You may not know the "longevity vegetable", but you should eat it

When I was a child, my mother often cooked a kind of wild vegetable for me. I remember it was called longevity vegetable. Because it has five colors (green leaves, red stems, yellow flowers, white roots, and black seeds), it is also called five-color amaranth. This wild vegetable grows in fields. Its stems are very tender. If you break them gently, rich juice will flow out. You can also make "necklaces" by cutting off pieces. My mother removed the roots of the longevity vegetables she dug, washed them, boiled them in boiling water for a while, took them out and drained the water, poured sesame oil, aged vinegar, soy sauce, chili oil on the vegetables, added salt, and mixed them with fried sesame seeds. It tasted so delicious, and it is said that eating it regularly can make one live a hundred years.

Later, after I studied Chinese medicine, I learned that the longevity vegetable is the traditional Chinese medicine Purslane, also known as horse god vegetable, horse tongue vegetable, horse bee vegetable, nine-headed lion grass, five-sided grass, five elements grass, ant vegetable, grasshopper vegetable, melon seed vegetable, and ground horse vegetable. It is cold in nature, sour and sweet in taste, and enters the heart, liver, spleen, and large intestine meridians. It has the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, stopping bleeding and relieving pain. It can be used for dysentery, enteritis, nephritis, bloody stool, postpartum hemorrhage, etc.

In recent years, it has been discovered that Purslane also has the effects of lowering blood sugar, blood lipids, blood pressure, anti-infection, anti-aging, and anti-tumor. No wonder it is a veritable "longevity vegetable."

Modern applications of Purslane are as follows:

1. Lowering blood sugar and blood lipids: Purslane (30 grams, 3 times/day) can be used to treat patients with diabetes and hyperlipidemia, and can lower blood sugar and blood lipids. (Chinese Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Issue 6, 2015)

2. Lowering blood pressure: Purslane is rich in potassium, which can act as a diuretic and reduce swelling, dilate blood vessels, and prevent thickening of arterial walls, thus lowering blood pressure. (Old Age Education: Elderly Home, Issue 10, 2008)

3. Anti-infection: Purslane juice has inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, etc. It can be used for dysentery, tuberculosis, acne, eczema, herpes zoster, vitiligo, gonorrhea, appendicitis, etc. (For details, please see "Chinese Medicine Clinical Research" 2012 Issue 13)

Although purslane is a "longevity vegetable", there are three types of people who cannot eat it: people with weak spleen and stomach (people who cannot eat cold food), people with diarrhea due to cold (diarrhea due to cold climate), and pregnant women (prone to miscarriage). Other people can enjoy this delicious longevity vegetable.