The traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms. Bailu (white dew) is the 15th solar term. Bailu marks the beginning of the midautumn. The most obvious feeling this solar term brings to people is that the temperature difference between day and night is large, adding an autumnal coolness to the morning and evening. Therefore, there is a saying that “Bailu is the true autumn equinox night, and the weather will be cooler day by day after Bailu.”
At the same time, autumn dryness is also more obvious, and respiratory diseases such as rhinitis and asthma and gastrointestinal diseases are prone to occur. Invasion of cold at night can also cause joint pain.
Bailu is the most comfortable solar term in the year, and it is also the solar term with the largest temperature difference between day and night. What should we pay attention to in this solar term?
Three recommendations for health cultivation in Bailu
Drinking tea
As the saying goes, spring tea is bitter, summer tea is harsh, Bailu tea in autumn tastes better. As summer heat recedes, tea trees enjoy more favorable environment around Bailu. Therefore, tea leaves picked during this period of time generate a uniquely rich and fragrant flavor that is preferred by many tea lovers. It is recommended to drink oolong tea, which has the effect of moisturizing and promoting body fluid.
Foot bath
After the white dew, the weather gradually turns cooler, and you should pay attention to preparing your body for the winter. You can insist on soaking your feet in warm water at night to nourish the kidney qi.
Moistening the lungs
Bailu is a dry solar term. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the lung likes moistening and hates dryness. Therefore, it is necessary to moisten the lung during the white dew season. It is recommended to eat more foods that are sweet-natured and easy to digest such as polished round-grained rice, indica rice, corn, coix seed, sweet potato and tofu.
Three taboos for health cultivation in Bailu
Autumn dryness
In autumn, people’s skin and mouth are obviously dry, and dryness can easily lead to physical discomfort.
Foods such as pear, lily, loquat and white fungus that clear heart fire can have a better conditioning effect on the body’s resistance to autumn dryness when combined with Ganoderma lucidum, which is mild in nature and beneficial to the lungs.
Ganoderma lucidum recipes that can prevent autumn dryness
Honey Soup with Ganoderma sinense and Tremella that removes heat from the lung to relieve cough and dispels autumn dryness
[Food Materials]
4 grams of Ganoderma sinense slices, 10 grams of tremella, Goji berries, red dates, lotus seeds and honey
[Directions]
Put the tremella, Ganoderma sinense slices, lotus seeds, Goji berries and red dates into the pot, add water and cook until the tremella soup becomes thick juice, take out the residue of Ganoderma sinense slices, and add honey according to personal taste.
[Medicated Diet Description]
Regular consumption of this medicated diet can help improve cough, insomnia and dreaminess caused by deficiency of lung yin or asthenia of both the lung and kidney. It is especially suitable for consumption in autumn and winter.
Congee with Ganoderma sinense, lotus seeds and lily that clears away heart-fire, tranquilizes the mind and is suitable for all ages
[Food Materials]
20 grams of Ganoderma sinense slices, 20 grams of plumule-removed lotus seeds, 20 grams of lily and 100 grams of rice.
[Directions]
Wash Ganoderma sinense slices, plumule-removed lotus seeds, lily and rice. Put them together with a few ginger slices into a pot. Add water and bring to a boil over high heat. Then switch to slow fire and cook until thoroughly cooked.
[Medicated Diet Description]
This medicinal diet is suitable for all ages. Long-term consumption of this medicinal diet can protect the liver, clear away heart-fire, tranquilize the mind and have a certain role in the adjuvant treatment of diabetic complications.
Cold air
An ancient Chinese proverb goes, “Do not expose your skin once White Dew arrives”.It means when White Dew arrives, the skin should not be exposed any more, since people may catch cold due to the cold temperature.
When the temperature difference between morning and evening is large, pay attention to keeping the neck, navel, and feet warm. The elderly and children with relatively weak constitutions, as well as people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, chronic bronchitis and asthma, should be more careful against “autumn cold”.
Raw or cold food
After the torment of the scorching heat, the human body’s resistance has dropped a lot, and people’s stomach will appear some sickness to some extent.
In the diet, eat less raw or cold food such as crabs, fish and shrimps and persimmons, and eat more spleen-boosting and digestible meals such as diced chicken with ginkgo and yam.
The heat is gone, and the cool is coming. May your body and mind be rewarded.
