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Agar (Red Seaweed Gelatin) Gelidium amansii

Indication:

• Cancer prevention, breast, prostate
• Constipation, dry
• Cough from common cold
• Cough with yellow phlegm
• Hemorrhoids
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Indigestion
• Obesity

Botanical name: Gelidium amansii

Alternative name: Red algae gelatin

Properties: Sweet, cold

Channels: Lung, Large intestine

Functions: Transform phlegm heat, clears heat in the lungs and large intestine, clears heat from upper jiao.

Comments:

Seaweed gelatin, also known as “agar,” is commonly used as a food base for desserts, such as sweet jelly in United States.

Agar is made from red seaweed, which is served as seaweed salad in the United States.  Like other seaweed, it has cold properties and is very useful for reducing lumps in our body.  It transforms phlegm heat and clears internal heat.  Traditional Asian doctors considered “phlegm heat” to be congealed fluid with green or yellow color cumulated in the lung. 

This red seaweed gelatin is highly recommended for lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Above all, the foremost known use of agar is for weight loss. It promotes the digestive function and prevents uncomfortable weight gain.  Due to its high fiber content, people feel full, so it satisfies the appetite.

In Korea, agar has been used for many kinds of cancer prevention including breast cancer.

How to get it:

Agar gelatin noodle is commonly sold at most Korean markets prepackaged with sauce and ready to consume.

Preparation:

1. If you get the red seaweed gelatin noodle, place it in a bowl and pour the prepared sauce on top before serving.
2. Making the sauce:  soy sauce 2spoons, cooking wine 1 spoon, vinegar 1 spoon, garlic ½ spoon, sugar1/2 spoon, sesame seed, sesame oil.  And mix well.
3. Cucumber, bell pepper, or scallion can be added to the noodle.

Caution: Like other seaweed it has a cold property.  Overconsumption may induce diarrhea.

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Asparagus

• Family: Liliaceae
• Properties: Sweet, bitter, cold
• Channels: Lung, Kidney, Spleen
• Functions: Clears lung heat and moistens lung, generates fluids, clears damp heat

Asparagus one of the best foods for people having trouble caused by heat. Its dual therapeutic effect works both on moistening and reducing damp from the dried organs and body.  Which makes asparagus one of the ideal food to reduce inflammation.  In fact, asparagus is the first food I commonly recommend for people who have a family history of a breast tumor. It is an excellent food for cooling and moistening the organs, particularly lungs, or upper body.  Besides, it is so easy to cook, just stir fry!

For that reason, in recent years in Korea, asparagus has become a very popular therapeutic food for cancer prevention particularly for breast tumor, lung tumor and malignant lymphoma. For cancer treatment, the whole plant is used, the green and the root.  However, the root has a very cold thermal property that can make your body way too cold! 

The asparagus root, Tian Men Dong, is particularly good for malignant lymphoma, breast tumor, and leukemia. Since the root is very cold in nature, it requires professional understanding of the use. Professional advice from an herbalist should be sought.

Preparation: To cook the asparagus green stalk, lightly stir fry with garlic, ginger and sprinkle with black pepper, salt, or soy sauce. Make sure it is not overcooked since the therapeutic effect will be reduced.

Banana

• Functions: clears heat, moistens the intestine
• Channels: Lung, large intestine

Comments: It is interesting to hear that many people avoid banana because they say it induces constipation. And yet, banana is one of the best foods to promote bowel movement and to resolve toxins accumulated internally.  The ‘constipation’ some people experience is a temporary condition induced by the sweet and cloying nature of banana. Long-term use of it will eventually improve the condition.

In recent years in Korea, banana has been used as therapeutic food for cancer prevention against intestinal and breast. Since it is cool in nature, banana can be used to bring down fever, quench thirst, and cool blood to stop internal bleeding, including bleeding hemorrhoids induced by a dry stool. Besides cooling effects, banana is also known to prevent cancer such as intestinal, kidney, and breast.

Preparation:

There is no specific way of preparing banana in Korean dish. Rather, it became a popular juice to prevent constipation in Korea. They normally add strawberry to mixer. For the purpose of cancer prevention, I recommend eat raw banana.

Caution: Over consumption may induce obesity, constipation, or diarrhea.

Major Nutrients: Carbohydrates, sugar, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium

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Barley sprout

Indications:

• Acid reflux
• Appetite, low
• Belching
• Bloating
• Breast, distended and painful
• Chest discomfort
• Difficult labor
• Epigastric pain (stomach pain)
• Food allergy, gluten and milk
• Hepatitis
• Hepatomegaly
• Indigestion
•  Inhibits lactation to stop breast feeding

Family: Gramineae

Properties: Sweet, neutral

Channels: Liver, Spleen, Stomach

Functions: Reduces food stagnations and nourishes stomach, inhibits lactation, promotes the smooth flow of liver qi, nourishes spleen deficiency

Comments: Barley sprout is a very effective food to treat many kinds of breast disorders from premenstrual syndrome to breast issues in nursing mothers. It is also used to treat breast problems in men.

 One of its main functions is to reduce enlarged breasts.  In Korea, it is often the first food given to a nursing mother who wants to stop breastfeeding her baby.  They make a rice tea with barley germ and drink the rice tea until milk ceases flowing.

How to get it: It is much more effective to use professionally sprouted barley, which is always available at Korean markets.  Commonly called, Yeuk-Ghee-reum, it is normally sold as coarsely ground powder.  Instant drink, Sik-Hae, is available at most Asian markets.

Preparation:

• Rice tea: put a cup of sprouted barley germ into a cotton cloth pouch and gently shake in five or seven cups of hot water until all the juice is leached out.
• Let the liquid settle for 30-45 minutes until it clears the turbidity. 
• Pour the clear liquid gently into a pot containing already cooked rice. 
• Keep the content warm using a rice cooker or Crock-pot on very low heat for about 12 hours or wait until a few grains begin to float to the surface. 
• Then, boil the tea and the content, cool it, and keep in the refrigerator.  When it is ready to serve, taste the water to make sure it is sweet. 
• It can be strained to make a tea. Commonly, the whole mixture, the liquid and the rice, is consumed.
• The tea can be served hot or cold with a few pine nuts and/or a few pieces of dried jujube floating on top.

Caution: Absolutely contraindicated during pregnancy; can induce premature childbirth.  Contraindicated for nursing mothers since it inhibits lactation.  It may injure kidneys if consumed over a long period of time.

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Bok Choy

Family: Cabbage family

Botanical Name: Brassica rapa L.

Properties: Sweet, slightly bitter, cool

Channels:Intestine, Spleen, Stomach

Functions: Strengthens digestive system, promotes qi movement, stops pain

Indications:

1. Abdominal pain
2. Bone density, low
3. Cancer prevention, lung/prostate/colon
4.  Cancer prevention, oral, esophagus, breast, kidney
5. Flu prevention
6. Hair loss
7. Hangover
8. HBP
9. Indigestion
10. Joint pain
11. Nausea
12. Osteoarthritis
13. Skin rough/dry

Comments: 

Bok Choy is different type of Chinese cabbage.  The function and the properties of bokchoy is very similar to cabbage as they are from the cabbage family, genus, and species like radish, cauliflower, or broccoli.

As other cabbages, it strengthens the digestive function and protects the stomach wall to ease the abdominal pain, and to prevent nausea early in the morning.  It detoxifies alcohol and is good to ease the hangover.

 It is very often used as a skin beauty food therapy in Korea as it protects skin from dryness. 

Bok Choy strengthens the bone as it has a high content of minerals and calcium.  And it is good to prevent osteoarthritis as well as stimulating hair growth.  As it strengthens bones and tendons, it helps ease joint pain as well.

With healthy digestion, people can prevent joint stiffness.  Most joint problems come from indigestion.  In general, it nourishes intestine, stomach, and spleen to lowers elevated blood pressure, and prevents many types of cancer, lung, prostate, colon, esophagus, breast, and kidney.

How to get it:

Bokchoy is sold at the most Asian market.  Green tip of the leaves and moistened white base is a good choice.

Preparation:

• Put them into boiling water and boil for 2 to 3 minutes until it softens.
• Rinse them and squeeze out excess water.
• Add salt, black pepper, sesame seed oil, and vinegar.  Mix the content by using hand.
• Serve it with a bowl of rice.

 Caution: It is a body cooling food.  Overconsumption should be avoided for someone with cold abdomen.

Broccoli

• Family Name: Cruciferae
• Botanical Name: Brassica oleracea
• Properties: Sweet, mildly bitter, cool
• Channels: Spleen, Stomach, Bladder
• Functions: Clears heat, promotes urination, brightens the eyes, resolves summer heat, strengthens the stomach function.

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Comments: In recent years in Korea, broccoli has become a popular food as a cancer fighter, particularly for breast and prostate cancer. When broccoli is cooked for a long time, as it is commonly prepared these days, it loses its natural therapeutic effect. The best way to cook it, is to boil for a few seconds, then spice it with salt, pepper, and olive oil.

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Broccoli has a cooling effect in many ways. It gently cools the excess heat induced by the environment such as exposed to extreme summer heat. It clears heat from the eyes to improve the vision. It enters the bladder to cool the excess heat from the organs and promotes urination to treat scanty urination. It also cools the skin and improves the skin texture.

In Korea, it is commonly used for skin improvement.

Preparation: Put in boiling water and turn off the heat, let it simmer for 1-2 minutes. Drain the hot water and rinse with tap water and drain. Addd sesame seed or olive oil, salt and pepper. It can also be prepared as miso soup. 3 to 4 cups of water into a pot. Add a spoonful of miso paste, kelp, and garlic. Using medium heat, bring it to a boil. Add broccoli and cook 30 second to 1 minute. If you are not a vegetarian, you can use dried anchovies to enhance the taste.

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Cauliflower

• Family Name: Bracciaceae, Cruciferae
• Botanical Name: Brassica olerasea
• Properties: Sweet, slightly bitter, warm
• Channels: Spleen, Stomach
• Functions: Nourishes spleen, dispels cold, stops pain

Comments: This is one of the few warm vegetables that suit people with a stomach cold to touch, or those sensitive to cold food. It nourishes the spleen and warms up the organ to promote digestion, which stops abdominal pain caused by cold food, or chronic coldness.

Many members of the Cruciferae family, such as radish, broccoli, and cabbage have anti-cancer effects. Cauliflower, as part of the cabbage family, has a powerful therapeutic effect on cancer prevention. This white flower, served steamed or raw, can prevent tumors in the prostate and breast. In order to enhance the effect, people need to take the food for a long period of time.

Preparation: _ Eating raw cauliflower is highly recommended. To cook, steam it and mix or mash it with steamed butternut squash. This combination is very ideal for chronic constipation.

Chinese pearl barley

• Pinyin: Yi yi ren
• Family: Poaceae, Graminaceae
• Botanical name: Coix lacryma –jobi
• Alternative name: Coix, Yul-Mu, Job’s Tear
• Properties: Sweet, slightly cold, bland
• Channels: Spleen, Lung, Kidney
• Functions: Strengthens the spleen, stops diarrhea, promotes urination and leaches out dampness, clears heat and expels pus, clears damp-heat, relieves pain

Comments: Job’s Tears, or Chinese pearl barley assembles puffed barley. It is a magic grain, in my personal opinion, since it has a pleasant taste and it is so easy to cook and to digest. It has the unique function for both cooling, reducing the dampness and the inflammation, and nourishing the body. Dampness is accumulation of body fluid that becomes nodules lodged in the skin, joints, pelvic area, or the breast. For that reason, I highly recommend Chinese pearl barley to prevent breast disorder.

This mighty grain is one of the best known herbs for resolving broad range of dampness. Job’s Tears leeches out dampness by promoting urination to treat edema, leg edema, obesity, diarrhea, and feeling heaviness with muscle spasm, muscle aches, particularly during wet weather. It is also highly recommended for those suffering from chronic arthritis, or old injuries, aggravated by rainy weather.

Job’s Tears is also one of the most effective herbs for maintaining healthy skin. It is a very effective daily beauty treatment when the grain is taken long term, as it improves skin texture, clarity, and overall beauty. Long-term use may reduce plantar warts, liver spots, and clears acne. It clears heat and inflammation from the skin to treat acne with whiteheads as it reduces abscesses.

Its ability to dispel pus is not restricted to the skin alone but also includes the intestines and lungs. Thus, conditions like inflammatory bowel disorder with blood in the stool, acute and chronic case of appendicitis, and coughing up of thick foul smelling phlegm from a lung abscess, can greatly benefit from this grain. Job’s Tears nourishes spleen and dissipates clumped objects in the body to treat disorders associated with aging such as diabetes, hardening of the arteries, and elevated cholesterol. It has also been recommended by many herbalists in Korea for cancer prevention. Since Job’s Tears is considered more of a food than a medicine, it is much friendlier to take. To get a satisfying result, it must be taken long-term to improve conditions. Unlike other diuretics, it won’t cause internal injury if used long term.

How to get it: It is sold at most Asian market, or Korean market. In Korean market, called as ‘Yul-Mu’, they also sell prepackaged Job’s Tears products such as tea, starch, and soup.

Preparation: Job’s Tears must be cooked thoroughly before eating, cook twice or cook for a long period of time. Commonly, precooked Job’s Tears is added to rice for cooking. For medicinal purposes, it is mostly used as a dried powder for tea or porridge in Asia. If treating a weak digestive system with weakened legs and arms and constant diarrhea, it is more effective to consume Chinese pearl barley as porridge instead of as a whole grain.

• Porridge: Soak it in water 12 hours or more. Rinse it and slow cook for 1 to 5 hours. Water used should be double or more the volume of normal rice cooking.
• Tea: Simple way of making a daily drinking tea is to boil it for 1 hour low heat.  Have it as a hot tea or chill it as a cold drink.
• Tea: Another way of preparing as a tea requires time and patient.  Steamed Job’s Tears is sun dried and powdered. It can be served hot or cold.
• Tea: It can also be prepared roasted and powdered to make tea. Dried Job’s Tears in soaked for 5-10 hours. It is rinsed and boiled. The ratio is one cup of the grain to 10cups of water. Once it is boiled, lower the heat and cook for 1- 5 hour or more until the grain is quite soft. Keep the lid open while cooking. It is served as tea with the grain in it. The grain can be mashed before serving, as well. Add a pinch of salt to enhance the taste.

Caution: Avoid during pregnancy. Not recommended for slim or underweight patients. It is also not suitable for individuals who don’t sweat with constipation.

Dandelion and Chicory

Indications:

• Breast abscess/cancer
• cancer prevention (stomach, uterus, lung)
• Cholesterol, high
• Constipation
• Gallstone (Chicory)
• Hepatitis
• Intestinal abscess
• Jaundice
• Lactation insufficient
• Painful urination
• Parasite (Chicory)
• Eye (red, pain, swollen)
• Salivary gland, swollen
• Scrotum inflammation
• Sinusitis (Chicory)

Properties: Bitter, sweet, cold

Channels: Stomach, Liver

Functions: Clears heat and cools fire toxicity, reduces abscess and dissipates nodules, promotes lactation, resolves dampness

Comments:  Dandelion we discuss in this section includes many species like chicory, endive, radicchio, and escarole.  Dandelion has a bitter taste at first, which gradually turns into sweetness; therefore, it has a bittersweet taste. In Korea, it is a common green and is known as a very healthy food. Not surprisingly, it has a long list of benefits to our health.

Along with chrysanthemum flower, purslane, and honey suckle flower, it is one of the first food I recommend clear inflammation for liver disease and breast problem.  It works well to reduce swelling and pain from breast, stomach, intestine, throat, eyes and genital.  It works well to reduce breast lumps and abscesses, lung abscesses, salivary gland inflammation, and intestinal abscess.  Those conditions, acute case, are usually triggered by liver fire, mostly from extreme stress.  In that case, boil the whole wild plant, leaves and root, and drink the juice.  Its extreme bitter taste will ease the pain and discomfort. This food dissipates many kinds of nodules particularly from breast such as abscesses and sores that are hard and firm. 

Chicory

Comments:

The root from the white flowering chicory is well known as coffee substitute.  The root is also known to expel intestinal parasites.  The whole plant is used to relieve pain and treat bruises, constipation, diabetes, gallstone, and sinus infection.

Preparation:  Usually, wild dandelion coming out early spring is selected for medicinal purpose.  The root is much more medicinal than the leaves.  It has extremely bitter taste.  If using it as food, boil the plant for about one minute and then soak the boiled dandelion in water to leach out the bitter taste.  But it will leach out medicinal effect as well.  Squeeze out the water and add chili pepper, salt, pepper, and garlic to serve as cooked green.

Caution:   Over consumption may induce mild diarrhea.

Eggplant

• Family Name: Solaceae
• Properties: Sweet, bitter, cool
• Channels: Stomach, Spleen, Large intestine
• Functions: Clears heat, cools the blood, moves blood and transforms stasis

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Comments:When I was young, my mother used to put the fresh eggplants on top of the steaming rice and put back the lid on until it is cooked. My job was to pock a chopstick near the calyx to secure, and slice the hot eggplant with another chopstick. Somehow, it remains as a fun memory after all these years.

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Eggplant is an energy promoting food. It nourishes five organs; heart, spleen, kidney, lung, and liver, to improve general health. It promotes healthy appetite, cools the overheated body, and lowers high blood pressure and cholesterol. To enhance the nourishing effect, the aged eggplant with a yellow color is used. The cooking recipe is the same as the young one.

Eggplant has high fiber and is rich in antioxidants to treat many types of cancer, including breast cancer.

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Eggplant dish also stops bleeding, such as excess menstrual bleeding, and anal bleeding from hemorrhoid. I recommend eggplant to someone with high blood pressure as it reduces rupture of capillary, thus stops internal bleeding. Eggplant is used to clear heat and cools the body from summer heat, or exposure to extreme heat.It also clears heat from the stomach that affects the mouth, such as reducing canker sores in the mouth.

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How to get it:

Sliced dried eggplant is readily available at most Korean markets.

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Preparation:

Steam the whole eggplant, for about five minutes. Use a stick to divide or separate the flesh. Add vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper, garlic, and scallion. Mix well before serving.

It can also be stir fried with onion, garlic, and ginger. Sliced dried eggplant is soaked for 30 minutes or until it becomes soft. Squeeze out the water and stir fry with garlic and onion.

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Topical application:

Dry the stem near the fruit base or the calyx. The dried parts are burned or charred before grinding into a powder and mixed with sesame seed oil to make a paste. Apply the paste topically on canker sore, gum, liver spot, wart, or breast.

Gum inflammation: 5-7 base part of eggplant with 1 cup of salt is well mixed. Put in a glass jar to age 30 days or more. Use the salt as toothpaste.

Caution: Caution for people with food allergy as it belongs to nightshade family.Overconsumption may aggravate cough, or may cool reproductive organs for women. For the reason, pregnant women, women with infertility or vaginal discharge, with cold intolerance, should avoid overeating.

Gobo (Burdock root)

• Family: Compositae, Asteraceae
• Botanical name: Arctium lappa
• Properties: acrid, bitter, cool
• Channels: stomach, lung
• Functions: clears heat, relieves toxicity, Moistens intestines

Comments: This used to be a common weed with thorny, rather tiny purplish flowers compared to the broad leaves. I was surprised to see the abundance of the plant growing so well in Scandinavia along the road as weed! In Asia, burdock root is highly praised as a as delicacy, which is also one of the major ingredients to make futomaki, Japanese sushi roll. Recently, rather than a common food, it has been promoted as an herbal food to cure diabetes, prevents cancer, and kidney disease. It also clears many acute conditions comes along with common flu such as constipation, sore throat, and rash. In that case, the seed is much more effective.

It also clear rash and other skin problems as mumps, carbuncles, and erythema. Erythema is skin disease with fat cell inflammation.

How to get it: Many of GoBo sold in Asian markets are imported one. Visit produce stores to get local produce one, most of them from California. US produce is softer and has much sweeter taste.

If you are using imported one, they tend to have tougher fibers. After peeling the skin, it need to be soaked in vinegar water to leach out bitter taste. Then it need to be dipped into boiling water for 30 seconds or so, before using the root as a dish. The root is tapped to soften the fiber.

Caution: contraindicated for patients with diarrhea, or open sores. It will prevent to hasten healing of the sores.

Gourd (wax gourd, Winter Melon)

• Family: Cucurbitaceae
• Botanical Name: Benincasae hispidae
• Properties: Sweet, cold
• Channels: Large intestine, Lung, Stomach
• Functions: Clears heat and moistens the lungs, transforms phlegm heat from the lung, expands the chest and dissipates nodules, eliminates pus, and promotes urination.

Comment: Gourd is in the same family as cucumber or squash. It has beautiful white flowers similar to passion fruit flowers. There are many types of gourd. The small sized gourd that fit into the palm is called Gua Lou. It is a well-known herb for clearing heat in order to treat thirst and fever. In general, most gourds have a therapeutic effect to clear heat. The immature or unripe gourd can be used as either food or herb. Fresh ones are rare, but the snake gourd, which is elongated, is a good substitute and is sold at Asian markets.

Gourd fruit is one of the best foods to treat both dry and phlegm cough. It clears heat and dissolves phlegm from the lung without drying out the body. In other words, it not only dries the phlegm but it also moistens the lungs. It is used to treat cough from the common cold with green or yellow colored phlegm. It is also good for treating smoker’s cough with thick viscous phlegm in the lungs that is difficult to Gourd fruit is suitable for children as well. It has a sweet taste and is one of the best foods for treating asthma. Gourd dissipates nodules and expands the chest.

Gourd is good for treating chest pain induced by qi stagnation. When energy does not flow smoothly in the chest, a stifling sensation will occur. It is also expressed as a distended sensation, constriction, or diaphragmatic pressure on the upper part of the stomach.

Chest pain may also be induced by infection in the lung with abscess and breast inflammation with abscess. In both cases of lung and breast infection, gourd treats heat induced inflammation with pus in the upper body quite well. In recent years, it has been used to prevent liver cancer.

Gourd seed has the same cooling and transforming phlegm effect. It is more effective for treating breast abscess with or without pus formation. As most seeds, it moistens the intestines and treats dry constipation.

How to get it: In America, getting fresh gourd is nearly impossible. However, it grows very well in SouthWest of America. Unriped gourd is used as food. Scratch the surface if it scars. Once picked, slice off the skin, make a thin layer of the flesh, and sundry for storage. Since it improves our health, growing it in local farms should be encouraged. The most available ones are sold either as pickled or dried in Korean markets.

Preparation: As an herb, it is used either whole or separate. The skin and seeds are separated and are used for slightly different purposes.

The cooking method is quite similar to immature squash or zucchini. Peel the skin off and stir-fry the fresh gourd with garlic. It can also be sliced and boiled for 1-2 minutes and topped with soy sauce and black pepper. For the mature ones, scoop out the seeds, slice the rind, and stir-fry. It is commonly cooked with soy sauce and sugar.

The mature one is also sliced and dried for storage. To prepare a dish with dried gourd, soak it in water until it is soft. It can then be boiled with water and sugar on low heat for 30-45 minutes. It can also be boiled and consumed as a tea to clear fever. In this case, cook it as a soup or decoction for 30 minutes. The liquid is then consumed. An ideal dosage is 10 to 30 grams of dried gourd per day. In Korea, it is made to sweeten candy.

Caution: Gourd is a heat clearing food. People with sensitivity toward cold should use the dried one instead of fresh one.

Negative food combination: dried ginger root

Hibiscus flower, Malva (Cluster mallow)

Indications:

• Bone improvement
• Breast disorder
• Cholesterol, high
• Constipation
• Edema
• Heaviness, feeling of
• HBP
• Lactation insufficient/block
• Skin sores, carbuncles
• Urination, scanty
• Urinary/kidney stone
• UTI
• Vision weakened

Botanical name: Malva verticillata

Properties: Sweet, cold

Channels: Urinary Bladder, Large Intestine, Small Intestine

Functions: Regulates water circulation, promotes lactation, moistens the intestines, relieves constipation

Comments:

Hibiscus flower belongs to Mallow family along with Chinese malva, hollyhock, okra, or desertglobe mallow.  These species are very good at promoting normal urination to treat edema.

The flower has become a common tea in America in recent years.  It is used to treat hypertension by lowering the blood pressure and prevents epilepsy. It is effective in stopping internal bleeding from the large intestine and rectum, as well as treating bleeding dysentery.  In Korea, the white flower is mostly used for treatment.  

The green vegetable, Chinese malva, is a common food mostly prepared as a soup.  As other malva species, It treats painful urination with feeling of puffiness, heavy sensation, constipation, and scanty urination.  It also treats kidney stone.

Other benefits of The leaves include strengthening blood vessel, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol.  It improves bone density, eye function, promote proper growth for children, and skin health. For treating chronic case of bone disorder, osteoporosis, or skin problems such as sores, carbuncles, or furnuncles, it needs to be consumed for a long period of time.

 The seed, Dong Gua Zi, has a stronger therapeutic effect on regulating the water circulation to treat edema and painful urination with urinary stones. It also has a stronger effect on moistening the large intestine to relieve dry constipation.  The seed has been used for new mothers right after giving birth to promote lactation.  It also treats blocked lactation with breast pain and swelling.  For women in general, it promotes to maintain healthy breast and treat fibrocystic breast disorder.   

Okra (seed pods) promotes spleen and stomach function to promote digestion.  It lowers high blood pressure and cholesterol   It has a diuretic effect, as well, and promotes urination.    

White flowered Hollyhock (Alcea rocea), the flower and the root, is also used as an herb to promote urination.

How to get it:

Most Asian markets sell the vegetable, called Chinese Mallow.

Preparation:   

Pick flower buds right before blooming.  Cut off the stamen and wash it.  Drain well.  shade-dry before use.  Brew the tea and serve as hot tea.

• stem should be peeled.  Put into a boiling water and boil for 1-2 minutes.  Rinse it with tap water.  Squeeze out the water and mix with miso paste.
• It is sold as tea at most tea stores.  Red hibiscus flowers are the most popular for tea in America.  However, white hibiscus flowers are considered the most therapeutic. It is sold as ‘Mu-Jin-Hua’ at the Asian herbal stores.  It can be easily grown in a pot or in the garden with very little care.          

Caution: Pregnant women should not to over-consume Chinese mallow.  It has a cooling property, and someone with a sensitivity toward cold food should be careful.

Luffa skeleton (Luffa cylindrical)

Indications:

• Bleeding, anal
• Breast, painful /swollen
• Chest and flank soreness
• Cough with phlegm
• Facial improvement
• Fever
• Jaundice
• Joint stiffness
• Lactation, insufficient
• Liver protection
• Menstrual bleeding, excess
• Muscle pain/cramp/spasm
• Scanty urination
• Skin, rough/carbuncle
• Tendon soreness

Comments:

Luffa is commonly sold as a sponge in America.  It can be used in more effective ways besides as a sponge.  The fruit is not a common dish, even in Korea.  It is mentioned in this book, since the plant is so easy to grow, and it is one of the best plants to improve breast condition as it invigorates blood circulation and clears heat from the breasts a gentle way.

The luffa sponge should be a woman’s best friend.  The skeleton is very effective to promote circulation of the breasts to treat swollen or painful breasts.  It also promotes milk production.

The sap extracted from the luffa plant is a natural skin softener.  It promotes the blood circulation of the face and treats dry and rough skin.

 It also has surprising effects to stop coughing and breaking up congealed phlegm in the chest that does not come out easily.

The dried skeleton has much broader herbal effects.  It opens obstructed channels to treat many types of pain that tend to move around.  It is good for treating chest pain, flank soreness, muscle and tendon tightness with pain, and joint stiffness. The luffa skeleton effectively clears heat and expels phlegm from the lungs to treat severe common cold symptoms such as cough, high fever, chest pain, and congealed sputum that is difficult to expectorate.  It is also effective for children suffering from a common cold.

 In addition, it is good for clearing summer heat with symptoms of fever and scanty urination.

Luffa has a detoxifying function.  It has a liver protective effect and restores its normal function after damages from carbon tetrachloride, used in cleaning industry.

How to get it:

It grows very well as a vine with little care as long as it is watered.  It is also sold at Asian markets.

Preparation:

• Harvest the unripe fruit to use as food. 
• The cooking method is similar to cucumber.  Slice it and salt it for 5-10 minutes, squeeze out the water and stir fry with garlic.
• When it is ripe, it is soft to touch, like touching a sponge. Peel off the skin and dry in the sun.
• The dried skeleton can be boiled for about 30 minutes to make tea.  Use 15-30 grams a day.
• For sap collection: In late fall, after the fruit is harvested, cut the stem and collect the sap.  It can be stored frozen.
• Sap: it is used to promote facial complexion and blood circulation.

Miso (fermented beans)

• Family: Leguminosae
• Botanical Name: Glycine max, Semen Sojae Praeparatum
• Alternative Names: Doen-Jang, Natto, Dan Dou chi, fermented soybean
• Properties: Sweet, neutral, slightly bitter
• Channels: Lung, Stomach
• Functions: Releases the exterior, eliminates irritability and harmonizes the middle jiao, clears damp-heat from the middle Jiao

Comments: Miso, or fermented beans, is a miracle food to prevent many illnesses including breast cancer. To start with, it is known to be one of the best flu fighters, particularly for stomach flu. It also induces sweating to chase out the common cold accompanied by headache, and either with or without a fever. People ask why this miracle food is not more popular in America? I believe it has something to do with its strange taste and pungent smell.

There are many kinds of miso paste from slightly different grains and beans. Fermented beans also come in many forms such as Japanese natto or miso, Korean Doenjang, Korean Cheonggukjang, or Chinese Dan dou chi. All of these have one thing in common, they all have a rotten taste and smell. If you can withstand the strange smell and taste, miso offers great health benefits. I am only going to mention two kinds, yellow soybean miso and black soybean miso. Fermented yellow soybean is the most commonly used miso paste in Korea, which is used as a soup base or sauce. Black soybean miso is used in Chinese cuisine. The most popular dish is black-sauced noodles, which is called ‘Jia Jian Men’. Black soybean miso is much more medicinal and more effective for chasing out the flu. However, overall their therapeutic effects are quite identical.

As I mentioned earlier, fermented soybean is effective for treating the common cold, particularly for patients with an underlying yin deficiency. Yin deficiency is chronic case of heat disorder with low-grade fever that is worse in the afternoon, thirst, and a dry mouth or throat.

Miso paste has a calming effect as well. It enters the upper organs to clear heat and eliminate irritation. By doing so, it treats conditions such as a stifling sensation in the chest and insomnia. This condition can occur either after an illness or before menstruation for women.

Miso also enters the middle abdomen to promote digestive function. It is known to have therapeutic effects to treat poor appetite, indigestion, and diarrhea with a foul smell. A poor appetite comes from a spleen deficiency, and smelly diarrhea comes from damp and heat trapped in the intestine.

Recently, it has been used as a cancer fighting food or a longevity food, as miso regulates and harmonizes energy in our body.

How to get it: There are many kinds of miso paste available at most Korean markets. For long-term use for cancer prevention, buy refrigerated natto or dried chong-gook-jang. These products contain a minimal amount or no salt. Otherwise, Doen-Jang is most commonly used.

Preparation

• Soup:  Add sliced onion, potato, green pepper, garlic, and tofu into a pot with a few tablespoons of water and Doen-Jang. Stir-fry the contents for a few minutes on high heat. Add a few cups of water and bring to a boil on medium heat. Boil until the potato is fully cooked.
• For single vegetables, use Chinese chive, spinach, or napa cabbage. Use cockleshells or anchovies as soup stock. Add Doen-Jang to the soup stock and bring it to a boil. Add spinach, and boil for one minute before turning it off.
• Sauce: Mix miso paste with scallion, garlic, and sesame seed oil to use as a sauce for salad. It is also mixed with Korean Chili pepper sauce, Go-Chu-Jang, and served with lettuce or chrysanthemum greens.
• Therapeutic use: Natto or Cheung-Guk-Jang is recommended since they contain much less salt. Natto is a Japanese style miso, which is sold as a small package for one serving and is eaten like cheese. Cheung-Guk-Jang is a Korean style miso sold as a sauce or dried powder. The sauce is used like common miso. The dried powder is taken daily for health improvement.

Major ingredients: Lipids, protein, carbohydrates, vitamin B1, B2

Cautions: Contraindicated for nursing mothers as it may inhibit lactation.  If someone experiences grain sensitivity, use sprouted miso.

Mushrooms, edible

Comments: Most edible mushrooms are high in fiber and antioxidants. They are highly recommended for immune boosting and prevent many types of cancers.

Maitake or huishuhua mushroom, Grifola frondosa, is commonly used for weight loss.  As other edible mushrooms, it boosts  immune system, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, and regulates blood sugar.

Yunzhi mushroom, Trametes versicolor, is known to have a quite powerful anti-cancer effect.  It strongly strengthens the immune system. It also has anti-inflammatory effects on the digestive tract, lungs, and urinary system to clear damp and phlegm.  

Jisongreng mushroom, Agaricus blazei, is the most well known mushroom to use for cancer prevention in America.  It promotes digestion, regulates blood pressure, blood sugar, and strengthens bone.

Dongchongxiacao mushroom, Cordyceps sinensis, nourishes the lungs to enhance physical endurance.  It stops cough with weakness, or chronic coughing with blood stained sputum. 

It enters the kidneys to tonify bone and improve sexual function.  It treats knee and lower back pain, frequent urination, impotence, premature ejaculation, sperm leakage, poor memory, forgetfulness, and ear ringing with a low pitch.  It stops bleeding, regulates blood sugar, and transforms phlegm.

Lingzhi mushroom or reishi mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, has a sweet taste.  As therapeutic tea, it nourishes the heart to calm the spirit and tonifies blood and gives energy . Lingzhi is used to treat insomnia, dizziness, loose stool, low backache, restlessness, listlessness, forgetfulness, fatigue, and poor appetite. It also enters the lungs to stop coughing with profuse sputum and wheezing.  It is good to treat chronic cases of asthma and dyspnea, or difficulty breathing during sleep.

In Korea, Lingzhi is normally used as herbal tea to prevent cancer and diabetes.  It regulates blood sugar, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, lowers fat content in the blood, increases white blood cells, and contains antibacterial and antiviral effects.  It also enters the liver and treats chronic hepatitis.

Lingzhi improves skin condition to reduce inflammation.  It is also known to treat frostbite.  In that case, use the powder as topical application. 

Preparation: 

• Most mushrooms listed above are better to purchase a prepared powder. 
• To prepare from the dried LingZi mushroom, slice it and boil for 30 minutes to make a hot tea.  It is normally combined with other nourishing herbs such as ginseng or licorice.

Other uses of all the listed mushrooms are stopping excessive bleeding, regulating heart beat, and treating an allergy induced runny nose.

Mushroom, Wood Ear

• Botanical Name: Tremella fuciformis
• Properties: Sweet, neutral, bland
• Channels: Stomach, Lung
• Functions: Nourishes the lung and stomach yin, generate body fluid, moistens dryness

Comments: Known as a longevity food, this rare mushroom has a rubbery ear-like appearance, hence it is named ‘wood ear’. It has a sweet and pleasant taste and it is considered a ‘delicacy’ in Korea. I personally love to have a Chap-Chae noodle dish with black wood ear mushrooms. In Chinese cuisine, woodear mushroom is used as a desert, or used for sweet and sour pork dish.

This mushroom is a well known herb/food to treat tuberculosis. With a cooling effect, it nourishes the stomach and the lung to improve proper fluid flow and moisten dryness. It is a very good food for treating dry cough, blood stained cough, lung abscess, and chronic cough with weight loss or with heat sensation in the chest, palms, and soles.

For therapeutic purpose of nourishing Lungs, use white colored wood ear, which is mostly sold at Chinese markets. Combine the mushroom with glehnia root to make a soup. Fresh glehnia root is generally roasted as food. However, for the therapeutic purpose, they are both decocted for 45-60 minutes and taken as hot tea. Soak them in the water for 1-3 hours before boiling. Do not drain or rinse them. Instead, use the soaking water to boil them. This mushroom is also very well known to promote blood circulation and maintain healthy blood vessel, to treat high cholesterol, reduce liver spot, and prevent internal bleeding. It also improves immune system and prevents many types of cancer.

How to get it: I recommend buying dried one. It is sold as ‘Mok-Yi’ at Korean markets, and ‘Mu-Er’ at Chinese markets. There are slightly different kinds of woodear with slightly different shapes. The white one is considered the most therapeutic, and mostly used as desert or tea. As food, the black one has the most pleasant taste, in my opinion, while th e white one has sweeter taste.

Preparation: Once it is soaked in cold water 3 to 5 hours, wood ear has a black colored velvety texture. Cut off the base and rinse it before use.

Stir fried with garlic in medium high for 5 to 10 minutes, add 3 to 5 table spoon of water, lower the heat, put the lid on and cook for another 5minutes. Seasoned with salt and pepper, or a few drops of sesame seed oil. It is served with rice.

Caution: Overeating may cause delayed blood clotting.

Mustard Seed (Sinapis albae)

• Body aches/pain
• Chest tight, distention
• Coughing, acute with phlegm (white or clear)
• Dyspnea
• Fungus
• Joint pain
• Mastitis
• Nodules (topical application)
• Sacral pain and numbness (topical application)
• Scrofula, lymph node infection neck
• Wheezing

Botanical Name: Brassica juncea

Properties: Spicy, warm

Channels: Stomach, Lung

Functions: Warms and resolves the exterior, transforms phlegm and scatters cold, rectifies the qi and blood, warms the center

Comments: 

Mustard seed has the similar properties and functions as green with stronger effect on warming the body.  It is very effective for relieving chest tightness caused by congealed phlegm with cold.  It warms the lung to expel congealed phlegm from the chest and helps ease conditions such as dyspnea and coughing with profuse sputum.  A topical application with a combination of intake is commonly practiced.

The seed has therapeutic effects to reduce swelling and dissipate nodules.  These conditions are an accumulation of phlegm-cold, which affects joints and skin.  These symptoms include body aches, joint pain, boils, scrofula, bedsores, and sores that ooze watery fluid.  The topical application is also commonly practiced preventing the common flu, if applied during non-flu season. 

How to get it:

Mustard seeds are readily available at most food markets.

Preparation:

Topical application:  Mix the ground mustard seed powder with water or vinegar and apply on the upper back for about 5 minutes every day for a week during the summer season.  Wash it off with a wet cloth or take a shower.  It will strengthen immune function and prevent frequent attacks of the common cold.

Caution:  For topical application, use less than 5 minutes; otherwise, it may burn the skin.

Onion

• Properties: Acrid, warm
• Channels: Liver, Spleen, Lung, Large intestine
• Functions: Warms the internal and scatters cold, dispels exterior wind, moves the qi and blood, strengthens the stomach and spleen

Comments: My family was poor when I was growing up, so most of the dishes on our dinner table were low cost vegetables. As a result, I grew up eating a lot of onions. My mother had to be clever about how to make the dish tasty. She pickled, steamed, and stir-fried it. Of all these, we loved stir-fried onions the best. She would fry it in oil until it turned semi-transparent, and then she would add soy sauce and black pepper. Since this dish was simple to make, my mother made it for our school lunch box almost every day. One day, my older sister suddenly refused to take her onion lunch box. She was adamant about it. “Why? So suddenly…” my mother asked. “Well …” said my sister. “My desk mate liked my lunch very much, so she asked her mother to pack her an onion lunch box. Then, her mother replied to her. “Dear, onion is a side dish to beef steak. Only poor people eat onion as a main dish.”

Onion is one of the most commonly consumed vegetables, and it is the key ingredient to making a poultry dish. It is used with pork, beef, and chicken to promote digestion. It has therapeutic effects to treat poor appetite, bloating, indigestion, and soft stool diarrhea.

It also regulates blood pressure and lowers cholesterol. As blood vessel linings improve, it prevents stroke and promotes sleep. It is particularly good to treat insomnia induced by high blood pressure.

Recently it has been used to prevent cancer.

How to get it: There are white, yellow, and red onions. Yellow onion has the most therapeutic effects.

Preparation: Stir-fry the onion until it turns semi-transparent, and then add soy sauce and black pepper. Serve with rice.

Caution: Since it is warm in nature, it is advised not to consume during the recovery from a feverish illness.

Orange Peel & Seed Tea (Citrus sinensis)

Indications:

• Abdominal pain
• Acid reflux (use immature peel)
• Appetite, poor
• Asthma
• Bloating, worse with stress
• Breast nodule (use seed)
• Breast distention with pain (use immature peel or seed)
• Bronchitis, chronic
• Chest tight from phlegm
• Cough with phlegm
• Diarrhea, soft stool
• Hernia disorder (seed)
• High cholesterol
• Indigestion, acute and chronic
• Nausea
• Nodule (use unripe peel)
• Sputum, profuse
• Testes, swollen /pain (use seed)
• Vomiting
• Wheezing

Properties: Spicy, bitter, warm

Channels: Lung, Spleen, Stomach

Functions: Regulates the stomach and spleen qi, prevents food stagnation, dries dampness and transforms phlegm, relieves the diaphragm and cough

Comments:

Orange peel is quite an effective tea to treat many types of digestive disorders that seem to get worse with stress or intense mental activity.  It is one of the major foods for promoting digestive function.

Orange peel regulates the flow along the digestive tract to reduce bloating, belching, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea with soft stool.  It is particularly good for preventing chronic bloating that occurs even after having a small portion of a meal.

It speeds up the digestion process and eliminates food accumulation in the stomach, and can treat poor appetite, fatigue after a meal, and indigestion.

 It has a calming effect, as well as strengthening blood vessels and clearing cholesterol deposits from the arterial walls. Orange peel is one of the best foods or teas to treat damp and phlegm induced conditions.  It stops coughs with copious, rubbery phlegm accompanied by a stifling sensation in the chest, or with tightness in the chest from phlegm accumulation. 

Orange seed, Ju-He, has strong therapeutic effects to treat breast disorders such as acute cases of mastitis, breast tenderness before menstruation, and breast nodules. It is usually taken as hot tea.  The powdered seed can also be applied topically.

It also treats testicular disorder.  It calms the liver and dissolves the phlegm from the lower part of the abdomen to treat conditions such as swelling and pain of the testes and hernia disorder.

Caution: It is contraindicated for people with a dry cough and heat signs.  Because it has strong effects on breaking up stagnation, it will exhaust a weak patient.  For this reason, it is contraindicated to use long term.

Peppermint, Mint (Bak-Ha, Bo-He)

Indications:

1. Abdominal bloating
2. Chest, stifling sensation
3. Cough from the flu
4. Diarrhea from food poisoning
5. Eye disorder, red or inflamed
6. Fever, from the flu
7. Flank, pain or distention
8. headache from the flu
9. Indigestion
10. Joint discomfort
11. Lactation, excess
12. Lymph nodes, swelling of
13. Measles, early stages
14. Premenstrual breast tenderness
15. Premenstrual irritability
16. Skin rash, acute or from stress
17. Throat, sore or swollen
18. Vomiting from food poisoning

Botanical Name: Mentha haplocalyx

Properties: Acrid, cool, aromatic

Channels: Lung, Liver

Functions: Disperses wind heat, clears the head and eyes and benefits the throat, vents rashes, moves constrained liver qi, disperses damp-heat from the abdomen.

Comments:

Mint tea is one of the best teas recommended for treating the headaches induced by the common cold or flu.  Besides treating headaches, it has strong therapeutic effects to treat the initial conditions of a common cold such as fever, skin rash, dry mouth, sore throat, and red/painful eyes.  It is particularly good to induce sweating to chase out the cold.

It also treats measles or other skin disorders.  Mint cools the body temperature and the skin to reduce acne or itchiness induced either by the flu or stress related.  It can be quite a relief to cool the skin.  In that case, drink the mint tea, and also use the powder over the affected skin.

Mint tea can also be consumed daily for a calming effect.  It reduces the stress-related conditions of PMS such as eye soreness, breast tenderness, irritability, and depression.  

It also relaxes the mid and upper body to ease chest or flank discomfort or pain.  The flank is the side of the body or right under the rib cage. Mint is particularly effective for premenstrual disorders such as bloating and painful breasts. Mint is used to treat food related gastrointestinal disorders.  It is particularly effective in treating abdominal problems induced by unsanitary food intake during the summer season.  It calms the stomach to treat acute conditions of vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.

  How to get it:

Fresh mint is sold at most food markets.  Peppermint or spearmint has a similar effect.   Dried mint has a stronger therapeutic effect.

Preparation:

• The leaves and stems are all used.   
• Mint should be prepared like green tea, brewed and not overcooked.
• To make the tea, pour boiling water over the fresh mint leaves and stems.  Serve as hot tea for indigestion or flu.
• To treat fever, it is most effective when used alone. 
• To treat chills without much fever, combine mint with warm-natured foods such as perilla leaf, scallion, ginger root, or cinnamon twig.
• For treating headaches with red and painful eyes, combine the mint with chrysanthemum flower and make hot tea.

Caution: Overconsumption or long-term use may aggravate skin rash for weakened individuals.  Nursing mothers should stay away from mint as it may reduce milk production.

Scallion (Green Onion)

Indications:

1. Abdominal pain/bloating
2. Appetite, low
3. Common cold
4. Constipation
5. Diarrhea/dysentery
6. Low blood pressure
7. High cholesterol
8. Indigestion
9. Insomnia
10. Intestinal parasite, tick repellant
11. Mastitis
12. Microbial infection
13. Nasal congestion
14. Nausea, vomiting
15. Nodules
16. Skin sore/abscess (topical)
17. Sweat, absence

Comments:

According to five element theory, scallion, or green onion, represents lung organ, and has a spicy taste.  Spicy taste travels in the defensive qi level and scatters qi.  For this reason, spicy food is used to expel pathogenic factors.  Since scallion has a combination of spicy taste with a warming nature, it is used to treat a cold induced pathogen, such as treating the early stage of a common cold with cold signs.  It also leads other food to enter the lung channel to strengthen the immune system and treat nasal congestion.  The lung controls nose fluid. 

Scallion is similar to chive in its properties and taste.  The difference is that chives grown in Asia are mostly wild and have a stronger spicy taste.  Scallion is cultivated and not as spicy.

Scallion should be the first food to consider if you feel chills with body aches.  Scallion chases out the very early stages of a common cold by inducing sweating.  It treats the sudden onset of body aches, headache, and stuffy nose. The root and white part of the scallion is the most effective for treating the early stages of a common cold.

The other function of scallion is its promotion of yang qi circulation.  Yang qi is warming energy.  It warms up and stimulates the stomach organ to treat stomachache, indigestion, cold induced diarrhea and dysentery.  It also helps ease cold induced nausea and vomiting caused by either cold food such as ice cream, or exposure to cold weather. Scallion is often used topically to treat bruises from sport injuries. It is also effective for topically treating skin sores, skin abscesses, mastitis, and fat deposits on the skin, such as cellulite.  For topical application, mix ground scallion with honey to enhance the effect.

To a minor degree it clears heat from blood vessels and promotes blood circulation. With this action, scallion is known for lowering cholesterol and treating low blood pressure. 

In addition, scallion kills intestinal parasites to treat abdominal pain.  Consumption of raw scallion is used as tick(lyme) repellant.   It is also used to regulate bowel movements to ease constipation.

Preparation:

• Scallion should not be cooked for more than a few seconds.
• Scallion salad: Use young scallion or chives and dip in boiling water (blanch) for a few seconds. Then, wrap the white root with the green leaves of the scallion, and dip in chili sauce, mixture of Go-Chu-Jang, vinegar, sesame seed oil.  This dish will improve the immune system and sleep disorders.
• Topical application: Grind fresh scallion and add honey in a 2 to 1 ratio.  Apply on skin inflammation, cellulite or fat deposits.  Apply once or twice a day for a while, until the condition improves.

Caution:

Use caution with overconsumption of scallion.  Spicy or acrid tasting food travels in the qi level and disperses qi.  Scallion scatters qi, and overconsumption should be avoided for qi deficient individuals.  If patient has a qi deficiency and sweats spontaneously, they should limit their scallion consumption.

Negative food combination:  Contraindicated to consume with honey or jujube fruit, Da Zao, which is a Chinese date.

Seaweed (Kelp, Wakame, Nori)

Indication:

• Arteriosclerosis, stiffening of arterial wall
• Breast cancer prevention
• Cerebral thrombosis, blood clot in the brain
• Dysuria, painful urination
• Edema, leg edema
• Enlarged organs
• Fungal infection
• Goiter
• HBP, High cholesterol
• Lactation, poor
• Mental clarity, poor
• Nodule
• Osteoporosis
• Pain from hernia
• Scrofula
• Scrotum enlargement
• Thyroid disorder

Botanical Name:  Sargassum pallidum

Properties: Bitter, salty, cold

Channels: Kidney, Liver, Lung, Stomach

Functions: Clears heat and reduces phlegm nodules, regulates water circulation

Comments: 

Seaweed reduces fatty lumps in our body.  Most edible seaweed has a similar effect for treating breast disorder, scrofula, nodules, obesity, cellulite, and goiter.

Kelp is the best food to reduce any kind of nodule, either hard or rubbery.  It is particularly good for thyroid disorder, goiter, hernia, and scrofula.  It also improves skin condition by reducing fatty tissue or cellulite deposits.  These nodules mentioned above are caused by phlegm. Any type of edible seaweed effectively reduces a phlegm condition. 

It also treats edema. It is known to treat 12 different types of edema such as morning puffiness on face and hands, premenstrual edema, or water retention in the legs.  Kelp also reduces phlegm from the upper body.  It is effective for respiratory problems, in addition to treating asthma and a stuffy chest.  It also clarifies mental function.  Another effect is the promotion of urination, but that action is weak.

Wakame, or Mi-Yeuk, is an Undaria pinnatifida species.  It has broad green leaves and is mostly used for making soup or salad.  In Korea it is used as a recovery food after childbirth, and to promote milk production.   In fact, Mi-Yeuk seaweed soup is the first food served to women after childbirth to open lactation, or milk production.  It also reduces breast tenderness, promotes uterine contraction after childbirth, and stops bleeding.

Paper-thin seaweed that is used to wrap sushi rolls is called nori, or gim in Korea.  It is red algae of the species, Porphyra.  Nori  is good for scanty urination, constipation, nausea, anemia, edema, osteoporosis, and prostate enlargement.  It also detoxifies medical overdose.  

How to get it:

• Seaweed is sold as dried or salted at most food store.
• Nori/Gim is sold as either roasted or non-roasted.  The non-roasted one is used to roll sushi.  The roasted one is ready to serve.  Eat it with rice.
• Preparation, Kelp: 
• Dried kelp:  It is readily used as soup stock.  Boil the dried kelp with dried anchovies on low heat.  Take out the kelp and anchovies and add vegetable.
• Use the soup stock to make Asian style noodle soup, udon, or miso soup.
• Dried kelp can also be deep fried and sprinkled with sugar and served as desert
• Urinary disorder: Make kelp tea.  Get thick and dark colored dried kelp.  Slice the kelp to make decoction.  Boil for 40-60 minutes and serve as hot tea.
• Topical applicationfor cellulite or lumpy skin:  Mix ground kelp and chopped scallion. Apply on the skin and cover with plastic wrap for many hours, or overnight.  Repeat the treatment until the condition is improved.