Why do you want to eat radish in winter and ginger in summer?

Eating radish in winter and ginger in summer is a popular folk mantra. What's the scientific reason for this? The radish here is what we usually call big white radish. Let's take a look at the pharmacological effects of this radish. This is the big white radish we mentioned earlier. Radish is a cruciferous herb, also known as radish, and its seeds, fresh roots and leaves can be used as medicine. Radish is flat and slightly cold, and has the effects of clearing away heat and toxic materials, removing blood stasis, invigorating stomach, promoting digestion, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, promoting qi circulation, promoting fluid production, quenching thirst, tonifying middle energizer and calming nerves. "The Classic of Materia Medica" said: "Radish roots can regulate qi, eliminate phlegm addiction, warm the middle warmer, tonify deficiency, widen the chest and diaphragm, facilitate urination and defecation, resolve phlegm and promote digestion, and are also used for cooking; Quench thirst, treat facial toxin, promote ethos and eliminate pathogenic heat, treat lung flaccidity and hematemesis, and those with lung heat, phlegm, cough and diarrhea can also be eaten raw. Li Shizhen mentioned in Compendium of Materia Medica that radish can "relieve qi, eliminate valley, neutralize pathogenic heat". Liang Tao Hongjing recorded the medicinal use of radish in "Records of Famous Doctors": "It is cool and sweet in nature, enters the lung and stomach meridians, can eliminate food stagnation, remove phlegm and heat, ventilate the lower breath, and detoxify, and is used for food retention, phlegm cough, aphonia, hematemesis, epistaxis, thirst, dysentery, headache, dysuria and other symptoms". All right. We often say that medicine and food are homologous. In other words, many foods we eat have medicinal value. But most of the food is bland. Because of its strong bias, it is called medicine. As mentioned in our previous article, why TCM is called TCM is because TCM is not only a medicine of China, but also a medicine for neutralizing yin and yang. Drug therapy is to correct the deviation of drugs from human appearance. Cold produces heat. For example, if a person has a fever, he should use cold medicine, otherwise, he should use hot medicine. This is the general principle of medication. Of course, specific problems need specific analysis. Whether it is massage scraping or taking medicine, you should follow the classics. Radish: it is cool and sweet, and enters the lungs and stomach. This tells us that radish is related to lung and stomach. The pharmacological action of ginger radish is just the opposite. Ginger tastes spicy and mild. Function: It is a fragrant and spicy medicine for strengthening the stomach, which has the functions of warming, stimulating, sweating, stopping vomiting and detoxifying, and is especially suitable for fish and crab poisoning, Pinellia ternata, Arisaema tuber and other drug poisoning. Suitable for exogenous wind-cold, headache, excessive phlegm, cough, stomach cold and vomiting; After suffering from ice, snow, dampness and cold, drinking with ginger soup can promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis and dispel cold evil. The real medicine and food are homologous, and food is also medicine, and medicine is also food. In fact, we know the role of ginger. We also understand why the old man cooked ginger juice for us when we were caught in the rain and caught cold. Why, when we eat crab, a cool food, we should dip it in ginger vinegar juice. Because ginger itself is a hot food, the purpose of eating ginger is to drive away the cold in the human body, so as to achieve the balance of yin and yang in the human body. Why does ginger have these functions? This is because it contains gingerol and volatile oil, such as gingerol, gingerol, gingerol, citral and so on. So when we eat ginger, we often feel fragrant and spicy; When taken orally, ginger can stimulate the mouth and stomach and promote the secretion of digestive gland fluid, so it has the effect of invigorating the stomach and promoting digestion; After eating ginger, it can accelerate the blood circulation in the body and make the whole body feel warm, so it can sweat and dispel cold. After understanding the medicinal properties of the two foods, we can now discuss why we should eat radish in winter and ginger in summer. We emphasize four seasons health. In winter, human skin is in a state of contraction to ensure blood supply to the body. At this stage, people's outdoor activities decrease and indoor activities increase, and most of them eat a lot of hot food, such as mutton. This will lead to indigestion. At this time, if we eat some radish, it can help us digest, because radish: "It is cool and sweet, enters the lung and stomach meridians, can eliminate food stagnation, resolve phlegm and clear heat, reduce qi and detoxify, and is used for food accumulation. In summer, the situation is just the opposite. In order to eliminate the heat in the body, the skin is in a state of stagnation. " The body is in a relatively cold state. Eating some ginger at this time will help warm the stomach and achieve a balance between yin and yang. What needs to be pointed out in particular is that the old saying of eating radish in winter and ginger in summer has become increasingly ineffective in modern society. Why? It is precisely because of the use of air conditioners and refrigerators that the normal relationship between our human body and the four seasons is completely disrupted, and it is difficult for us to achieve harmony between man and nature. Everyone must remember Mr. Li Ke's exposition mentioned in our last article: Li Ke, a master of Fuyang School, talks about TCM health preservation. He said: since I came to the south, I have seen 1000 patients. There is a very special phenomenon in this. If the six evils of traditional Chinese medicine are classified as wind, cold, summer heat, dampness, dryness and fire, then nine times out of ten, I have seen patients with yang deficiency, cold and dampness syndrome, but I have never seen patients with yin deficiency and fire syndrome, and I have never met any of them. Mr. Li, what do these words mean? He told us a truth, that is, patients who have basically no fever now are basically colds. In other words, even in winter, you don't have to eat radish, even in winter and summer, because most people's constitutions are cold and cold now, which is basically caused by cold and cold. In fact, eating radish in winter and ginger in summer is to take advantage of the cold and heat of these two foods to coordinate with the cold and heat of the season and regulate yin and yang.