Since ancient times, there is a saying that "white yam is better than ginseng", throughout the ages, the people have taken it as food, and doctors have used it as medicine, which is a good product of the same origin as medicine and food.
Yam has the reputation of "affordable ginseng". Zhang Xichun was even given the nickname "Zhang Yam!" because of his fabulous research on yams! Some people said that Zhang Xichun had used yams to save people's lives.
Yam is the rhizome of the dioscaceae plant. It was first recorded in the "Shennong Materia Medica" and was listed in the top grade. Yam is sweet and flat, enters the lungs, spleen and kidney meridians, and its main effects are to strengthen the spleen, tonify the lungs, strengthen the kidneys, and benefit the essence.
Yam has a mild taste, warm but not sudden, slightly fragrant but not dry, is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to strengthen the spleen and replenish qi, it has the pharmacological effects of lowering blood sugar, lowering blood lipids, antioxidant, anti-aging, anti-tumor, immune regulation, protecting the nervous system, regulating intestinal flora and so on.
Therefore, these people can regularly eat:
01
People who need to strengthen their spleen and stomach
Yam contains more mucus protein and decomposition enzymes, which can promote digestion and play a role in strengthening the spleen and stomach.
02
People who need to nourish their blood vessels
Yam is rich in a variety of proteases that can prevent blood lipids from precipitating in the blood vessel wall and forming blood clots, which can play a good role in preventing cardiovascular diseases.
03
People who need to moisten their lungs
Yam not only nourishes the kidneys and stomach, but also moistens the lungs and dissolves phlegm, improves lung nodules, and makes the lungs healthier.
04
People who want to slow down aging
Yam is rich in polysaccharides, which can promote the vitality of cells, prevent cell aging, enhance human immune function, and promote body metabolism.
Yam dietary prescription is recommended
The "Compendium of Materia Medica" summarizes its functions as "benefiting the kidney, strengthening the spleen and stomach, stopping diarrhea and dysentery, dissolving phlegm and salivation, and moistening the fur", which is processed into starch products, beverages, etc. on the market. Here are a few remedies:
1. Chestnut yam ginger jujube porridge
Ingredients: 60 grams of chestnuts, 10 red dates, 30 grams of yams, 60 grams of japonica rice, ginger slices, appropriate amount of brown sugar.
Preparation method: Chestnuts are shelled, red dates are pitted, and the above medicines are boiled in water to eat.
Efficacy: Warm and strengthen the spleen, nourish the kidneys and improve essence.
2. Yam jade bamboo pigeon broth
Ingredients: 1 white pigeon, 30 grams of yam, 20 grams of polygonatum japonica.
Method: Add water and boil, ready to eat.
Efficacy: Nourishing qi and nourishing yin, nourishing liver and kidney.
3. Yam drink (potato drink)
Ingredients: 500 grams of yam.
Method: Mash the yam, add water and stir constantly, cook and eat.
Efficacy: Nourish qi and nourish yin, tonify the spleen, lungs and kidneys.
4. Yam crucian carp soup
Ingredients: 1 crucian carp, red adzuki beans (stuffed with fish maw), 100 grams of yam, 50 grams of coix seeds, 5 grams of sand kernels.
Method: Remove the internal organs of the crucian carp, stuff the red adzuki beans and stitch it, cook for more than two hours, add yam and barley and cook for 40 minutes, finally put in the sand kernels, cook for 10 minutes, and remove from the pot.
Efficacy: Replenish deficiency, strengthen the spleen and improve water.
5. Yellow porridge with yam chicken
Ingredients: Boiled porridge with yam, add 3 chicken yolks.
Method: Mash the boiled egg yolk and boil it with yam powder or porridge.
Pay attention to these when eating yams
Although yam is good, it has contraindications like other Chinese medicines:
1. Eat less for people with constipation: Yam is rich in starch, which can astringent and stop diarrhea, and eating it for people with constipation can lead to aggravation of symptoms.
2. Diabetic patients eat less: Yam is rich in starch, and excessive consumption causes blood sugar to rise.
3. It is not allowed to be eaten raw, because yam contains certain toxins, and eating raw can easily cause poisoning.
4. The saponin contained in the yam skin or the plant alkaloid contained in the mucus, a small number of people will cause allergies and itching after touching the yam, and direct contact should be avoided when handling the yam. ■
[Source: WeChat of Shenzhen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine]