Two Whites Soup，From *Proven Tea, Decoction, and Soup Recipes for Common Ailments*,Promotes digestion, relieves constipation, clears heat, and aids weight loss. Suitable for simple obesity.
because it runs warm overall, this decoction is best avoided in yin-deficient, fire-prone constitutions; those who are robust with internal accumulated heat are not suited to this formula
Commentary
At the head stands Ginger, the sovereign, nature warm, flavor pungent, channeled into the Lung, Spleen, Stomach; it disperses cold, relieves cough and harmonizes the stomach, underpinning the principal thrust of the decoction. These are joined ministerially by chinese cabbage (of neutral nature and sweet flavor, entering the Spleen, Stomach, harmonizes the stomach and promotes diuresis), and asparagus (with cool nature and sweet flavor, having Lung, Spleen tropism, clears heat, moistens the lung, and promotes diuresis), reinforcing the sovereign’s main effect. Completing the formula, scallions, harmonizing the stomach and supporting dietary nourishment, and chicken broth, rich in blood-and-flesh essence, nourishing the righteous qi, and rice wine, acting as the envoy to harmonize the various ingredients, so that potency is moderated and stomach qi protected. Together the herbs converge on this action, in accord with the spleen deficiency with dampness pattern.