Beat the Heat

If you live in Australia, no doubt you know it’s summer. Where I am in Perth, it's been up to 44 degrees already! Did you know that the weather is significant in the cause of disease according to Chinese medicine? 

Heat is one of “6 Pathogens”, that can invade the body and cause disharmonies. Heat can commonly invade the channels of the neck, face and throat causing sore-throat, hayfever or seasonal allergies. Symptoms of heat include pain – usually severe or throbbing, as heat dries up fluids it can cause body fluids to congeal. For example phlegm will get thicker, yellow or sticky, urine can become more concentrated, darker and the tongue will get redder and more dry (as the moisture of the mouth can be dried up by Heat).

Heat clearing foods can be used as a preventative during the hot weather. Fruit & Veg that are watery and not too sweet like Watermelon, cucumber, lettuce are good at keeping away heat invasions. Drinking Chrysanthemum (Ju Hua) honeysuckle(Jin Yin Hua) and dandelion (Pu Gong Ying) herbs (by themselves or add to green tea) are more targeted ways to clear heat – especially from the face and throat.

Heat can invade not only via the environment but from our diet also. In Australia this weekend (26^th January) we are coming up to Australia Day – a time of national celebration where the classic Aussie thing to do is to drink alcohol. Alcohol’s nature is essentially warm-hot, so combining lots of drinking with warm weather is a perfect environment to cause Heat-invasion disharmonies. Intoxication from drinking can cause what we refer to in Chinese medicine as “toxic heat”. 

Diarrhea, vomiting, breakouts of acne are all common hangover symptoms which essentially come from the self-induced toxic heat invasion. The simplest way to avoid this is to drink less! Space drinks out with water, use some self-control, and enjoy Australia day. If you do find yourself suffering the effects of a toxic-heat hangover Chinese medicine employs more “detox” methods to clear out the toxic heat. Our Tong Kuai Hangover tea is based on the idea of clearing toxic heat from the digestive system via the bowels. Watermelon is a good hangover food as well.    

You're a Peach

In Chinese herbal medicine, the kernel of peaches are used as a herb, but it's fruit also has medicinal properties. While the kernels must be used by a trained herbalist as they contain poison, which is controlled by their preparation methods, the fruit is quite easily accessible and safe to use.

Peaches are coming into season in summer, soon you'll find all kinds of delicious juicy peaches around you in your local fruit and veg store.

The nature of the peach is sweet and warm, which means it's nourishing to the digestive system (Spleen-Stomach in CM) and it's moisturizing nature makes it great fruit for habitual constipation sufferers.

A recipe for high blood pressure is eating one or two fresh peaches (without stone or skin) daily.

Green (unripe) peach can be used as well:

To make the "Dried Green Peach"  simply dry unripe green peaches, with stone removed, in the sun.

The dried green peach can then be used for other recipes:

1) High Blood Pressure: Simmer 30g of dried green peach in water, drinking the liquid as you would tea.

2) For seminal emissions or spontaneous night sweating: Stir-fry 30g of dried green peach until almost scorched, then add 30g of Chinese Dates and water. Steam to cook and eat in the evening before sleep.

Hope you have fun with peaches this summer!

Lest We Forget

In Australia we are approaching ANZAC day on 25th April. This is a day of rememberance and thankfulness about those Australian soldiers fallen and those who gave their lives to serve in war times. ANZAC has always had a special meaning to our family, as my grandad, Eustace Mickle was a rat of Trobruk, in the past I have marched in rememberacnce of him, worn his medals and even been pushed in a pram by my mum and Anutie clipping the heels of the other ex-service men in the march!

Soldiers who fought for our freedom have brought us here, they fought for what we so easily enjoy now. For many of us our lives have been far from the fringe of war and we might not feel this on a personal level. Other people might have more influential in bringing us to where we are today.

Remembrance and reflection is a powerful thing for us as individuals and as a society. Why not use this ANZAC day as a chance to reflect on the sacrifice that people in your world, including the soldiers, who have brought you to where you are? How can we show our gratitude for the sacrifice?  

Because my blog is about Chinese medicine, I might mention that Chinese medicine considers refletion "Yi" to be part of the Spleen Energy. We digest thoughts as well as food through the Spleen's energy. Healthy digestion of thoughts such as creating time for rememberance
and reflection is part of a healthy person.