourishing the liver
In the spring, the metabolism begins thriving. In diet, It is best to choose warm, sweet, and lukewarm food, fresh vegetables rich in vitamin B, and foods that can eliminate phlegm, strengthen the spleen, nourish the kidney and liver, and soften the lungs. During Qingming time, temperatures can swing back and forth between balmy and frigid, and it is the time when diseases are most likely to recur.
Therefore, it is recommended to avoid foods that is prone to induce inflammation and allergies, including raw and cold foods, fried, spicy, strong seasonings, processed and snacks foods. You can eat some relatively light foods such as carrots, white radishes, spinach, shepherd’s purse, yam, or apples, pears, or you can add some peanuts, sesame seeds, and wolfberries to warm up.
When spring comes, the liver fire become strong, acidic foods can make the liver fire more vigorous, thus damaging the spleen and stomach. Hence, it is recommended to eat more sweet and warm foods such as cooked barley, red beans, lentils, red beans, chayote.
- Moxibustionin Qingming
During Qingming, the changeable weather can easily cause people to catch a cold and develop tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia. At this time, it is the time to replenish yang Qi, regulate the spleen and stomach, and resist the invasion of pathogenic factors by use of moxibustion. Artemisia argyi leaves can warm and dredge the meridians, dispel cold and dampness, and nourish Yang Qi in the body. Therefore, performing moxibustion in Qingming can dispel cold and dampness, dredge meridians and activate collaterals, promote qi and blood circulation, and achieve the effect of disease prevention and health care.
Additionally, the liver Qi become more vigorous after the beginning of spring, and it reach its peak at the time of Qingming. Apart from maintaining a calm mood and striving to achieve peace of mind, it should start nourishing the lungs that have a connection between emotions and the five internal organs. The lungs can be damaged when there was inevitable sad emotion during Qingming. Therefore. In addition to dredging the lungs through diet, we can also achieve the same effect through massaging or doing moxibustion on acupoints, such as Dazhui, Mingmen, Zhiyang, Qihai, Zusanli, Sanyinjiao, Hegu, Taixi, Feishu, twice a week, each time for 15 minutes.
- Preserving healthby herbal medicine
In TCM, it is advisable to use herbal medicine that benefit qi and promote hair, nourish yin and soften the liver, and relieve diarrhea and regulate the function of health in spring to adapt to the characteristics of yang qi, so as to warm and nourish yang qi without dissipating the heat. The most commonly used herbal medicines include Polygonum multiflorum, Rehmannia glutinosa, Paeoniae Alba, Lycium barbarum, Mulberry, Chuanxiong, Pseudostellaria, Astragalus and Gorgon.
- Prevention of high blood pressure
High blood pressure(Hypertension) refers to a common clinical syndrome in which arterial pressure in the systemic circulation consistently increase, resulting in the damage of blood vessels, brain, heart, kidneys and other organs, and its prevalence increases with age. The incidence of coronary heart disease and acute myocardial infarction in hypertensive patients is 3-5 times higher than that of normal blood pressure patients.
For patients with mild hypertension, you can drink more tea with mulberry leaf and chrysanthemum water in replace of green tea. People who have constipation can add 15-30 grams of cassia seeds, while people with emotional tension can add 15 grams of turmeric and 10 grams of rose Bubble water instead of green tea. For people with mild to severe hypertension, they should seek medical treatment in time to ensure blood pressure stability.
