🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Winter health preservation includes drinking Laba porridge, whose main ingredients are various grains, beans, dried fruits, and nuts. From a modern nutritional perspective: beans contain abundant high-quality plant proteins; dried fruits concentrate nutrients from fresh fruits; nuts provide rich proteins, vitamin E, and multiple trace elements, greatly enhancing immunity and slowing aging.
Besides Laba porridge, many other porridges are also suitable for winter consumption:
Longan Millet Porridge: 15g of longan flesh, 100–200g of millet. Clean the longan flesh and cook it with millet. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer slowly until porridge forms. Longan flesh is sweet and warm in nature, capable of nourishing the heart and spleen, enriching blood, and calming the spirit.
Walnut Porridge: 20g of walnut kernels, 100–200g of glutinous rice. Clean and crush walnuts, then cook with glutinous rice. It moistens the lungs to stop coughing, tonifies the kidneys to consolidate essence, and lubricates the intestines to relieve constipation. Avoid for those with phlegm-fire, internal heat, or diarrhea.
Lotus Seed Porridge: 30–50g of lotus seeds, 100–200g of glutinous rice. Cook both together. After boiling, reduce heat and simmer. Lotus seeds are sweet and neutral, helping to solidify the kidneys, arrest seminal emission, strengthen the spleen, and stop diarrhea—ideal for middle-aged and elderly individuals.
Yam Chestnut Porridge: 15–30g of yam, 50g of chestnuts, 2–4 jujubes, 100g of glutinous rice. Remove chestnut shells, then cook with yam, jujubes, and glutinous rice. Yam is sweet and neutral, benefiting the spleen and kidneys, particularly suitable for those with spleen-kidney qi deficiency. However, do not consume excessively in one sitting, as it may cause indigestion.
Ginger Jujube Porridge: 6–9g of fresh or dried ginger, 100–150g of glutinous or sticky rice, 2–4 jujubes. Clean and chop ginger, then cook with rice and jujubes. It warms the stomach to dispel cold and transforms phlegm in the lungs. Caution advised for those with yin deficiency or pregnant women.
Carrot Porridge: 50g of fresh carrot, 200g of glutinous rice. Cut carrots into small pieces and cook with glutinous rice. Boil over high heat, then simmer slowly. It strengthens the stomach, nourishes the spleen, and aids digestion.
Chicken Egg Porridge: 200g of chicken, 2 preserved eggs, 200–300g of glutinous rice, and appropriate seasonings like ginger, scallions, salt. Cut chicken into small pieces, stew to make a rich broth. Use the broth to cook glutinous rice. Just before serving, add diced preserved egg and stewed chicken, along with seasonings. It tonifies qi and blood, nourishes the five organs, stimulates appetite, and generates body fluids—ideal for those with qi and blood deficiency.