Job’s Tears & Winter Melon for Weight Loss
By Vicky Chan of NourishU
In a previous recipe, we introduced Job’s tears and their remarkable health benefits. Job’s tears are not only good for releasing water logging in cells, they have many healing properties such as lowering cholesterol, preventing allergies, anti-cancer growth, detoxifying, clearing phlegm, removing internal heat and draining puss.
Winter melon has similar health benefits as Job’s tears. The healing effects can be even better when combining the two ingredients together. Here is a soup recipe using the two ingredients plus some more ingredients to make it very delicious. It is easy to make and is suitable for the whole family and all ages. It is best for people who are overweight and would like to get rid of some extra pounds.
If making soup takes too long for you, you can simplify the recipe by just using the two main ingredients, Job’s tears and winter melon, to make them into a beverage. It can be taken regularly throughout the day, warm or cold. It is especially good for the summer months for quenching thirst and for countering the adverse weather effects.
To make the drink, the quantity of each ingredient can vary according to your own liking, resulting in a thicker drink or a thinner drink. If you dice the melon smaller and pre-soak Job’s tears for a few hours, it will take less time to have them cooked and dissolved mostly into the water. For the undissolved Job’s tears, you can eat them separately as cereal for breakfast or add them to other recipes or salads.
It is a very inexpensive recipe to get a whole lot of health benefits. BON APPÉTIT!
Winter Melon and Job's Tears Chicken Soup
SYMPTOMS
Overweight with damp heat syndrome (scarce urination, skin eruptions and indigestion).
THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS
Relieves dampness and clears heat, diuretic, relieves constipation, improves complexion, invigorates spleen, improves digestion and benefits blood.
INGREDIENTS
(for 5 to 6 servings)
- Winter melon 冬瓜- 2000gm
- Job's tears (yi yi ren) 薏以仁 - 80gm
- Bone-in skinless chicken breast – one piece
- Lean pork with bone – 2 to 3 pieces
- Ginger – 3 to 4 slices
- Honey dates - 3
- Dried scallop – 3 to 4 (optional)
- Dried Mandarin orange peel – 1 piece (optional, soak for 15 minutes and scrape out the white membrane to get rid of the bitter taste)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Rinse chicken and pork and cut meat from bones into large pieces. Remove skin of winter melon and dice into cubes. Rinse Job’s tears.
2. Bring 4 cups of water in a soup pot to a rolling boil and put in bones to boil for about 3 minutes. Then add meat to boil for another 1 to 2 minutes. Discard water and rinse meat.
3. Fill soup pot with 2 to 3 liters of clean water and put all ingredients in, except melon. Bring content to a boil for 10 minutes, and then reduce heat to medium to cook for 1.5 hours. Add hot water to the cooking when necessary.
4. Add winter melon and continue the cooking for another half hour to melon is cooked to desire softness.
5. Add salt to taste and serve.
USAGE
Not suitable for people with cold spleen syndrome (acid reflux). Take regularly for best results.
Job’s Tears and Red Beans For Longevity
By Vicky Chan of NourishU
Job’s tears are commonly known as Chinese pearl barley or coix. They are the seed of a grass, grown mostly in Asia and are well known for their many health benefits.
Chinese Medicine classifies the nature of Job’s tears as slightly cold and sweet and they are attributive to spleen, stomach, lungs, liver, and large intestine. They are known to promote diuresis and invigorate the spleen; relieve dampness obstruction and eliminate phlegm. They can also clear away heat and drain pus. Job's tears are a superior herb, proven and safe and commonly used for treating babies with heat rashes, children with smallpox and skin allergies and adults with arthritis, high cholesterol, obesity, scanty urine, swelling and pain in joints and sinews, rheumatism, lung infections, cough with blood in sputum and dry scaly skin. They are almost like an all-encompassing herb which can do so much good for our health.
Modern scientific research has confirmed the anti-allergic effect and cholesterol lowering properties of Job’s tears. Some research suggests that the chemicals in Job's tears might interfere with cancer cell growth, has antioxidant effects and might also decrease the growth of bacteria and parasites. Other research has found that the fiber contained in Job's tears might decrease how much fat and cholesterol the body absorbs.
In order to get the best results from Job’s tears, it is recommended to eat them regularly. There are many ways and recipes incorporating Job`s tears in our everyday diet. They can be made into tea, soups, desserts or stews. Please search our website (www.nourishu.com) to see many recipes using Job’s tears to cure many different health problems.
With many middle age people nowadays suffering from high blood pressure, obesity and heart disease, one common root cause of their problems is internal dampness or water logging in cells. The following recipe of using Job’s tears and red bean is the best natural cure to solve their health woes. In many Chinese Medicine literatures, this recipe is highly praised as the one thing to take daily for health and longevity. The basic recipe can be extended depending on one`s needs by adding one or two extra ingredients to give added benefits. This is the healthiest breakfast replacement to the unhealthy food that most people are eating daily such as milk and cereals, instant oatmeal, bread and baked goods.
And it is very easy to make. You just need to put the ingredients in a slow cooker and start the cooking before you go to bed and then you have this healthy hot breakfast waiting for you when you get up in the morning. It is especially comforting during winter time to have a hot breakfast before heading out into the cold. You can make it as thick or as watery as you like. You may drink the liquid as a beverage and strain the grains to eat separately at lunch by adding them to a salad or eat them together as a hot thick cereal. You can make a batch good enough for up to two to three days if it is easier for you. Please note: never add rice to this recipe because it will defeat the purpose of using it as a diuretic because rice is bonding and will do the opposite!
Job’s Tears and Red Bean Soup
Symptoms
Overweight, water retention, poor digestive health.
Therapeutic Effects
Releases water retention, promotes energy circulation and reduces body fat and overall body weight.
Ingredients (for 2 to 3 servings)
- Job’s tears (yi yi ren) 意米 – half cup
- Red beans – half cup
Optional Ingredients
- add pumpkin – to treat diabetes, stomach pain, constipation or diarrhea
- add yam – to treat underweight and lack of appetite
- add fox nut – to treat weak constitution, weak kidney functions and frequent urination
- add ginger – to treat cold stomach syndrome with cold hands and feet
- add black bean – to strengthen kidney
- add soy bean – to treat water retention in lower legs and feet
- add pear – to treat cough
- add longan fruit – to treat lack of energy and over sleeping
- add lily bulb and lotus seed – to treat insomnia
Directions
- Rinse all ingredients and put in a pot with adequate water. If using a slow heat cooker, start off the cooking with hot boiling water.
- Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium and cook for one hour or to desire softness.
- When ready to eat, add honey or organic sugar to taste if preferred.
Usage
No limitations and suitable for all ages.
Winter Melon Healing Properties and Recipe
Winter Melon for Summer Heat
By Vicky Chan of NourishU
Winter Melon/Wax Gourd/Tong Qwa
Winter melon is one of the most common, easy and fast growing fruit-vegetables in summer. Each plant can produce numerous large fruits on vines like watermelons up until late fall, and each melon can weigh up to 50 pounds. The reason why it is called winter melon is because it can be stored in a cool place without refrigeration and can last for months - even throughout the winter. But the best time to consume them is at harvest time. It is not just because of freshness, it is because this is when nature intended us to eat it; winter melon is for helping our body to counter summer heat and humidity. Also, people generally tend to consume a lot more cold fluid in summer and usually they are drinking much too fast for the body to process the water properly. Therefore water retention is common with people at the end of summer, especially those with slow metabolic function or people with weak kidney or digestive functions.
In Chinese medicine, winter melon is neutral and slightly cool in nature, sweet in taste and acts on our lungs, bladder, large intestine and small intestine. It helps to detoxify, clears out mucus and phlegm and promotes digestion. It is most suitable for people with kidney problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, over weight and with coronary heart disease. For people with weak and cold stomach/spleen constitution, weak with lack of yang energy or with loose stools, they should eat winter melon in moderation.
Chinese cuisine uses winter melon in soup, stew, congee and stir-fry. Making winter melon tea in the summer and especially during the hottest days is the most common home remedy people make to combat heat waves and to prevent sun stroke. The tea is highly recommended for children and outdoor workers who often stay outdoors. Making winter melon tea is very simple. Just cut melon into large cubes (with or without skin), cook with a large pot of water for about 30 minutes and add cane sugar to taste at the end. It can be served warm or cold with melon and good for keep in the fridge for up to a week. It is a very healthy summer beverage for the whole family.
Winter melon soups are most soothing and delicious. They are easy to make and can go with almost any combination of ingredients. You do not need to follow any specific recipe if it is not for specific treatment purposes. Winter melon goes well with most meat such as chicken, pork, duck or seafood such as crab meat or shrimps and vegetarian ingredients such as most beans, nuts, mushrooms and common food herbs such as lotus seeds, dried lily bulb and fox nuts, etc. You just need to cook up a soup base first and then add the melon to the cooking at the last 30 minutes. Here is one example recipe for your reference. You can also search our website for other therapeutic recipes using winter melon.
Winter Melon, Job’s Tears and Dried Mussel Soup
THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS
Cools internal heat, diuretic, lowers blood pressure, promotes yin and helps to lose weight.
INGREDIENTS (4 to 6 servings)
• Winter Melon 冬瓜 – 300gm
• Chicken breast – one piece
• Lean pork – one piece (optional)
• Job’s tears (yi yi ren) 薏以仁 – 30gm
• Dried scallop乾瑤柱 – 4
• Dried mussel 淡菜 – two spoonfuls
• Dried Shitake Mushroom 冬菇 - 6
• Dried longan fruit (long yan rou) 龍眼肉 – 8 to 10
• Ginger – 2 slices
DIRECTIONS
- Wash chicken breast and pork, cut into a few pieces and put in boiling water to boil for a few minutes, remove and rinse.
- Soak dried mushroom until soft (about 30 minutes) and rinse. Soak other dried ingredients for a few minutes and rinse.
- Remove melon skin and seeds in the middle if any, wash melon and cut into large pieces and put aside.
- Put all ingredients (except melon) in a soup pot with about half pot of water. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer for 1.5 hours.
- Add winter melon, bring heat up to medium and let it cook for another 30 minutes. Add more water if necessary.
- Add a little salt to serve. Eat melon with soup.
USAGE
No restrictions.