New Years Resolution...Part 2

In part one, we looked at the Spleen's role in thinking.

In the Huang Di Nei Jing it says the "Spleen stores ideas worrying beyond measure with out self-control will injure ideas" 

This concept that the Spleen stores ideas, is a link to digestion of both food and thoughts,  reinforced by another quote from the Nan Jing “...the Spleen stores ideas and intelligence”

This same passage states “the Kidneys store essence and Will”.  Will or Zhi as it is known in TCM, is the activation of our decisions into reality.

So when we make a new years resolution there is a complexity of steps involving success! Let's look at how Chinese medicine sees this process: 

An Idea – Spleen energy. Lack of ideas? Dont know what to do or what you want to do? Lots of Circular thinking - that's weak Splen energy. 

A conversation – no, talking to yourself is not a sign of madness…but you need to decide within yourself what you will do. Not every idea is a good one. Whether we “think it through” , weigh up pros and cons, imagine possible consequences. – this is all the Spleen energy which digests thoughts and imaginations.

A decision – Gall Bladder energy is needed for this part.

The Gall Bladder is responsible for courage. A person with weak Gall Bladder energy will be chronically indecisive, timid and lack courage to put forward their ideas and self into the world. Naturally assertive people who are comfortable with themselves have healthy Gall Bladder Energy. Overly confident people or those who can't help themselves in piping up, having to be right and letting everyone know can be linked to an excess of Gall Bladder Qi.

Follow through - Will Power (Zhi) to act on the decision and follow through. “The spirit of the Kidneys, the Zhi, rules the will, drive, ambition and survival instinct” Huang Di Nei Jing

This is where most new years resolutions come undone. If you already have the resolution then you’ve already decided what you want to do. Kidney energy is what’s needed for a strong Will (Zhi).

An interesting saying in Chinese medicine about the Will is that ACTIVATING THE WILL, STRENGTHENS THE WILL. Which means each time you act on the decision in accordance with your new years resolution, it further strengthens your resolve. 

My next post will focus on ways to strengthen the Will (Zhi) and Kidney Energy. 

These ancient texts of the Yellow Emperors Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing) even mention acupuncture points to strengthen the Zhi, the Gall Bladders decision making energy and other aspects of our mental functions can be treated with acupuncture and herbal medicine. 

To all my readers, Happy New Year. I truly hope this new year is better than you've had so far and more fun than you could imagine! 

New Year Resolution Part 1

As new year fast approaches, many of us will ponder the good 'ol New Years Resolution...here is a TCM take on how our body approaches decisions, will power and change. 

TCM views our body in an entirely unique way, and our thinking, emotions and mental functions are not exempt from this system. A feature of Chinese medicine is the strong link between the phsical body - our organs (Zang-Fu), Energy (Qi), Blood (Xue) etc, and mental functions like decision making and will power. 

Likewise, emotions and mental functions in a non-benefitial state can affect the associated bodies organs, resulting in disease.

A simple and best example is thinking - in Chinese medicine we call this "emotion" Pensiveness. In health, thinking is needed to problem solve, to work through issues, and should be accompanied by other activities such as decision making and exercising judgement.

Thinking in a disease state is pensiveness, or worry - where thoughts are going around without control or restraint. Worry can take a person to a place of thinking that transends facts and actual reality into a place that dwells on "what-if's" and unlikley scenarios. Thinking and pensiveness belong to the Spleen organ. The Spleen's function is to digest thoughts as well as digest food.

Pensiveness and worry can damage the Spleen energy resulting in poor appetite or no appetite (or sometimes a large, out of control appetite) bloating, abdominal distention or dull-achy pain and diarrohea.  

A poor diet (see my other posts about what TCM thinks is a good diet) can also damage the Spleen energy and cause emotions like worry to be exacerbated. Weak Spleen Energy certainly makes it very hard for the body to have good, clear thinking.

Food for thought! Part 2 Discusses the role of will power.

Fruits are medicine - Apricot

The apricot is well in season in Perth now - just yesterday the smell was inviting me as I went through the fruit and vege section of my local supermarket.

 Did you know all foods have medicinal properties according to Chinese medicine?
...so what does the Apricot do?

The flesh is sweet and neutral in nature (i.e. not hot or cold), most fruits are cold so this is a more unusual property for a fruit.

According to TCM theory, Apricot fruit flesh can "moisten the lungs, relieve asthma, promote secretion of saliva and quench thirst" (Dai Yin Fang & Liu Cheng Jun - Fruits as Medicine, 1999).

For a dry throat with thirst - Eat 2-3 pieces of fresh apriocts in the mornign and evening.

You may know that Apricot kernals are used as a Chinese herb - there are two types and one is quite poisonous, needing to be boiled correctly before it's used. The sweet Apricot Kernel has no poison and dosen't require boiling. You can tell which one is bitter by tasting the kernel with the tip of the tongue.

People with Diarrhoea should not eat raw apricots - it can worsen the symptoms. Eating large quantities of raw apricot fruits will weaken the Spleen and Stomach.

Once recipie for Constipation in the elderly or constipation after giving birth -
15g Sweet Apricot Kernels, discard the skin add 30 grams of rice and 30 grams of sugar, plus a small amount of water. Grind together into a smooth liquid, then steam until cooked. Eat this in the morning and evening.

This is just one fruit...Chinese medicine views every food as having some kind of "medicinal" properties.

Surviving the Festive Season - Chinese medicine tips

I'm often asked about "detoxing" by patients. Somehow this idea has more than crept into our western society that we should cleanse or detox our body periodically by way of purging, fasting, clean eating, or various means which make you sweat, poo or wee the so-called "toxins" out of your body.

Chinese medicine has an entirely different take on this idea. Rather than detox your body we shouldn't be eating so much crap in the first place. TCM essentially says it's unhealthy to change the diet so severely, as required by the detox diets, and also why would you ingest so much "toxins" in the first place?

Diet and digestion is so different in TCM than the typical western way, it's a full lesson to undersand it properly. My podcast explains about the TCM diet and books i can recommend on the topic are listed below.

Now that you have the basic understanding of digestion according to TCM, it becomes clear that every process requires energy - and energy is what we want to conserve rather than waste. Every excretion which looses heat is essentially loosing Yang Qi. (sweating, bowel movements, urinating)

The best way to avoid needing to detox is to eat clean, cooked and self-prepared foods rather than eating out, buying pre-cooked meals and foods or eating snacky bars and
For most healthy people in summer time a few pieces of fruit (max 2) a day is fine. For people with cold in their body or sensitive digestion and weak Spleen energy, best to avoid any cold and raw until the Spleen energy has recovered and digestion is stronger.

A discussion on Dampness is probably necessary for a true understanding on what happens to the Spleen and Stomach when you eat crap foods all the time. This will have to be another blog post!

Christmas is pretty much a time of excessive eating drinking and consuming irregular meals, many of which are heavier foods. For many people in the corporate world, this festive season is a bit like a kids birthday party the whole month.

Lots of celebrations, busy times accompanied by stress of all the preparations and presents that must be found, the bills and the winding up of the year for many people accompanied by the poor diet habits makes December a receipe for weight gain and "toxicity".

What can be done then? Here are my tips for surviving the festive season from a Chinese medicine perspective:

1) Make time for exercise - Even though we are really busy from now to Christmas, make time for your body to get active. Sweating is a natural way to push out the toxins and in the Summer season this is the right thing to do acorsign to Chinese medicine. If your part of the world is in winter now (my readers in UK or USA and Europe) then exercise with sweating is not warranted. Just do stretching, keep your body active with moving about but now is not the season for pumping weights at the gym!

2) Eat Soup on the non-party days Even if you have 4 party days out a week, there are still 3 days at home you can eat regular meals, have AFD's and treat your body nicely. What I do is make a big pot of vege soup and freeze it in disposable cups in portion sizes. Sure eating fresh is better than frozen but who has time to make soup every day? If you do then go for it!

3) Eat Dampness draining foods - BARLEY, MUNG BEANS and ADZUKI BEANS
these are the top 3 foods which can eliminate dampness from the body. Barley is really easy to incorporate as you don't have to soak it you can just cook it like rice. Add barley into soups or use it as a porridge or like you would rice with your favourite meats or veges.
Tip for barley - if you find it has a laxative effect you can roast the whole barley until aromatic before cooking. The roasting process makes it more alkaline.
Roasted barley is also used in Japanese and Chinese "digestive" teas as it aids digestion - settles the stomach.

Hopefully these 3 tips will help you have a better festive season experience this year.

RECOMMENDED TEXTS ON TCM DIET THERAPY

Bob Flaws - The Tao of Healthy Eating - Blue Poppy Press (Easy to read and understand for lay people. My number one book I recommend to my students in TCM Diet Therapy)

Paul Pitchford - Healing with Whole foods - North Atlantic Books (Although this text dosen't follow strictly TCM, Pitchford slants towards macrobiotics in many instances, it does have some fantastic recipes)