Each month during menstruation, women experience significant blood loss. If this blood is not replenished promptly, the body may become prone to anemia. Anemia can negatively impact a woman's physical stamina and complexion. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) suggests that during menstrual blood loss, specific medicinal diets can effectively replenish blood.
Below, we introduce several nourishing recipes for menstrual blood replenishment:
Hawthorn, Cinnamon Twig, and Brown Sugar Decoction
Ingredients: 15g hawthorn fruit, 5g cinnamon twig, 30g brown sugar.
Preparation:Place hawthorn fruit and cinnamon twig in an earthenware pot. Add 2 bowls of water and simmer over low heat until reduced to 1 bowl. Stir in brown sugar, mix well, and bring to a boil.
Benefits: Warms the meridians, promotes blood circulation, dissipates blood stasis, and alleviates pain. Suitable for women with cold-type dysmenorrhea and dull complexion.
Black Plum and Brown Sugar Drink
Ingredients: 15g black plums, 30g brown sugar.30g brown sugar.
Method: Place black plum and brown sugar in a pot. Add 1.5 bowls of water. Simmer until reduced to 1 bowl. Strain and drink warm.
Benefits: Nourishes blood, stops bleeding, beautifies skin, and brightens complexion. Suitable for young women with heavy menstruation or functional uterine bleeding.
Goji Berry, Yam, and Cloud Bean Chicken
Ingredients: 10g goji berries,150g fresh Chinese yam, 50g mung beans, 1 young hen, seasonings to taste.
Method: Soak mung beans until soft. Peel and wash Chinese yam, then cut into chunks. Pluck and clean the hen, blanch, and cut into pieces. Place all ingredients in a bowl with goji berries, scallions, peppers, ginger, salt, cooking wine, and clear broth. Cover the bowl.Steam until cooked and consume. Take 1-2 servings per week.
Benefits: Nourishes the liver and enriches essence, strengthens the spleen and nourishes blood. Suitable for liver-kidney deficiency with insufficient essence and blood, presenting as menstrual cramps, heavy sensation in waist and knees, weakness, scanty menstrual flow with pale color, or accompanied by hot flashes and tinnitus.
Corydalis and Motherwort Jujube Egg Decoction
Ingredients: 10g Corydalis, 30g Motherwort, 10 jujubes, 3 eggs.
Preparation: Simmer Corydalis, jujubes, Motherwort, and eggs in sufficient water until eggs are cooked. Peel eggs, simmer briefly, strain liquid. Drink broth and eat eggs (1 egg per serving), 3 times daily.
Efficacy: Promotes blood circulation, regulates qi, resolves stasis, and alleviates pain. Suitable for scanty menstrual flow with stasis-induced pain, dark purple tongue with stasis spots or ecchymoses.
Preparation: Simmer all ingredients in water. Drink warm twice daily for 5-7 consecutive days.
Efficacy: Warms the uterus and dispels cold. Suitable for cold-induced menstrual pain.
During menstruation, also observe these dietary guidelines:
1. Avoid raw and cold foods; opt for warm and hot dishes.Traditional Chinese medicine holds that blood flows with warmth but stagnates with cold. Consuming cold foods during menstruation hinders digestion and damages the body's yang energy, generating internal cold. This cold stagnation impedes blood flow, leading to scanty menstruation or even dysmenorrhea. Even during the hottest summer months, cold beverages should be avoided during menstruation.During menstruation, prioritize warm foods such as kelp, red dates, sorghum, coix seeds, lamb, and apples. Limit consumption of cold, slippery, or laxative foods like pears, water chestnuts, water caltrop, winter melon, Chinese broccoli, and hemp seeds.
2. Avoid sour and spicy foods. Women often feel particularly fatigued during menstruation, with weakened digestion and poor appetite. Therefore, meals should be light and easily digestible, avoiding overly sour or strongly stimulating foods like hawthorn berries, pickled vegetables, vinegar, chili peppers, mustard, and black pepper.
3. Prevent iron deficiency by balancing meat and vegetables.Iron is an essential trace element for the human body. It not only participates in the synthesis of hemoglobin and many important enzymes but also plays a crucial role in immunity, intelligence, aging, and energy metabolism. Due to significant iron loss during menstruation, supplementing with iron-rich foods is vital. Fish, lean meat, animal liver, and animal blood are rich in iron with high bioavailability, making them easily absorbed and utilized by the body.In contrast, plant-based iron found in soybeans and spinach has lower absorption rates. Therefore, menstrual diets should emphasize balanced meat and vegetable intake, incorporating more animal-based foods to meet the heightened iron demands during this period.
Menstrual cramps refer to lower abdominal pain or pulling discomfort in the lower back and legs experienced during menstruation or around that time. Causes of menstrual cramps.Possible causes include consuming cold foods, exposure to cold, or imbalances in qi and blood leading to stagnation and impaired blood flow. Cases stemming from damp-heat accumulation or liver qi stagnation often present with loss of appetite, irritability, fatigue, and pale complexion. During episodes, symptomatic relief is recommended. Once pain subsides, prevention-focused care yields better therapeutic and cosmetic outcomes.