What Foods Help Remove Dampness from the Body?

Generally, consuming foods such as hyacinth bean, ginger, pumpkin, corn silk, and lotus leaf may help eliminate dampness from the body. If there is a need to remove dampness, one can choose appropriate combinations based on individual conditions. The details are as follows:

1. Hyacinth Bean: Hyacinth bean is neutral in nature and sweet in taste, possessing the function of strengthening the spleen and resolving dampness. It can enhance the transformation and transportation functions of the spleen and stomach, promote the metabolism of dampness in the body, and improve symptoms such as poor appetite, abdominal distension, and loose stools caused by dampness. It is suitable for cooking porridge with rice to gently regulate the body.

2. Ginger: Ginger is warm in nature and pungent in taste, with the effects of warming the middle jiao, dispersing cold, resolving dampness, and relieving exterior syndromes. Its active ingredient, gingerol, can stimulate gastrointestinal motility, promote blood circulation, and help the body expel dampness. It is especially suitable for individuals with cold-damp constitutions. An appropriate amount of ginger can be added to dishes or used to make ginger tea.

3. Pumpkin: Pumpkin is warm in nature and sweet in taste, having the effects of strengthening the spleen and stomach, resolving dampness, and eliminating phlegm. It is rich in pectin, which protects the gastric mucosa, promotes digestion, and enhances the function of the spleen and stomach, thereby reducing the accumulation of dampness in the body. It can be steamed, boiled, or made into pumpkin puree, offering a soft, delicious texture and rich nutrition.

4. Corn Silk: Corn silk is neutral in nature and sweet in taste, possessing the functions of promoting diuresis, reducing edema, and eliminating dampness and jaundice. It can promote urination and help eliminate dampness from the body by increasing urine output. It can help relieve symptoms such as edema and difficult urination caused by dampness. Dried corn silk can be collected and used to make tea.

5. Lotus Leaf: Lotus leaf is neutral in nature and bitter-pungent in taste, possessing the functions of clearing summerheat, resolving dampness, and uplifting clear yang. It can promote the transformation and movement of dampness in the body and help eliminate pathogenic summerheat-damp. It is suitable for consumption when dampness is heavy during summer. Dried lotus leaf can be steeped in hot water as tea, or a small amount can be added while cooking porridge to add fragrance and aid dampness removal.

In daily life, in addition to dietary regulation for dampness removal, one can also engage in moderate physical activity every day, such as brisk walking or jogging, to promote sweating and expel dampness. At the same time, maintain a dry and well-ventilated living environment to avoid dampness invading the body.