🌿 Folk Prescriptions

The fast pace of modern life causes excessive psychological stress in women, leading to early onset of hidden menopause symptoms. Medical experts warn: urban women should protect themselves and prevent premature aging.
Medical research confirms that aging-related diseases and gene mutations are closely tied to free radical damage. Therefore, maintaining sufficient antioxidants in the body to promptly neutralize free radicals is key to anti-aging.
The Two Key Elements Against Aging: Vegetables and Fruits
Vegetables and fruits play a vital role in preventing diseases related to free radical damage and in slowing aging. Dietary guidelines worldwide emphasize consuming vegetables and fruits. When updating its 2000 dietary guidelines, the U.S. changed “choose diets rich in grains, vegetables, and fruits” to “daily selection of diverse vegetables and fruits.”
Extensive scientific testing proves that vegetables and fruits not only provide essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber but also contain numerous plant-based antioxidants—such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanins. Some of these substances have antioxidant power exceeding well-known antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene.
Recently, researchers from the Tianjin Environmental Medicine Research Institute measured and compared the antioxidant activity of 66 common vegetables and fruits in China. The results are as follows:
Top 36 Vegetables Ranked by Antioxidant Strength (Strongest to Weakest)
Lotus root 4.57, ginger 2.24, Chinese cabbage 1.55, green bean 1.43, taro 1.03, garlic 0.87, spinach 0.84, sweet pepper 0.82, string bean 0.75, broccoli 0.71, green soybean 0.71, scallion 0.69, white radish 0.60, coriander 0.59, carrot 0.55, cabbage 0.49, potato 0.46, leek 0.44, onion 0.41, tomato 0.40, eggplant 0.39, cucumber 0.36, cauliflower 0.31, napa cabbage 0.30, pea 0.30, mushroom 0.28, winter melon 0.27, loofah 0.24, garlic sprout 0.20, lettuce 0.19, mung bean sprout 0.14, yellow chives 0.12, pumpkin 0.12, celery 0.12, yam 0.08, lettuce 0.06
Top 30 Fruits Ranked by Antioxidant Strength (Strongest to Weakest)
Hawthorn 13.42, winter jujube 6.98, guava 6.07, kiwi 4.38, mulberry 4.11, strawberry 3.29, pomegranate 3.10, tangerine 2.29, seedless green orange 2.19, orange 1.89, lemon 1.43, cherry 0.99, longan 0.94, pineapple 0.87, red banana apple 0.80, pineapple 0.80, banana 0.73, plum 0.71, lychee 0.59, kumquat 0.50, rose grape 0.49, pomelo 0.39, mango 0.38, Japanese peach 0.38, apricot 0.34, honeydew melon 0.24, crystal pear 0.22, white melon 0.19, watermelon 0.16, persimmon 0.14.
Apple—The Healthiest Fruit
Among various fruits and vegetables, Americans ranked apples as the most beneficial for health. Apples rank first because they are rich in fiber, supplementing the body’s fiber needs, lowering heart disease risk, and aiding weight loss. Many Americans regard apples as essential for slimming, observing a “apple day” weekly—eating only apples for one day as part of a diet.
· Eat Lotus Root in Autumn to Moisturize Lungs and Nourish Blood
Autumn is precisely when fresh lotus roots are in season. Though grown in mud, lotus roots emerge pure and white. Their texture is crisp and tender, rich in nutrients, containing abundant carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.
Lotus roots can be eaten raw like fruit or cooked as a delicacy—both forms are beneficial medicinally. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that raw lotus root is cold in nature, sweet and cool, entering the stomach meridian, capable of clearing heat, cooling blood, removing stagnation, quenching thirst, and stopping vomiting. It treats conditions like thirst, drunkenness, hemoptysis, and hematemesis. Postpartum women are advised to avoid raw cold foods, except lotus root, because of its excellent blood-stasis-clearing effect—hence the folk saying, “Freshly picked young lotus root surpasses a doctor.” Cooked lotus root turns purple, offering nourishing stomach, moistening yin, strengthening spleen, and boosting qi—ideal for tonifying food. Lotus root powder, made from lotus roots, is highly nutritious and easy to digest, promoting blood production, stopping bleeding, regulating digestion, and is perfect for the elderly and weak.
Often, people discard lotus root nodes when eating, but they are actually excellent remedies for bleeding. The nodes are sweet, astringent, and neutral in nature, rich in tannins and asparagine, specifically treating various bleeding conditions such as hemoptysis, hematemesis, hematuria, melena, and uterine bleeding. Locally, using six to seven lotus root nodes, crushed and boiled with red sugar, is a highly effective remedy for stopping bleeding.
Medicinal Delicacy: Hawthorn
· Hawthorn is sour, sweet, slightly warm. Traditional Chinese medicine considers hawthorn effective for improving digestion, reducing blood pressure and lipid levels—making it an excellent health tonic.
Long-term consumption can help prevent the following conditions:
1. Digestive Disorders: Take 200 grams of hawthorn, boil in water, extract juice, and drink as tea. Effective for preventing indigestion caused by excessive meat consumption.
2. Coronary Heart Disease: Due to hawthorn’s flavonoids dilating coronary arteries and increasing blood flow, patients with coronary heart disease (including angina) should regularly drink hawthorn syrup.
3. Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia, Obesity, Fatty Liver: Patients should eat 5–10 hawthorns daily, continuing for a period—effective in lowering blood pressure and lipids, regulating lipid metabolism.
4. Constipation: Use 50 grams of fresh hawthorn, 150 grams of walnut kernels, and 25 grams of sugar, simmer briefly, then drink as tea and eat the ingredients. This has nourishing and laxative effects, useful for dry mouth and constipation due to fluid deficiency.
5. Gynecological Conditions: Take 30 grams of hawthorn, add appropriate sugar, boil and drink the juice, continue for 7 days. Helps remove blood stasis, suitable for treating amenorrhea and lower abdominal distension in women.
It’s worth noting that although hawthorn is beneficial, pregnant women and those with peptic ulcers should avoid overconsumption. It’s generally not advisable to eat on an empty stomach.