Ingredients: Half a black chicken, 10g astragalus root, 10g codonopsis root, 6 red dates, salt and water to taste.
Method: Rinse the black chicken and cut into chunks. Wash the astragalus and codonopsis and set aside. Wash the red dates, remove pits, and set aside. Place all ingredients in a stew pot, add water to fully submerge ingredients. Simmer over medium heat for one and a half hours. Remove, season with a small amount of salt, and serve.
Benefits:Astragalus, sweet and slightly warm in nature, enters the lung, spleen, liver, and kidney meridians. It primarily treats yin deficiency with night sweats, yang deficiency, and lung qi deficiency. It also effectively addresses edema associated with acute and chronic nephritis.
2. Fritillary Bulb and Jellyfish Lean Pork Soup
Ingredients: 12g fritillary bulb, 80g jellyfish skin, 200g lean pork, 2 slices ginger.
Preparation: Rinse the Sichuan fritillary bulb and jellyfish skin separately, soak briefly, then drain. Wash the lean pork without cutting it into pieces. Place all ingredients along with ginger into an earthenware pot. Add 1750ml (approximately 7 bowls) of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for about 1.5 hours. Season with salt to taste.
Benefits: The combination of Chinese medicine Fritillaria thunbergii, jellyfish skin, and lean pork creates a clear, moisturizing broth with a subtle herbal aroma. It helps alleviate snoring, stops coughing with phlegm, reduces phlegm accumulation, and moistens lung qi.
3. Silver Ear and Snow Pear Soup
Ingredients: 20g dried silver ear fungus, 200g pear, 5g Fritillaria thunbergii,Rock sugar 30g.
Method: Remove roots and impurities from rehydrated white fungus, rinse thoroughly, and tear into small pieces. Wash snow pear, peel, remove core and seeds, then dice. Rinse Fritillaria. Place prepared white fungus, snow pear, and Fritillaria into a steaming pot. Add sugar and 1 cup water. Steam for approximately 1 hour. Remove and serve.
Benefits: White fungus nourishes yin and replenishes the lungs, moistens dryness, and generates fluids. Snow pear clears heat, generates fluids, moistens the lungs, and transforms phlegm. Fritillary bulb replenishes and clears the lungs, transforms phlegm, and stops coughing. Together, these three ingredients effectively clear heat, nourish the lungs, stop coughing, and transform phlegm. Especially suitable for elderly individuals with lung deficiency, emphysema, or poor lung function presenting symptoms such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, dry cough without phlegm, or coughing up blood.
Dietary Therapy for Lung Qi Deficiency
4. Rock Sugar and Glehnia Root Porridge
Ingredients: 15–30g glehnia root (or 30–60g fresh glehnia root), 100g japonica rice, rock sugar to taste.
Preparation:First, decoct 15–30g of glehnia root to extract the medicinal liquid, strain out the residue, then add japonica rice to cook into porridge. When the porridge is done, add rock sugar and simmer together to form a thin porridge.
Benefits: Nourishes the stomach, moistens the lungs, expels phlegm, and relieves cough. Suitable for lung heat and dryness causing dry cough with little phlegm, or chronic cough without phlegm and dry throat due to lung qi deficiency and lung-stomach yin deficiency, or thirst after feverish illness with fluid depletion.
5. Yam and Red Bean Porridge
Ingredients: Yam, red beans, coix seeds, rock sugar.
Preparation: Wash, peel, and dice the yam. Soak the remaining ingredients in water. Simmer all ingredients together until the red beans are tender. Add rock sugar, stir well, and continue cooking for about ten minutes before serving.
Benefits: Red beans excel at tonifying qi and nourishing blood. Regular consumption effectively replenishes qi and blood. In cases of lung qi deficiency, digestive function may be impaired and physical constitution weakened. Moderate intake of red bean porridge offers significant health benefits during such times.
6. Coix Seed and Yam Porridge
Ingredients: 60g raw coix seeds, 60g raw yam, 30g persimmon frost.
Method: First boil the coix seeds until thoroughly tender. Then mash the yam, cut the persimmon frost into small pieces, and simmer together into a thick porridge.
Benefits: Nourishes the lungs, strengthens the spleen, and supports stomach health. Suitable for conditions involving lung and spleen qi deficiency, such as yin deficiency with internal heat, chronic dry cough, loose stools, and poor appetite.
Dietary Therapy for Lung Qi Deficiency
7. Korean Ginseng, Gecko, and Partridge Soup
Ingredients: 200g gecko,250g partridge, 12g Korean ginseng, 5g dried tangerine peel, 4g salt, 4g ginger.
Method: Scrape and clean the partridge, remove feathers and internal organs, then cut into chunks. Remove the head, claws, and scales from the gecko, wash thoroughly, and cut into chunks.Rinse Korean ginseng and dried tangerine peel separately with water. Remove the root tip from Korean ginseng and slice thinly. Add sufficient water to a clay pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Add ingredients, reduce to medium heat, and simmer for 3 hours. Season with fine salt before serving.It is beneficial for lung and kidney qi deficiency, cough with excessive phlegm, qi reversal with wheezing, shortness of breath upon exertion, mental fatigue, reluctance to speak, lethargy, and deficiency of central qi. 8. Yam and Longan Porridge Ingredients: 100g yam, 15g longan meat, 3 lychee nuts, 3g schisandra berries, sugar to taste.
Preparation: Peel and thinly slice the Chinese yam. Simmer the yam slices, longan, lychee, and schisandra berries together. Add sugar after cooking.
Benefits: This porridge fortifies the middle energizer, strengthens the lungs, consolidates essence, fortifies tendons and bones, and promotes muscle growth. The starch enzymes in Chinese yam offer significant benefits for those with qi deficiency constitutions.