Ms. Zheng, Tongzhou District, Beijing: The article “Mother’s canned plums” (Editor Xu Xiaohua) on page 8 of issue 388, November 23, introduced the story of my mother using canned plums to treat diarrhea for the author. Since I have a weak stomach and am usually prone to diarrhea, I was very interested to read this article. I would like to know if canned plums can also be useful for other causes of diarrhea? If not, is there any easy way to treat diarrhea? Prunes are sour, sweet and warm in nature. It is not only harmless to the spleen and stomach, but also has the effect of detoxifying and dispelling cold. Li Shizhen said in the “Compendium of Materia Medica” that prunes can quench thirst, and the five organs, cleanse the stomach and intestines, in addition to troubling bad gas. Because it is acidic, acid has an astringent effect, so the plum does have the effect of stopping diarrhea. However, as the author says, it is not advisable to take canned prunes to stop diarrhea as soon as it occurs, because the author has diarrhea caused by external wind and cold, and prunes are hot, so if the diet is adjusted, eating canned prunes may be just right. However, each person’s constitution is different, so this recipe may not be suitable for others. On the contrary, diarrhea may be aggravated by eating canned plums because they are too cold and not very fresh. Therefore, once suffering from diarrhea, it is best to go to the hospital so that the right medicine can be prescribed. Of course, if the diarrhea is only mild, Chinese medicine also has some dietary therapy: (1) equal amount of rice potpourri, fried lotus seed meat into powder, mixed with the right amount of sugar. Eat about 50 grams each time, 3 times a day. (2) pork loin 2, bone 30 grams, cooked, drink soup and eat pork loin. Used for kidney deficiency deficiency cold. (3) garlic, sugar in appropriate amounts. Simmer raw garlic and remove the skin, and sugar to eat. This formula is effective for those who have damp heat in the body for long years of diarrhea. (4) 2 heads of garlic. Roast the garlic on the fire until the skin turns black, then take it off and boil it in an appropriate amount of water and eat its juice. Garlic has antiseptic function and has the effect of strengthening the digestive function of the stomach and intestines, and this formula is good for diarrhea with strong odor of stool. (5) pork belly yam porridge: pork belly, rice and yam in appropriate amounts. Pork belly washed and sliced, and rice, yam porridge, add salt, ginger seasoning to eat. Pork belly nourishes the middle and benefits the qi, yam strengthens the spleen and benefits the stomach. When self-medicating, avoid eating raw and cold foods and raw garlic. The pungency of garlic can irritate the intestinal wall and aggravate diarrhea. Red dates, Chinese yam, chestnuts, lentils, glutinous rice and lotus seed meat have the effect of strengthening the spleen and thickening the intestines to stop diarrhea, so you may eat more. Apples can stop diarrhea and can also be eaten more after boiling.