Lu was born in 1920. In 2008, he was named the inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage, and in 2009, he was named the first "Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine".
I have been seeing a doctor for decades since I became a doctor in my teens. After I passed 100, I was still blind and deaf, and I was free to move. Anyone who follows the doctor knows that Lu Lao is thoughtful and good at treating various incurable diseases.
Talking about the way of keeping in good health, Mr. Lu often says that it is the foundation of the day after tomorrow to cultivate the spleen and stomach. Traditional Chinese medicine has the saying that "internal injury of the spleen and stomach leads to all diseases". People need a lot of energy to grow up after birth, almost all of which is obtained from diet, and diet must be transformed into qi and blood energy through the operation of spleen and stomach. Spleen and stomach are "the source of qi and blood biochemistry" and bear the heavy responsibility of transforming qi and blood.
Lu Lao never leaves his spleen and stomach when he is in health. He has several habits that he has persisted in for many years. They are so simple that everyone can do it. I will share it with you today.
Steam one or three dates to nourish the spleen and stomach.
Lu Lao insisted on eating three steamed dates every day for decades.
There are many arguments about whether eating dates can enrich blood, but in Chinese medicine, dates do have the effect of enriching blood. Chinese medicine believes that the spleen and stomach are the source of qi and blood biochemistry. Only when the spleen and stomach function is sound, the ingested food can be transformed into fine substances such as qi, blood, body fluid and essence needed by the human body.
Jujube is a food. Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica records that jujube "helps the twelve meridians ... and all kinds of medicines", which means that jujube can relieve the poison of all kinds of medicines, dredge the the twelve meridians of the whole body, and has the effect of invigorating the spleen and benefiting qi (focusing on invigorating the spleen).
Compared with other foods, jujube can not only provide nutrition, but also promote the biochemistry of qi and blood from different angles, helping the spleen and stomach to solve the problem of "open source", and the effect is naturally remarkable.
There are many ways to eat red dates. From the point of supplementing qi and blood alone, eating raw, cooking porridge and making soup are not as good as steaming. This is also Lu Lao's exclusive secret recipe. He found that the jujube steamed by the principle of "processing" in traditional Chinese medicine is not only soft and sweet, but also has the best effect of maintaining the spleen and stomach.
Dry-steamed dates are first of all dry dates with thick meat, solid quality and bright color, which need not be soaked, washed to remove impurities and then steamed in water.
Steamed dates pay attention to the heat, and three steams are better. First, steam it for 20 minutes with medium fire and put it in the shade for 3-4 hours; Steam for another 20 minutes, turn to low heat after the water boils; Steam it again with low fire every time you eat it, and peel off the outer skin and inner core to serve.
The jujube processed in this way has the effects of strengthening the spleen, nourishing blood and enriching blood. Eating three jujubes a day can promote gastrointestinal absorption, help the spleen and stomach function recover slowly, and alleviate the problem of insufficient qi and blood.
But not everyone is suitable for jujube. If the spleen and stomach are weak and damp, symptoms such as abdominal distension, greasy tongue coating, sticky stool, or people with diabetes should eat less.
What should such a person do? You can look at another regimen of Lu Lao.
Second, don't withdraw ginger food to protect your health.
Another way for Lu Lao to keep fit is to "eat ginger". He has eaten two or three slices of ginger every day for more than 40 years.
Don't underestimate these ginger slices. When Lu Lao was in his 90 s, he found that his heart function was similar to that of people in his 40 s, his vascular elasticity was the same as that of healthy men in their 40 s and 50 s, and other values were within the normal range.
In fact, Confucius was the first person who proposed "not to withdraw ginger food". In that era of backward material level and frequent wars, Confucius lived to 73 years old, which was inseparable from his consumption of ginger. Lu Lao highly praised this view and thought that ginger is an essential product for nourishing the spleen and stomach, preserving health and preventing diseases.
People also have many benefits about eating ginger, such as "eating radish in winter and eating ginger in summer". Why do you eat ginger when it's so hot in summer?
As we all know, nourishing yang in spring and summer is the foundation of life and the immune mechanism of human body. The sun is like the sun. Every time the human body encounters discomfort, it is like cold and humid weather. As soon as the sun comes out, bacteria of various diseases are not easy to breed. Therefore, there is a saying that "more yang makes stronger people".
Yang Qi grows in spring and reaches its peak in summer. The most important thing in spring and summer is to store and maintain Yang Qi, which is the foundation of a healthy year. The easiest way to raise yang is to eat ginger.
Modern research has found that ginger contains gingerol, which has the functions of strengthening stomach and helping digestion. Ginger can also speed up human metabolism, dredge meridians, prevent colds when the climate gets cold, and dredge yang to keep out the cold. For deficiency-cold gastritis and enteritis, eating ginger often can also improve discomfort symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.
If you can't stand the spicy taste of ginger, you can try soaking ginger in vinegar, also called rejuvenation soup, which has the effects of nourishing stomach, preventing chronic diseases and strengthening yang. What Lu Lao eats every day is vinegar soaked ginger.
The method of soaking ginger in vinegar is very simple. Wash, dry and slice ginger. Be careful not to cut too thick and try to be even. Then put it in a bottle, add rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar, the bottle must be clean, and the vinegar should not go through ginger slices; Put it in the refrigerator after sealing, and you can eat it after one week.
Ginger soaked in vinegar, with the help of the convergence of vinegar, can give full play to the divergent role of ginger. In addition, the fusion of ginger and vinegar can also promote blood circulation and prevent arteriosclerosis, which is also edible for people with hyperlipidemia and hypertension.
Ginger soaked in vinegar is best eaten in the morning. There is a saying that "eat ginger soup in the morning and ginger arsenic in the evening". This is because it is the morning when the yang is rising, and eating ginger at this time can help the human body grow yang.
Don't eat too much ginger, just eat two or three tablets every morning. Eating too much may lead to stomach fever. Old people can eat ginger if they have white phlegm with frothy cough, but don't eat ginger if they have yellow phlegm or dry cough without phlegm.
Third, drink three cups of tea every day to regulate the spleen and stomach.
Lu Lao drinks three cups of tea every day, but the tea he chooses is different according to the time.
Green tea is always chosen in the morning, and the plan for the day lies in the morning. In the morning, the yang rises, which is the most vigorous time for human body function. Green tea is also called unfermented tea, in which the contents of tea polyphenols, chlorophyll and caffeine are high, which belongs to the yang in tea.
Drinking green tea in the morning helps to raise the yang and make you energetic. Can also maintain the mood, transport Shui Gu subtle, keep energetic, so-called refreshed.
Lu always drinks oolong tea in the afternoon. In the afternoon, yang gradually declines, yin gradually rises, and the function of spleen and stomach is weakened compared with that in the morning. If people eat greasy food at lunch, it will also hinder the operation of the spleen and stomach. Oolong tea has the effects of strengthening the spleen, promoting digestion and helping digestion.
Oolong tea is the representative of China tea and belongs to semi-fermented tea. "Notes on Materia Medica" records that "removing human body fat and eating for a long time make people thin". Modern research has found that the main component of oolong tea is tannic acid, which can stimulate the activity of pancreatic lipolytic enzyme and reduce the absorption of sugar and fat. Therefore, drinking oolong tea in the afternoon has the functions of strengthening the spleen, promoting digestion, promoting transportation, reducing fat and lowering blood sugar.
When drinking tea at night, Lu Lao will choose Pu 'er tea which is artificially fermented and then processed. Pu 'er tea is sweet, smooth and mellow. After entering the human body, it adheres to the surface of the stomach to form a protective film, which has the functions of protecting the stomach, nourishing the stomach and helping sleep.
Chinese medicine believes that at night, yin is strong and yang is weak, yang is inward, qi activity drops, and diet should be paid more attention to. After years of Chen Fang's fermentation, the caffeine in Pu 'er tea gradually weakens, so it won't get excited after drinking, and it also has the effect of invigorating qi and fixing essence, which can improve the "restless stomach".
Lu Lao also specially reminded that people who don't like tea can drink white water, and tea must not be strong (there is a lot of tannic acid in strong tea, which has a astringent effect on stool, especially for the elderly), and it is necessary to change it after soaking for several times without fragrance.
After reading the regimen of many famous Chinese medicine practitioners, we will find that their methods are very simple and can be done in daily life. The key is to persist for decades.
Perhaps, the way of keeping in good health is not so complicated. What is complicated is our thinking. Let's act from now on.