🌿 Folk Prescriptions

In autumn, dietary regulation should follow the *Huangdi Neijing* principle of "nourishing yin in autumn and winter"—that is, consume more foods that nourish yin and moisten dryness to prevent autumn dryness from injuring yin. Specifically, the following foods are recommended:
White fungus (Agaricus): Also known as white ear mushroom, it is a prestigious tonic. It contains various amino acids, vitamins, and glycogen, offering benefits such as nourishing the stomach, moistening lungs and generating fluids, boosting energy, nourishing the stomach, tonifying qi, and enhancing brain function. It is commonly used to treat chronic cough, blood in sputum, excessive vaginal discharge in women, frailty in the elderly, emaciation, and poor appetite. Compared to black fungus, it is slightly cooler in nature and stronger in nourishing yin and generating fluids.
Sugarcane: Sweet and slightly astringent in taste, neutral in nature. It clears heat, moistens dryness, harmonizes the stomach, stops vomiting, and detoxifies. Suitable for dryness due to insufficient body fluids—such as dry mouth, constipation, cough with little phlegm; stomach fluid deficiency causing dry vomiting; heat damaging body fluids leading to thirst and irritability. Ideal for autumn nourishment.
Bird’s nest: A precious tonic, made by the golden swiftlet and related species using saliva or saliva mixed with feathers to build nests. High in protein, it nourishes yin, moistens dryness, tonifies qi, and benefits the center. It promotes longevity. Effective for tidal fever, night sweats, dry cough with little phlegm, hemoptysis due to lung yin deficiency; also beneficial for esophageal obstruction and vomiting due to stomach yin deficiency, and spontaneous sweating due to qi deficiency.
Pear: Cool in nature, sweet in taste. It moistens lungs, dissolves phlegm, stops cough, reduces fire, and clears the heart. Suitable for dry cough due to autumn dryness or heat damage to yin, thirst, constipation, and internal heat causing thirst, cough, wheezing, yellow phlegm.
Sesame: Sweet and neutral in taste. It nourishes yin, moistens dryness, tonifies the kidneys and brain, stops cough, and relieves asthma. Suitable for intestinal dryness and constipation due to fluid deficiency, dry skin, and dizziness, premature graying hair, and weak knees due to liver and kidney essence-blood deficiency. Also effective for postpartum blood deficiency and insufficient breast milk.
Turtle meat: A delicious and nutritious tonic, easily digested and absorbed, promoting blood circulation. It nourishes yin, cools blood, and tonifies qi. Used for bone steaming fever, lower back pain, metrorrhagia, leukorrhea due to liver and kidney yin deficiency; and prolapse due to qi deficiency.
Lotus root: Sweet and cool in taste. A good remedy for stopping bleeding and generating fluids. Rich in starch, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and various vitamins—especially high in vitamin C.
Spinach: Sweet and cool in taste. It nourishes yin, moistens dryness, enriches blood, and facilitates bowel movements. Useful for thirst due to fluid deficiency, constipation due to intestinal dryness, anemia, and bleeding disorders such as epistaxis and hematochezia.
Black-boned chicken: Li Shizhen said: "Black-boned chickens come in white-feathered, black-feathered, spotted-feathered varieties, with entirely black bones and flesh, or white flesh and black bones. If the tongue is black, the flesh and bones are both black—best for medicinal use. Suitable for liver and kidney blood-related conditions. Use female chicken for males, male chicken for females. There is a famous formula 'Wuji Wan' for treating women’s myriad ailments. Cook the chicken until tender, mix with medicine, or grind the bones and use together." Thus, black-boned chicken is regarded as a sacred remedy for gynecology. Used in autumn and winter tonics, it nourishes yin, clears heat, tonifies the liver and kidneys, strengthens the spleen, and stops diarrhea. Commonly used for weakness, diabetes, diarrhea, prolapse, metrorrhagia, and leukorrhea. Especially effective for yin deficiency symptoms like five-palm heat, tidal fever, night sweats, emaciation, dry throat, flushed cheeks, and cough.
Pork lung: Sweet in taste, slightly cold in nature. It tonifies the lung. For lung deficiency cough, use one pig lung, slice with a bamboo knife, stir-fry with lard until cooked, then cook with rice to make porridge. Or clean the lung, place five ounces of apricot kernels inside, stew until soft, then eat. Traditional Chinese medicine believes the lung corresponds with autumn, so eating pork lung in autumn—"feeding organs with organs"—is beneficial.
Soy milk: Made by soaking soybeans, grinding into juice, filtering out residue, and boiling. Sweet and neutral in taste. It tonifies deficiency, moistens dryness, clears lungs, resolves phlegm, and promotes urination. Commonly used for physical weakness, postpartum blood and qi deficiency, chronic cough due to lung deficiency, phlegm-fire asthma, and urinary tract disorders.
Honey: A premium tonic and effective medicine for various illnesses. *Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing* states: "Stabilizes the five organs, treats deficiencies, tonifies qi, nourishes the center, relieves pain, detoxifies, cures many diseases, harmonizes all medicines. Long-term use strengthens willpower, lightens the body, extends life and promotes longevity." Indeed, honey contains 39% fructose and 34% glucose—both monosaccharides directly supply energy, replenish fluids, and nourish the entire body. It has certain efficacy for symptoms due to fluid deficiency, spleen and stomach yin deficiency, or qi deficiency causing stomachache.
Turtle meat: The meat of the turtle, a superior tonic. It nourishes yin and reduces fire, and also nourishes blood and clears heat. Used for bone steaming fever, hemoptysis, and melena due to yin fire; effective for tendon and bone pain and weakness due to yin-blood deficiency. When using, avoid pairing with pork, amaranth, or melons. Can be seasoned with scallions, Sichuan pepper, or salt. Alternatively, wrap in clay and bake until cooked.
Olive: A firm-fleshed fruit with a sour and astringent taste, leaving a sweet aftertaste. High in calcium—204 mg per 100 grams of flesh. Olives are divided into European and Chinese varieties. European olives (called "wu lan") are sweet and astringent, neutral in nature, with functions to stimulate appetite, aid digestion, relieve fishy odor, stop diarrhea, reduce inflammation, and alleviate swelling. Chinese olives (called "qing lan") are known as "fruits for lungs and stomach"—excellent for both food and medicine. They clear lungs, relieve sore throat, dissolve phlegm, eliminate accumulation, detoxify, and generate fluids. Treat sore throat, dry cough due to lung dryness, poor appetite, indigestion, and pufferfish poisoning. Eating two or three olives daily in autumn helps generate fluids and prevent upper respiratory infections.
Besides the above foods that nourish yin and moisten dryness, certain medicinal diets can also be consumed. Examples include:
**Ginseng-Maidragon Turtle (Chengdu Tongren Tang Tonic Restaurant Formula)**
Take a live turtle weighing 500–1,000 grams, remove head and neck, drain blood, then blanch in boiling water for three minutes. Remove the black membrane on back and edges with a small knife, peel off the white layer on limbs, cut off claws and tail. Place on a cutting board, split open the shell, remove internal organs, and wash clean.
Place pot on stove, add water and turtle, boil until simmering, then reduce heat and simmer for about half an hour. Transfer to warm water, remove yellow fat, extract back shell and belly plate, and remove coarse bones from limbs. Wash and cut into about 3 cm cubes, arrange in a bowl.
Chop 100 grams of lean ham into small pieces, dice 25 grams of lard, place on top of turtle. Add half of the seasonings (10 grams scallion, 5 grams ginger slices, 3 grams salt, 250 grams chicken stock, 7.5 grams Shao wine), mix with appropriate clear broth and pour into the bowl.
Place 20 grams of floating wheat and 10 grams of poria wrapped in gauze into the broth. Crush 5 grams of ginseng into fine powder and sprinkle on top. Seal with wet cotton paper, steam until tender, about 2–3 hours.
Remove turtle from steamer, discard scallion and ginger, strain out original broth. Invert the turtle into a serving bowl. Pour the broth into a ladle, add remaining seasonings and 0.5 grams of monosodium glutamate (10 grams scallion, 5 grams ginger slices, 3 grams salt, 250 grams chicken stock, 7.5 grams Shao wine), bring to a boil, skim off foam, crack one egg into the broth, briefly cook, then pour over the turtle.
This medicinal dish nourishes yin, tonifies qi, and strengthens deficiency. It assists in treating weakness such as tidal fever, night sweats, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Consuming it in autumn prevents and treats dryness pathogen injury to yin.
**Honey Steamed Lily (from *Food Therapy Herbalism*)**
Mix 120 grams of lily with 30 grams of honey, steam until soft. Chew a few pieces, swallow the juice.
This medicinal dish nourishes the lungs, moistens dryness, and clears heat. Suitable for lung heat causing irritability, dry cough, or sore throat.
**Olive-Plum Soup (from *Dietary Therapy*)**
Wash 60 grams of fresh olives (with pits), crush slightly, add three bowls of water, decoct to one bowl. Strain, add white sugar to taste, and drink.
This medicinal dish clears heat and detoxifies, generates fluids, and quenches thirst. Suitable for acute pharyngitis, acute tonsillitis, cough with thick phlegm, alcohol intoxication thirst. Drinking a bowl of olive-plum soup after meals in autumn clears the throat, moistens dryness, and eliminates dryness pathogen harming the lungs.
**Rose-Lotus Pear-Silver Ear Porridge (from *Chinese Medicinal Cuisine Consultant*)**
Use three rose blossoms, 5 grams of Fritillaria, two pears, 50 grams of silver ear fungus, and 100 grams of rock sugar. Wash rose blossoms, soak Fritillaria in vinegar, slice pears, remove hard roots from silver ear fungus when soaked. Add water to pot, place pears, silver ear fungus, Fritillaria, and rock sugar, cook for half an hour. Add rose blossoms, cook briefly, serve as needed.
This medicinal dish tonifies qi, nourishes yin, and stops cough. Suitable for lung deficiency cough, shortness of breath, dry cough, etc.
**Salvia-Crushed Lotus Root (from *Disease Dietary Therapy and Recipes*)**
Mix two spoons of lotus root powder, 5 grams of rock sugar, 10 grams each of Salvia miltiorrhiza, Ophiopogon japonicus, and mulberry leaf, and 5 grams of raw rehmannia. Boil together for 30 minutes, filter to obtain 150 ml of liquid. Cool and refrigerate overnight. After several hours, pour the clarified liquid into a pot, add rock sugar, boil until dissolved, then use boiling liquid to stir lotus root powder into a paste for consumption.
This medicinal dish nourishes yin and generates fluids, tonifies the stomach, and clears heat. Suitable for dryness syndrome with dry throat, thirst, reduced saliva, smooth tongue without coating, red dry tongue, cracked corners of mouth, and peeling skin.
If these foods and medicinal diets are consumed regularly during the dry autumn season, they can effectively prevent dryness pathogen invasion. Of course, this applies mainly to healthy individuals and those with blood or yin deficiency. For those with weak spleen and stomach function, frequently experiencing abdominal distension and loose stools, it is best not to consume these foods or medicinal diets, as they are slightly cool in nature. First, regulate spleen and stomach function; only after recovery should one consume small amounts of yin-nourishing foods and medicinal diets.
Second, autumn diet should follow "reduce pungent, increase sour."
Reducing pungent means limiting pungent-tasting foods. Since the lung belongs to metal and connects with autumn, lung qi peaks in autumn. Reducing pungent tastes prevents excessive lung qi. TCM believes metal overcomes wood—excessive lung qi can damage liver function. Thus, in autumn, one should "increase sour" to enhance liver function and resist excessive lung qi invasion. Based on this TCM nutritional principle, one should reduce pungent foods like onion, ginger, garlic, leek, and chili, and instead increase sour-tasting fruits and vegetables. Recommended options include:
Apple: Nutrient-rich, one of the finest fruits. Besides fresh consumption, it can be processed into various foods. TCM considers apples to generate fluids, moisten lungs, relieve annoyance, stimulate appetite, and sober up. For indigestion and gas stagnation, squeeze juice and drink. Apples contain high sugar—15 grams per 100 grams of flesh, with 5.93 grams fructose. Fructose is the sweetest natural sugar, easily absorbed in the body. Apples contain 0.2 grams protein, 0.1 grams fat, 5 milligrams vitamin C, and significant soluble phosphorus (9 mg) and calcium (11 mg). Acid content is about 0.5%, mainly malic acid.
Modern medicine finds apples also have anti-diarrheal and laxative effects. This is due to tannins, organic acids, pectin, and abundant dietary fiber. Organic acids have astringent properties; pectin and fiber absorb toxins and bacteria, thus preventing diarrhea. Meanwhile, organic acids stimulate the colon, and fiber promotes colonic motility, aiding in constipation relief.
Apples also prevent and relieve fatigue. Potassium in apples binds with excess sodium in the body and excretes it. Thus, eating apples or drinking apple juice helps remove excess salt, beneficial for hypertension patients.
Grapefruit: Sweet, sour, and astringent in taste, warm in nature. It kills parasites, astringes, stops diarrhea, and treats dysentery. Suitable for chronic diarrhea, chronic dysentery, bloody stools, rectal prolapse, leukorrhea, abdominal pain due to food accumulation, eczema, otitis media, and traumatic bleeding.
Grapefruit is rich in nutrients. Mature fruit seeds contain 10%–11% sugar, plus malic and citric acids. Vitamin C content is one or two times higher than apples and pears. Sweet ones taste like honey, high in sugar; sour ones make teeth feel watery, with sweetness emerging after sourness.
For hoarseness and dry throat, chew 1–2 fresh fruits (discard seeds), slowly, 2–3 times daily. For chronic diarrhea, mash one fresh fruit with skin, add a pinch of salt, boil with water, and drink three times daily.
Grape: Sweet and sour in taste. Fresh grapes are pleasantly sweet and sour, generating fluids and quenching thirst, stimulating appetite and aiding digestion. *Lu Chuan Ben Cao* records: "Grapes nourish and strengthen, enrich blood, strengthen the heart, promote urination. Treats lower back pain, stomach pain, mental exhaustion, and blood deficiency palpitations."
Modern medicine finds grapes contain abundant grape acid, fructose, proteins, amino acids, citric acid, malic acid, vitamin C, carotene, riboflavin, and beneficial minerals like calcium, iron, and phosphorus. However, those with weak spleen and stomach should avoid overeating, as excessive consumption may cause diarrhea.
Mango: Sweet, sour, cool, non-toxic in nature. It benefits the stomach, quenches thirst, and promotes urination. *Shi Xing Ben Cao* records: "Mango treats menstrual blockage in women and blood stasis in men."
Mango has excellent color, aroma, and flavor, high nutritional value, rich in vitamins and sugars. Besides fresh consumption, it can be made into candied fruit, dried fruit, canned goods.
Starfruit: Sweet, sour, and neutral in taste. Its fruit generates fluids and quenches thirst. Ancient medical texts state: "Starfruit quenches thirst, relieves irritability, removes heat, promotes urination, treats childhood oral ulcers, and snake bites." For wind-heat cough in autumn, wash and eat fresh starfruit. For painful, burning urination, take 2–3 fresh starfruits, wash, chop, crush, extract juice, mix with warm water, drink twice daily. For sore throat, wash and eat fresh starfruit 1–2 times daily, 1–2 fruits each time. However, excessive consumption harms the stomach—especially those with weak spleen and stomach should eat sparingly.
Pomelo: Sour, cold, non-toxic in nature. It regulates the center, relieves distension, resolves phlegm, stops cough, strengthens the stomach, aids digestion, reduces swelling, and relieves pain. Suitable for stomach diseases, indigestion, chronic cough, phlegm, and shortness of breath.
Pomelo fruit is sweet and sour, pleasant to eat. Besides consumption, the peel can be made into candied fruit or juice. Pomelo is famous for high vitamin C content—up to 123 mg per 100 grams—and higher vitamin P than citrus, orange, or tangerine, beneficial for cardiovascular and obesity patients. The organic acids in pomelo are mostly citric acid, which helps eliminate fatigue.
Lemon: Extremely sour and sweet in taste. It generates fluids, quenches thirst, dispels summer heat, and stabilizes pregnancy. Citric acid is named after lemon, the most abundant in citrus fruits. Beverages like lemon tea, lemon soda, lemon juice, and flavored foods rely on citric acid for their distinctive fragrance and sweet-sour taste.
Citric acid binds with calcium ions to form a soluble complex, thus reducing calcium’s role in blood clotting. Hence, hypertensive and myocardial infarction patients benefit from drinking lemon beverages. Additionally, citric acid prevents and removes skin pigment deposits, making it a key ingredient in lemon perfumes, moisturizers, and shampoos.
Hawthorn: Sour, sweet, slightly warm in nature. Highly nutritious. Fresh hawthorn contains 89 mg vitamin C per 100 grams—third highest among fruits. Calcium content (85 mg per 100 grams) is also among the highest—ideal for children and pregnant women needing calcium. According to statistics from Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 49 preparations use hawthorn, including 46 pills and powders, 3 tablets. Hawthorn’s wide application stems from its ability to break up stasis, eliminate accumulation, resolve phlegm, detoxify, activate blood, energize, clear the stomach, awaken the mind, prevent heatstroke, and stimulate appetite. It shows significant efficacy against over ten diseases, including hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes.
These examples illustrate the benefits of eating sour foods in autumn. Of course, many vegetables are also beneficial in autumn—details omitted here. In summary, moderately increasing sour intake enhances lung function and prevents excessive lung qi from damaging the liver.
Autumn dietary regulation mainly involves the above two points. Additionally, prevent "autumn melon-induced diarrhea." In summer, watermelon is a refreshing delicacy—people call it the "white tiger soup." But after Start of Autumn, whether watermelon, fragrant melon, or vegetable melon, one must not indulge freely. Otherwise, it damages spleen and stomach yang energy. TCM health experts advocate eating porridge every morning in autumn. As Ming dynasty scholar Li Ting said: "Starting the day with porridge clears old waste, promotes digestion, nourishes the stomach, generates fluids, and brings a refreshed feeling—providing substantial benefits." So, what porridge is best for autumn?
**Sugarcane Porridge (*Elderly Care and Nourishment Manual*)**
Use fresh sugarcane, extract juice (100–150 ml), mix with water, and cook with rice.
This medicinal porridge clears heat, generates fluids, and moistens dryness. Suitable for post-illness recovery with insufficient fluids—such as irritability and thirst, dry cough, and constipation.
**Polygonatum Porridge (*Dietary Differentiation Record*)**
Select clean polygonatum (10–30 grams), decoct to concentrate, remove residue. Or use fresh polygonatum (30–60 grams), wash, slice, decoct to concentrate, remove residue, then cook with rice. Add sugar to taste when porridge is done.
This medicinal dish strengthens the spleen and stomach, moistens the heart and lungs. Suitable for spleen and stomach weakness, fatigue, reduced appetite, dry cough due to lung deficiency, or dry cough without phlegm, pulmonary tuberculosis with hemoptysis.
**Solomon’s Seal Porridge (*Porridge Manual*)**
First, wash 50 grams of fresh, plump Solomon’s seal, remove roots, chop finely, decoct to concentrate, remove residue. Or use 20 grams of Solomon’s seal, decoct to remove residue, add rice, add water, cook into thin porridge. Add rock sugar and cook briefly before serving.
This porridge nourishes yin, moistens lungs, generates fluids, and quenches thirst. Suitable for lung yin injury, dry cough, little or no phlegm, post-high fever thirst, dry mouth and tongue, persistent low-grade fever, and as an auxiliary food therapy for heart failure in various types of heart disease.
**Adenophora Porridge (*Porridge Manual*)**
First, decoct 15–30 grams of adenophora, remove residue, add rice to cook porridge. When ready, add rock sugar and cook into thin porridge. Or use fresh adenophora (30–60 grams), wash, slice, decoct to concentrate, mix with rice and rock sugar to cook porridge.
This medicinal dish nourishes the stomach, moistens the lungs, resolves phlegm, and stops cough. Suitable for lung heat and dryness, dry cough with little phlegm, or lung and stomach yin deficiency causing chronic cough without phlegm, dry throat.
**Pearl Jade Two Treasures Porridge (*Medical Reflections on Western Medicine and Eastern Practice*)**
First, boil 60 grams of raw coix seed until soft. Then, mash 60 grams of raw yam, cut 30 grams of persimmon cake into small pieces, and cook into a thick porridge.
This medicinal porridge strengthens the lungs, spleen, and stomach. Suitable for internal yin deficiency with heat, chronic cough with dryness, diarrhea, reduced appetite, and all spleen-lung qi deficiency conditions.
**Raw Rehmannia Porridge (*Dietary Preparation Essentials*)**
Finely slice 25 grams of raw rehmannia (fresh), boil with appropriate water for about half an hour, strain out juice, repeat once, combine and reduce to about 100 ml. Wash 75 grams of rice, cook into white porridge. Mix in rehmannia juice while hot, add a little sugar to taste.
This medicinal dish nourishes yin, strengthens the stomach, cools blood, and generates fluids. Suitable for yin deficiency with tidal fever, night sweats, chronic cough, hemoptysis, poor appetite, emaciation, irritability due to heat, thirst, and red eyes upon waking that last long.
The above autumn porridges are indeed beneficial for health, especially in early autumn when many places remain humid and hot, leading to spleen and stomach weakness and reduced resistance. Eating warm foods, especially hot medicinal porridges, is highly beneficial. This is because key components like rice or glutinous rice in medicinal porridges have excellent functions in strengthening the spleen and stomach and tonifying central qi—praised by ancients. *Bencao Jing Shu* calls rice "the leader among grains, essential for human survival." *Sui Xi Ju Yinfang* says: "Rice is sweet and neutral, best cooked into porridge. Porridge and rice are the number one nourishing foods in the world. Poor people with weakness can substitute concentrated rice broth for ginseng decoctions. Patients and postpartum women find porridge nourishing and ideal."