夏季养生: 饮食有节 消暑去火Cooling off, the Traditional Chinese Way

夏日炎炎，近日国内大面积持续高温天气，中央气象局连续数天发布了高温预警。这样的天气里外出或在烈日下劳作，轻则晒伤，重则中暑，更容易出现头疼、热伤风、口轻溃疡、精神不振等一系列健康问题。

不过，夏季阳气最盛，中医顺时养生、药食同源的理念在夏季养生正当时，而非仅仅宅在空调房里，躲开炎热气候。

“中医讲究天时地利人和，”中日友好医院中医外科副主任医师夏仲元大夫说。

“中医不仅仅是治病，更是健康生活理念，维护身心健康。”

许大力，30岁，北京居民，小时候见识过中医的神奇之处。

那时候他上小学，每年暑假都会去广东韶关的阿姨家里开心心过暑假，但是那边的天气太热，很容易上火，一开始许天天流鼻血。

他的阿姨因此每天都给他熬凉茶喝。凉茶喝起来有点苦，很像中药，但是他的确自从开始喝凉茶就不流鼻血了。

“特神，只要我喝了凉茶就不会流鼻血，一旦不喝，第二天早上肯定得流，”许回忆说。

即使是现在，凉茶也是南方常见的夏日饮品，有家做的，也有卖的。成分不同，味道也不太一样。

南方出身的夏仲元大夫说，凉茶在南方远比在北方非常受欢迎，可能是因为南方气候比北方更湿热，虽然这一差距在渐渐缩小。

不同配方的凉茶可以预防、减轻或者治疗不同的夏季病症，比如咽喉痛、伤风感冒、消化不良，等等。

在广州、香港等地，还有专门卖凉茶的店铺。在北方，各种罐装凉茶也颇受欢迎。

夏季，饮食养生也是一个重要方面，饮食清淡，凉性食材是上佳选择，中医药大学第三附属医院谢利军大夫说。

“中医非常注重日常饮食养生，”谢说。

蔬菜瓜果、蘑菇、海带等等夏季可以多吃，能帮助去火。这也是顺时养生，因为夏季蔬果很多。

谢大夫特意强调，夏季千万不可贪凉，即使是凉茶，也是温热时喝效果最好。

饮食有节很重要，对脾胃不好的人而言，凉茶应该少喝，偏寒性的食物应该少吃，夏仲元大夫说。

夏大夫还强调，对空调房也不能贪恋，空调温度不宜太低，外出或者进入空调房之前要有一个过渡，不能忽冷忽热。

总之，夏季养生的诀窍在于，保持适度凉爽、健康饮食。

Cooling off, the Traditional Way

While the rest of the world swelters as the mercury shoots up, China keeps cool with the help of ancient practices that have been passed down for countless generations. Liu Zhihua tells you what they are.

It is summer, but a rare heat wave recently had the weather bureau send out high temperature alerts to almost a third of all China's provinces.

Such weather can cause, at best, sunburn and, at worst, heatstroke, with a spectrum of symptoms in between, such as headaches, bubbling colds, mouth ulcers, indigestion and low spirits.

When heat waves linger across China, people resort to time-tested ways to keep cool and healthy, many of which are based on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, which has kept the Chinese in good health for thousands of years.

Mostly, the main belief is food is medicine, and you have to keep healthy in summer by knowing what to eat and drink, rather than simply getting out of the heat and keeping cool.

"Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes keeping harmony with nature and the environment, and living healthily in accord with seasonal changes," says Xia Zhongyuan, a TCM practitioner with China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing.

"It is not just ab0ut treating illness but is more ab0ut a lifestyle that maintains body, mind and spirit."

Beijing resident Xu Dali remembers experiencing the magic of TCM when he was a young boy.

The 30-year-old used to spend his summer holiday in Shaoguan city, Guangdong province, where his aunt lives. It was a lot of fun, but the heat caused him to suffer nosebleeds. This is a typical symptom of too much internal heat, or shanghuo, he was told.

His aunt made him a cooling herbal tea, or liangcha. Xu was made to drink a bowl of this slightly bitter medicinal tea every day to stop the nosebleeds.

"It was like magic. My nose would stop bleeding if I had the tea faithfully every day, but if I did not drink it, my nose started bleeding the next morning," Xu remembers.

Liangcha was and still is a very common homemade summer drink in Southern China. The dark brown tisane is usually bitter and sometimes slightly sweet, depending on the combination of herbs used.

The most commonly used are mint, honeysuckle, lotus leaves, perilla, chrysanthemum and Arhat fruit, all of which TCM believes have cooling properties to diffuse internal heat.

Xia, the TCM specialist, says herbal tisanes are very popular in South China, partly because the weather there is hotter and more humid than in the north, although the gap is closing these days.

Different prescri-ptions of herbs prevent, relieve or cure a variety of summer ailments, such as sore throats, colds and indigestion.

There are many shops selling tisanes in southern cities, such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Up north, the cooling drinks became popular more as soft drinks, and herbal teas are sold in cans, unlike the freshly brewed pots in the south.

Diet is also imp0rtant to keeping healthy in summer, and a light diet with "cooling" food is best, observes Xie Lijun, a TCM specialist with the No 3 Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.

"Food and drink in daily life play an imp0rtant role in TCM practice," Xie says.

Foods with a cooling nature include cucumbers, beans, mushrooms, pearl barley and watermelons. They are light but rich in vitamins and proteins. They also help the body remove excessive humidity, Xie notes.

It is also eating according to seasons, because most of these vegetables, fruits and melons ripen in summer.

Despite the urge to drink and eat cold food or drink in summer, Xie says it is better to have hot food in summer. Even cooling herbal teas are best drunk while still warm.

Moderation is still the best guide though, as Xia, the specialist with the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, says too much cooling food may cause upset stomachs in people with weak digestions.

A final caution from Xia: Staying in an air-conditioned room for too long may also subject your body to stress. Likewise, being exposed to too much sun is also unhealthy.

The secret is to keep cool and eat healthily.