Spring is ideal for eating foods that nourish the liver and spleen
Spring is ideal for eating foods that nourish the liver and spleen
In spring, dietary principles emphasize balanced nourishment, focusing on liver and spleen tonification. This season corresponds to the liver, whose physiological nature resembles the growth of trees in spring—promoting the upward movement of vital energy throughout the body. If liver function is impaired, it disrupts the flow of qi and blood, affecting other organs and leading to illness. Since sour taste enters the liver and is its natural flavor, excessive sour intake during spring—when the liver is already hyperactive—can lead to overactive liver qi, which then excessively invades the spleen, damaging it. The spleen closely relates to the stomach; thus, spleen weakness impairs digestion and absorption in both organs. Sweet taste enters the spleen and best supports spleen qi. A strong spleen aids liver qi regulation. Therefore, spring tonification should follow the advice of Sun Simiao, a 100-year-old physician from the Tang Dynasty: “Reduce sour, increase sweet, to nourish spleen qi.” This means reducing sour foods and increasing sweet ones to nourish both liver and spleen, greatly benefiting disease prevention and health maintenance.
Warm and sweet foods are preferred, including grains such as glutinous rice, black rice, sorghum, millet, and oats; fruits and vegetables like yardlong beans, pumpkin, broad beans, red dates, longan, walnuts, chestnuts; meats and fish such as beef, pork stomach, crucian carp, mandarin fish, sea bass, grass carp, and eel. Consuming these foods provides abundant nutrients, synergistically supporting liver and spleen health.
Second, align with the rising energy of spring by eating warming foods that boost yang energy. Especially in early spring, lingering cold weather makes it advisable to eat leeks, garlic, onions, konjac, turnip greens, mustard greens, coriander, ginger, and scallions. These vegetables are warm and pungent, helping dispel wind-cold and suppress pathogens thriving in damp environments.
Third, spring warmth or sudden heat in late spring may trigger internal heat and liver fire, or cause excessive loss of body fluids. It is appropriate to consume cooling, sweet-tasting foods that clear internal heat and nourish the liver, such as buckwheat, coix seed, shepherd’s purse, spinach, water spinach, celery, chrysanthemum sprouts, lettuce, eggplant, water chestnut, cucumber, and mushrooms. These foods are cool and sweet, effectively clearing internal heat and moistening the liver to improve vision.
As for fresh fruits, although they have cooling, fluid-producing, and thirst-quenching properties, most are sour and not suitable for excessive consumption in spring. To relieve internal heat, opt instead for sweet-cool fruits like bananas, pears, sugarcane, or dried persimmon cakes.