Yams are an essential part of our diet, and while we enjoy the deliciousness they bring, they also bring health benefits through their medicinal value. Let’s take a look at yam. About the name of yam In the ancient times, yam was not called yam, and the name yam was gradually formed after the Song Dynasty. In the Shanhaijing, the earliest classical text in China, yam was called yam. It was also called Dioscorea opposita in Shennong Ben Cao Jing, the earliest Chinese monograph on herbology, which has no literal connection to what we call yam now. It is related to two emperors. In the Song Dynasty, there was a book of materia medica, “Materia Medica Derivatives”, which said: “Yam, according to the Materia Medica, the first word (yam) committed the Ying Temple taboo, the next word said Dios, the Tang Dynasty, the name of the Zong pre, so change the next word said medicine, and now people call it Yam”. The answer is clear at a glance, this yam name is the ancient feudal taboo system left behind traces. About the medicinal effects of yam This is the focus of our attention, the following to understand. In the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” in the yam “taste sweet and warm, the main injury, to supplement the weakness, in addition to the cold and heat of the evil, to supplement the strength, long muscle. Long serving ears and eyes smart, light body not hungry, prolonged life. A mountain taro, raw valley.” It is classified as a top-quality medicine, wounded in the spleen and stomach should be the meaning of disharmony, can supplement the weakness and benefit the qi, but also in addition to the “cold and heat evil qi”, that is, the meaning of disease and evil, replenish the body’s vitality, then have the ability to resist external evil. After thousands of years of clinical practice in Chinese medicine, medical practitioners have concluded that yam has the effect of tonifying the spleen, lungs and kidneys, i.e. benefiting the qi and strengthening the spleen, tonifying the lungs and nourishing the yin, and nourishing the kidney yin. The yam is the root of Dioscorea opposita, which grows underground and has a latent nature. It can make the body’s qi latent, plus the yam is juicy and liquid, with a thick texture, which can nourish the yin of the liver and kidney. Kidney” is the name. The ancient people said that its consumption is “extremely fatty”, which shows the status of yam in the minds of ancient people. The tonic of yam is a flat tonic, not a greasy or dull tonic like Dihuang, nor a harsh tonic like deer antler or ginseng. Yam is an earthy, forgiving, kind and thick, its tonic power is thick, gradual, that’s why we can take it as a daily food, occasionally eating it does not feel its benefits, we can eat it in moderation every day, day after day to feel the benefits of yam on the human body.