We will be going into the Xiao Shu (小暑) solar term (节气) starting from 7 to 21 Jul 2026. Xiao Shu is the 11th solar term out of the entire 24.

With the arrival of Xiao Shu, we are about two weeks away from the most humid time of the year, Da Shu (大暑).

In these two weeks, some people may experience weaker digestion and/or poor appetite due to the humidity.

The dietary direction for this solar term is 消暑健脾, 养阴生津. This means reducing summer heatiness, strengthening the spleen, as well as nourishing the Yin to encourage the production of fluids in the body.

The following are foods you can consider to consume more often during this period:

Adzuki beans (赤小豆) – Adzuki beans are good for clearing summer heatiness as well as helping to remove dampness in our body. It is one of the best foods to be consumed during this solar term.

Chinese Yam (山药) –  Chinese yam is very suitable for this period because it can help to strengthen our spleen and improve its ability to get rid of accumulated dampness in our body.

Winter Melon (冬瓜) – Winter melon is a recommended food for this solar term because it can help to remove the dampness in the body through urination. It can also reduce body heatiness due to the summer heat.

Lotus Seeds (Chinese name: 莲子) – Lotus seed is good for calming the mind. Heart fire can disrupt the mind and affect sleep quality. Lotus seed is a natural remedy to counter this.

General Wellness Recommendation

In the next 4 weeks (2 solar terms), there will be an increase in cases of 暑湿感冒 (summer flu) as compared to the usual wind heat flu (风热感冒) or wind cold flu (风寒感冒).

The characteristics of summer flu are high and persistent fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and/or skin rashes.

Unlike wind heat and wind cold flu, people with summer flu will not find relief after sweating. Thus, some people may suspect it is dengue fever.

The following are some suggestions to avoid getting summer flu in the next 4 weeks:

Avoid entering an air-conditioned room immediately after sweating from the heat. Instead, find a sheltered place to cool down and let the sweating subside before entering the air-conditioned area.

Avoid consuming cold drinks especially when you are feeling very warm and hot. It is best to drink room temperature water in this case so that it won’t hurt your spleen. This is the most common reason why people get summer flu.

Avoid consuming oily and sweet foods as they will burden and weaken your spleen and increase your vulnerability to summer flu.

Consume foods that help to strengthen your spleen and clear dampness in the body (such as those mentioned earlier in this post).

For someone who has gotten the summer flu (with the above mentioned symptoms), he/she can try to take 藿香正气丸. This is a proven TCM formula for summer flu that you can purchase in any TCM retail shop.

Hope this information helps!

We will be going into the Xia Zhi (夏至) solar term (节气) starting from 21 Jun to 6 Jul 2026. Xia Zhi is the 10th solar term out of the entire 24.

Xia Zhi is the best period to boost one’s Yang energy, especially if you can’t withstand cooler weather during year end. The reason is that Xia Zhi has one of the highest levels of Yang energy in the environment compared to other solar terms.

By leveraging the high Yang energy in the environment during this time, people with Yang deficiency can benefit from consuming Yang-boosting foods such as walnuts, chinese chestnuts, ginger tea (in the morning), and cherries.

This also aligns with the Chinese saying “冬病夏治”, which means any winter-related illness/discomfort can be treated during summer time.

Side note: People with Yang deficiency have a lower tolerance to cooler/cold weather, tend to fall sick more often and some may feel weakness/soreness in the lower back or knee area.

As the weather will continue to be warm and humid, the general dietary direction for this solar term is 食宜清淡，不宜肥甘厚味 – which means to adopt a light diet, and avoid oily and sweet stuff.

The following are some of the foods that you can consider consuming more during this time:

Lily Bulb (Chinese name: 百合) – Lily bulb is one of the best foods to reduce heart fire as its main property is nourishing heart Yin energy. When the heart’s Yin energy is sufficient, the heart is less likely to be in a heaty state. You can purchase dried lily bulb at most TCM retail shops or fresh ones at the supermarket.

Chinese Yam (山药) –  Chinese yam is very suitable to be consumed during this period because it can help to strengthen the spleen and improve its ability to get rid of accumulated dampness in our body.

Mung Beans (绿豆) – You can easily prepare a mung bean drink in 5 minutes, which helps to clear summer heat in the body. It also has the property of quenching thirst, detoxing and reducing dampness. This makes it an ideal drink during this period.

Chinese Barley (薏苡仁) – Another highly recommended food to eat during this period is Chinese barley as it has very strong properties to help with clearing dampness, especially if you have water retention issues in the lower part of your body.

General Wellness Recommendation

In the next 6 weeks (3 solar terms), there will be an increase in cases of 暑湿感冒 (summer flu) as compared to the usual wind heat flu (风热感冒) or wind cold flu (风寒感冒).

The characteristics of summer flu are high and persistent fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and/or skin rashes.

Unlike wind heat and wind cold flu, people with summer flu will not find relief after sweating. Thus, some people may suspect it is dengue fever.

The following are some suggestions to avoid getting summer flu in the next 6 weeks:

1. Avoid entering an air-conditioned room immediately after sweating from the heat. Instead, find a sheltered place to cool down and let the sweating subside before entering the air-conditioned area.
2. Avoid consuming cold drinks especially when you are feeling very warm and hot. It is best to drink room temperature water in this case so that it won’t hurt your spleen. This is the most common reason why people get summer flu.
3. Avoid consuming oily and sweet foods as they will burden and weaken your spleen and increase your vulnerability to summer flu.
4. Consume foods that help to strengthen your spleen and clear dampness in the body (such as those mentioned earlier in this post).

For someone who has gotten the summer flu (with the above mentioned symptoms), he/she can try to take 藿香正气丸. This is a proven TCM formula for summer flu that you can purchase in any TCM retail shop.

Have a healthy Xia Zhi solar term!

We will be going into the Mang Zhong (芒种) solar term (节气) starting from 5 to 20 Jun 2026. Mang Zhong is the 9th solar term out of the entire 24.

This solar term can also mean '忙'种, which translates to 'busy farming'. This is one of the busiest periods of the year for farmers, hence, the name of this solar term.

Similar to the previous solar term, we will experience rainfall with high temperatures during these two weeks—this combination will result in a very humid environment.

As the environment is humid, it is very easy for the body to accumulate dampness (湿邪). The spleen will be the first organ to be affected by this dampness. Excessive dampness in the body will lead to poor appetite, chest tightness, loose stools, low energy and/or feeling frustrated easily.

Hence the dietary direction for this solar term is to adopt a light diet with easily digestible foods. Do your best not to eat too full, and avoid fatty, flavorful and spicy foods so as not to add more burden to your spleen during this period of time.

This solar term normally coincides with the Dumpling Festival (端午节). You can choose to consume some dumplings (粽子) if possible, as glutinous rice strengthens the spleen, while the leaf (荷叶) that is wrapped around the dumpling reduces heaviness and clears dampness in the body.

The following are some recommended foods that you can consume during this solar term:

Glutinous Rice (糯米) – Glutinous rice can help to strengthen the spleen and relieve excessive sweating. It is no coincidence that during this solar term (which typically coincides with the Dumpling Festival), the tradition is to consume dumplings (粽子) that are made of glutinous rice. Just make sure not to eat too many dumplings as too much glutinous rice can cause indigestion. Remember to eat all foods in moderation.

Mung Beans (绿豆) – Mung beans are also commonly known as green beans. You can easily prepare a mung bean drink in 5 minutes, which helps to clear summer heat in the body. It also has the property of quenching thirst, detoxing and reducing dampness. This makes it an ideal drink tpo consume during this period.

Winter Melon (冬瓜) – Winter melon is a good food to eat during this period because it helps to remove the dampness from the body through urination. It can also reduce body heatiness due to the summer heat.

Lily Bulb (Chinese name: 百合) – Lily bulb is one of the best foods to reduce heart fire as its main property is nourishing heart Yin energy. When the heart’s Yin energy is sufficient, the heart is less likely to be in a heaty state. You can purchase dried lily bulb at most TCM retail shops or fresh ones at the supermarket.

Chinese Yam (山药) –  Chinese yam is very suitable to be consumed during this period because it can help to strengthen the spleen and improve its ability to get rid of accumulated dampness in our body.

General Wellness Recommendation

During this period, the heart can easily accumulate fire (心火), resulting in insomnia, dizziness, feeling frustrated, and/or irregular/heavy heartbeat.

The main lifestyle recommendation is to reduce the heart fire or prevent it from going into an excessive state.

Meditating is an effective way to reduce heart fire. Do consider meditating before sleep. It can help to reduce the heart fire and calm the mind.

For best results, you can enjoy a book after meditation (instead of using mobile devices) and go to bed when you start to feel sleepy.

Another important thing to note during this period is to avoid doing strenuous exercises.

The reason is that such exercises will make you sweat a lot and in TCM, there is a saying “汗为心之液” – which means the sweat is actually fluid from the heart. This also means that excessive sweating will deplete the heart’s Yin energy and thus, making one’s heart go into the heart fire (心火) state easily. Try to go for light exercises so you won’t sweat so much.

If you have been sweating a lot during this period, make sure you add some lily bulbs (dried or fresh) to your diet as lily bulbs can help to replenish your heart Yin energy.

Another simple way to replenish heart Yin energy is to drink more water. But if you’re unable to do so for practical reasons (especially during work), then consuming lily bulb will be a better way.

We will be going into the Xiao Man (小满) solar term (节气) starting from 21 May to 4 Jun 2026. Xiao Man is the 8th solar term out of the entire 24.

The reason it is called Xiao Man is because during this period, grains like barley (大麦) and winter wheat (冬小麦) start to get fuller (饱满). However, the grains still need more time to become fully ripened. Hence it’s called ‘Xiao Man’ (小满, on its way to being fully ripened) instead of ‘Man’ (满, meaning fully ripened).

During this solar term, we can expect to see more rainfall and high temperatures at the same time. This means the environment will be very humid, resulting in dampness (湿邪) developing in the body.

When the body has too much dampness (湿邪), the person will experience symptoms like poor appetite, bloated stomach, lack of energy or not having the urge to drink water.

The dietary direction for this solar term should be 健脾化湿, which means strengthening the spleen to remove dampness.

Before we go into the recommended list of foods, I strongly recommend you to avoid consuming cold drinks and sweet stuff during this period as it will worsen the dampness in the body.

The following are the top 5 foods recommended during this solar term:

Green Beans (绿豆) – Green bean (also known as mung bean) not only helps to clear heatiness in our body, but they can also remove dampness from our body by increasing our urination frequency. Green beans have stronger heat-clearing and anti-inflammatory properties than red beans.

Red Beans (红豆) – Red beans have the properties of clearing heatiness and removing dampness in the body. This is the reason why some people like to mix Chinese barley with red beans for dampness removal purposes. Red beans have stronger dampness removal properties than green beans.

Winter Melon (冬瓜) – Winter melon is a good food to eat during this period because it helps to remove the dampness in the body through urination. It can also reduce body heatiness due to the summer heat.

Chinese Yam (山药) – Chinese yam is very suitable to be consumed during this period because it can help to strengthen the spleen and improve its ability to get rid of accumulated dampness in our body.

Chinese Barley (薏苡仁) – Another highly recommended food to eat during this period is Chinese barley as it has very strong properties to help with clearing dampness, especially if you have water retention issues in the lower part of your body.

General Wellness Recommendation

During this period, the heart can easily accumulate fire (心火), resulting in insomnia, dizziness, feeling frustrated, and/or irregular/heavy heartbeat.

The main lifestyle recommendation is to reduce the heart fire or prevent it from going into an excessive state.

Meditating is an effective way to reduce heart fire. Do consider meditating before sleep. It can help to reduce the heart fire and calm the mind.

For best results, you can enjoy a book after meditation (instead of using mobile devices) and go to bed when you start to feel sleepy.

Another important thing to note during this period is to avoid doing strenuous exercises.

The reason is that such exercises will make you sweat a lot and in TCM, there is a saying “汗为心之液” – which means the sweat is actually fluid from the heart. This also means that excessive sweating will deplete the heart’s Yin energy and thus, making one’s heart go into the heart fire (心火) state easily. Try to go for light exercises so you won’t sweat so much.

If you have been sweating a lot during this period, make sure you add some lily bulbs (dried or fresh) to your diet as lily bulbs can help to replenish your heart Yin energy.

We will be going into the Li Xia (立夏) solar term (节气) starting from 5 to 20 May 2026. Li Xia is the 7th solar term out of the entire 24 and it is also the first solar term of the summer season.

During Li Xia, the Yang energy in our environment will further increase, which means temperatures will continue to be on the rise. It will also be accompanied with rain at times (especially if you are living in tropical countries).

During this period, the warmth and dampness in our environment will cause some people to have poorer appetite (as dampness will affect our spleen).

If you find that your appetite is affected, you can try to eat some 茶叶蛋 (tea eggs) or dried tangerine peel. Dried tangerine peel can help to improve appetite and regulate stomach Qi at the same time.

The dietary direction in this solar term is 养心安神 (calm our minds). The reason is that the heart (in TCM, it also represents the mind) will accumulate fire (心火) easily during this period (as summer aligns with the organ – heart).

When a person has heart fire (心火), the following symptoms will occur (not all at the same time):

- Insomnia

- Irregular/heavy heartbeat

- Giddiness

- Ulcers on the tongue

- Feeling frustrated

The following are some recommended foods to consume during this period to calm the mind and reduce heart fire (心火):

Lily Bulb (Chinese name: 百合) – Lily bulb is one of the best foods to reduce heart fire as its main property is nourishing heart Yin energy. When the heart’s Yin energy is sufficient, the heart is less likely to be in a heaty state. You can purchase dried lily bulb at most TCM retail shops or fresh ones at the supermarket.

Bitter Gourd (Chinese name: 苦瓜) – Bitter gourd is one of the ideal vegetables to be consumed during this period as it helps in clearing body heatiness and it also has the property of brightening the eyes.

Mung Beans (Chinese name: 绿豆) – Also known as green beans. You can easily prepare a mung bean drink in 5 minutes, which helps to clear summer heat in the body. It also has the property of quenching thirst, detoxing and reducing dampness. This makes it an ideal drink during this period.

Lotus Seeds (Chinese name: 莲子) – Lotus seed is good for calming the mind. Heart fire can disrupt the mind and affect sleep quality. Lotus seed is a natural remedy to counter this, which is similar to the next food, Fu Ling.

Fu Ling (Chinese name: 茯苓) – Fu ling is excellent for strengthening the spleen and improving sleeping quality. During this summer period, the spleen can be easily affected and thus, Fu Ling will be a good addition to your diet in the upcoming months.

General Wellness Recommendation

In the next two to three months, the heart can easily accumulate fire (心火), resulting in insomnia, dizziness, feeling frustrated, and/or irregular/heavy heartbeat.

The main lifestyle recommendation is to reduce the heart fire or prevent it from going into an excessive state.

Meditating is an effective way to reduce heart fire. Do consider meditating before sleep. It can help to reduce the heart fire and calm the mind.

For best results, you can enjoy a book after meditation (instead of using mobile devices) and go to bed when you start to feel sleepy.

Another important thing to note during this period is to avoid doing strenuous exercises.

The reason is that such exercises will make you sweat a lot and in TCM, there is a saying “汗为心之液” – which means the sweat is actually fluid from the heart. This also means that excessive sweating will deplete the heart’s Yin energy and thus, making one’s heart easily go into the heart fire (心火) state. Try to go for light exercise so you won’t sweat so much.

If you have been sweating a lot during this period, make sure you add some lily bulbs (dried or fresh) to your diet as lily bulbs can help to replenish your heart Yin energy.

Another simple way to replenish heart Yin energy is to drink more water. But if you’re unable to do so for practical reasons (especially during work), then consuming lily bulb will be a better way.

Hope this information helps!

Do take care of yourself and the people around you during this Li Xia solar term!