Wild vegetables are in season, how can we eat them healthily?

As the overall temperature has been rising recently, fresh wild vegetables have begun to be put on the market with a strong sense of spring. Xia Gongxu, a famous Chinese medicine doctor in Nanjing and deputy director of the Center for Preventive Treatment of Diseases of Nanjing Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, reminds that although many wild vegetables in spring have therapeutic functions, there are also many precautions when eating them. How to better eat wild vegetables so that they are both healthy and delicious? Experts have specially selected 10 common wild vegetables for everyone to introduce.

Water celery

Dietary therapeutic effects: Rich in various vitamins and rich dietary fiber, it has certain laxative, blood pressure lowering, lipid-lowering, liver-calming, exterior-relieving, and rash-clearing effects.

Food taboos: Due to the high content of dietary fiber, patients with gastric ulcers and enteritis should not eat too much.

Shepherd's Purse

Dietary therapeutic effects: It has the effects of cooling blood and stopping bleeding, tonifying the spleen, clearing away heat and promoting diuresis.

Food taboos: People with weak and cold constitution should not eat too much, and patients with renal insufficiency should eat less.

purslane

Dietary therapeutic effects: clearing away heat and detoxifying, Purslane has inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, and Salmonella typhi; it also has inhibitory effects on common pathogenic skin fungi.

Food taboos: Contains substances that can cause allergies, and people with certain special body types are prone to allergies after consumption.

Toona sinensis head

Dietary therapeutic effects: It has the effects of astringing the intestines and stopping bleeding, strengthening the stomach and regulating qi, killing insects and consolidating semen.

Contraindications: People with weak constitution should not eat too much. Chinese toon is a hairy food, eating too much can easily induce the recurrence of chronic diseases, so patients with chronic diseases should eat less or no Chinese toon. Be careful not to eat Chinese toon that has not been blanched with boiling water.

Radish sprouts

Dietary therapeutic effects: It can eliminate phlegm and heat, relieve gas and relieve fullness. It is rich in vitamins and fiber, which helps gastrointestinal motility and helps absorb nutrients.

Food taboos: People with qi deficiency should eat less; radish sprouts should not be eaten with highly acidic foods, otherwise the nutrients will be difficult to absorb.

Clover Head

Dietary therapeutic effects: It has the effects of clearing heat and cooling blood, promoting dampness and relieving jaundice, relieving stranguria and removing stones, and promoting the production of body fluids. It is often used for problems such as fever, thirst, jaundice, dysentery, diarrhea, stranguria, intestinal bleeding, edema, etc.

Taboos: Alfalfa is the general name for plants of the genus Alfalfa. The alfalfa heads that are often eaten as wild vegetables and called "grass heads" and "rice grass" are the tender leaves of yellow alfalfa, also called southern alfalfa and golden flower vegetables. People with weak spleen and stomach, cold diarrhea and weak and cold constitution should not eat it.

Wolfberry head

Dietary therapeutic effects: It has the effects of nourishing the liver and kidneys, improving essence and qi, clearing away heat and thirst, and improving eyesight.

Food taboos: People with weak and cold constitution should not eat too much.

Dandelion (also known as dandelion)

Dietary therapeutic effects: It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling, diuresis and antibacterial.

Contraindications: People with weak constitution should not eat too much. Patients with renal insufficiency should be careful when eating it; some people have allergic reactions to it, so people with allergic constitution should not eat it.

Amaranthus

Therapeutic effects: Rich in vitamins, its vitamin A content exceeds that of tomatoes, and its vitamin C content exceeds that of citrus fruits. It has the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, stopping bleeding, dispersing nodules and reducing swelling. It is a good therapeutic product for people who are prone to nosebleeds, pharyngitis, tonsillitis and other symptoms due to dryness and heat.

Food taboos: People with weak and cold constitution should not eat too much.

Pea sprouts

Dietary therapeutic effects: Contains calcium, B vitamins, vitamin C and carotene, and has diuretic, antidiarrheal, anti-edema, analgesic and digestive effects.

Contraindications for consumption: Patients with renal failure, gastric bleeding, gastric ulcer, and enteritis should eat less.

Xia Gongxu also reminded that although some wild vegetables are fresh, if they grow around industrial areas or on the sides of roads where cars often pass, the water sources and soil in these places will contain relatively more heavy metal elements, and toxins may enter the plants and settle, so they should not be picked and eaten. Even wild vegetables picked in places with better environments should not be eaten too much, because most wild vegetables are cold and bitter, which can easily hurt the spleen and stomach, and even induce symptoms such as stomach pain and vomiting. In early spring, wild vegetables can be tasted fresh. If you experience abnormal symptoms such as gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, itching, edema, rash or subcutaneous bleeding after eating, you should go to the hospital immediately for treatment.

Correspondent/Yang Pu; Reporter/Yang Yu