In Huangdi Neijing, there is a detailed explanation of the changing law of Yin, Yang, Qi and blood in the four seasons. "Spring is spring, summer is long, autumn is long, winter is hiding", and winter, spring and March are the season of "hiding", everything withers and stops growing, and the qi and blood of the human body are also hidden in the body. Especially people living in the north know that in the past, people had the custom of "cats in winter". In winter, it was freezing outside, and it snowed a few times. Ordinary people did nothing, and all the cats spent the cold winter on the hot kang. But what happens to a "cat" after a long time? Zhang Zhongjing said in the first chapter of Treatise on Febrile Diseases, Pulse Diagnosis: "In November, yang is in the stomach, and the stomach is hot." 1 1 month is what we usually call "winter solstice". We all know that the winter solstice is the longest night and the shortest day. Therefore, the ancients said that the solstice in winter is the most abundant time in Yin Qi in a year, and it began to get cold from this day. So the outside of the body is full of yin, but what about the inside of the body? "Yang is in the stomach, and the stomach is hot." At this time, the inside of the body is the most vigorous time. In addition, people tend to eat supplements in winter and eat too much warm food, which leads to stomach heat. What shall we do at this moment, one of our ancestors suddenly remembered the radish buried in the cellar. When he pulled it out, it was still watery, as if he had just pulled it out of the ground. He took a bite. It was delicious, spicy and crisp. It was beautiful! After eating a few crispy radishes, my stomach suddenly refreshed. I'll spit out a few farts later, cool! Oh, the radish is still so wonderful. So from then on, there was a story of "eating radish in winter". Some people even call radish "little ginseng", and there are many kinds of sayings, such as "radish goes on the market, doctors are laid off", "radish goes to town, doctors are closed", "eating radish and drinking tea makes doctors climb all over the street" and so on.

But why can eating a few radishes solve the problem of "upset stomach"? Chinese medicine believes that radish is cool. Li Shizhen, a famous doctor in Ming Dynasty, said in Compendium of Materia Medica that radish has the effect of "lowering qi and eliminating valley, neutralizing pathogenic heat", so it can just relieve upset heat in the stomach. In addition to these functions of radish, the ancients were also very clever, and had long discovered the dietary secret of eating seasonal vegetables. The ancients called radish "radish", and Li Shizhen wrote in Compendium of Materia Medica that "gardeners plant radishes in June, pick seedlings in autumn and dig roots in winter." Pulling radish in winter used to be popular in some places. Radish will be buried in the cellar after it is pulled out, so it will be as delicious and crisp as when it is just pulled out. It can not only dispel turbidity and relieve summer heat, but also be a seasonal vegetable in winter. No wonder Li Shizhen thinks highly of radish. He said, "roots and leaves can be boiled, pickled, vinegar, sugar, wax and rice, which are the most beneficial vegetables." No wonder some people call radish "little ginseng".

Let's analyze why we say "eat ginger in summer". "Huangdi Neijing" contains: "Summer March 3, this is a beautiful show, heaven and earth blend together, everything is flashy ... so you can vent your anger when you love outside." Summer is the hottest time of the year, with lush vegetation and vitality. At this time, the yang of the human body radiates to the body surface from the inside out, just like flowers and trees in nature. Therefore, Treatise on Febrile Diseases says that "in May, the yang is on the exterior, and the stomach is cold". May is the solstice in summer, so there is also the saying "winter solstice radish summer solstice ginger". The summer solstice is the longest day and the shortest night in a year, which is just the opposite of the winter solstice. Because the day is the longest, that is, the sun is the strongest, and this is the time when the sun is the weakest in the body; Coupled with the hot weather in summer, people habitually stuff a lot of cold items such as ice cream, cold drinks and chilled beer into their stomachs to cool down, which will easily lead to "insufficient stomach gas", and many people will easily have diarrhea and diarrhea at this time. Ginger can not only nourish and help yang, but also warm the middle warmer and dispel cold. At this time, eating a few slices of ginger can not only conform to the rising of yang in summer, but also conform to the law of "nourishing yang in spring and summer" mentioned in Huangdi Neijing. It can also warm the stomach and dispel the cold, and alleviate the phenomenon of stomach deficiency and cold. Therefore, there is a folk proverb, "Three slices of ginger a day in summer keep the doctor away." Moreover, there is an unknown correspondence between "eating radish in winter" and "eating ginger in summer". In Compendium of Materia Medica, Li Shizhen said, "Eat more radishes, and ginger can cure its poison". Look, I eat too many radishes on the solstice in winter, and it's great to eat some ginger to detoxify on the solstice in summer.

The common people also have a very wise saying, which also shows their love for radish and ginger. It is called "radish in bed, ginger in bed". The health wisdom contained in it is similar to "eat radish in winter and ginger in summer". Say "sleeping radish" first. When do we usually go to bed? Of course it's time to go to bed at night. In Huangdi Neijing, we also talked about the corresponding relationship between different periods of the day and the four seasons of the year. From 9: 00 p.m. to 3: 00 a.m., it's winter in a year, and after 9: 00 p.m., it's time for everyone to sleep, so "sleeping with radishes" is a cottage version of "eating radishes in winter", with basically the same meaning. At night, just like winter, the human body's yang begins to sink in, and the food eaten at night may not be fully digested before going to bed. Modern people, in particular, are generally too busy to eat during the day, so most of them will eat rich and greasy at night, which is also easy to cause the phenomenon of "stomach fever" mentioned in Treatise on Febrile Diseases. Therefore, eating a few cool and slippery radishes before going to bed after meals can solve the problem of food accumulation in the stomach.

Let's watch Get Up Ginger again. When is "get up"? When you get up in the morning. According to the theory in Huangdi Neijing, it is spring from 3: 00 am to 9: 00 am, and most people get up in the morning within this time range, so "ginger for getting up" here means "eating ginger in spring" instead of "eating ginger in summer". As the saying goes, "a year's plan lies in spring, and a day's plan lies in the morning." The spring of a year and the morning of a day are the time when the human yang begins to grow. Eating ginger at this time takes advantage of its function of promoting yang and helping yang. At this time, eating a few slices of ginger can promote the growth of yang, make people full of spirit and energy, and can successfully complete the work and study tasks of the day. There is a folk proverb that "it is better to drink ginseng chicken soup than to eat three slices of ginger early in the morning". Many healthy and long-lived old people have the habit of chewing ginger in the morning. There is also a saying in Chinese medicine that "people can't be ginger for a hundred days", and Confucius said "don't withdraw ginger food" when talking about diet in The Analects of Confucius and Records of Cultural Relics more than 2,000 years ago, which shows how important a few slices of ginger are to people's health.

As the saying goes. In fact, many folk proverbs contain a lot of health wisdom and philosophy of life, which is exactly what we need to study and discuss in depth.