Applying Dietary Therapy by Misha Ruth Cohen from The Chinese Way to Healing: Many Paths to Wholeness |
Symptoms include lethargy, loose stools, fatigue, weakness, decreased
appetite, shortness of breath, and occasionally, cold extremities and frequent
urination.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a thin, weak pulse and a tongue that is pale and possibly swollen.
Western diagnoses: Chronic fatigue, asthma, or urinary incontinence.
Your diet should contain the following
Yes. Half of total calories should come from grains and legumes, a
third from vegetables, about 15 percent from meats, but to avoid taxing
digestion or building mucus, eat only two to three ounces per serving.
Five percent of total calories should come from dairy. Recommended foods
include rice or barley broth, garlic, leeks, string beans, sunflower seeds,
sesame seeds and carrots.
No. Raw food, salads, fruits, and juices in excess.
Eat dried ginger, cinnamon bark, and chicken's eggs. Do not take ginseng without a doctor's advice.
Symptoms include lack of appetite, bloating, loose stool, and
fatigue.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a weak pulse and a pale, soft tongue with thin, white fur.
Western diagnoses: diarrhea, gastric or duodenal ulcers, anemia,
or even chronic hepatitis.
Your diet should contain the following
Yes. Cooked, warming foods such as squash, carrots, potatoes,
yams, rutabagas, turnips, leeks, onions, rice, oats, butter, small amounts
of chicken, turkey, mutton or beef, cooked peaches, cherries, strawberries,
figs, cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, custards, small
amounts of honey, molasses, maple syrup and sugar. Food should be well
chewed and eaten in moderate amounts.
No. Salsa, citrus, too much salt, tofu, millet, buckwheat, milk,
cheese, seaweed, and excess sugar.
For Spleen/Stomach Qi and Yang Deficiencies | for food Poisoning | |
---|---|---|
Digestive tonics: Warm and cooked foods and moderate-sized meals Congees and soups (not cream-based) White rice Black tea Cinnamon tea Barley Ginger tea |
Flora-enhancing foods: Miso Acidophilus Foods to avoid: |
After sickness subsides... Flora-enhancing foods: Alfalfa greens Kefir Miso Sauerkraut Wheatgrass Yogurt Note: If loose stools continue, follow Spleen/Stomach Deficiency Guidelines. |
If Deficient Spleen Qi is not treated early, the body becomes ever more depleted. The Qi cannot be replenished through what you eat and drink. Eventually, a more serious Yang Deficiency develops.
Symptoms include aversion to the cold, a craving for warm drinks,
and chilled fingers, toes, ears and nose tip.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a slow, thready pulse and a tongue that is moist and pale with indentations
on the side.
Western diagnoses: swelling, gastritis, enteritis, kidney disease
and colitis.
Your diet should follow the guides for Deficient Spleen
Qi, and the following.
No. Raw or chilled foods or those that are hard to digest, such as
fatty foods, raw broccoli and milk. They exhaust the digestive fire.
This is a complicated case of Excess and Deficiency.
Symptoms include headaches, watery stools and queasy stomach.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a slippery pulse, tongue fur that is thick and greasy and a tongue body
that is swollen with toothmarks along the sides.
Western diagnoses: hepatitis, dysentery, or gastroenteritis.
Your diet should include the same foods that are recommended to treat
Deficient Spleen Qi and the following.
Yes. Foods that drain excess dampness such as barley, corn, adzuki
beans, garlic, mushrooms, mustard greens, chicken, alfalfa, shrimp, scallions
and rye.
No. Too much red meat, salt, or sugar. Also stay away from foods
that produce damp, such as dairy, pork, shark meat, eggs, sardines, octopus,
coconut milk, cucumber, duck, goose, seaweed, olives, soybeans, tofu, spinach,
pine nuts and alcohol.
Fatigue and Lethargy can stem from Deficiency, Xue Deficiency, Yang Deficiency, Dampness and Qi Stagnation. To remedy fatigue caused by Qi Deficiency eat foods that tonify Qi and increase energy.
To remedy fatigue caused by Liver Qi Stagnation, eat foods that move Stagnant Qi and motivate stuck energy.
Symptoms include water retention, puffiness, a cold feeling,
mild nausea, trouble breathing, watery stools and clear, frequent urine.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a pulse that is weak and slippery or soft and slow and a tongue that is
pale with teeth marks on the sides.
Western diagnoses: edema, parasites, ulcers, or Crohn's disease.
Your diet should contain the following
Yes. Grains and legumes equalling 65 percent of total calorie intake.
Around a quarter of your diet should be vegetables. Eat only 10 percent
red and white meat-no more than twenty-five ounces a week.
No. Raw food, fruits, sugar and dairy products.
Symptoms include a hot and heavy feeling, fever, nausea, costal
or abdominal pain, labored breathing and diarrhea.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a weak and slippery or soft pulse that's rapid and a tongue that's swollen
and reddish.
Western diagnoses: colitis, acute hepatitis, or Crohn's disease.
Your diet should contain the following
Yes. Grains and legumes equalling 70 percent of calories; cooked vegetables,
30 percent; and white meats, 5 percent-not more than twelve ounces a week.
An occasional salad is suggested.
No. Red meat, raw vegetables, fruit juices and dairy products.
This condition is the result of several underlying disharmonies that, only when added together, create symptoms. First, the stresses and strains of daily life coincide with a stressful diet of sugar, caffeine, and alcohol or drugs. This exhausts the Kidney Fire (in the Lower Burner) and digestion (Middle Burner) becomes sluggish. Mucus builds up. Simultaneously, stress triggers an elevation in Liver Yang. Negative emotions make the Liver energy rise upward. Qi and fluid from the Lungs rises and becomes rebellious, uncontrolled, and erratic. This combines with the excess mucus production.
Symptoms include sexual problems, cold extremities, low back pain,
susceptibility to every passing cold or flu, joint pain, fear, anxiety
and impatience.
Signs: Your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for various
manifestations, but whatever else is present, there are always the signs
of weak Spleen, Kidney and Stomach Systems.
Western diagnoses: sinus allergies, watery eyes, skin rashes, sinus
headaches, or chronic cough.
Your diet should include the following
Yes. Cooked foods, rice, mung beans, sweet rice congee, adzuki beans,
mustard greens and vegetable broth-based vegetable soups.
No. Sugar, coffee, alcohol, citrus, dairy, soy, all raw, iced, or
chilled foods and all energetically cool and cold food.
Symptoms include warm or hot extremities, sweatiness, acne or
boils, decreased bowel movements, a loud voice, irritability and feeling
hot.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
rapid, full pulse and a tongue that is red and may have a yellow coating.
Western diagnoses: skin disorders accompanied by redness; digestive
difficulties; chronic constipation; manic behavior; and/or headaches.
Your diet should contain the following
Yes. Almost half of your total calories should be grains and legumes.
A third should be from raw and cooked vegetables. About 20 percent should
be from juices and fruits.
No. Frozen or icy foods and chicken. Eat only minimal amounts of
meat, sugar and dairy products.
Foods That Lubricate Bowels | Foods That Promote Bowel Movement | Flora-Enhancing Foods |
---|---|---|
Alfalfa sprouts Apples Apricot Bananas Beets Carrots Cauliflower Honey Oil Okra Peaches Pears Pine nuts Prunes Seaweed Sesame seeds Soy products Spinach Walnut Wheat |
Asparagus Bran Cabbage Coconut Fig Papaya Peas Potato |
Alfalfa Greens Kefir Miso Sauerkraut Wheatgrass Yogurt |
Symptoms include tenderness in rib cage, nausea, premenstrual
lability, irritability and swollen breasts and abdomen.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a wiry pulse and a tongue that is dusky or purplish.
Western diagnoses: alcohol abuse, type A personality, fibrocystic
breasts, swelling or lumps in groin or breasts, goiter, PMS, menstrual
irregularities, or headaches.
Your diet should include the following
Yes. Liver-sedating foods such as beef, chicken livers, celery, kelp,
mussels, nori, plums and amazake, a fermented rice drink. Also recommended
are foods that regulate or move Qi such as basil, bay leaves, beets, black
pepper, cabbage, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, leeks, peaches, scallions
and rosemary.
No. Alcohol, coffee, fatty foods, fried foods, excessively spicy
foods, heavy red meat, sugar and sweets.
Symptoms include dry throat, dizziness, emaciation, spontaneous
sweating and shortness of breath. Other symptoms vary depending on whether
the underlying syndrome is Xue Deficiency or Yin Deficiency.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a pulse that is fine, halting, or hollow and weak and a tongue that is
uncoated and pink.
Western diagnoses: Type II diabetes or chronic constipation.
Your diet should include the following
Yes. Dairy products, most noncitrus fruits, honey, pork, liver congee,
tofu, oiive oil, peanut oil and sesame oil. For Kidney Yin Deficiency,
eat kidney congee and liver congee. See Xue Deficiency and Yin Deficiency
for additional guidelines.
No. Raw fruits and vegetables, cold foods, caffeine, purgative herbs
and medicines and alcohol.
Symptoms include dizziness, low weight, blurred vision, tingling
toes or fingers, dry skin or hair and a pale, lusterless face. The symptoms
vary depending on the relative Xue Deficiency in a specific Organ System.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a thready pulse and a pale tongue.
Western diagnoses: anemia, headaches, anxiety, nervousness and a
lack of or painful monthly periods.
Your diet should include the following
Yes. Oysters, sweet rice, liver, chicken soup, Dang Gui Chicken (see
recipe in the book), eggs and
green beans.
No. Raw fruit and vegetables, cold liquids and ice.
Stagnant Xue results from a traumatic injury or as a manifestation of gynecological imbalances.
Symptoms include missed periods, excessive clotting with period,
fixed, painful lumps, dry skin and lips, thirst, easily chilled extremities
and constipation.
Signs that your Chinese medicine practitioner will look for include
a choppy pulse and a tongue that is purple and may have purple spots on
the sides.
Western diagnoses: endometriosis, menstrual cramps, PID, fibroids,
bruising and fixed pain.
Your diet should include the following
Yes. A small amount of chives, cayenne, eggplant, saffron, safflower,
basil, brown sugar and chestnuts to improve Xue circulation. Turmeric,
adzuki beans, rice, spearmint, chives, garlic, vinegar, basil, scailion,
leeks, ginger, chestnut, rosemary, cayenne, nutmeg, kohlrabi, eggplant
and white pepper to disperse Stagnant Xue. Rice, trout, smail amounts of
chicken and chicken liver to strengthen the Stomach/Spleen System to promote
sufficient production of Xue. Mussels, wheat germ, and millet to build
Yin, which strengthens Xue.
No. Duck, alcohol, fatty foods and sweets. If you are cold, avoid
citrus fruits and tomatoes.
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