Seasonal Wellness Tips for Han Lu - Cold Dew

Han Lu is the 17th of the 24 solar terms that make up the ancient Chinese agricultural calendar. It falls on the 8th or 9th of October every year.

Han Lu translates as "cold dew" and, although it is only one month after Bai Lu (White Dew), it presents a marked change in climate. This gives rise to significant variations in the way humans and other organisms interact with their environments.

In northern areas, autumn is in full swing. The temperature is rapidly falling, the nights growing longer, leaves turning a beautiful array of colours, and a multitude of fungi emerging from the damp ground.

Read on for my seasonal wellbeing tips for Han Lu and how to stay healthy into the depths of autumn.

Tonify and Detoxify

As the weather gets colder, many of us are increasing our intake of nourishing foods to help build our reserves for the winter months. As well as eating hearty, nutritious meals, many people turn toward various supplements and tonics to boost their health at this time of year.

This can be helpful in some cases, but many commercial products have low absorption rates or contain unnecessary fillers. This can lead to an accumulation of useless substances in the body and, over time, may do more harm than good.

Therefore, it is also essential to maintain our intake of detoxifying foods while using these products. These include antioxidant-rich fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices, and teas. Mushrooms are a particularly beneficial seasonal food, as they can enhance immunity and support healthy cellular function.

Eat Sweet and Neutral Foods

In Chinese dietetics, foods with a sweet flavour are said to be harmonising, while those with a neutral nature are neither warming nor cooling within the body.

Eating sweet and neutral foods can help to regulate the Liver and Spleen to support digestive function. Moreover, these foods are moistening without being greasy, which is particularly beneficial for the Lung at this time of year.

There are many foods which fall into this category, including:

• Carrots

• Pumpkins

• Squashes

• Sweet potatoes

• Yams

• Figs

• Grapes

• Papaya

• Black sesame seeds

• Chestnuts

• Peanuts

• Walnuts

These foods are nutritious and easy to digest, and make a useful addition to any healthy autumn diet.

Nourish Skin and Hair

The cool autumn weather can play havoc with our skin and hair, especially once we start turning on the central heating, which has an additional drying effect. We might notice symptoms such as dry hands, cracked lips, or an itchy scalp accompanied by hair loss.

It can be helpful to increase skin moisture externally by applying natural, organic skincare products but we can also enhance it internally by eating more foods that moisten the Lung, including:

• Honey

• Sesame

• Tremella fungus

• Walnuts

• Bai He (Chinese lily bulb)

The skin is said to be the third lung, and by nourishing these organs internally, we also enhance the health and radiance of the body's exterior.

For more personalised seasonal wellbeing advice, you can book a holistic health coaching session via the contact page.

References

• 买雯婷 (2011) 第一养生药膳 - Tangmark Publishing and Distribution, Beijing

• Leggett, D. (2005) Helping Ourselves (second edition) - Meridian Press, Totnes

• Liu YZ, Wang ZM, Zhang JZ (2015) Dietary Chinese Herbs - Springer-Verlag, Wien