Chinese Food Therapy — the Real, Balanced Diet

Courtesy of: http://www.mysticfoodcourt.com/

            Chinese food therapy calls for the classification of food in relation to the yin/yang dichotomy. In this way, Chinese food therapy can be viewed as a type of healing that attempts to restore balance to the body’s flow of yin and yang energy through food.

            When we become ill, it is likely due to an imbalance in yin/yang. A person with excessive yin might experience a ‘cold pattern’ associated with the following symptoms:

·      Soft, fleshy muscles

·      Pale stools

·      Tendency to feel cold

·      Rarely Thirsty

·      Preference for warm food/drinks

·      Often tired, sleeps a lot

·      Health worse in cold weather

·      Quiet, withdrawn

            To counter these signs of yang deficiency, try eating warm lamb or beef dishes, dark poultry, cooked root vegetables, baked winter squash, onions, mustard greens, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, and pepper. Avoid salads, raw vegetables, frozen desserts, pasta, and white flour. Aerobic exercises can also rid the body of ‘coldness’.  

            A person with a yin imbalance might experience ‘dampness’, which will include the following symptoms:

·      Mentally “foggy”

·      Nasal congestion; postnasal drip

·      Bloating

·      Overweight

·      Cloudy urine

·      Easily short of breath; lower body fatigues quickly

·      Retention of fluids

·      Little thirst/hunger

            Dampness can be associated with either cold or heat and is countered by lightly cooked greens like asparagus, kale, broccoli, and green beans. Fish and non-fried meats are balancing, as are rye, jasmine and basmati rice, and sprouted grains. Radishes, turnips, green tea, and bitter foods also help dry out the dampness. Sweets, dairy, and starchy foods are best avoided.

            A person with excessive yang might experience ‘heat’ and the following symptoms:

·      Constipation

·      Dark urine

·      Tendency to feel warm/talkative

·      Craves cold drinks; thirsty

·      Restless sleep; disturbing dreams

·      Headaches, nose bleeds, canker sores

·      High blood pressure in gums

            Heat is usually attributed to overwork, alcohol (and other toxins), and sugar. To restore balance, eat salads and raw vegetables. Melons, cucumbers, and lemon are very cooling, watercress and spinach too. Limit meat consumption and drink lots of water. Mint is a very cooling herb, whereas pepper, garlic, ginger, alcohol, and sugar should be avoided.

            A person with a yin deficiency might experience ‘dryness’ along with the associated symptoms:

·      Dry throat and eyes

·      Night sweats

·      Constipation

·      Thin body type

·      Frequent Urination

·      Easily stressed or frustrated

·      Rosy cheeks after exercise

            Dryness implies a deficiency of yin, or natural bodily fluids—like oils, saliva, digestive secretions, and hormones. Beneficial fats are essential to restore balance. Deep-sea fatty fish and grass-fed butter are good choices. Olive and coconut oil, free-range eggs, black and green beans, winter squash, sea vegetables, fermented soy, and shellfish are also great for balancing yin.

            To put this into a Western perspective, the yin/yang dichotomy of different foods certainly resembles the acidic and alkaline forming properties of food. The most alkaline forming foods include watermelons and lemons, which, as mentioned above, help cool the body and restore yin. The most acidic forming foods are things like sugar, coffee, and alcohol, which can ultimately lead to excessive yang energy. In any case, a healthy diet should always include seasonal foods, but should also be tailored to restore balance. 

Ginseng — Nature's Cure All

Courtesy of: http://newspaper.li/ginseng/

            
            The ginseng plant, a slow-growing perennial found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, bears the genus name 'Panax', meaning "all-heal", and its name is quite fitting too. Only the roots are used in medicine as they contain the majority of the active compounds called ginsenosides. Throughout the ages, ginseng has been prescribed to: 

·    help reduce stress and anxiety 

·    toughen the immune system 

·    fight fatigue

·    correct blood sugar 

·    increase libido/treat impotence

Recent findings suggest that the Ginseng root can even improve memory, regulate sleep, and protect cells against oxidative damage from radicals and heavy metals. In a study conducted at the Sungkyunkwan University of Suwon, Korea, red ginseng was found to prevent hydrogen peroxide induced apoptosis, or programmed cell death, by regulating the expression of certain genes. The ginsenosides responsible for this (Rg1, Rg2, Rg3, Rh1, Rh2, and Compound K) all play an integral role in the activation and inhibition of certain proteins and signaling molecules. This has enormous implications on possible drugs for treating cancer and suppressing tumors. 

             A study published in the journal of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology highlights the potent anti-allergy effect of red ginseng fermented with lactic acid bacteria. Unfermented ginseng contains ginsenosides that first need to be broken down by bacteria in the small intestine to be readily absorbed, but during the fermentation process, bacteria metabolize large-chain ginsenosides into smaller ones so that absorption and pharmacological efficiency is at its highest

            Fermented ginseng has also been found to protect rats against ischemia-induced brain injury, damage caused by restricted blood flow in the brain, which can quickly result in shortage of glucose and oxygen to brain tissue. The study, conducted at the College of Pharmacy of the Kyung Hee University, also acknowledge that the rats treated with unfermented ginseng showed no significant protection against brain damage. The unfermented ginseng showed high levels of Rg3, Rb1, and Rb2, while the fermented batch showed high levels of Compound K, Rg3, and Rh2. This suggests that either Compound K or Rh2 (or both) are largely responsible for this pharmacological response.

            Ginseng, due to its class of active compounds called ginsenosides with more than 30 chemical species known, has a number of different health benefits. Most of these compounds affect cells at the level of proteins, thus allowing for gene expression. Some ginsenosides are better suited than others in achieving a desired effect. Believe it or not, a lot of proclaimed health benefits are new to me, even after spending so much time at my parents’ herb shop. The only customers I remembered that would buy ginseng on a regular basis were always men of at least forty years of age. Go figure.

Learn more:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035586_Asian_ginseng_natural_remedy_allergies.html        

fMRI Authenticates 3,000 Year Old Practice

Photo credit: odt.co.nz

For roughly 3,000 years, acupuncture, at least in some parts of the world, has been known to be an effective way to treat pain, among a plethora of other health problems. It wasn't until the Henry Kissinger excursion to Communist China—when accompanying journalist, James Reston, contracted appendicitis and received acupuncture to treat his pain following the appendectomy—that much of America (and the Western world) first realized how effective acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) actually were.

The ancient art of acupuncture uses needles to subcutaneously stimulate points along the qi meridians, currents of 'life-energy' called qi along the surface of the body that correspond to vital organs. Qi can be divided into yin energy (cold and feminine) and yang energy (hot and masculine), and many other things surprisingly follow this binary system—like types of food and even exercise. Acupuncture promotes a healthy and balanced flow of qi throughout the body, but can also be used to relieve pain.

In a study done in 2010 by the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology at the University Hospital in Essen, Germany, lead researcher Nina Theysohn, MD revealed that, “activation of brain areas involved in pain perception was significantly reduced or modulated under acupuncture.

The study consisted of using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of eighteen volunteers hooked up to electrical pain stimuli, with half of them receiving an acupuncture treatment. fMRI evaluates blood flow due to changes in brain metabolic activity. Researchers found that brain scans of those left untreated were characterized by increased brain activity in the areas corresponding to pain activation. fMRI scans of those treated with acupuncture showed reduced activity in those areas of the brain.

The study also disclosed that acupuncture affected areas of the brain involved in pain expectation, “similar to a placebo analgesic response,” Theysohn notes. Though some brain responses to acupuncture might seem indicative of placebo response, the majority of the findings depict perceivable physiological changes in the brain--those that are closely related to pain activation.

Placebo or not, fMRIs are a relatively expensive way to prove something that has already been known for millennia. The real question lies in how the physiological changes manifest themselves. Unfortunately for us, acupuncture points and the qi meridians have not yet been found to correspond to any bodily systems, though some scientists in the U.K. believe they resembles the highly conductive liquid crystalline collagen in connective tissue. Either way, it should all seem a lot less painful after reading this. Fear not, trypanophobes!

Learn more: 
http://www.naturalnews.com/030736_acupuncture_chronic_pain.html
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20101130/how-acupuncture-may-alter-perception-of-pain