Replenish blood! Replenish blood! Replenish blood! Why can't women make up for it?

How should women replenish blood correctly? This is crucial. People who have insufficient Qi and blood have been trying to regulate their body, but why can't they replenish it? They may have overlooked some very important things.

Nowadays, many people are more or less qi deficient. To put it simply, their bodies are a little weak. The reason why this situation is quite common is that, firstly, the pace of work and life of modern people is too tight. Secondly, changes in eating habits, such as "off-season" eating, have some impact on the body's qi and blood to a certain extent. Many aspects are intertwined, resulting in insufficient Qi and blood.

As long as we are willing to spend time and energy, once we find that we are a little deficient in qi and blood, we will use many methods to regulate it, which is what we often call "replenishing the body." In addition to our long-standing tradition, we also have the habit of dietary therapy, and I believe that most people have experienced this.

However, some people will see better improvement whether it is food supplements or medicinal food supplements. But for some people, no matter what they eat, they don’t feel any improvement in their blood and qi. Why is that?

First of all, it needs to be pointed out that what we call "insufficient qi and blood" is different from "anemia" in modern medicine. It is possible that insufficient qi and blood can include "anemia", but the two concepts cannot be equated.

Let’s talk about replenishing Qi and blood from two aspects: “food supplements” and “drug supplements”.

① Food supplements: Food supplements, as the name suggests, is to purposefully select certain foods to achieve the purpose of replenishing qi and blood. This is a very traditional method of supplementation. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that humans have qi and blood, and all things in nature also have "qi". According to the health-preserving principle of the unity of man and nature, "replenishing qi with food" is the most common method.

In fact, broadly speaking, replenishing Qi with food has penetrated into our lives. Even the ordinary three meals a day are actually a manifestation of "replenishing Qi with food." Therefore, common qi-replenishing foods can generally enter the spleen and stomach meridians. This is because the spleen and stomach are "the organs of storage and the foundation of acquired constitution". They can strengthen the spleen and replenish qi, and are also the most acceptable way for us to replenish qi.

There are many foods that replenish qi. Apart from grains and cereals, "yam" should be the oldest food that strengthens the spleen and replenishes qi. The use of yam was introduced as early as in the "Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic".

Dietary Supplements: Foods that replenish qi are generally sweet in nature and mostly yellow or white in color. For example, yam is white, soybeans are yellow, and they both taste sweet, so these two foods have the effect of strengthening the spleen and replenishing qi. Medicinal supplements: Based on the principle of "if the form is deficient, supplement it with flavor", Chinese medicinal materials that replenish qi and blood are basically those with strong smell and smooth texture, such as astragalus, ginseng, angelica, rehmannia, etc.

According to the TCM principle that "the five qi and five flavors correspond to the five internal organs", products that replenish qi are generally sweet in nature and taste, and mostly yellow or white in color. For example, yam is white, rice is yellow, and soybeans are also yellow, and they all taste "sweet", so they can strengthen the spleen and replenish qi.

As for blood tonification, Chinese medicine believes that "tangible blood cannot be produced quickly, but intangible qi must be consolidated quickly", so blood tonification is generally carried out on the basis of qi tonification. But there are slight differences in food choices. Foods that tend to replenish blood are mostly moist and greasy, such as Polygonatum sibiricum and many animal organs.

② Medicinal supplements: In terms of medicinal supplements, according to the principle of traditional Chinese medicine that "if the form is insufficient, supplement it with flavor", the Chinese medicinal materials that replenish qi and blood are basically those with strong smell and smooth texture, such as astragalus, ginseng, angelica, rehmannia, etc., which basically meet this characteristic.

There are many famous prescriptions handed down from generation to generation for replenishing qi and blood with medicinal supplements. Because Chinese medicine emphasizes syndrome differentiation and treatment, most fixed prescriptions need to be appropriately added or subtracted and cannot remain unchanged. After all, everyone's situation is different.

After understanding the common methods of replenishing qi and blood, let’s discuss the issue of why some people do not see obvious improvements in their health after taking supplements. I think the reason why supplementation is ineffective may be that not enough is done in the following two aspects:

(1) Foods can also have incompatible properties. When taking supplements, you should be careful to avoid:

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that many foods have conflicting properties and flavors. Generally speaking, whether you are using food or medicine to replenish qi and blood, you should avoid foods that promote qi circulation and consume qi while eating. However, blood-replenishing foods should not be eaten with spicy foods (spicy foods promote the growth of qi and may cause the qi and blood to disperse). For example, ginseng can replenish qi. If you eat ginseng and radish at the same time, the effect of ginseng in replenishing qi will be greatly reduced, or even equivalent to not eating it. There are many more points of attention of this kind. Therefore, replenishing Qi and blood to regulate the body, if you find that tonic is of no use, you can consider this aspect first.

(2) After taking tonic food, there are also some do’s and don’ts in daily life:

Whether it is food supplements or medicine supplements, there are some things you need to pay attention to in your daily life after eating. For example, after eating food and medicine that replenishes qi and blood, you should avoid strenuous exercise and sweating, prevent cold wind, and try to avoid contact with cold water and drinking cold drinks. According to traditional Chinese medicine, these behaviors can consume qi and damage blood, thereby greatly reducing the effectiveness of replenishing qi and blood.

A more appropriate approach is to take a short walk and drink a glass of warm water after eating, which can help digest greasy food and aid blood circulation. Maintain mental peace and don't be anxious or irritable. These are all more reasonable approaches after taking supplements.

To sum up, people with insufficient qi and blood can regulate their body through dietary supplements. Why some people do not achieve satisfactory results? The most common reason may be that the above two points are not done well enough, thus affecting the tonic effect. If these two points can be avoided, I believe the effect of tonic and conditioning will be improved.