Foods 'n' Herbs

In western medicine, anemia is due to insufficient iron or lack of sufficient red blood cells. The symptoms are pallor-looking skin, breathlessness, headaches, fatigue and general weakness. Treatment for iron-deficient anemia involves increasing iron absorption. Nutritional anemia is due to a deficiency of folic acid. Natural food sources for iron and folic acid are kidney and liver, egg yolk, lean meats, poultry, oysters, green leafy vegetables, orange juice, blackberry and parsley juice, grape juice, whole-wheat products, beets, peas and beans, especially soybean.

Chinese medicine defines anemia as blood problems associated with disorders of the heart, heart-spleen deficiency, liver-kidney yin deficiency or spleen-kidney yang deficiency. Treatments are to reinforce the spleen and kidneys, replenish blood and qi and to nourish yin. Dong-gui, ginseng and dang-shen are the herbs commonly used.

Duck and Cordyceps Soup 

SYMPTOMS: 

Anemia, dizziness, tinnitus, soreness of the loin and knees, impotence, cough, shortness of breath, frequent urination.

THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS:

Tonify yin and promote vital fluid, invigorate kidney and supplement essence, invigorate lungs and spleen.

2 SERVINGS:

1. Wash duck and remove skin and fat. Rinse cordyceps and stuff inside the duck's stomach.
2. Put duck in a casserole with enough water to cover the duck and cover with lid.
3. Place the casserole on a stainless steel cooling stand inside a pot or a wok with enough hot water at the bottom to reach up to the lower third of the casserole. Cover the pot or wok with lid.
4. Place the pot or wok on medium-high heat and cook for 4 hours. Add boiling water to the cooking regularly to maintain the cooking and prevent burning.
5. Add salt to serve and drink soup only by two servings with two to three hours apart.

USAGE:

Take this recipe once a day for 3 days to see improvement. For best result, take once every 2 to 3 days for up to 20 times.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD:

Bring the soup to a boil in a pot for about 10 minutes and transfer the cooking to a slow cooker and cook for 6 to 8 hours with high heat.