This week I've been talking about some foods that help the bladder with optimal functioning based on the principles set out in Traditional Chinese Medicine. These include foods with a high water content such as grapes, pears, melons, particularly watermelon, berries, green beans, lettuces and parsley.
Parsley in particular is a great bladder boosting food– it’s said in Traditional Chinese practice to be a good tonic for the blood, and also has a diuretic effect, draining water from the body (so good if you have water retention for example) and supporting the bladder and kidneys. I’ve included a nice Tabbouleh recipe below for anyone who’d like to give it a go!
This recipe taken from Recipes for Self-Healing by Daverick Leggett
Tabbouleh is a Lebanese favourite that has now become internationally much better known. It is a light salad (makes a nice side dish with things like falafel or dish in it’s own right) with extraordinary amounts of parsley. Often there is more parsley than grain. Tabbouleh also looks and tastes good served on cos/romaine lettuce leaves (also very good for the bladder!) and eaten like Mexican tacos.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup bulgar wheat
3 bunches parsley
1 handful mint
Good pinch fresh thyme
8 spring onions
½ cucumber
2 tomatoes
4 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Soak the bulgar wheat for about 15-20 minutes in enough water to just cover it. Meanwhile chop the herbs finely and cut the spring onions, tomatoes and cucumber into small pieces. Combine the chopped ingredients with the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a salad bowl. Gently squeeze out any excess water from the bulgar wheat and mix the wheat into the bowl with the other ingredients. Let the ingredients sit a while before serving.
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