Understanding Hypotension: Traditional Chinese Medicine Diet Therapy

Hypotension is a general term for the condition of low blood pressure. It can be divided into "orthostatic hypotension" and "spontaneous hypotension". The former is temporary, while the latter is persistent. Generally, when the highest blood pressure in the body is less than 100-110mmHg, it can be called hypotension. However, this is a strict standard as of the time of writing. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that this disease is mainly caused by congenital deficiency, insufficiency of vital energy, aging and decline of the body, deficiency of both essence and vital energy, drug damage, resulting in insufficiency of yang energy and loss of nourishment, or deficiency of essence and blood, resulting in lack of nourishment. Hypotension belongs to the category of "dizziness", "fainting syndrome", and "deficiency fatigue" in traditional Chinese medicine. The basic pathological basis of this disease is deficiency of yang energy, but it can also be combined with deficiency and stagnation, involving the spleen, kidneys, heart, liver, and lungs. According to clinical manifestations, it can be divided into types such as deficiency of kidney yang, deficiency of heart and spleen, and deficiency of vital energy.

Clinical manifestations of deficiency of vital energy type hypotension: dizziness when standing up, shortness of breath, fatigue in the limbs, spontaneous sweating, poor appetite, loose stools, pale tongue, and thin pulse.

Below are recommended traditional Chinese medicine diet formulas for treating deficiency of vital energy type hypotension. Please refer to them after diagnosing and treating according to traditional Chinese medicine principles.

1. Lotus Root Silk Soup

Ingredients: 500g fresh lotus root, 3 eggs, 160g Beijing cake, 100g honey dates, 100g green plums, 200g sugar.
Effects: Invigorates the spleen and stimulates appetite.
Preparation: Wash and peel the lotus root, cut it into thin strips about 5cm in length, blanch it in boiling water for a moment, and remove it. Cut the Beijing cake, honey dates, and green plums into the same thin strips as the lotus root. Separate the whites from the 3 eggs, add an equal amount of water to the egg whites, beat with chopsticks, and place in a large dish. Steam over high heat for 5 minutes to form a solid white custard. Then divide the various strips into 5 portions and arrange them on top of the custard, with lotus root strips on both ends and Beijing cake, honey dates, and green plum strips in the middle. Pour 200g of water into the pot, add sugar, bring to a boil, use wet starch to thicken into a white sweet sauce, and pour it over the dish.
Usage: Can be eaten with meals.

2. Chinese Yam and Poria Bun

Ingredients: 50g Chinese yam powder, 50g poria powder, 200g flour, 300g sugar.
Effects: Invigorates the spleen and supplements vital energy.
Preparation: Put Chinese yam powder and poria powder in a large bowl, add an appropriate amount of water, soak it into a paste, steam for half an hour until it becomes cake-like. Prepare the dough using the usual method. Combine the sugar, lard, and a small amount of green and red silk with the Chinese yam and poria cake to form the filling, wrap it into buns, and steam until cooked.
Usage: Can be eaten as a main course.

3. Codonopsis and Beef Soup

Ingredients: 100g codonopsis, 500g beef belly.
Effects: Tonifies the middle and boosts vital energy.
Preparation: Put the codonopsis in a gauze bag and tie it tightly. Cut the beef belly into chunks, put it in a pot together with the codonopsis, ginger, scallion, cooking wine, and an appropriate amount of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, remove the foam, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 hours until the beef is tender. Remove the codonopsis, season and serve.
Usage: Can be eaten with meals or the meat and soup can be consumed separately.

4. Lotus Seed and Pork Stomach

Ingredients: 1 pork stomach, 40 dried lotus seeds.
Effects: Invigorates the spleen and stomach, supplements deficiency, and strengthens vital energy.
Preparation: Wash the pork stomach, put in soaked lotus seeds (remove the cores), tie the opening with a string, put it in a pot, add an appropriate amount of water, stew until cooked, remove and let it cool, and then cut the pork stomach into thin strips. Mix with lotus seeds and place in a plate. Mix with sesame oil, salt, green onion, ginger, and other seasonings, and mix well with the pork stomach and lotus seeds before serving.
Usage: Can be eaten alone or with meals.

5. Chinese Yam Paste

Ingredients: 200g Chinese yam, 150g red bean paste, 100g Beijing cake, 50g water bean flour, 150g sugar, 100g lard.
Effects: Invigorates the spleen and stimulates the stomach.
Preparation: Crush the Chinese yam into fine powder, add 50g of sugar and a little water, stir into a fine paste, put it in a bowl. Process the Beijing cake into fine paste, put it in another bowl, add 25g of sugar, mix well. Put red bean paste in another bowl. Steam the 3 bowls separately until cooked, take out and set aside. Heat the wok, pour in lard, stir-fry the Beijing cake paste and red bean paste separately, then mix with the Chinese yam paste, and mix well. Steam the mixture for another 5 minutes. In another pot, add a little water, 75g of sugar, bring to a boil, remove the foam, thicken with water bean flour, and pour it over the three pastes.
Usage: Can be eaten as breakfast, dinner, or dessert.

6. Codonopsis, Poria, and Chinese Yam Tangyuan

Ingredients: 10g ginseng, 10g poria, 10g Chinese yam, 30g red bean paste, appropriate amount of glutinous rice flour, sugar, and lard.
Effects: Tonifies the spleen, invigorates the stomach, and supplements vital energy.
Preparation: Steam the ginseng, poria, and Chinese yam until cooked, mash into a paste, mix with the red bean paste, sugar, and lard, and shape into thumb-sized balls. Put glutinous rice flour in a plate, then place the ginseng, poria, and Chinese yam red bean paste balls on top, move the plate left and right to evenly coat the balls with glutinous rice flour. At this time, dip each ball coated with glutinous rice flour into water one by one, then put it in the plate and roll it, so that it adheres to the dry glutinous rice flour. Repeat this process three to four times to make tangyuan. Boil the tangyuan in boiling water until cooked, then serve.
Usage: Can be eaten as breakfast, dinner, or dessert.

Diet therapy for other types of hypotension: deficiency of kidney yang type, deficiency of heart and spleen type.