Obesity is a common condition in our daily lives. Once afflicted, many patients endure significant distress, and it greatly disrupts their lives. Dietary management is crucial for obesity. Below we explain how patients should arrange their meals.
【Winter Melon with Shiitake Mushrooms】
Ingredients: 250g winter melon, 50g rehydrated shiitake mushrooms.
Preparation: Cut winter melon into small cubes. Soak shiitake mushrooms, then slice. Heat oil in a pot, add winter melon, mushrooms, and mushroom soaking liquid. Simmer for several minutes. Season with salt and MSG to taste. Cook until tender.
Benefits: Clears heat and strengthens the spleen.
Usage: Serve as a side dish.
【Lotus Leaf Steamed Pork Ribs】
Ingredients: 8–10 fresh lotus leaves, 1000g pork spare ribs, 300–400g japonica rice.
Method: Wash lotus leaves; cut each into four pieces. Stir-fry rice with 2 star anise over low heat.Once the rice turns golden, remove from heat, cool, and grind into coarse powder. Rinse ribs, cut into large chunks, and place in a large porcelain bowl. Add half a bowl of soy sauce, 4 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine, half a teaspoon of fine salt, a pinch of MSG, and a small amount of scallion whites. Mix well and marinate for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally to ensure even flavor absorption.Then coat both sides of each pork rib with the fried rice powder. Wrap each rib in pre-cut lotus leaves, using 1-2 leaves per package depending on size. Wrap tightly and secure. Line the bottom of a steamer basket with a fresh lotus leaf, place the wrapped ribs inside, and cover the steamer.
Benefits: Strengthens the spleen, clears heat, dispels blood stasis, and reduces turbidity.
Usage: Open the lotus leaf wrapper and serve hot as a side dish.
【Three-Flower Slimming Tea】
Ingredients: Equal parts rose petals, gardenia flowers, jasmine flowers, chuanxiong rhizome, and lotus leaves.
Preparation: Finely chop all ingredients, grind into coarse powder, and divide into filter bags (3–5g per bag).
Effects: Relieves chest congestion, regulates qi, drains dampness, transforms phlegm, lowers lipids, and aids weight loss.
Usage: Place one small bag in a teacup daily. Steep in boiling water for 10 minutes before drinking as tea.
【Stir-Fried Konjac】
Ingredients: 100g konjac.
Preparation: Stir-fry konjac with seasonings in a pan until cooked through.
Benefits: Dissolves phlegm, disperses nodules, clears heat, and promotes bowel movements.
Usage: Serve as a side dish.
【Water Chestnut and Radish Soup】
Ingredients: 30g water chestnuts, 30g white radish, 30g jellyfish.
Preparation: Chop all ingredients into small pieces. Simmer over low heat for 1 hour until tender.
Benefits: Clears heat, dissolves phlegm, drains dampness, and promotes bowel movements.
Usage: Consume as desired.
【Snow Pear Rabbit Meat Soup】
Ingredients: 500g rabbit meat, 400g snow pears, 15g plantain leaves.
Preparation: Juice the snow pears. Simmer plantain leaves to extract 100ml liquid. Boil rabbit meat until tender. Combine with pear juice, plantain liquid, and agar-agar. Simmer into a soup. Chill in refrigerator. Serve in bowls with sauce drizzled over.
Benefits: Clears heat, eliminates phlegm, drains dampness, aids weight loss.
Usage: Serve as a light snack.
【Lipid-Lowering Decoction】
Ingredients: 10g goji berries, 15g Polygonum multiflorum root, 15g Cassia seeds, 15g hawthorn fruit, 20g Salvia root.
Preparation: Combine all herbs in an earthenware pot. Add sufficient water and simmer over low heat. Strain to obtain approximately 1500ml of liquid. Store in a thermos.
Benefits: Promotes blood circulation, removes blood stasis, and aids weight loss.
Usage: One dose daily, consumed frequently as tea.
【Chrysanthemum Hawthorn Cassia Decoction】
Formula: 10g Chrysanthemum, 15g Raw Hawthorn slices, 15g Cassia seeds.
Preparation: Crush Cassia seeds. Combine with Chrysanthemum and Raw Hawthorn slices in a pot. Simmer in water and drink as tea.
Effects: Promotes blood circulation, removes blood stasis, lowers lipids, aids weight loss.
Usage: One dose daily, drink frequently as tea.
【Lotus Leaf Duck】
Ingredients: 200g duck meat, 25g glutinous rice flour.
Preparation: Debone duck meat and cut into chunks. Finely chop 5 star anise pods, stir-fry with glutinous rice until cooked, then grind into fine powder.Mix soy sauce, cooking wine, MSG, minced scallions, minced ginger, and pepper to make a marinade. Marinate duck meat for 2 hours. Mix in glutinous rice flour until well combined. Cut a lotus leaf into 4 pieces. Wrap duck meat in lotus leaves, place on a plate, and steam over high heat for 2 hours.
Benefits: Boosts energy and lowers lipids.
Usage: Consume once every other day as a side dish.【Braised Pork with Mussels and Radish】
Ingredients: 500g pork leg, 100g dried mussels, 1000g white radish.
Method: Soak dried mussels in warm water for 30 minutes until plumped. Rinse away impurities and set aside in the soaking liquid. Cut pork into chunks. Dice radish into round slices. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a wok over high heat.heat over high heat. Add pork and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine and stir-fry until cooked through. Transfer to a clay pot. Pour mussels and soaking liquid into the pot. Add sufficient water and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Add radish. If liquid is insufficient, add more water. Simmer for another 30 minutes until radish is tender. Season to taste.
Benefits: Dissolves phlegm and drains dampness.
Usage: Serve with meals.
【Stir-Fried Beef with Shredded Radish】
Ingredients: 500g white radish, 250g lean beef.
Method: Wash radish and beef, cut into thin shreds. Season beef shreds with salt, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and cornstarch slurry; mix well.Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a wok over high heat. Stir-fry radish shreds with salt until 80% cooked; remove and set aside. Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in the same wok. Add beef shreds and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Return radish shreds to wok and combine. Add 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine and a splash of cold water.simmer for 3 minutes. Add scallions, toss briefly, then transfer to a serving bowl.
Benefits: Strengthens the spleen and stomach, disperses blood stasis, promotes diuresis, and reduces phlegm.
Usage: Serve as a side dish with meals.
【Weight Loss Tea】
Ingredients: 60g dried lotus leaves, 10g raw hawthorn berries, 10g raw coix seeds, 5g dried tangerine peel.
Preparation: Grind all ingredients into a fine powder, mix thoroughly, place in a thermos, and steep with boiling water.
Benefits: Regulates qi, promotes diuresis, reduces lipids, and clears turbidity.
Usage: One dose daily, drink as tea throughout the day.
【Oolong Tea】
Ingredients: 3g oolong tea; 18g sophora pods; 30g polygonum multiflorum root; 18g winter melon peel; 15g hawthorn fruit pulp.
Preparation: Simmer sophora pods, polygonum multiflorum root, winter melon peel, and hawthorn fruit pulp in sufficient water for 20 minutes. Strain the decoction and use it to steep the oolong tea.
Benefits: Reduces fat, aids weight loss, promotes fitness and longevity.
Usage: One dose daily, drink anytime.
【Assorted Oolong Porridge】
Ingredients: 30g raw coix seeds, 100g winter melon seeds, 20g red adzuki beans. Dried lotus leaves and oolong tea to taste.
Preparation: Wrap dried lotus leaves and oolong tea in coarse gauze and set aside. Wash raw coix seeds, winter melon seeds, and red beans. Place all ingredients in a pot with water and simmer until tender. Add the gauze-wrapped lotus leaves and oolong tea, then simmer for another 7-8 minutes. Remove the gauze packet before serving.
Benefits: Strengthens the spleen and drains dampness.
Usage: Consume morning and evening daily.
【Job's Tears and Red Bean Porridge】
Recipe: 50g Job's tears, 50g red beans, 10g Chinese water plantain.
Preparation: Simmer Chinese water plantain to extract juice. Use this juice to cook red beans and Job's tears into porridge.
Benefits: Strengthens the spleen, drains dampness, aids weight loss.
Preparation: Wash and shred chicken breast; wash and slice winter melon. Simmer shredded chicken and codonopsis root in a clay pot with sufficient water over low heat until 80% cooked. Add winter melon slices, season with salt, cooking wine, and MSG to taste. Cook until winter melon is tender.
Benefits: Strengthens spleen and drains dampness.
Usage: Serve with meals.
Recommended for Obesity Patients
(1) Daily total calories should not fall below 1200 kcal. Based on individual circumstances, calculate daily total energy intake and the intake of protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins according to a nutritional plan for obesity management.
(2) Consume a wide variety of foods; the greater the variety, the better. Develop habits that avoid picky eating.Avoid restrictive diets that eliminate entire food groups, such as avoiding vegetables, fruits, or grains while consuming only meat.
(3) Prioritize fresh fruits and vegetables, as their high fiber content promotes satiety and prevents constipation.
(4) Opt for light, bland flavors in meals;
(5) Opt for low-oil cooking methods like steaming, boiling, baking, or stewing. Oil used for stir-frying must adhere to the planned quantity, so avoid fried foods and meat broths.
(6) Increase dietary fiber intake by choosing brown rice, germinated rice, bran bread, and fiber-rich vegetables and fruits.
(7) Portion control is best achieved through separate serving dishes.
(7) Portion control is best achieved through individual serving dishes.
Permitted foods: Plain tea, unsweetened coffee (no sugar or creamer), lemon, kimchi, pickles, chili peppers, black pepper, five-spice powder, vinegar.
Prohibited foods for obese individuals:
1. Avoid fruit juices.
2. Avoid excessively salty foods like pickles and fermented vegetables.
3. Prohibited foods: Strictly limit snacks such as candy, alcohol, beverages, desserts, canned goods, and candied fruits.