Do you cook with herbs? It's quite easy to add them into the recipes you already prepare for yourself. Take for example chicken soup. After your next period, try adding the herbal ingredients above to the broth. It will help boost yin, blood and qi! All the things you really need after your bleed. 

In China, it’s tradition to consume a dish right after their periods called Dang Gui Soup. You may have heard of Dang Gui (Angelica Sinensis), sometimes called Tang Kuei. It's also known as the "female ginseng" and "state of return". It strongly builds blood and regulates menstruation by circulating and enriching yin. In China, the soup is prepared quite strong and it's hard to talk most folks with western palates to keep the practice up, so I've compiled a more milder version. 

What you'll need: 

• 2-3 lbs of chicken pieces

• 8 cups water

• pinch of salt

• 1 in piece of ginger, slivered or grated

• 10 grams Dang Gui (you can start smaller like with 3-5 grams)

• 20 grams Astragalus

• 1 rounded tbsp of goji berries

• 6 chinese red dates (jujubes), seeded

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 2 tbsp rice wine

• 2 medium carrots and 2 celery stalks, chopped

• 3 tbsp soy sauce, coconut aminos or tamari

• green onions, chopped for garnish

1. In a large soup pot, combine chicken, water and salt. Bring this to a boil while skimming off any excess fat
2. Place all herbs into cooking tea bags as pictured above, this will make it easier to remove the herbs, you can choose to put the goji & jujubes in the soup if you'd like
3. Add the herbs, ginger and rice wine to the pot and bring it back to a boil. Quickly lower the heat to a simmer, covered but slightly ajar for about 45 minutes. Skim off any excess fat
4. Finally, add in the carrots and celery and cook for another 10-15 minutes until soft. 
5. Remove the bags of herbs, add the soy sauce to taste and garnish with green onions to serve

If you are still adverse to the highly herbal taste, you can reduce the amount of dang gui to 3-5 grams and then gradually raise the dose to 10g. This soup can have many variations when you try it with different vegetables. 

Enjoy for a few days after your period to replenish yourself.

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xoxo, Kris