Congee, from rice, from the two bows. The word “rice” refers to the grains of rice, and “bow” means “open” and “rip up”. The combination of “rice” and “two bows” means “to make the grains of rice bigger from the left and right sides at the same time”. The original meaning is: rice that is increased to its maximum volume by fire and water. In ancient times, congee was also called mee, which refers to a kind of thin rice boiled with rice as the main ingredient. Congee has been developed in China for thousands of years and has become the most common and affordable staple food in people’s daily lives. Congee was first written down in China 4,000 years ago. The earliest text on congee is found in the Origin of Things: The Yellow Emperor began cooking grain for congee. In the Middle Ages, the function of congee was highly integrated with “edible” and “medicinal”, and entered the level of “health” with humanistic color. It can be seen that the relationship between congee and Chinese people is just like the congee itself, thick and sticky, moisten each other; congee as a traditional food, the status in the hearts of Chinese people is more than any other nation in the world. 1, porridge and Chinese medicine Chinese porridge was mainly for consumption 4,000 years ago, and began to be used for medicinal purposes 2,500 years ago. Under the guidance of Chinese medical theory, the ancients combined some ingredients of medicinal value with rice to make porridge, making it not only satiating, but also with certain health and therapeutic effects. The Historical Records of Bianji Canggong contains a biography of a famous doctor in the Western Han Dynasty, Chunyu Yi (Canggong), who used “fire Qi congee” to cure the paralysis of the king of Qi; it is said that the congee can realize the qi of the five organs and six bowels, and can expel heat, one drink of sweat, two drinks of heat to go, three drinks of disease has been, just a bowl of hot congee to cure the king of Qi’s lingering illness, which can be considered magical. The most famous relationship between porridge and medicine belongs to the Han Dynasty medical sage Zhang Zhongjing’s Gui Zhi Tang, “Treatise on Typhoid” says: “Take a short time, absorb the hot thin porridge more than a liter to help the medicine. Warming and covering for a moment is good for those who seem to have sweat all over the body”. With appropriate Chinese medicine and food with medicinal effects and appropriate rice cooked together as a porridge, called “medicine porridge”. Medicine porridge is a part of the treasury of Chinese medicine, it is a good way to cure the disease with medicine and support the positive with porridge food nutrition food therapy. In the Song Dynasty, the book “Congee” was published, and the official compilation “Taiping Shenghui Fang” contains 129 kinds of medicinal congee; in the Ming Dynasty, Gao Lian’s “Drinking and serving food paper? In the Ming dynasty, Gao Lian’s “Congee and Millets” contains 38 kinds of congee; Li Shizhen’s “Compendium of Materia Medica” contains more than 50 kinds of congee; and in the Qing dynasty, Cao Cishan’s “Health Essays” contains more than 100 kinds of congee, which can be said to be a great deal. In addition, many porridge material, itself is also a medicine in the prescription, such as North Panicum, North Panicum for the grain plant corn (said to be sorghum) of the dried seeds. Sweet, slightly cold. It enters the lung and large intestine meridians. North Panicum has a stomach and sleep effect, clinical mainly used for spleen and stomach weakness, or stomach and sleeplessness caused by the loss of peace, that is, the so-called “stomach and restlessness” of the disease, often with Panax not used together. For example, Panicum Panicum Soup, from Huangdi Neijing? It has been used for more than 2,000 years. It has been used for more than 2,000 years. The clinical efficacy of this formula is still in clinical use today. This formula is composed of Panicum and Panicum, and is used for insomnia in which dampness and phlegm are present and the stomach is restless. According to the “Nei Jing”, this formula, “the new onset of the disease, cover the cup is lying, sweating and healing”, “long-standing disease, three times to drink and healing”, it can be seen that the healing effect is rapid. The japonica rice is a kind of rice, and its porridge has the reputation of “the world’s first tonic”. The brown rice of japonica rice is more nutritious than the refined white rice, it can lower cholesterol, reduce the probability of heart attack and stroke. Japonica rice is sweet in taste and calm in nature. It can benefit the spleen and stomach, and remove irritation and thirst. It is mainly used clinically for vomiting, diarrhea and dysentery or warm-heat diseases caused by spleen and stomach yin injury, stomach gas deficiency, dry mouth and thirst, and all kinds of deficiency. The crude fiber molecules in the rice bran layer of japonica rice help gastrointestinal peristalsis and are very effective for stomach diseases, constipation and hemorrhoids; japonica rice can improve human immune function and promote blood circulation, thus reducing the chance of hypertension; japonica rice can prevent diabetes, foot disease, age spots and constipation; japonica rice contains more protein, fat and vitamins, so eating more of it can lower cholesterol and reduce the chances of heart attack and stroke The red blood cells fed by japonica rice are strong and no foreign proteins enter the blood stream, so it can prevent the occurrence of some allergic skin diseases. There are also contraindications to the use of japonica rice: such as diabetes, dry syndrome, menopause syndrome is Yin deficiency fire and carbuncle furuncle heat toxicity incandescent people should not eat, otherwise it is easy to hurt Yin and help fire. Examples of japonica rice prescriptions: for example, japonica rice and bamboo drink: 100g of japonica rice, fried and ground into a paste with water, half of which is used each time, and 2 spoons of bamboo drink are added. This formula is derived from Sheng Ji General Record. This formula is based on japonica rice to benefit the spleen and stomach, and bamboo leach to clear heat and eliminate thirst. It is used for stomach heat, thirst and boredom. In addition, japonica rice is also included in many ancient formulas in the Treatise on Typhoid and other books, with different purposes: Peach Blossom Soup (red stone resin, dried ginger, japonica rice), which treats “Shao-Yin disease, diarrhea, pus and blood”, uses this product to benefit the spleen and stomach and nourish deficiency; bamboo leaf and gypsum soup, which treats “deficiency after the resolution of typhoid fever, deficiency winnings and less qi, qi rebellion and desire to vomit “The soup of bamboo leaf and gypsum (bamboo leaf, gypsum, half ansia, maidenhair, ginseng, licorice, and japonica rice) is used to nourish the gastric juices; the soup of white tiger (gypsum, Zhi Mu, licorice, and japonica rice) is used to treat heat in the Yangming meridian, which benefits the stomach and protects gastric qi. 2, porridge and health Song Dynasty Su Dongpo has a book post: night hunger is very, Wu Zino advised to eat white porridge, cloud can push the old to new, diaphragm benefit stomach. Congee is both fast and beautiful, after the congee a sleep, wonderful. Lu You, a famous poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, also highly recommended eating porridge for health, that can prolong life, had made a poem “porridge food”: “The world learns long life, do not understand long life in the present, I got Wanqiu Ping Yi method, will only eat porridge to the gods.” Thus, the world’s understanding of congee has been raised to a new level. When it comes to porridge and health, we must first talk about the benefits of drinking porridge: increase capital color, eat porridge is good for the body, can make a person’s face full and shiny. Increase strength, eat porridge can nourish the weak body, growth of energy. Benefit life, eat porridge can nourish the body’s needs, increase life expectancy. Eating porridge can promote the body’s purity and softness, which is a diet that allows people to experience peace and happiness. It is helpful to eat porridge to nourish the throat and kiss, which is helpful for people to discuss the Dharma and scriptures. Removing wind, eating porridge can harmonize the body, up and down, and eliminate wind and cold. Eliminate food, eating porridge can warm the spleen and stomach and help people digest the accumulated food in the stomach. It can clear the breath of people who eat porridge, so that they can speak clearly and loudly. Eliminate hunger, eating porridge can fill one’s mouth and stomach, so that hunger can be eliminated immediately. Quenching thirst, eating porridge can make people’s throat and kiss moist, and eliminate the feeling of thirst. Easy to digest, the boiling temperature of white rice over 60 degrees Celsius will produce paste, boiling soft cooked rice in the mouth immediately, very easy to digest, very suitable for people with gastrointestinal discomfort. Enhance appetite and replenish energy. When you lose your appetite when you are sick, gruel with some bright and appetizing things can promote appetite and replenish the strength of weak patients. Prevent constipation. It contains a lot of water, so drinking more porridge on weekdays can not only stop hunger, but also replenish water for the body and effectively prevent constipation. Prevent cold. When it is cold, a bowl of hot porridge early in the morning can help keep you warm and increase your body’s ability to protect you from the cold, which can prevent you from catching a cold. Nourish the stomach and intestines. Patients with weak stomach function or ulcers should eat less and chew more slowly on weekdays, so it is good to drink thin rice to nourish the stomach and intestines. Because of the homologation of medicine and food, such as yam, yellow essence, cinnamon, walnuts, sesame, mung beans, red beans, gravy, chestnuts, etc. itself is both medicine and food, and rice porridge, sweet and delicious, both men and women, young and old are happy to eat. Such as ginseng, astragalus, wolfberry, asparagus, poria, cistanches, hawthorn and other tonic products, once into the porridge, its effectiveness is better. In addition, the porridge is a daily food, the flavor of the medicine to add or subtract flexible, easy to take, and can be taken for a long time to tonic health. Folk often have spring food shepherd’s purse, summer food mung bean porridge, autumn food root porridge, winter food lamb porridge, La Ba porridge, quite suitable for the four seasons food nourishment. Other porridge such as lotus leaf porridge, red bean porridge, buttermilk porridge, chicken porridge, meat porridge, fish fillet porridge, etc., also have their different effects. It is important to note that eating porridge for health, depending on the person, depending on the disease selection porridge, the right amount is appropriate, not excessive. 3, drinking porridge health misconceptions porridge can be nourishing, but also therapeutic, so many people, both men and women, young and old, always like to eat a bowl of each meal, there are a variety of so-called health experts fancy, teach people to eat and drink. I do not know that there are many misconceptions about drinking porridge, and some people are not suitable for drinking porridge. First of all, diabetics are not suitable for drinking porridge, porridge contains more water, easier to digest and absorb than rice and steamed buns, and the longer the porridge is boiled, the stickier it is, the better it is, the faster it raises postprandial blood sugar. This is because the longer the food processing time and the higher the temperature, the higher the glycemic index. When the porridge is boiled for a long time, the starch in the rice is partially broken down into short-chain carbohydrates such as dextrin. Dextrin is easier to digest and absorb than starch, and is quickly broken down into glucose, which is absorbed by the body and directly raises blood glucose concentration, i.e., raises postprandial blood glucose. Studies have found that rice porridge glycemic index is 69.4, milk glycemic index is 27.6, much lower than porridge. So it is better to have milk, soy milk or yogurt for breakfast. When diabetic patients have fever, gastrointestinal discomfort or other conditions such as infection or surgery and cannot eat ordinary rice, they can also drink some congee, noodle soup, egg custard or rotten noodles. However, do not boil the congee for too long or too sticky. If necessary, the dose of glucose-lowering drugs and insulin can be increased appropriately, which will be more secure. Secondly, people with bad stomach should drink less porridge, many people think that porridge nourishes the stomach. But in fact, this view is not comprehensive. Because drinking porridge without chewing slowly, can not promote the secretion of oral salivary glands that can help digestion; and high water content of porridge in the stomach, will play the role of dilution of gastric acid, accelerating the expansion of the stomach, so that the stomach movement is slow, which is also not conducive to digestion. Therefore, patients with stomach problems should not always drink porridge, but should choose other easily digested and absorbed diet, chew slowly to promote digestion. It should also be noted that three meals can not always drink porridge, a mistake often made by the elderly. Properly drink porridge is indeed beneficial, but not all the time drink. Congee is a liquid food, in terms of nutrition and the same volume of rice than poor. And porridge “not top full”, eat when you feel full, but soon hungry again. In the long run, the elderly will be malnourished due to insufficient energy and nutrient intake. Therefore, it is important to drink porridge with balanced nutrition. You can make the porridge thicker, serve it with meat and vegetables, or eat some snacks between meals to replenish energy. Ice porridge is not advisable. Ice porridge is a hot food in summer, but it is not suitable for elderly people with cold and weak constitution as well as children. Drinking too much ice porridge will not only make the body’s sweat pores closed, resulting in metabolic waste not easily excreted, but also may affect the gastrointestinal function.