Excessive dampness in the body can make people feel lethargic, with heavy limbs, loss of appetite, cold hands and feet, skin rashes, uncomfortable sticky sensation on the face, and even gastroenteritis. The human body has a natural ability to regulate external temperature and humidity changes. Manifestations of excessive internal dampness include six obvious symptoms of dampness, but some people may experience imbalance in water regulation due to physical constitution, illness or lifestyle factors, leading to retained dampness in the body that affects health. Moreover, modern people tend to be less active, overeat, stay up late, and experience high stress, all of which can impede gastrointestinal digestion and disrupt water metabolism. So, how do we remove dampness from our bodies? It starts with improving living habits. (Excerpt from "Public Health")
First Strategy: The Lazier You Are, The More You Should Exercise
Most people with excessive internal dampness have oily diets and lack exercise. These people often feel physically heavy and weak in their limbs, unwilling to move. However, the less they exercise, the more dampness accumulates internally. Over time, this will inevitably lead to dampness invading the spleen, causing a series of diseases. Exercise can relieve stress, promote organ function, and accelerate the removal of dampness from the body. Activities such as running, walking, swimming, yoga, and Tai Chi help activate blood circulation and increase water metabolism.
Second Strategy: Eat Lightly and Moderately
The gastrointestinal system is related to nutrient and water metabolism. The best way is to eat moderately and maintain a balanced diet. Alcoholic beverages, milk, fatty foods, and rich flavors are hard to digest and easily cause bloating and inflammation in the gut. Sugary and fried foods produce peroxides in the body, exacerbating inflammatory responses. Cold foods, ice cream, or cool fruits and vegetables can halt digestive absorption functions and should not be consumed frequently. Foods like lettuce, salads, watermelon, cabbage, and bitter gourd are best cooked with scallions and ginger to reduce their cooling properties.
Third Strategy: Avoid Environmental Dampness
Besides metabolic issues within our own bodies, much of the dampness comes from the environment. Frequently being in humid, cold environments easily leads to dampness entering the body.
In daily life, pay attention to the following: 1. Do not sleep directly on the floor. The floor's dampness can easily invade the body, causing soreness in the limbs. 2. Reduce going out on humid rainy days. 3. Do not wear damp clothes or use damp blankets; after bathing, thoroughly dry your body and hair. 4. If the room is very humid, it is recommended to open windows for ventilation. If the external humidity is also high, fans or air conditioners can be used to ensure air circulation.
Fourth Strategy:
Cooking Coix Seeds Porridge, Boiling Huai Yam Soup
There are many common foods that can help remove dampness from the body. For example, coix seeds have a slightly sweet, bland, and slightly cold nature, offering diuretic, anti-swelling, spleen-strengthening, dampness-removing, muscle-relaxing, arthritis-relieving, heat-clearing, and pus-draining effects. Red beans are neutral in nature, sweet and sour in taste, and have spleen-strengthening, diarrhea-stopping, diuretic, and swelling-reducing effects. Cooking coix seeds and red beans with water and eating them can promote urination, remove dampness, and even have beautifying effects.
Additionally, ingredients like red beans, Poria, Huai yam, and Codonopsis can be added to soups, boiled into porridge, or made into drinks, all of which can promote urination and remove dampness, especially effective for people with edema. Note that these methods have diuretic effects and are not suitable for people who already urinate frequently.
Fifth Strategy:
Effective Use of Scallions, Ginger, Garlic
Scallions, ginger, and garlic are not only commonly used seasonings at home but also have irreplaceable medicinal values. For instance, you can try cooking a bowl of hot ginger soup at home, using its remarkable effects to expel dampness from the body. After sweating profusely, symptoms will be alleviated. This method is also applicable for preventing colds after getting caught in the rain. The harm of dampness to the human body is actually very significant. We need to prevent it, but if there is already dampness in the body, we must fundamentally remove the dampness by ensuring normal spleen transformation. [Yeli] is a newly launched dampness-removal tea, drinking it every day yields very fast and noticeable results.
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