Sesame:
"Neutral" sesame can helping reinforce the kidneys and liver, thus help relieve dizziness, sore bones, hair loss and grey hair.
Yellow foods including the potato, corn and soybeans correspond with earth in the five elements. Earth is linked with late summer, thinking, sweetness, as well as the spleen and stomach. Thus, eating yellow foods is believed to be an effective way to help reinforce and protect the digestive system.
It is usually hot and rainy in late summer. Excessive dampness can harm the spleen and stomach and thus lead to a bad appetite. In this case, we should eat more sweet or yellow foods to help reinforce spleen energy.
Yellow foods like soybeans and pumpkins are usually rich in vitamins A and D.
Vitamin A can help protect the lining in both digestive and respiratory systems, which helps prevent stomach inflammation and ulcers. Vitamin D can help promote the absorption of calcium and phosphorus and thus strengthening bones.
Yellow foods: Oranges, pumpkin, soybean, corn, millet, potato.
Pumpkin: "Warm" pumpkin can help reinforce energy, improve the spleen and stomach, relieve inflammation and kill pain.
Corn: "Neutral" corn can help the spleen, promote appetite, help the urinary tract and dispel pathogenic heat and dampness.
White foods including white fungus, turnip, lily root and pear correspond with metal in the five elements. Metal is also connected with autumn, sadness, spiciness, as well as the lungs and large intestine.
Dry autumn brings damage to the digestive system easily, and causes coughing and a sore throat. White foods are believed to be the best remedy for dryness in autumn. Apart from relieving coughing, they can also help nourish skin and relieve constipation through the promotion of body fluids.
White foods such as milk and fish are also recommended by nutritionists as they are usually rich in protein yet relatively low in fat.
White foods: Lotus root, almonds, ginseng, turnip, yam, white fungus, Chinese cabbage and soybean milk