Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Some porridges focus on dispelling wind and removing heat, moistening with sweetness and bringing down fire, and easing irritability and relieving dryness; some focus on nourishing the stomach and strengthening the spleen, benefiting the lungs and calming the heart, and nourishing yin and moistening dryness; others focus on moistening the lungs and nourishing the liver, benefiting essence and generating blood, and strengthening the kidneys and sinews. Porridge is an excellent health food. Eaten regularly, it can soften the blood vessels, lower blood pressure, fight aging, and prolong life, and it is especially suitable for the middle-aged and elderly.
Taoists have recommended seven moistening porridges for winter dietary therapy, which offer valuable guidance for health cultivation.
1. Black Sesame Porridge
Wash and sun-dry black sesame seeds, then toast and grind them finely. Each time, take 25 grams and add them to a porridge of 100 grams of round-grain rice that is nearly done, add a spoonful of honey, and cook until thick. Black sesame moistens the intestines and relieves constipation, benefits the five zang organs, and strengthens the sinews and bones. This porridge nourishes the five zang organs and moistens dryness to ease the bowels. It is suitable for liver and kidney deficiency, dizziness from deficiency wind, wind-bi (painful obstruction), paralysis, dry and hard stools, weakness after illness, premature graying of the hair and beard, and insufficient breast milk after childbirth.
2. White Wood Ear Porridge
Take 250 grams of round-grain rice and 15 grams of white wood ear fungus (snow fungus), add a suitable amount of water, and cook together into porridge. White wood ear is an excellent tonic in autumn for nourishing yin, moistening the lungs, and promoting fluids. White wood ear porridge moistens the lungs and stops coughing, benefits qi, and tonifies the kidneys. It is suitable for dry cough from yin deficiency with internal heat and for deficiency of both qi and yin.
3. Apple Porridge
Take 500 grams of apples and 100 grams each of sago and white sugar, add a suitable amount of water, and cook together into porridge. Apple porridge promotes fluids, moistens the lungs, relieves irritability, dispels summer heat, and strengthens the stomach. It is suitable for lack of strength, regurgitation, indigestion, enteritis and dysentery, dry stools, high blood pressure, and the like.
4. Chrysanthemum Porridge
Take 30 grams of chrysanthemum flowers and 100 grams of round-grain rice. First decoct the chrysanthemum, then take the liquid, add the rice, and cook into porridge. Chrysanthemum porridge disperses wind-heat, clears liver fire, and brightens the eyes. It is suitable for wind-heat colds in autumn, irritability with a dry throat, and red, swollen, painful eyes, and it also helps prevent and treat cardiovascular disease.
5. Carrot Porridge
Take 150 grams of carrots, peel, wash, and mince them, and cook with 100 grams of rice into porridge. Chinese medicine holds that carrots are sweet and neutral and that they send qi downward, ease the chest and diaphragm, tonify the middle, and calm the five zang organs. This porridge is suitable for constipation, stomach and intestinal discomfort, a full, bloated feeling, and indigestion.
6. Goji Porridge
Take 30 grams of goji berries and 100 grams of round-grain rice, add a suitable amount of water, and cook together into porridge. Goji porridge nourishes the liver and kidneys, brightens the eyes, and tonifies deficiency. It is suitable for middle-aged and elderly people with liver and kidney yin deficiency, blurred vision, and a sore lower back and weak legs.
7. Potato Porridge
Take 100 grams of potatoes, peel, wash, and cut them into small pieces, and cook with 100 grams of rice into porridge. Chinese medicine holds that potatoes are sweet in flavor and neutral in nature, strengthen the spleen and harmonize the middle, and benefit qi and regulate the middle. This porridge is suitable for stomach dryness, stomach pain, constipation, and the like.