Article 16: The Advantages of Herbal Porridge for Weight Loss and Various Traditional Chinese Medicine Porridge Recipes (Lotus Leaf, Job's Tears, and Tangerine Peel Porridge, etc.)

Medicinal porridge is effective for weight loss

Weight-loss medicinal porridge is a type of diet with therapeutic effects, made from medicinal and food ingredients through cooking and processing.

Guided by traditional Chinese medicine theory, using cooking as a means, and aiming at disease prevention, treatment, health maintenance, and strengthening the body, it is a product of the combination of traditional Chinese medical knowledge and cooking experience, and is a special diet that combines medicinal effects with delicious food.

Advantages of weight loss porridge:

(1) It can help you lose weight, strengthen your body, beautify your skin, and treat diseases in your body at the same time.

(2) It contains precious medicinal ingredients.

Some foods, even if they have medicinal and nutritional value, cannot be absorbed by the body.

One of the characteristics of medicinal porridge is that it is a type of porridge that can be 100% absorbed by the body.

(3) It is easy to digest and absorb.

It can be consumed even when you have overeaten and have a sensitive stomach.

At this point, the porridge becomes a medicinal porridge for the stomach and intestines.

(4) It helps reduce the absorption of calories.

Some people say that feeling hungry while dieting can make them irritable and emotionally unstable, but medicinal porridge can make people feel full, so they can lose weight easily and happily.

(5) It is easy to make and does not cost too much money.

(6) Avoid the suffering of hunger. You can eat it anytime, whether it is morning, noon or night. It can also be your midnight snack or dessert. And there is no limit! But it is best not to eat until you are too full. No matter what you eat, being 70% full is the way to maintain health.

What are some traditional Chinese medicine porridge therapies for weight loss?

Lotus leaf, barley, and tangerine peel porridge

10 grams of lotus leaf, 15 grams of Job's tears, 10 grams of dried tangerine peel, and 15 grams of japonica rice.

First, simmer the three ingredients together. After boiling for 20 minutes, add lotus leaves and simmer for another 5 minutes until a strong aroma is released.

Once daily.

This porridge is suitable for patients experiencing chest tightness, shortness of breath, fatigue, and dizziness.

Bupleurum lipid-lowering porridge

Bupleurum chinense 8g, Paeonia lactiflora 10g, Alisma plantago-aquatica 10g, Poria cocos 10g, and japonica rice 20g.

Add water and simmer until it becomes mushy. Take once a day.

It is suitable for patients with distension in the hypochondriac region, emotional distress, irritability, and anger.

Polygonum multiflorum and hawthorn porridge

10 grams of Polygonum multiflorum, 10 grams of hawthorn, 10 grams of Polygonatum odoratum, and 20 grams of japonica rice.

The decoction method is the same as before, once a day.

Suitable for the elderly and patients with yin deficiency.

Job's tears porridge

Use 30 grams of Job's tears and an appropriate amount of white sugar as ingredients.

Wash the Job's tears and place them in a clay pot. Add an appropriate amount of water, bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat until the Job's tears are cooked and tender. Add white sugar and serve. Eat as desired.

It can strengthen the spleen, remove dampness, and reduce swelling.

Red bean porridge

25 grams of red beans, 100 grams of japonica rice.

Preparation: Soak red beans for half a day, rinse away impurities, and put them in a pot with washed japonica rice. Simmer over low heat until cooked.

Red beans are sweet and sour, and can clear heat, promote diuresis, disperse blood stasis, and reduce swelling. Regular consumption of this porridge can have a certain effect on obesity and swelling caused by long-term damp-heat.

Red bean and hawthorn porridge

Li Shizhen wrote in the Compendium of Materia Medica: "Red beans promote urination and eliminate edema and beriberi."

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Tang Dynasty physician Chen Shiliang's "Dietary Materia Medica" states that "long-term consumption can make people thin," suggesting it may also have some effect on obesity, and is even more effective in treating leg swelling.

Indications: Obesity, edema, athlete's foot, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, or food stagnation, indigestion, etc.

Preparation: Soak 60 grams of red beans for half a day, then cook them together with 30 grams of hawthorn, 50 grams of rice, and 30 grams of brown sugar to make porridge.

This product is not suitable for middle-aged and elderly people with chronic spleen and stomach weakness and frequent loose stools.

Corn and carrot porridge

Corn oil contains corn, which can lower blood lipids, regulate the normal metabolism of cholesterol and fat, prevent aging, beautify the skin, aid weight loss, and relieve constipation. Therefore, it has certain effects on the treatment of arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.

Carrots, also known as red carrots, are rich in nutrients and have nourishing effects, hence they are also known as "little ginseng".

It contains abundant carotene, which is quickly converted into vitamin A after being ingested by the human body. It can improve eyesight, beautify and moisturize the skin, regulate metabolism, and enhance immunity.

Indications: Hypertension, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, constipation, dry skin, vitamin A deficiency, etc.

Preparation: First, remove the corn kernels, dice and wash the carrots, and cook them together with the rice into porridge. The proportions are one part corn, one part carrot, and two parts rice. Once the porridge boils, add salt to taste. You can also add broth to cook together for a more delicious flavor.

Lotus leaf porridge

The "Dietary Therapy Guide" states that "lotus leaf porridge can clear heat, relieve summer heat, reduce fever, soothe the stomach, and disperse blood stasis. It is mainly used to treat symptoms such as summer heat and edema."

Lotus leaves are particularly effective in lowering blood pressure and aiding weight loss.

Indications: Hypertension, hyperlipidemia, weight loss, and symptoms such as summer heat, dizziness, and dark urine.

Preparation: First, wash a lotus leaf and boil it to make a decoction. Then, use the lotus leaf decoction to cook rice and a small amount of rock sugar together to make porridge.

You can boil lotus leaves in water and drink it once a day for 30 consecutive days for faster results.

Beauty and slimming porridge

Soybeans contain 35% protein and 20% fat, and are an alkaline food rich in various vitamins and minerals.

Soybean fat has the effect of lowering cholesterol and is also effective against arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure.

Sesame, also known as sesame, is described in the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica as "nourishing the five internal organs, boosting energy, building muscle, replenishing marrow and brain; long-term consumption leads to a light body and longevity."

"Moreover, there are many legends in ancient literature about how sesame can strengthen the body and resist aging."

According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, "Liu and Ruan went to Tiantai Mountain, where they met a fairy and ate sesame seeds and drank sesame water."

They also cook rice with sesame seeds, which is considered food for immortals.

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The Jin Dynasty scholar Ge Hong wrote in his "Biographies of Immortals": "A woman from Lu took sesame seeds and practiced alchemy. She abstained from grains for more than eighty years and remained very young and strong, able to travel three hundred li a day."

It is also said that "if you take sesame seeds for a hundred days, you can cure all chronic diseases, your body and face will be radiant and you will not feel hungry after a year, your white hair will turn black after two years, and your lost teeth will grow back after three years."

"All of these, though not entirely credible, are consistent with the meaning of 'long-term use leads to a lighter body' and 'replenishes the body to combat aging.'"

It has the effects of nourishing the liver and kidneys, moisturizing the five internal organs, moisturizing the skin, making the complexion rosy and shiny, lowering blood lipids and blood sugar, and prolonging life.

Preparation: 100g soybeans (washed and soaked in water for half a day), 20g roasted sesame seeds ground into powder (you can buy ready-made sesame powder, available in supermarkets).

First, cook soybean porridge, adding broth (canned broth is also acceptable). After the porridge boils, add sesame powder and salt to taste.

ginger porridge

Traditional Chinese medicine often classifies foods into yin and yang, and ginger is considered a yang food. Weight gain or loss largely depends on whether the food consumed is yin or yang.

Negative foods increase energy input, while positive foods increase energy output.

The "basal metabolic rate" in Western medicine refers to the energy expenditure when the body is at complete rest.

Consuming yang-positive foods can increase your basal metabolic rate, allowing you to eliminate extra energy while you rest. This is why many people can eat a lot but still stay slim.

Therefore, dieters who can eat yang-related foods appropriately will definitely achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Indications: headache, nasal congestion, chronic bronchitis, susceptibility to colds, obesity, spleen and stomach deficiency, stomach pain, etc.

Preparation: Slice 8 grams of ginger into thin slices or fine pieces, add 2 jujubes (if you have a cold, replace the jujubes with 2 scallions), 100 grams of rice, and chicken broth to make porridge. Season with salt and sesame oil as needed.

Dosage and contraindications: Not suitable for use in cases of fever.

Garlic porridge

Garlic, like ginger, is a yang food, and therefore can help treat obesity.

Furthermore, modern clinical trials combining traditional Chinese and Western medicine have proven that garlic has anti-inflammatory, antidiarrheal, diuretic, antihypertensive, and expectorant effects, and also has a very strong bactericidal ability.

Garlic porridge can both strengthen the body and help with weight loss, so you might as well eat it regularly.

However, many people are afraid of its smell. Now I will teach you how to "not have bad breath after eating garlic": First, after eating garlic porridge, hold a slice of angelica root in your mouth.

2. Place a small amount of tea leaves in your mouth and chew them slowly.

Third, eat a few dates.

These are all relatively effective ways to get rid of garlic breath.

Indications: Arteriosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, etc., and can also enhance disease resistance.

Preparation: Peel 50g of purple garlic, boil it in boiling water for one minute, then remove and set aside. Then add 100g of rice to the garlic water to cook porridge. Once the porridge is cooked, put the garlic back into the porridge, add salt, shredded ginger, and a small amount of oil, and cook for another five minutes.

Garlic should not be overcooked, otherwise its medicinal properties will be reduced.

Precautions: People with weak stomachs should not eat this often. Elderly people with chronic gastritis or gastric and duodenal ulcers should avoid it.

Those with red, swollen, and painful eyes should not eat too much garlic.

Winter melon porridge

Prescription: 80-100 grams of fresh winter melon with skin on, 100 grams of japonica rice.

Preparation and administration: Scrape the winter melon with a knife, wash it, cut it into small pieces, and put it in a clay pot with japonica rice to cook into porridge.

Alternatively, you can first decoct winter melon seeds in water and remove the residue, then add japonica rice to cook porridge. Eat twice a day, morning and evening. Regular consumption is effective.

Efficacy: Diuretic and swelling-reducing, clears heat and quenches thirst.

Mixed Oolong Porridge

Prescription: 30g raw Job's tears, 100g winter melon seeds, 20g red beans.

Preparation and administration: Wash the above ingredients thoroughly, put them in a pot, add water and cook until the beans are cooked. Add dried lotus leaves and oolong tea wrapped in coarse gauze, and simmer for another 7-8 minutes. Remove the gauze bag and it is ready to eat.

Efficacy: Strengthens the spleen and aids weight loss.

Ginseng and Poria porridge

Prescription: Ginseng 3-5g, Poria cocos 15-20g, ginger 3-5g, rice 100g.

Preparation and Consumption: First, slice the ginseng thinly, crush the poria cocos and ginger, soak them for half an hour, decoct them twice to extract the medicinal juice, combine the juices, and cook them with rice into porridge.

Take once in the morning and once in the evening.

Effects: Tonifies Qi and strengthens the spleen and stomach, promotes diuresis and eliminates dampness.

Suitable for those with edema who are fatigued, prefer to lie down, have poor appetite, and loose stools.

Red bean porridge

Prescription: 250g red beans, 100g rice, a little salt and MSG.

Preparation and cooking method: Wash red beans and rice, put them in a pot, add an appropriate amount of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat until cooked.

Once daily.

Effects: Diuretic, dampness-removing, and spleen-strengthening.

It is used for those who are obese and have a puffy, unhealthy complexion.

pea puree

Prescription: 100g fresh mature peas, appropriate amounts of ginger, scallions, salt, and vegetable oil.

Preparation and cooking method: Rinse the peas, boil them in boiling water until tender, then remove them. Heat vegetable oil in a wok until it is 60% hot, then add ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. Add salt and the tender peas and stir-fry repeatedly until they are cooked through. Add chopped green onions and mix well. Remove from heat and serve.

Take once daily; suitable for regular consumption.

Efficacy: Harmonizes the stomach, regulates qi, and promotes urination.