Hypertension Dietary Therapy Formula
Rational use of food properties or adjusting dietary nutrients to prevent and treat diseases is known as dietary therapy. Integrating medicine and food is a concrete manifestation of traditional Chinese medicine in daily life, enabling health preservation and disease prevention through regular diet. In the "Food Therapy" chapter of *Qianjin Yaofang*, the Medical Sage Sun Simiao stated: "Diet can expel pathogens and nourish the five zang organs, delight the spirit, refresh the mind, and enrich qi and blood." "One who can use food to balance illness and suit temperament to eliminate disease is truly skilled." Modern pharmacological research identifies the following herbs and foods with blood pressure-lowering effects suitable for medicinal and dietary use:
Herbs: Chrysanthemum, green tea, cassia seed, celosia seed, mulberry leaf, lotus leaf, kudzu root, prunella herb, gentiana, wormwood, plantain seed (fruit), alisma, coix seed, hemp seed, plum seed, rhubarb, gastrodia, oyster shell, sophora flower, polygonatum, goji berry, etc.
Vegetables: Celery, shepherd’s purse, chrysanthemum greens, carrot, black fungus, onion, purple laver, mushroom, tomato, sea cucumber, garlic, shiitake, kelp, etc.
Fruits: Tangerine, banana peel, hawthorn, apple, water chestnut, etc.
Drink Remedies
▲ Fresh Celery Juice: Wash 250 grams of fresh celery, blanch for 2 minutes in boiling water, chop finely, and extract juice. Take 100 ml each time, twice daily. Has calming liver, soothing nerves, lowering blood pressure, and promoting urination effects.
▲ Chrysanthemum Oolong Tea: 10 grams of chrysanthemum, 3 grams of oolong tea. Brew with boiling water and drink as tea. Clears liver and improves eyesight. Chrysanthemum is bitter and cool, with a light aroma rising upward, effectively calming liver yang and clearing head and eyes. Oolong tea is sweet and bitter, cool in nature, refreshing spleen and stimulating appetite, also clearing head and eyes. This tea is effective for dizziness due to liver yang hyperactivity.
▲ Chrysanthemum Hawthorn Cassia Decoction: 10 grams of chrysanthemum, 15 grams of fresh hawthorn, 15 grams of cassia seed, and appropriate rock sugar. Boil together, filter out residue, add rock sugar, and drink as tea. Clears liver, disperses wind, activates blood, and resolves stasis. Chrysanthemum and cassia seed clear liver and improve eyesight while lowering blood pressure; hawthorn activates blood and resolves stasis while lowering lipids; cassia seed also moistens intestines and relieves constipation. Effective for dizziness due to yin deficiency and yang hyperactivity with constipation.
▲ Gastrodia Orange Peel Drink: 10 grams of gastrodia, 20 grams of fresh orange peel. Boil together and drink as tea. Dries dampness, transforms phlegm, calms liver, and extinguishes wind. Gastrodia is sweet and warm, calming liver and extinguishing wind. Orange peel is pungent and warm, strengthening spleen, drying dampness, transforming phlegm, and harmonizing the middle energizer. Effective for dizziness due to internal phlegm turbidity.
▲ Kelp Cassia Decoction: 20 grams of kelp, 15 grams of cassia seed. Boil with appropriate water, eat kelp and drink soup. Resolves phlegm, disperses nodules, promotes urination, clears liver, improves eyesight, and moistens intestines. This formula lowers blood pressure and lipids, suitable for hypertension with hyperlipidemia due to liver yang hyperactivity.
▲ Prunella Herb Pork Soup: 20 grams of prunella herb, 50 grams of lean pork. Wash pork, cut into pieces, and simmer with prunella herb over low heat. Drink about 250 ml of soup each time, twice daily. Clears liver fire and improves eyesight. Suitable for headaches and dizziness due to liver fire ascending and phlegm-fire stagnation.
Rice Remedies
▲ Lotus Leaf Porridge: One fresh lotus leaf, 100 grams of glutinous rice, and appropriate sugar. First, boil the lotus leaf to make tea, then combine the tea with rice to cook porridge, adding sugar. Consume once daily. Clears heat, generates fluids, quenches thirst. Lowers blood pressure, regulates lipids, aids weight loss—suitable for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obese patients.
▲ Shepherd’s Purse Porridge: 250 grams of shepherd’s purse, 100 grams of glutinous rice. Wash and chop shepherd’s purse, then cook with rice into porridge. Consume once daily. Clears heat, detoxifies, nourishes liver, improves eyesight, promotes urination, and reduces swelling. Suitable for hypertension due to liver fire ascending.
▲ Plantain Seed Porridge: 20 grams of plantain seed, 100 grams of glutinous rice. Place plantain seed in a cloth bag, boil concentrated to extract juice, then cook with rice into porridge. Promotes urination, reduces swelling, nourishes liver, and improves eyesight. Suitable for hypertension and obese patients.
▲ Kudzu Root Powder Porridge: Mix 15 grams of kudzu root powder with 100 grams of glutinous rice to cook into porridge. Clears heat, generates fluids, quenches thirst, stops diarrhea. Suitable for hypertension with irritability and thirst.
Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Chen Bing