[2025 edition] Getting through summer fatigue with yakuzen, and nine ingredients to try

What is summer fatigue? What causes it and how it shows, seen through yakuzen

Say summer fatigue and most people picture heaviness and a poor appetite. Chinese medicine, which underlies yakuzen, sees it as the heat draining qi, your energy, and fluids.

Summer trouble covers a wide range: a poor appetite, too little sleep, listlessness, irritability, swelling, diarrhoea and constipation. Chinese medicine holds that sweating drains not only fluids but qi, so heading off summer fatigue means replenishing qi alongside the fluids you have lost.

Three pillars for heading off summer fatigue through yakuzen

Seen through yakuzen, heading off summer fatigue rests on three pillars: replenishing qi, balancing fluids and going easy on the gut. Start with replenishing qi. Qi is something like the energy circulating inside you, and sweating in the summer heat loses it.

Next, balancing fluids matters. It is not simply a matter of drinking; the balance of water inside you has to be right. Water-rich ingredients such as watermelon, cucumber and tomato moisten the body while cooling heat.

Finally, going easy on the gut should not be forgotten. Summer is a season when the stomach and intestines weaken easily. Make a point of easily digested food and keep the load off them.

Nine ingredients for summer trouble

1. Watermelon
Watermelon is the classic fruit of summer, and in yakuzen terms it cools heat in the body and eases a dry throat. As well as replenishing fluids it encourages the passing of water, which helps with swelling.

2. Cucumber
Cucumber is held to cool the body and release toxins. It is high in water and rich in potassium, which suits replacing the minerals lost in sweat. As well as in salad, it is good lightly pickled or in a dressed dish.

3. Tomato
Tomato cools the body and eases a dry throat. It is rich in antioxidants such as lycopene and good against summer sun too. The point is not to eat it over-chilled.

4. Ginger
Ginger warms the body and encourages sweating and digestion. It sounds contradictory, but sweating in moderation helps lower the body's heat and lift the metabolism. It is a dependable ally against the cold that air conditioning brings.

5. Japanese yam
Japanese yam helps the stomach and intestines work and encourages digestion and absorption. It is the ideal ingredient for going easy on a gut worn down by summer. Put it in miso soup or a broth and eat it soft and warm.

6. Kabocha squash
Kabocha squash nourishes the Spleen, the digestive system, and settles how the gut works. It is rich in vitamins and minerals and can be expected to build resilience too. Simmered or steamed is the way to eat it.

7. Mung bean
Mung bean is held to cool heat in the body and release toxins. Mung bean soup, or mung bean sprouts, are the ways to eat it. It particularly suits anyone in whom the summer heat builds up.

8. Okra
Okra eases a dry throat and helps the stomach and intestines work. It is rich in fibre and helps settle the gut. Boil it briefly and serve it dressed or as ohitashi.

9. Green tea
It is held to cool excess heat and to encourage the passing of water, which suits days when swelling is on your mind. Being easy to pick up at a convenience store or make at home is part of the appeal.

Three yakuzen recipes for summer fatigue

Here are yakuzen recipes I actually make against summer fatigue. The ingredients are everyday ones and the cooking is easy, so do try them.

1. Pork and cabbage stir-fried in ume, miso and mayonnaise

This is a dish you can eat even when summer fatigue has taken your appetite. The sourness of the ume whets the appetite, and pork helps rebuild your strength. Cabbage works well for the gut.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• Pork offcuts: 400 g
• Cabbage: 300 g net
• Salt and pepper: a little
• Sake: 2 tsp
• Potato starch: 2 tbsp
• Mayonnaise: 2 tbsp
• Miso, ume paste, sugar, oyster sauce: 1 tbsp each
• Sesame oil: as needed
• Sliced spring onion, toasted white sesame: to taste

Method

• Cut the cabbage roughly. Work salt, pepper and sake into the pork, then coat it in potato starch.
• Mix the mayonnaise, miso, ume paste, sugar and oyster sauce together.
• Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan and fry the pork, separating the pieces as you go.
• Once the pork is nearly cooked through, add the cabbage and keep frying.
• When everything is cooked, take it off the heat, add the sauce and toss quickly to coat.
• Serve, and top with sliced spring onion and toasted white sesame to taste.

The sourness of the ume whets the appetite, and lean pork is rich in vitamin B1, which helps with recovering from tiredness. Cabbage settles the gut, which makes this exactly the dish for summer fatigue.

2. Chilled watermelon and mung bean soup

A cold soup for a hot day. It cools heat in the body and eases a dry throat.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• Watermelon: 400 g net
• Mung beans: 100 g
• Honey: 2 tbsp
• Lemon juice: 1 tbsp
• Mint: as needed

Method

• Soak the mung beans overnight, then boil until soft.
• Remove the seeds from the watermelon and blend.
• Mix the boiled mung beans with the watermelon purée, the honey and the lemon juice.
• Chill in the fridge, serve and garnish with mint.

Watermelon cools heat in the body and mung bean is held to release toxins. The perfect soup for replenishing fluids on a hot day.

Daily habits that head off summer fatigue, the yakuzen way

1. Eat a proper breakfast

In the cool of the morning, eat something easily digested and eat properly. Porridge with Japanese yam in it, or a vegetable soup, are the ones.

2. Go easy on cold drinks

Cold drinks cool the stomach and intestines and weaken digestion. Make a point of hot water or room-temperature herbal teas such as mint or hibiscus.

3. Balance moderate movement with rest

Move gently in the cool of the morning or evening, and rest properly through the middle of the day.

4. Use the bath to manage your temperature

Soaking in a warm rather than hot bath settles the autonomic nervous system and lets the body release heat properly.

Spend a summer that summer fatigue cannot touch, with yakuzen

Summer fatigue is one of the complaints most people struggle with today, but put the wisdom of yakuzen to work and heading it off and easing it is possible without strain. Since I met yakuzen the swings in how I feel have grown gentler, and I found I could practise it within daily life, without special ingredients or cooking.

Keep the three pillars in mind, replenishing qi, balancing fluids and going easy on the gut, and start building a body that summer fatigue cannot touch.

If you want to know more about yakuzen, do have a look at the Yasai Yakuzen site. It is full of yakuzen you can do with everyday vegetables.