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”

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!

Mental Wellbeing with Chinese Medicine

When it comes to looking after our mental wellbeing, Australians are increasing their use of herbal and natural medicines...

72.9% of Australians who sought help for a mental health issue, used some form of natural medication in 2001 (National Health Survey, 2001). 

According to the National Health Survey (2004-5), the three leading conditions Australians sought help for with a Complementary Medicine Practitioner* were Arthritis, Asthama and mental or behavoural disorders.

As mental illness becomes more prominent in Australia, it is increasingly important to be aware of what natural and herbal medicines are available, and how we can use them.

Many patients want to stop using or avoid using western drugs or are looking to treat some symptoms that drugs are not tackling in their situation. It's important to consult with health professionals including your western doctor if you are going to change any Western medicine (drugs). 


Chinese herbs have been used routinely in China for centuries to treat a variety of mental illnesses.  For conditions ranging from anxiety and insomnia to psychosis and mania, they can be used by themselves or in conjunction with western drugs. 

One reason why Aussies are turning to herbal medicine is because they are dissatisfied with the treatment options Western medicine presents them.  In some cases patients find the side effects of drugs are worse than the disease itself.  Because a Chinese herbal prescription is matched according to the patients constitution and disease symptoms, there are rarely any side effects.
However, the answer is not necessarily in one or the other. In China, there is widespread integration of the two medical systems, therefore many patients are treated with a combination of western and Chinese medicine. In Australia, patients have increasing health options and, while drugs are not the only solution, they are not necessarily bad either. 

To understand Chinese medicines' role in mental health, we must first understand a little Chinese medical theory.  The system of Chinese medicine is a unique and very different system to what we commonly associate with medicine (pertaining to Western medicine).  Chinese medicine looks more at the body as a whole rather than one diseased or malfunctioning part. 

If one organ or area of the body is inadequately performing, this will ultimately impact the entire body.  This is one fundamental difference between Chinese and Western medicine. 

Chinese medicine considers the cause of disease as internal or external.  Internal causes include prolonged poor dietary habits (overeating, eating too much of cold or hot foods, eating during mental activities such as watching TV,  business lunches, eating while arguing etc) and excess emotions (worry, over thinking, hate or anger, sadness/grief, joy).  Emotions are linked with a specific major organ.  An excess of an emotion can damage that organ, leading to symptoms showing that organs functions have been impaired.
A famous saying in Chinese medicine is "Worry knots Spleen Qi". (Qi is a Chinese word,  pronounced Chee.  It roughly translates into “energy”, although the western concept of energy does not include all the functions of the Chinese word, Qi) 
Worry, over thinking or pensiveness, is the emotion liked with the Spleen.  The Spleens main job in Chinese medicine is to digest food (transports and transforms food and fluids). An example of worry knotting Spleen Qi is when a person has a problem weighing heavily on their mind, they can't stop circling over and over it.  This leads to decreased appetite (a symptom that the Spleen's function of digestion has been impaired).    

External causes of disease are the six pathogenic factors: wind, damp, fire, cold, dryness and sumerheat.  Fire may invade, initially causing a sore throat and other common cold symptoms. Fire can also arise internally, from stress (causing stagnation initially then transforming into heat), from diet and emotions. In a mental illness such as depression, fire can rise upwards, harassing the Heart-Spirit (know as the "Shen" in Chinese).  Fire causes symptoms of insomnia with excessive dreams, red face and eyes, feeling hot, headache, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), easily angry/ bad temper, irritability.   

Chinese herbs are used to move stagnant energy, clear fire or other pathogens, nourish (or boost up) deficient Blood, Energy, yin or yang, according to the diagnosis.      

Common Patterns 

In Western countries like USA, Australia and the UK,  "Liver Qi stagnation” is one of the most common patterns.  The Liver has the chief function to ensure smooth flow of Qi.  Without this smooth flow, there will be stagnant Qi. More about how to help this below...

If you are in a predominantly sitting position all day, (work at a desk) with increased mental activity, there is more opportunity for Liver Qi to become stagnant.  Depression, Anxiety, decreased mental clarity can all arise from Liver Qi stagnation.  Serious mental illness such as Bipolar Affective Disorder (Manic depressive) and Schizophrenia can be seen as complications of this same pattern. 

It is important to keep Liver Qi flowing smoothly. Apart from Acupuncture, massage and Chinese herbs, there are things you can do yourself to promote smooth flow of Liver Qi.  Gentle, regular exercise is the best thing to move Liver Qi.   Singing is another fun way to move Liver Qi.  (Loud belly singing is very therapeutic). Next time you feel depressed or sad, try singing!

See More about Liver Energy Stagnation Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i308M4Ff7eg

Diet Advice

Beneficial foods for the Liver Qi; Pungent flavors & small amounts of mild spices, onions, garlic, mustard greens, watercress, turmeric, basil, mint, peppermint, horseradish, pepper, cardamon, cumin, fenel and  ginger.
Sour Flavors such as citrus', vinegar, pickles, sour cherry and plum in small amounts.
Fresh vegetables, some fruits, sprouted grains, asparagus, taro, cabbage, turnip, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, beetroot, Jerusalem Artichoke, sourdough rye bread, extra virgin olive oil, molasses, small quantities of high quality meat, protein and fish.





*Complementary Medicine Practitioner includes 7 practitioners -  Chiropractor, Acupuncturist, Naturopath, Osteopath, Herbalist, Traditional Healer and Hypnotherapist 

NEW VIDEO BLOG via youtube. How Chinese Medicine sees a typical "healthy diet" - check it out and leave your comments welcome here!

Preventing Disease & Staying Healthy with Chinese Medicine

Prevention is one of the most important aspects of Chinese medicine. When practitioners assess their patient, they are looking for signs and symptoms of disease, and also signs that illness or health may be out of balance.

Key diagnostic areas to detect disease BEFORE it arises, are the tongue and pulse. In addition, by keeping a healthy diet and lifestyle, a greater state of health can be achieved. Chinese medicine takes into account seasonal factors, and diseases that can easily arise due to weather conditions.

A known flu-prevention treatment is Moxa on the acu-point St 36. It's name Zusanli, means “three leg mile”. This point was named when Chinese soldiers massaged the point, they found they could walk another 3 miles! In the weeks leading up to the change of season, this point can be acupunctured and warmed with Moxa (a herb which sits on the needle and warms the point). Although this is a different point, the photo opposite shows how such an acupuncture /moxibustion treatment might be done.

Chinese medicine theory observes two main causes of disease or poor-health in the body. Internal and External causes.

External Causes - known as the six pathogenic factors. Avoiding Wind, cold, damp and heat etc will help to avoid getting sick. How, you ask?

1) Wearing layers of clothing to ensure you are not too hot or cold especially when the weather changes.

2) Keep out of drafty areas/direct A/C or fans. ESPECIALLY at night! (Otherwise you may wake up with a stiff neck or sore lower back.

3) Protect the lower back/waist by making sure clothing fits around this area!

Internal causes of disease are considered by CM to be things such as emotions, inactivity, and poor lifestyle.

Emotions - over thinking (or worry) knots the spleens energy. The Spleen, in Chinese medicine, helps the Stomach to separate the pure and impure parts of food. The Spleen gets weakened by over-thinking, which can result in a low appetitte. The body can be further depleted because it can’t properly absorb nutrition from food.

Overeating is a common lifestyle factor in cause of diesaes. Not just leading to overweight or fat, but when we overeat we must exercise harder to burn the excess calories, thus making our bodies work unnecessarily harder. Two Chinese medicine quotes to consider are: "curing and nourishing come from the same source" and "when you eat, satisfy only seven-tenths of your hunger”.