Nourishing soups and exercise to lower blood pressure: a comprehensive management plan for patients with hypertension

**Kelp, Job's Tears, and Egg Soup**

Ingredients: 30g kelp, 30g Job's tears, 3 eggs, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, and MSG to taste.

Method: (1) Wash the kelp and cut it into strips. Wash the Job's tears and put them into a pressure cooker. Add water and stew the kelp and Job's tears until very tender. Set aside with the soup.

(2) Place an iron pot over high heat, add vegetable oil, stir-fry the beaten eggs until cooked, then pour in the kelp and barley along with the broth, add salt and pepper to taste, simmer for a while, and add MSG before serving.

Efficacy: Strengthens the heart and promotes diuresis, invigorates blood circulation and softens hard masses.

Indications: All types of hypertension.

**Red Lotus Seed and Goji Berry Quail Soup**

Ingredients: 1000g cleaned quail, 50g lotus seeds (with the core removed), 20g jujubes, 5g goji berries, 2 slices of old ginger, 50g raw chicken oil, appropriate amounts of rice wine, pepper powder, chicken broth, salt, and MSG.

Method: (1) After washing the quail, put it into a pot of boiling water with rice wine to remove the blood and take it out; soak the lotus seeds with the core removed in boiling water; wash the jujubes and cut them into thin slices; wash the wolfberries with warm water and soak them; crush the old ginger.

(2) Put an appropriate amount of water in a clay pot, add quail, lotus seeds, old ginger slices, scallions, fresh broth and raw chicken oil, bring to a boil over high heat, and skim off the foam.

(3) Simmer over low heat for at least 3 to 4 hours, remove impurities, then add goji berries, salt, pepper, and chicken essence and simmer until the quail is tender. Add MSG before serving.

Efficacy: Nourishes the five internal organs and clears damp heat.

Indications: All types of hypertension.

**Astragalus and Monkey Head Soup**

Ingredients: 180g monkey head mushroom, 25g astragalus root, 300g fresh chicken, vegetable oil, ginger, scallions, and cooking wine as needed.

Method: (1) Wash the monkey head, soak it in warm water for 30 minutes, then take it out and cut it into pieces.

(2) Wash and slice the astragalus and chicken. Heat vegetable oil, add ginger, scallions and chicken and stir-fry. Add cooking wine, astragalus and clear broth and cook together. After bringing to a boil over high heat, simmer over low heat for 60 minutes. Finally, add monkey head slices and cook for 30 minutes.

Efficacy: Tonifies Qi and replenishes deficiencies.

Indications: Hypertension in the elderly.

**Astragalus and Monkey Head Chicken Soup**

Ingredients: 180g monkey head mushroom, 15g astragalus root, 200g chicken, 180g Chinese cabbage heart, 1000g clear broth, appropriate amounts of scallions, pepper powder, cooking wine, vegetable oil, and salt.

Method: (1) Soak the monkey head mushroom in warm water, wash it, and cut it into thin slices; chop the chicken into pieces; wipe the astragalus root with a warm cloth and cut it into thin slices.

(2) Heat oil in a wok, add astragalus, scallions, and chicken pieces and stir-fry together. Then add salt, cooking wine, clear broth, and monkey head mushrooms. Cook for another 30 minutes and sprinkle with pepper.

(3) Remove the chicken pieces and monkey head mushrooms, add the hearts of bok choy to the soup, cook for a short while and serve.

Efficacy: Tonifies Qi and benefits the lungs, strengthens the spleen and promotes blood production.

Indications: All types of hypertension.

**Chrysanthemum and Pork Tripe Soup**

Ingredients: One pig stomach, 1 gram of chamomile, 1 gram of astragalus, a few slices of ginger, appropriate amounts of flour and salad oil, and 750 grams of stock.

Method: (1) Remove impurities from the pig stomach and wash it clean. At the same time, heat the wok. When it reaches a certain temperature, put the pig stomach in the wok and rub it. Do not miss any part of the stomach. Alternatively, rub it twice with flour and salad oil.

(2) Boil the pig stomach in boiling water for 3 minutes, then take it out and soak it in cold water. Remove the white membrane and cut it into large pieces.

(3) Put all the ingredients into the pot, add broth and bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for about an hour.

Efficacy: Dispels wind and promotes urination, replenishes the middle qi.

Indications: All types of hypertension.

**American Ginseng and Conch Soup**

Ingredients: One large conch, 25 grams of pitcher plant, 15 grams of American ginseng, a little dried tangerine peel and salt.

Method: (1) Remove the shell of the conch, take out the meat, wash it and cut it into slices; wash the American ginseng, pitcher plant and dried tangerine peel, and slice the American ginseng.

(2) Add water to a clay pot and bring it to a boil. Add all the ingredients and simmer over medium heat for 3 hours. Add salt to taste.

Efficacy: Nourishes Yin and promotes body fluid production, clears heat and lowers blood pressure, eliminates phlegm and relieves cough.

Indications: Hypertension due to liver and kidney yin deficiency.

**Jasmine and Tremella Soup**

Ingredients: 40g white fungus, 30 jasmine flowers, salt, MSG, and rice wine to taste.

Instructions: Pour clear broth into a pot, add salt, MSG, and Shaoxing wine. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, pour into a soup bowl, add the washed white fungus, steam for half an hour, sprinkle with jasmine flowers, and steam briefly before serving.

Efficacy: Nourishes stomach yin, clears lung heat, nourishes kidney yin, and replenishes qi and blood.

Indications: All types of hypertension.

**Lemon and Water Chestnut Soup**

Ingredients: 1 lemon, 10 water chestnuts.

Instructions: Slice the lemon and water chestnuts, peel and slice them, and cook them together in a soup.

Efficacy: Clears heat and cools the liver, promotes body fluid production and quenches thirst, harmonizes the stomach and relieves irritability.

Indications: Hypertension due to liver stagnation transforming into fire and wind-yang disturbing upward.

**VI. Exercise Therapy for Hypertension**

**1. What are the benefits of exercise in relieving mental stress?**

Prolonged excessive nervous tension or emotional excitement can cause dysfunction of the central nervous system, leading to problems in the central nervous system's regulation of the cardiovascular system, which often induces hypertension.

Regular exercise can stabilize the emotions and improve the mood of patients with hypertension, relieving tension, anxiety and excitement in work and life.

It can alter the dysfunction of the cerebral cortex, central nervous system, and vasomotor center, strengthen the cerebral cortex's regulatory function on the subcortical vasomotor center, and allow small arteries in a state of tension throughout the body to dilate, thereby promoting a decrease in blood pressure.

**2. Why can exercise lower blood pressure?**

Hypertensive patients who consistently engage in exercise can gradually increase the size and thickness of muscle blood vessels through whole-body muscle movement, leading to an increase in collateral vessels in the coronary arteries, increased blood flow, enlarged lumen, and enhanced vessel wall elasticity. All of these changes are beneficial for lowering blood pressure.

Exercise can also produce certain chemicals that, once in the bloodstream, can promote vasodilation, accelerate blood circulation, and help remove substances such as cholesterol from the blood, thus maintaining the proper elasticity of blood vessels.

Therefore, it can effectively delay the occurrence and development of arteriosclerosis and prevent the aggravation of hypertension.

**3. What are the principles of exercise for patients with hypertension?**

(1) Controlling exercise intensity: The intensity of exercise can be adjusted according to the individual's response to and adaptation to exercise, using different intervals such as 3 times a week, once every other day, or 5 times a week.

It is generally believed that if the frequency is less than twice a week, the effect will not be obvious.

If you exercise every day, the total amount of exercise each time should not be too large. You should feel energetic and have no discomfort the day after exercising.

(2) Choose appropriate exercise programs: When choosing the type of exercise therapy, different exercise methods should be selected according to different stages of hypertension. For example, patients with stage I and stage II hypertension can choose walking, brisk walking, jogging, swimming, medical gymnastics, etc.

(3) Patients with stage III hypertension should adopt limb relaxation exercises, but should not do high-intensity exercises or activities, and should avoid bending their heads down.

It should also be pointed out that when hypertensive patients exercise, they should combine activity with rest, and do so in moderation. They should not be impatient for quick results. At the same time, they should combine exercise with medication, and reduce or gradually stop the medication according to the specific situation in order to achieve certain effects.