Chicken Soup to Support PostPartum Healing
Chicken soup isn’t called Jewish penicillin for nothing. From a traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, it nourishes, supports and warms the center and promotes healing and circulation according to my teacher Dr. CS Cheung. He recommended that one make it with an “old” chicken to make sure one cooked it for two hours. It is best cooked with an onion, several cloves of garlic, several potatoes, two celery ribs and one sweet potato and/or a carrot. Dice and sautee the onions for five minutes, add minced garlic and let sweat for five minutes. Add diced potatoes, sweet potatoes or carrot and diced celery. You can talk to your acupuncturist about adding a small handful of food grade Huang Qi to build Qi and extend the vital energy to the body, Gou Qi Zi – the go ji berries you can get at whole foods and 4 medjhool dates which will both nourish and build the blood postpartum.(Bensky and Gamble, Chinese Materia Medica 1990). You can have a cup or bowl twice a day for the first month of your postpartum healing. You will find yourself having more energy and feeling stronger every day.