People often feel that they have dampness in their body, so what they need to do is to work on removing the dampness. The two main substances frequently used to dispel dampness are Huajiao (Sichuan pepper) and ginger. Many people wonder since both Huajiao and ginger have the effect of dispelling dampness, there must be differences in the effectiveness of dispelling dampness between them. So today, we will talk about everything related to Huajiao and ginger in dispelling dampness!
First, which is better at dispelling dampness, Huajiao or ginger?
Which is better at eliminating dampness, Huajiao or ginger? This is one of the questions we aim to answer today, so let’s first gain some understanding of Huajiao and ginger.
1. Huajiao: Huajiao is warm in nature. Consuming it can increase internal heat in the body, thus inhibiting the cold-dampness. It has a good effect on warming the middle of the body and dispersing cold, suitable for those who have cold and pain in the abdomen. It is recorded in “Compendium of Materia Medica” that Huajiao is a pure yang substance that disperses cold and dampness, supplements the right kidney gate, stops diarrhea, therefore, Huajiao can improve diarrhea caused by heavy internal dampness. Besides consuming Huajiao to dispel dampness, soaking feet in hot water with Huajiao can also have a very good effect on dispelling dampness.
2. Ginger: The active ingredients in ginger can have excitatory effects on the respiratory and vascular motor centers of the nervous system, promote blood circulation, and help to activate blood circulation, dispel cold, and prevent colds. Ginger is mostly used to release the exterior, mainly for dispersing wind-cold. Moreover, ginger also has a certain diaphoretic effect, so ginger tends to disperse wind-cold.
After the introduction of the above two segments, I believe you have a certain understanding of Huajiao and ginger. In fact, there is no distinction between the two; they each have their own focuses. Therefore, the choice needs to be based on your actual body condition. For example, if you have wind-cold dampness in your body, you should choose ginger. If you have cold and pain in the abdomen, you should choose Huajiao. For pregnant women who want to dispel dampness, ginger is a better choice as Huajiao is not suitable for them.
Second, how can we eat Huajiao and ginger to better remove dampness from the body?
Both Huajiao and ginger have the effect of dispelling dampness, so how should we eat them to better eliminate the dampness from the body? Simply drinking them by soaking them in water will not have the best effect in dispelling dampness. So, let me introduce to you how to eat them to maximize their effects!
1. Huajiao Method: Prepare 60g of red peel Huajiao. Roast it until fragrant, then grind it into powder. Clean the glutinous rice and cook it into a thick rice soup. Mix 2-3g of Huajiao powder with the thick rice soup and consume it three times a day. This can help improve abdominal pain and cold-dampness type diarrhea.
2. Ginger Red Tea: Prepare an appropriate amount of ginger, a teaspoon of black tea, red sugar. Grind the ginger into ginger paste and place it in a cup. Pour the brewed black tea over the ginger paste, add red sugar, stir well, and then consume. This tea can help eliminate cold-dampness from the body.
3. Huajiao Ginger Congee: Prepare 100g of glutinous rice, 5 slices of dried ginger, 3g of Huajiao, 4g of Galangal, 15g of red sugar. Wash the dried ginger, Huajiao, and Galangal, wrap them in gauze and add them to the cleaned glutinous rice with water. Boil it and cook for half an hour. Remove the gauze pack and continue cooking until the congee is thick. This congee can warm the stomach, dispel cold, and relieve pain.
4. Ginger Jujube Huajiao Tea: Prepare 30g of Huajiao, 25g of ginger, 10 red dates. Wash the ginger and red dates, slice the ginger thinly. Add them to a pot with 100ml of water, simmer for half an hour, then it is ready to drink. This tea can eliminate dampness in the body, improve stomach coldness, and weakness.
