Allergies got you down? Perhaps you have a scratchy throat? Dry cough? Wheezing? For throat-related allergy symptoms, try pear tea-a super easy recipe to sooth and calm our lungs and throat.
TCM Food Therapy
In Chinese Medicine, each major organ (heart, spleen, kidney, lung, liver) has foods and plants that help it out aka they strengthen or “tonify” the organ (for more on TCM food theory, check out this wonderful article by the fantastic yinyanghouse.com: TCM Nutrition-Five Element Theory).
Also according to Chinese Medicine, symptoms like sore throat, wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath (among a few others) relates to our lungs.
Lung Love
Our lungs love a variety of natural and fresh foods that are, traditionally, white (or the center is white) and acrid. However, there are plenty of exceptions and even cross-over between organs. Want to try some TCM food therapy for your lungs? Here is a sample list of lung-loving foods you can start incorporating into your diet:
- Rice
- Cucumber
- Broccoli
- Bananna
- Pear
- Almonds
- Celery
- Onion
- Apricot
- Soy and navy beans
- Mustard greens
If you want to start small, try pear tea. It’s really easy to prepare and tastes great:
Pear tea recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 whole pear
- Enough water to cover sliced pear in sauce pan
- Honey
Directions
- Cut one pear into bite-sized pieces
- Place pear pieces into a sauce pan. Fill pan with water until all the pear is covered.
- Bring water to a boil and then simmer for 15-20 min. Keep the lid on the pot to keep in all the nutritious steam.
- Let concoction cool to a temp desirable for drinking
- Add honey to taste (honey also helps sooth the throat and lungs)
- After you drink the liquid, indulge in the yummy pear pieces.
We’d love to hear how your tea goes. Drop us a note, below!
Thank you for stopping by this week. We appreciate your interaction and would love to hear from you. Please comment bellow to continue the discussion. If you’d like to schedule an appointment, call us at 651-756-8525 or visit us at villageacupunctureandmassage.com.
Until next time,
Rachel, Licensed Acupuncturist at VAMT
Rachel was born and raised in St.Paul, MN, where she currently lives with her husband, Chris. She graduated from Northwestern Health Sciences in 2017 with her Masters in Chinese Medicine. Rachel found Chinese medicine on a journey to understand and tend to her own anxiety and depression and now has a passion for helping others who experience a similar reality. She enjoys treating a wide variety of conditions and welcomes anyone looking for healing.
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