How Can Chinese Medicine Help Me Live A Better Life?

Chinese medicine is founded on major prevention and health promoting principals:

• It’s the practitioners job to keep you healthy, rather than just focus on the health problem you have now
• Chinese medicine sees more inter-connections in the body than mainstream medicine (biomedicine or western medicine). A practitioner looks for how
• Chinese medicine follows ancient wisdom from practitioners who are tried, tested and true…there is thousand years old literature which was just as useful back then as it has been in the centuries proceeding. Practitioners today have the benefit of centuries of clinical practice to see time and time again the outworking of acupuncture and herbal medicine formulas.
• Chinese medicine promotes lifestyle and diet changes first, then use treatment (herbs and/or acupuncture)

Famous doctor from the Tang Dynasty, Sun Si Miao said “Dietary therapy should be the first step when one treats a disease. Only when this is unsuccessful should one try medicine”

Diet therapy is actually very easy to apply and it makes a lot of sense when you understand the why behind the what. Chinese medicine is based on observing our body’s interaction with nature and the enviornment we live in, so it is lodgical.

Marie’s practice centers around optimising patients health via diet and lifestyle. Increasing health by optimising your digestion helps you to recover quicker from illness (colds, flus and viruses etc), helps your body to perform at it’s best, promotes good mental health, helps you look better as you grow older and increase your stamina to last longer and be more resillent in stressful times.

As Hippocrates said “let food be thy medicine”

Could you use more Energy?

Energy is a central focus of Chinese Medicine. In the clinic it’s common to hear people say they feel tired, or even just that they could use some more energy. Energy is called Qi (pronounced Chee) in Chinese medicine. Although Qi is more than the ideas that the English word Energy contains. Its a lifeforce, the force which provides movement, flow, and at the same time nourishment to the body.

Qi is more of a Yang quality. There are more than 10 different kinds of Qi in the body – Defensive Qi – or the energy that protects us from getting sick from exposure to external pathogens, is just one example. Food Qi, know as Gu Qi is another.

How do we make Qi? Food and Air are the two main ingredients. We can breathe in Qi. This is why breathing is so important and exercise therapies in Oriental cultures are centered around breathing (Qi Gong, Yoga, Tai Chi etc).

The second way to make Qi is from food. “Gu Qi” literally means “food Qi” – which is the energy our bodies get from nutrients extracted from our diet.

Making energy essentially depends on 2 things:

1) The source – having fresh air and nutrient appropriate food to begin with

2) The machine – Our body is essentially a machine to make energy. The bodies ability to process the air – the techniques we use to breathe, our posture, our habits and the bodies digestion are essential to extracting good Gu Qi from food and fluids. If you tune up your car to make it run better, doesn’t it makes sense to tune up your body from time to time?

Chinese Medicine practitioners are very concerned with your digestion as it’s the essential way for the body to make the energy it needs to heal itself. Even if you’ve come in with a sprained ankle or a headache, good digestion is important to the long term healing of your body.

Practitioners will often ask about bowel movements, appetite and the in’s and out’s of what you eat on a regular basis.

Good digestion means you will recover quicker from injury, react better to stressful and unforeseen events and generally be able to eat a wide variety of foods without too many side effects.

If you experience bloating, gas, diarrhoea or loose stools or constipation (not going every day) on a frequent/normal basis then your body could probably do with a tune up.

When you have acupuncture, there are many ways an acupuncturist can “boost your energy”. One common way is throught strengthening the organs in the processes above – the Spleen and Stomach are central to healthy diegestion. The Lungs are essential to breathing and getting Air Qi into into your body.

THIS ARTICLE IS WRITTEN BY CHINESE MEDICINE PRACTITIONER MARIE HOPKINSON. THERE ARE MORE ARTICLES ON MARIE’S BLOG ABOUT WHAT TO EAT TO OPTIMISE YOUR DIGESTION ACCORDING TO CHINESE MEDICINE.

Tips For Going Sugar-Free

Tips For Going Sugar-Free 
- Marie Hopkinson

Trying to kick Refined sugar in your life? 

1) Go cold turkey - it’s better just to quit sugar, throw away your sugary
treats and spend a few days letting your body and mind adjust. Pick a time when things aren't too stressful. After a week, the cravings will significantly subside and your body will thank you enormously.

2) Remove temptation - throw away or put the chocolates and lollies out of sight so your not visually tempted.

3) Plan your treats. Quitting sugar doesn't mean you can’t have any treats. There are tons of sugar-free recipes online. Refined sugar replacements like maple syrup, coconut sugar, dried fruits, agave syrup can be used in cooking or making raw sweet treats. I recommend getting away from the sweet flavour as much as possible but having access to some of these in the first week or 2 will make it easier.

4) Look after your Spleen. The more you nurture your Spleen Energy, the less your body will crave sugar and the better you will feel.

Why Should I quit sugar? 

Sweet is the flavour of the spleen energy in Chinese medicine. It’s a very important organ for digestive processes. A small amount of sweet helps the Spleen, but too much can overwhelm the Spleen Qi (pronounced “chee”). When we crave sweet especially after eating a meal, it indicates the Spleen Qi is weak. (You will usually get diarrhoea or loose bowel movements, and see toothmarks on the tongue as well). Since the Spleen makes energy for your body to function, when it can’t diegest well, it can be a cause of tiredness.

Refined cane sugar overwhelms the Spleen energy. In a biomedical sense, this corelates with rise and subsequent drop of blood sugar levels. This gives you an instant burst of energy or buzz, followed by a low...usually lower than you felt before you ate the chocolate or lollies.

Sweet-natured foods that can nurture the Spleen energy include root vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and unrefined, cooked grains like barley, rice and millet.

In a biomedical sense, theses foods have a low gylcemic index, which means they take longer to break down and don’t require the same biochemical reaction that refined sugary-sweet natured foods do. They won’t quickly spike and lower your blood sugar level.

The golden rule of Chinese diet therapy, and longevity practices in general is EVERYTHING IN MODERATION. Balance isn’t just a  token yin-yang symbol, but it’s a guiding key principal to achieve health and longevity in life.

FREE Sugar-Free RECIPES ARE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE

www.metrohealth.com.au 

Metro Health and Medicine

200 Whatley Crs 

Maylands, WA 6051

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.    

I feel Energised

Energy is such a precious resource to our human world - it can seem like a finite resource - we only have so much and then once used, it is gone. We often use phrases like "conserve your energy" or "that took up alot of energy" or "I dont feel like I have the energy for that".

In life things take time but also take energy. Some things can seem to take us longer when they are energy-draining tasks.

In Chinese medicine we think a great deal about energy. It is one of our bodies vital substances - known as Qi (pronounced Chee), it is made from Air and Food, and uses the finite resource of Kidney Jing Energy (that you are born with) to assist with Qi formation. Good breathing, Clean Air, Good Digestion and Good food that is healthy and and a mostly cooked diet will lead to good Qi production in one's body. Although Qi production does use some finite resource, the body is constantly able to make Qi provided the right ingredients (Food and Air) and manufucturing equipment (the health of your organs) are in good working order.

Your organs make Qi but they also require Qi to run the machine. Chinese medicine also considers the management of energy as a way to enhance health.

Quite often when we feel tired, it is not from exhaustion of Qi (i.e. not Enough energy) but from a stagnation of Qi. In stagnation, the body is producing enough Qi but it is stuck and not easily accesable.

The main differentating symptom here is in stagnation, the person will feel better with exercise, and in Qi deficency they will feel exhausted from doing exercise.

There are things which mentally energise us. Putting us in a "good mood" or some tasks can be energy-givers. Some people are energised by social life, others by solitude and time alone to refelct and think. Some find nature is the most peaceful and energising place, others like the stimulation of a big city with the hustle and bustle of something going on.

Energy-suckers are often things we have to do but we loathe the thought of them. It might be people who bieng around are just simply draining. When you leave their company it seems they have sucked the life out of you.

When life gets busy, it can seem like all our time is spent doing important things, but there isnt any left for the Energy-giving activities.

What are your energy-givers? Make time and plan in sometihing energy-giving this week.

What are your energy-suckers? How can you minimise the impact of Energy sucker activity on you?

If you struggle with sleep, digestion or find yourself sighing alot then acupuncture can help a great deal in your energy production and mobilisation of Qi. Seek out an acupuncturist near you that can help re-balance your bodies Qi so your Energy factory is at optimum working level. 

The yin and yang of what we eat

Yin and Yang are fundamental to Chinese medicine, and just as much part of diet as they are other areas of medicine and health.

I was teaching my classes this week, when I was reminded about yin and yang of foods being more than just the substance of the foods themselves as yin or yang, but as energies that can be applied to foods and how we consume yin or yang as part of this nature.

A piece of meat which is raw, cold and uncooked is in a YIN state.

Once heat has been applied by grilling, frying, roasting or any kind of  cooking, then YANG energy is activated, as it is applied to the yin food.

By eating fresh foods we can consume the maximim energy of foods. By eating foods which are freshly cooked, we get the benefit of this Yang Qi (energy).

In Chinese medicine, it is considered healthy to eat "mostly cooked foods, most of the time" however, when eating foods which have been cooked, then cooled or stored and then re-heated we call this "wrecked" foods. 
Yang energy is dynamic, moving, lifts upwards and is desirable for us to have more of this kind of natured foods in our diet.

On the contrary, yin foods are dense, cold and while they have their place in the diet, it's not optimal to consume foods at a cold and raw temperature.

Chinese medicine propogates humans should live 100 healthy years. This can only be achieved by healthy diet and lifestyle according to the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine. 

What is the yin and yang of your diet?