Selected Nourishing Food Therapy and Men's Health Regimen

Red Dates and Fish Maw

Ingredients and Uses: Red dates come in many varieties. They have a fragrant aroma and sweet taste, and can replenish qi, strengthen the spleen, and nourish blood. They can be used as a mild tonic and are known as natural vitamin pills. Fish maw has high nutritional value and a delicious taste. It is one of the eight treasures of the sea. The main nutrients in fish maw are viscous colloids high in protein and polysaccharides. Analysis shows that it contains 84.2% protein and 0.2% fat, as well as minerals such as calcium, iron, and phosphorus, and various vitamins. When cooked, it has a smooth and tender texture unmatched by other foods, with a rich and delicious flavor. Dishes often included in sumptuous banquets include chicken and fish maw soup, three-method fish maw, and milk soup fish maw. Fish maw is not only a famous delicacy but also has considerable nourishing and medicinal value, and can tonify the kidneys, moisten the lungs, nourish the liver, and stop bleeding. Processed into fish maw glue, it has various uses in medicine and industry. Around the winter solstice, it's a common folk custom to stew fish maw with longan, red dates, and walnuts in rice wine, believing it to strengthen the lower back and knees and replenish kidney deficiency. Additionally, yellow croaker swim bladder is said to promote blood circulation and tissue regeneration, and can be used to treat chapped skin.

The method is simple: wash fresh fish maw, cut it into appropriately sized pieces, and apply it to the affected area. It should heal within a few days. Soaking dried fish maw until soft and then applying it to the affected area has the same effect. While terms like "pig stomach," "sheep stomach," and "beef stomach" generally refer to the stomachs of pigs, sheep, and cattle, "fish maw" is not the stomach of a fish. It is made from cleaned and dried fish maw; it is a traditional high-end seafood delicacy in my country, renowned for its high collagen content, hence also called "fish glue." The swim bladder is the organ in a fish's body that helps it sink and float.

Ingredients: 400g soaked fish maw, 400g fresh yellow croaker meat, 10 red dates, 5 longans, 3 walnuts, appropriate amounts of scallions, ginger, rice wine, MSG, and chopped cooked ham.

Preparation Method: Slice the fish maw and fish meat. Wash the red dates. Sauté the yellow croaker in lard, add scallions and ginger, and a splash of rice wine. Add the fish maw and 1 ounce of cooked fish maw pieces to the pot and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam, add salt and a small amount of sugar, and simmer briefly to infuse flavor. Add the red dates, longans, walnuts, and MSG. Thicken with a light cornstarch slurry, drizzle with hot oil, sprinkle with chopped scallions and chopped cooked ham, and simmer until cooked. Add a little vinegar as desired before serving.

Dosage: Can be consumed regularly if possible.

Efficacy: Strengthens the lower back and knees, tonifies kidney deficiency, and replenishes qi and strengthens the stomach. Suitable for middle-aged and elderly people with lower back and leg pain, weak spleen and stomach, shoulder pain, and night sweats.

Stir-fried Walnuts

Ingredients and Benefits: Walnuts contain protein, fat, sugar, vitamins A, B₂, C, and E, nicotinic acid, carotene, and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, iodine, zinc, manganese, and chromium, as well as tannins, cellulose, and pentosans. The fat content is as high as 68-76%, and the protein content is 17-27%. It has been determined that 500 grams of walnuts are equivalent to the nutritional value of 2.5 kg of eggs or 4.5 kg of milk.

We often see people with weak constitutions who blindly believe in tonics and frequently take them. In fact, food therapy is worse than medication, and walnuts are one of the best foods for this purpose. Walnuts are particularly beneficial to the brain and nerves, having a brain-boosting effect and serving as a treatment for neurasthenia. People who frequently experience dizziness, insomnia, forgetfulness, palpitations, loss of appetite, lower back and knee pain, and general weakness generally suffer from neurasthenia. Eating two or three walnut kernels each morning and evening, continuously, can have a tonic effect.

Ingredients: 50g walnut kernels, 150g pork tenderloin, 1 egg, 50g sugar, 15g vinegar, appropriate amounts of salt, wine, soy sauce, and starch, 20g scallions, 10g ginger, 200g vegetable oil.

Preparation Method: Remove the inner skin from the walnut kernels, fry them in warm oil until cooked, and break them into small pieces. Slice the pork tenderloin (lean meat is also acceptable) into thin square slices, marinate with a little salt and wine for a while, and wrap each walnut kernel inside a slice of meat to form a small ball. Mix one egg with an appropriate amount of starch to make a batter, coat each meat ball with the batter, and fry in hot oil until cooked. In another pot, heat a little oil, add a little scallion and ginger, fry briefly, add an appropriate amount of water, a little soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and starch to make a sweet and sour sauce. Then pour the fried walnut meat into the sauce in the pan, stir-fry to coat evenly.

Usage: Serve as a delicious dish.

Efficacy: Tonifies the kidneys and strengthens muscles, invigorates yang and consolidates essence, strengthens teeth and blackens hair; it is a well-known anti-aging food.

A moderately consuming highly nourishing beverage:

Mulberry Wine

Ingredients and Functions: Same as "Mulberry Syrup".

Ingredients: Mulberries and glutinous rice, appropriate amounts.

Preparation Method: Pound mulberries to extract juice, simmer with glutinous rice, then brew into wine.

Dosage: 15 ml three times a day.

Efficacy: Tonifies the liver and kidneys, clears the mind and improves eyesight, treats edema.

Mulberry and Goji Berry Drink

Ingredients and Functions: Omitted.

Ingredients: 30g mulberries, 9g goji berries, 15 jujubes, 250g brown sugar.

Preparation Method: Place washed mulberries, jujubes, and goji berries in a pot, add an appropriate amount of water and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 1 hour.

Dosage: Take 30 ml once every night.

Efficacy: Nourishes the liver and kidneys, clears heat, cools the blood, invigorates yang, benefits joints, dispels wind and dampness, and calms the mind. Suitable for those who are weak after illness, have weak limbs, and are thin.

Jujube, Ginger, and Sugar Drink

Ingredients and Functions: Dried ginger is pungent and warm in nature, entering the heart, lung, spleen, stomach, and kidney meridians.

The components of dried ginger are the same as fresh ginger, mainly containing capsaicin and ginger oil. Ginger was originally a commonly used folk medicine and also used as a condiment. Due to therapeutic needs, it has been processed in different ways, resulting in several types, including fresh ginger, simmered ginger, dried ginger, and roasted ginger. Ginger is generally considered to be warm in nature and pungent in taste, excelling at dispersing and warming the middle jiao (spleen and stomach) to stop vomiting. It is often used for external wind-cold and cold phlegm in the stomach. Dried ginger has reduced pungent and dispersing properties and is more suitable for treating internal cold, thus focusing on warming the middle jiao to restore yang, warming the lungs to resolve phlegm. Prepared ginger, also known as black ginger, has lost its pungent and dispersing effects, thus specializing in warming the meridians to stop bleeding and warming the middle jiao to stop diarrhea. Therefore, the ancients said, "Fresh ginger moves but doesn't stay still, dried ginger can move and stay still, and prepared ginger stays still but doesn't move."

Dried ginger can reflexively excite the vasomotor center and sympathetic nerves, causing blood pressure to rise.

Ingredients: 30g jujubes, 10g dried ginger, 30g brown sugar.

Preparation Method: Wash the jujubes with clean water and put them in a pot with the dried ginger and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 40 minutes before drinking.

Dosage: Take 3 times a day, preferably warm.

Efficacy: Warms the middle jiao, restores yang, warms the lungs and resolves phlegm. Suitable for spleen and stomach deficiency-cold, vomiting, diarrhea, cold pain in the stomach and skin, excessive internal cold, cold limbs, cough due to lung cold, thin and copious phlegm, and thin white frothy phlegm. Also suitable for women experiencing lower abdominal pain during menstruation, and stomach and abdominal pain caused by cold.

Red Date and Black Fungus Soup

Ingredients: Black fungus (see "Fragrant Silk Black Fungus").

Ingredients: 30 red dates, 30g black fungus, 30g brown sugar.

Preparation Method: Wash the red dates with clean water. Soak the black fungus in cold water, remove impurities and wash. Put both in a pot and simmer. After the water boils, add brown sugar and simmer for another 30 minutes (be sure to simmer over low heat).

Drink Dosage: Take 1-2 times daily for several days. It can be taken with the soup, dates, and black fungus.

Efficacy: Cools the blood and stops bleeding. Treats intestinal bleeding, bloody dysentery, hematuria, metrorrhagia, and hemorrhoids. Suitable for hemorrhoid bleeding, uterine bleeding, menorrhagia, and anemia caused by the above conditions.