🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Li Li’s mother suddenly lost mobility in her right limb four days ago and was rushed to hospital, diagnosed with "cerebral infarction." Li Li was anxious, believing her mother’s weakness stemmed from physical weakness. Hearing that pig trotter stewed with peanuts strengthens bones and body, she spent hours cooking soup at home every day while staying in the hospital at night. However, after drinking it, her mother felt bloated, had poor appetite, and suffered constipation.
Family members of stroke patients often ask questions like "What soup should I cook?" or "Can I eat meat?" regarding daily diet. TCM holds that stroke has complex etiology and pathogenesis, classified as "deficiency at root, excess at manifestation." During acute phase, fever, convulsions, or bed rest slow down gastrointestinal motility and reduce digestive absorption, leading to constipation, poor appetite, thick tongue coating, and taut pulse—primarily manifesting as "excess." Diet should be light, providing nutritious yet easily digestible foods such as milk, soy milk, rice porridge, soft noodles, eggs, fish, lean meat, fresh vegetables, and fruits. For patients who enjoy soups, family members can chop fish or lean meat finely, mix with vegetables, and boil into a soup. Drink adequate water to prevent constipation and urinary tract infections. Avoid overly "tonifying" soups, as they may "retain pathogens" and hinder recovery.
In recovery and sequelae phases, the main presentation is "deficiency" with some "excess." Diet should focus on reinforcing vital energy to "expel pathogens." Commonly used ingredients include astragalus, codonopsis, angelica root, notoginseng, salvia, chicken, lean meat (pork, beef), snakes, and turtles. However, the "tonifying" approach must be tailored to individual syndrome patterns. Notably, regardless of phase, patients should avoid strong tea, alcohol, and fried, greasy foods.
Here are several recommended dietary remedies:
Astragalus Snake Soup: 50 grams astragalus, 200 grams live snake (head and intestines removed), 9 grams angelica root, 6 red dates. Clean the snake, fry with 3 slices of ginger, combine all ingredients in a clay pot with sufficient water, simmer gently for two hours, season, and consume with meals. Suitable for post-stroke sequelae with hemiplegia, limb swelling, numbness, speech difficulty, dizziness, palpitations, bland taste, constipation, pale red tongue with ecchymosis, and fine wiry pulse.
Notoginseng Chicken Soup: 90 grams chicken, 10 grams notoginseng, 10 grams red ginseng, 30 grams astragalus. Crush notoginseng, fry chicken and 3 ginger slices, combine all ingredients in a clay pot with sufficient water, simmer gently for two hours, season, and consume with meals. Suitable for post-stroke sequelae with hemiplegia, limb swelling and pain, speech difficulty, memory decline, dizziness, palpitations, pale dark tongue with ecchymosis, and fine wiry pulse.
Rehmannia Turtle Meat Soup: 1 turtle (~200 grams), 30 grams dried rehmannia, 20 grams wolfberry, 15 grams gentiana. Remove intestines and cut turtle into pieces, combine all ingredients in a clay pot with sufficient water, simmer gently for two hours, season, and consume with meals. Suitable for post-stroke sequelae with hemiplegia, limb stiffness and contraction, dizziness, flushed face, dry mouth, lower back pain, red tongue with little coating, and fine pulse.
Dr. Huang Yan, Chief Physician, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM