Diet for the Elderly: What to Eat for Qi Deficiency

　　Qi deficiency is a manifestation of the decline in function of a certain organ or the whole body. It is often accompanied by symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, abdominal distension and loose stools, shortness of breath, low voice, excessive sweating, dizziness and tinnitus, palpitations, palpitations, pale tongue with white coating, and weak pulse. When the human body has deficiency syndrome, there is often a prominent manifestation of deficiency of a certain organ, which should be used to determine the basis for nourishing and regulating methods.

　　People with heart-qi deficiency are the most common symptoms, such as palpitations, shortness of breath that worsens with activity, premature beats or asystole. People with spleen deficiency mainly have symptoms such as eating less, anorexia, weight loss, abdominal distension, indigestion, loose stools, and sallow complexion. People with lung qi deficiency often have symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, weakness, shortness of breath, laziness, weak voice, and spontaneous sweating. People with kidney qi deficiency often experience symptoms such as soreness in the waist and legs, heel pain, loss of sexual desire, frequent and long urination, and edema of the lower limbs. People with liver qi deficiency are very rare. Traditional Chinese medicine has always emphasized that the spleen and stomach are the foundation. Therefore, the focus should be on replenishing the spleen and replenishing the stomach, while taking into account the deficiency of other internal organs. When nourishing, you should pay attention to taking in foods that are mild in nature, rich in nutrients, and easy to digest, but the intake should not be too much at one time. In addition, you should avoid eating greasy and thick-flavored products. According to practical experience, the foods that people with Qi deficiency constitution should not ingest mainly include: chicken heads, pig heads, mutton, seafood, shrimps, crabs, alcohol, fermented rice, onions, ginger, pepper, leeks, mustard greens, pickles, alfalfa, soybean sprouts, bamboo shoots, etc.

　　Modern nutrition believes that people with Qi deficiency should pay attention to a balanced diet, and the intake ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrate should be 2:3:10. Among them, animal protein should account for about 35% of the total protein intake; fat should be appropriate, but vegetable oil should be the main one; staple food should be a combination of thick and thin, and the variety should not be single; at the same time, you should eat more vegetables and fruits.

　　Commonly used Qi-enhancing foods are as follows: chestnuts, hazelnuts, lotus seeds, peanuts, white lentils, yams, lilies, soybeans, broad beans, sword beans, cowpeas, peas, adzuki beans, pumpkins, luffa, mussels, apples, cherries, lychees, red dates, water chestnuts, mushrooms, glutinous rice, japonica rice, millet, barley, buckwheat, crucian carp, loach, herring, Octopus, silver carp, eel, shark meat and fins, catfish, mandarin fish, black fish, cuttlefish, catfish, hairtail, pomfret, croaker, sea bass, eggs, squab, quail, chicken, pheasant, rabbit meat, beef, wild boar, yellow lamb, donkey meat, pork, pig brain, pig kidney, sheep tripe, field mouse meat, animal heart, frog, sea cucumber, etc. Among them, wild boar meat and quail can make up for the deficiency of the five internal organs. Qi-tonifying foods are often mixed with qi-tonifying drugs to form a medicated diet to enhance the qi-tonifying function. This part of the medicine mainly includes: ginseng, Codonopsis pilosula, Radix Pseudostellariae, American ginseng, Astragalus, Polygonatum, Atractylodes, Schisandra, Ziheche (placenta), etc.