冬dōng吃chī蘿luó蔔bo夏xià吃chī薑jiāng,，不bù勞láo醫yī生shēng開kāi藥yào方fāng

What does 冬吃蘿蔔夏吃薑，不勞醫生開藥方 (dōng chī luó bo xià chī jiāng, bù láo yī shēng kāi yào fāng) mean?

冬吃蘿蔔夏吃薑，不勞醫生開藥方 (dōng chī luó bo xià chī jiāng, bù láo yī shēng kāi yào fāng) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer, and the doctor need not write a prescription." In use it means: Radish cools internal heat that builds from winter's heavy foods and sealed homes, while ginger warms the digestive system against summer's cold drinks and damp. Eating in counterbalance to the season's excess prevents illness before it starts. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Pig.

Literally: "Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer, and the doctor need not write a prescription.."

The reading

Prevention built into daily meals is quieter and cheaper than any cure. The kitchen was the first pharmacy, and the cook was the first physician. Balancing what you eat against what the season does to your body is an act of self-knowledge repeated three times a day. Health maintained through small, consistent choices rarely makes a dramatic story, which is precisely why it works.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element土 Earth
• Zodiac tie豬 Year of the Pig

Source Traditional Chinese medicine dietary proverb (中醫食療諺語)

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Nature, Seasons & Health, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Pig, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.