Every autumn, the climate becomes dry and windy, and many people often feel dry in the mouth, nose, skin and other parts to varying degrees, and some will also have dry mouth, dry cough and less phlegm, dry throat, easy nosebleeds, fatigue and weak stools, which is often called "autumn dryness".
Although autumn dryness is not a big problem, it can bring all kinds of discomfort to people, and their emotions will become irritable, and even affect their physical and mental health.
In order to reduce the impact of autumn dryness on the body, in addition to doing a good job in daily life protection, such as windproof and warm, rest on time, avoid excessive fatigue, etc., but also actively go outdoors for appropriate exercise to improve physical fitness and enhance the ability to adapt to the environment. Especially in the diet, in the case of ensuring balanced nutrition, you may wish to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits with moisturizing effect, such as pears, lilies, white fungus, sesame, spinach, lotus root, etc., especially recommended people to eat more honey.
Medicinal and edible value of honey
Honey is the sap secreted by the nectar glands collected by bees from the flowers of flowering plants and brewed in the hive, and is a nutrient-rich medicinal and edible product.
Eating some honey in autumn can moisturize and detoxify dryness and reduce the damage of autumn dryness to the body.
# Medicinal properties of honey
The Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020 Edition) contains honey:
【Sexual taste and return to the scriptures】Sweet, flat. Return to the lungs, spleen, and large intestine meridians.
【Functions and Indications】Replenish the middle, moisturize dryness, relieve pain, detoxify; Topical myogenic sores. It is used for abdominal deficiency and pain, dry cough, intestinal dryness and constipation, and anti-aconitum drug poisoning; External treatment of sores and sores is not contained, and water and fire burns.
[Usage and dosage] 15~30g.
【Storage】Store in a cool place.
Li Shizhen, a famous medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, said in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" that honey has five effects: "clearing heat, tonifying the middle, detoxifying, moisturizing dryness, and relieving pain".
He also said honey: "Raw is cool, so it can clear heat, cooked is warm, so it can replenish the middle, sweet and peaceful, so it can detoxify." Soft and moist, so it can moisten dryness, slow down and go to urgency, so it can stop the pain of abdominal muscle sores, and can cause medium, so it can reconcile hundreds of medicines and work with licorice".
Modern medicine has proved that honey has the effects of promoting digestion and absorption, increasing appetite, calming and sleeping, strengthening the body, improving intelligence, increasing hemoglobin, improving myocardium, and sterilizing and disinfecting the oral cavity.
# Nutritional value of honey
Honey is rich in nutrients, the main components are glucose and fructose, which are up to 70%. Glucose and fructose are simple sugars that can be directly absorbed and utilized by the body without digestion.
Honey also contains protein, amino acids, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, magnesium, copper, chromium and other minerals and trace elements and antibiotics. The amino acids contained in it are not only numerous and complete, but also as many as 18 kinds of nectar.
Honey also contains a variety of enzymes, including amylase, lipase, sucrose invertase, etc., which is the most enzyme-containing one in natural food.
The use of honey by ancient physicians
Zhang Zhongjing is good at making use of honey.
As recorded in the chapter of "Treatise on Typhoid Fever • Distinguishing Yangming Disease Pulse Syndrome and Treatment", the white honey is taken as a pill, and the liquid is multi-quality, soft and slippery, which has the power of moistening the dry and smooth intestines, and moistens and slows down to treat constipation caused by dryness and heat.
In the aconitum soup of "Jin Kui Yao slightly · stroke and joint disease", white honey is used as a combination to control the toxicity of aconitum and preserve its medicinal power, so as to dispel evil and not hurt the good, and can prolong the medicinal effect of aconite, treat the evil of cold and dampness to stay in the joints, and hinder the severe joint diseases caused by qi and blood.
Life applications of honey
Sobering up hangover
Taking 50 grams of honey before drinking, eating a few honey-coated biscuits, bread, etc., or drinking honey water after drinking, are all conducive to quickly sobering up and relieving headaches after drinking.
Relieves fatigue
When you feel tired, drinking a glass of honey water can quickly replenish your body's calories and energy.
Eliminate food accumulation
Honey can promote the normal secretion of gastric acid, as well as enhance intestinal peristalsis, every morning and evening on an empty stomach to take 25 grams of honey can significantly shorten the time of defecation.
Calm your nerves and help you sleep
The magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, glucose, and vitamins in honey can regulate nervous system function and relieve nervous tension.
Beauty and beauty
Honey can provide nutrients to the skin, make the skin elastic, kill or inhibit the bacteria attached to the skin surface, eliminate skin pigmentation, and promote epithelial tissue regeneration.
Honey should be avoided and consumed with attention
Suitable for:
1. Constipation, intestinal discomfort, endocrine disorders.
2. People with low immunity and sub-healthy people.
Who is not suitable for:
1. Children aged 1~3 years old, diabetic patients, spleen deficiency and diarrhea, and those with damp resistance and coke of belly and abdomen, thick and greasy moss.
2. The southeast region is humid, and eating more honey will produce dampness and heat, and hurt the spleen.
Caution for consumption:
● The daily consumption of honey should be 20~30 grams, generally not more than 50 grams.
● Honey should not be drunk with soy milk, because soybean milk is sweet and salty, cold, heat-clearing, and eating with honey can easily cause diarrhea; At the same time, soybean milk has a high protein content, while honey contains a certain amount of organic acids, when the two are mixed, the combination of protein and organic acids will produce denaturing precipitation, which can not be absorbed by the human body and reduce the nutritional value.
● Honey should not be eaten with green onions, leeks, onions, crucian carp, etc., otherwise it may bring side effects to the body. In particular, patients with weak bowel diarrhea and diabetes should avoid eating to avoid aggravating symptoms or affecting the condition.
● Honey can not be brewed with boiling water, let alone decoction, it is best to use warm boiled water below 40 °C or cold boiled water diluted before eating, which can not only maintain the natural color, fragrance and taste of honey, but also preserve its nutrients from damage, which is conducive to giving full play to its due health care role.
● Honey is a weakly acidic liquid, which should be stored in non-metallic containers (such as glass bottles, etc.), and should be stored in a dry, clean, low temperature (5~10°C is preferred), and a dark place to prevent cross-flavor, moisture absorption, fermentation, pollution, etc.
● Patients with liver disease should be cautious, hepatitis B patients should drink honey in moderation, but patients with liver cirrhosis are not recommended to eat it, otherwise it will aggravate liver fibrosis.
Honey medicine and food are used to prevent and treat autumn dryness
The easiest way to eat honey is to drink it with water: take 2 spoons of honey, add a cup of warm boiling water, mix well and drink, which can quickly replenish energy and help alleviate the weakness of "autumn fatigue", especially drinking honey water after exercise, which can help eliminate fatigue.
In addition, there are these dietary remedies:
Honey radish juice
400 grams of white radish, washed, peeled and chopped, wrapped in clean gauze to squeeze the juice, take 60 ml each time and add a spoonful of honey to mix and swallow, 3 times a day, for 3~5 days. It has a good effect on dry stool, especially for those with constipation.
Honeysuckle honey drink
30 grams of honeysuckle, fry it into a bowl with two bowls of water, remove the slag and extract the juice, pour in 20 grams of honey, and take it twice in the morning and evening. It can treat influenza, pharyngitis and constipation.
Honey pear soup
Slice the pear with the skin and slice it, put it in a pot, add water and cook over high heat until it is soft, turn off the heat, wait for the pear soup to cool, add an appropriate amount of honey and stir well, eat the pear and drink the soup.
Honey pear soup is a commonly used cough medicine unilateral prescription, Sydney pear taste sweet and slightly sour, can moisten the lungs and clear heat, shengjin quenches thirst, honey with Sydney, can enhance the effect of moistening the lungs and coughing.
Some people report that the effect is not obvious after eating, in fact, it is because it is not used correctly. Dry cough is divided into warm and dry, honey pear soup is only suitable for patients with warm dryness, the main manifestation of warm and dry people is dry cough without phlegm or cough up a little phlegm and sticky and unpleasant, at the same time, it may be accompanied by dry lips and throat, irritability and thirst, etc., the tongue is red, less moss or no lichen.
What is the difference between honey from different sources?
According to the nectar source plant, honey can be divided into single nectar and mixed nectar, and from the nutritional point of view, heterofloral nectar is superior. Generally speaking, honey is flat, but the properties and efficacy of honey will vary depending on the type of nectar source plant. The main types of honey currently available on the market are:
Honey of 100 flowers: It is a traditional honey variety with the effect of clearing heat and tonifying honey.
Rape honey: sweet, warm, has the effect of clearing heat and moisturizing dryness, and is often used to treat hepatobiliary diseases and boils.
Sophora nectar: sweet taste, cool nature, has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling blood and stopping bleeding, etc., suitable for people with hemorrhoids and bleeding in the large intestine, and can also improve blood circulation and reduce the excitability of the central nervous system. Recommended for cooking.
Goji Berry Honey: It has the effect of nourishing the kidney, nourishing the liver and brightening the purpose, and is suitable for people with liver and kidney yin deficiency. Recommended for raw use.
Longan honey: warm in nature, with the effect of strengthening the spleen and nourishing the heart, nourishing blood and soothing the nerves, suitable for people with heart, spleen and blood deficiency. Recommended for cooking.
Loquat honey: cool in nature, with the effect of nourishing yin and clearing heat, moistening the lungs and relieving cough, suitable for people with hot cough. Recommended for raw use.
Lychee honey: warm, with the effect of tonifying the spleen and liver, relieving pain, suitable for people with weak constitution and cold. Recommended for cooking. ■
Source: Guangdong Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Author: Huang Suiping), China Traditional Chinese Medicine News (Author: Chen Yiyi), Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Author: Xu Jun)
Editor: Wen Jialin, Cheng Huanying
Editor-in-charge: Chen Guangtai
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