Confinement Food Journey - Shan Yao also known as Chinese Yam

Tonight's dinner is a simple fare with sliced pork with ginger, sweet potato leaves, steam fish for boosting milk supply and a big bowl of highly nutritional Shan Yao Pork bone soup.

Not sure if everyone knows, but Shan Yao is the fresh form of Huai Shan (Chinese Wild Yam).

Shan Yao is a root vegetable that is quite bland in taste but it helps to replenish Qi (energy), aid digestion, relieve stomach pain (good for post partum since we will suffer from uterine contractions), promote muscle growth and repair worn-out tissues. It is credited to tonifying kidney and spleen, not only these, Chinese Yam also lowers blood sugar as fresh yam contains mucus protein that can lower blood sugar. This mucus protein effectively stop the precipitation of lipids in the blood vessel wall and prevents cardiovascular. In short, it transquilizes the mind, promotes intelligence and prolongs life.

Carrots and pork bone are added to the soup to make it tasty. Carrots are widely known to have beneficial effects for the eyes.

There's tons of write up on Chinese Yam benefits which you can read up on the internet, so I shan't introduce too much here!