🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Since spring began, northern China has experienced consecutive sandstorms, setting records in recent years, with Beijing similarly affected for several days.
Environmental pollution and inconvenient travel are direct impacts of sandstorms. Meanwhile, swirling dust and airborne particles cloud the air, causing irritation to nose, eyes, and throat, increasing the risk of illness. Since skin, eyes, nose, and lungs are the first to contact sand and dust, they suffer the most. To avoid harm from such weather, minimize outdoor exposure, avoid lingering outside, wear scarves and masks when going out, and keep windows closed. Beyond these measures, dietary adjustments can help.
Drink More Water
Spring is a season of increasing dryness and frequent sandstorms. When both factors act together, people feel uncomfortable. This occurs because low humidity accelerates evaporation of surface moisture, leading to dehydration of skin cells—including the inner linings of nose, pharynx, and larynx—causing dryness and stickiness. Additionally, pollutants carried by sandstorms intensify irritation to skin and organs, resulting in itching skin, chapped lips, and discomfort in the trachea and eyes.
It is essential to replenish lost fluids promptly. Drink plenty of boiled water to accelerate the elimination of metabolic waste, benefiting both skin and overall health.
Eat Blood Tofu, Lily Bulb, Sesame Porridge for Lung Moistening
The most recommended food is blood tofu. As the old saying goes: “Blood cleanses the lungs.” This is because plasma proteins in blood, after digestion by gastric acid, produce substances that detoxify and lubricate the intestines. These substances chemically react with inhaled dust and harmful metal particles, facilitating their excretion through bodily channels. Thus, during dry, dusty springs, consume more dishes made with blood tofu, such as “Stir-fried Blood Tofu,” “Duck Blood Soup,” and “Tripe Blood Soup.”
Lily bulb is both food and a traditional Chinese medicine used to clear lung heat, moisten dryness, nourish yin, and cool heat. Modern research confirms that lily increases lymphocyte transformation rate and enhances humoral immunity. Its primary function is to moisten the lungs and calm the heart, showing efficacy against lung dryness conditions. Lily can be boiled, cooked into porridge, used in soups, or stir-fried.
Additionally, sesame porridge moisturizes the five viscera; pear porridge generates body fluids and relieves dryness; ham and winter melon soup refreshes and clears heat while moistening the lungs—all highly suitable for spring consumption.
Strong winds carry many pollutants, and numerous fruits and vegetables possess anti-pollution abilities, helping eliminate external toxins or internal metabolic waste. For example, special compounds in garlic reduce lead levels in the body; green leafy vegetables contain alkaline components that dissolve accumulated toxins within cells, allowing them to be excreted via urine—earning them the title of the body’s best “cleaner”; black fungus contains unique components aiding fiber digestion; papaya contains proteases that break down bodily waste.
Dietary Principles for Spring Illness Patients
In spring, increased outdoor activities coincide with a rise in allergic skin diseases such as urticaria, eczema, and contact dermatitis—common spring ailments. Those with a history of allergic dermatitis should eat more vegetables and fruits but avoid spicy foods like chili, raw scallions, and raw garlic. Limit fatty and sugary diets, and ideally quit smoking and drinking.
Spring dryness and sandstorms increase cases of respiratory infections. In such times, consume more dark-colored fruits like pears, sugarcane, radishes, strawberries, and purple grapes—rich in antioxidants that combat free radicals responsible for damaging immune cells and weakening immunity. Supplement vitamins C and E to boost infection resistance and reduce respiratory congestion and swelling.
People with chronic pharyngitis suffer even more during sandstorms. Foods rich in collagen and elastin aid repair of damaged throat tissues, while B-complex vitamin-rich foods help reduce inflammation of respiratory mucosa. Include more pork trotters, fish, legumes, seafood, animal liver, lean meat, and dairy in your diet. During sandstorms, emphasize light, sour-sweet, yin-nourishing vegetables and fruits—avoid spicy foods and alcohol. Additionally, homemade remedies like green tea with honey or lily and mung bean soup can moisten the throat, generate fluids, clear heat, and soothe the voice.
Finally, emphasize food hygiene for everyone—regardless of age or health status—during sandstorm days. Avoid buying food from roadside stalls. Upon returning home, wash your face first, and always wash hands before eating.
Editor’s Note: Spring is a beautiful season of blooming flowers, but sandstorms can be unpleasant. Still, proper attention to diet and lifestyle can mitigate issues. In this issue’s “Questioning Contradictions” column, Professor He Jiguo from China Agricultural University continues debunking absurd claims. Reader Huo Shouxì shares a real story illustrating the benefits of eating more vegetables and maintaining balanced nutrition.