Archive for March, 2008

Salt Your Way To Good Health

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A small amount of salt is important for good health. According to Compendium of Materia Medica, the most complete and comprehensive medical book ever written in the history of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the one that we must not lack in “Five Tastes” is saltiness.

Indeed, salt helps maintain the right volume of circulating blood and tissue fluids in the body. From TCM viewpoint, salt is “cool in nature;” it can clear heat and resolve toxin, cool blood and moisten dryness, nourish kidneys and facilitate bowel movement, destroy germs and diminish inflammation, and provoke vomiting and stop diarrhea.

Salt Your Way to Good HealthOn digestion side, salt helps us to digest food. In fact, its salty taste stimulates our sense of taste and increases the production of saliva, which can promote appetite and good digestion. By eating proper amount of salt, we won’t be at risk of having insufficient trace element, a critical element for our body.

Salt is essential to life and health. Yet, it’s proven that having too much of salty foods will cause high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, edema, etc. In fact, six grams of sodium per day for an average adult is considered to be enough and acute intoxication will occur for one who has 35 - 40 grams sodium intake a day.

Also, when a person suffers from blood disorder such as blood stagnation, he/she should avoid having excessive saltiness because it will hurt skin/muscle resulting in dark and rough skin, as advised by Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners.

Image by Marc Shandro

A Bitter Taste For A Sweet Life

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Although it seems true to most of us that the more bitter a food is, the more it is disliked, organic bases in the food (source of bitterness) is a crucial substance for our body.

A Bitter Taste for A Sweet LifeIn Traditional Chinese Medicine, foods in bitter taste can remove dryness and dampness, clear away heat, promote urination and blood circulation, relieve tiredness, diminish inflammation, improve eyes health, and promote appetite. No wonder there is a Chinese saying, “Bitter to mouth, good remedy for health.”

Yet, since bitter foods are “cold in nature” and have the functions of removing heat and facilitating bowel movement, frail people are suggested not to eat them.

Also, elderly and children who generally have weak stomach/spleen function should eat less bitter foods. And for people suffer from stomach/spleen related disease are even advised to keep bitterness off.

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Excessive Sourness Causes Sour Health

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Sour taste intensity in foods mainly comes from organic acids.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), sour foods not only strengthen liver function, control the amount of acid produced in the stomach, and promote appetite and digestion process, but also resolve toxin and prevent germs. Nonetheless, too much sourness could also hurt our spleen.

Excessive Sourness Causes Sour HealthIn the modern Western medical science, spleen is the largest immune organ and the storage of blood. However, in the traditional Chinese medical science, the spleen is closer to the digestive system and related to the circulatory system which seen as an activator of the process of digestion.

First, spleen promotes digestion and absorption of food; it helps the stomach and the small intestine digest and absorb nutrient substances and water. Second, spleen transmits upwards nutrient substances and water to other organs.

Since spleen is to promote the digestion and absorption of food and transmit nutrient substances, it is naturally connected with the growth of muscle and the functions of arms and legs. Therefore, if the spleen is deficient, not only the muscle will lack nutrition and make the arms and legs weak, the skin also will be more vulnerable to losing elasticity and becomes shriveled and hard.

In view of the growth of muscle and the functions of arms and legs rely so much on the spleen (TCM regards the spleen to be in charge of muscle and four limbs), we should avoid having too much sour foods. And people who suffer from muscle and tendon disease are advised not to eat them.

To avoid either cravings or over-consumption of sour foods, this Orange Macaroni Salad just quickly satisfies your sour taste while provides you with the optimal energy from sour food.

Image by PhotoGraham

Eat Moderate Sweet To Health

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Some say that we, humans, are by nature attracted to sweet as we are primates—animals that evolved eating fruit in the trees. And it seems that we have been going along our sweet teeth out of the jungle… .

Eat Moderate Sweet to HealthIndeed, sweet food does more than just comfort our mouth and stomach. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, it actually can nourish “Qi” (essential energy), enrich blood, relieve tiredness, resolve toxin, and regenerate body fluid. Unfortunately, eating excessive of them also brings disadvantages to stomach/spleen, not to mention it’s easy to cause obesity and induce cardiovascular diseases.

As pointed out by Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners, food with too much sweetness is a detriment to kidneys and lead to joint pain. Moreover, when one’s blood sugar is too high, it not only induces high blood lipid levels, arteriosclerosis, obesity, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes, but also osteoporosis.

So, although sweetness has benefits to health, moderate consumption is the key. And women in their fifties in particular should avoid having too much foods high in sugar content in order to control an ideal blood glucose levels.

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Healthy Diet Comes With Five Tastes

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According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), foods not only have their attributes, they also have Five Tastes, namely, Sweetness, Sourness, Bitterness, Saltiness, and Pungency. In TCM’s point of view, every single taste has its own different functions:

Healthy Diet Comes With Five Tastes

Sweetness
TCM thinks that sweetness corresponds to spleen/stomach. Foods in sweet taste can nourish “Qi” (essential energy) and enrich blood, replenish energies, relieve tiredness, and resolve toxin. These foods include brown sugar, honey, rice, noodles, etc.

Sourness
Sourness is considered being capable of nourishing the liver. It not only is able to facilitate the digestion process, but also destroy germs in gastrointestinal tract, prevent flu, lower blood pressure, and soften blood vessels. Dark plums, pomegranate, tomato, hawthorn, and orange are some foods examples.

Bitterness
TCM conceives that foods in bitter taste have the capabilities of removing heat and dampness, and facilitating bowel movement which correlate with the heart. Foods carry this properties include bitter apricot seeds (kernels), bitter gourd, and lily bulbs.

Saltiness
Saltiness links to kidneys and is believed being able to modulate human cells and blood osmolality that help maintain a normal metabolism. Foods in salty taste include salt, seaweed, dried seaweed, jelly fish, etc.

Pungency
TCM regards foods in pungent taste relate to lungs which can facilitate sweating and modulate “Qi.” Foods belong to this group include ginger, chili, and pepper.

In order to maintain a good health, we should therefore adopt a balance diet—choose foods that are with different tastes. After all, isn’t a diet with five tastes not only more healthy, but more enjoyable?

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Nourish “Yin” With Milk

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Milk not only is good for winter, it is good for summer, too. In fact, from Traditional Chinese Medicine point of view, milk has a bittersweet taste and is “cold in nature.” It has the functions of nourishing lungs and stomach, regenerating body fluid, facilitating bowel movement, nourishing “Yin” (the energy that is being accumulated, assimilated, and stored for later use), and resolving toxicity.

Nourish

Furthermore, since milk (cow milk) is about 87% water, we not only are able to hydrate our body by drinking it, but also to improve nutrition as milk is a rich source of protein and fat.

Indeed, there is no better way to cool down and nourish our body at the same time by having a cup of cold milk in hot summer day.

Tips:
Some people like taking their medicines with milk or mix them with milk. Nonetheless, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners, as milk or dairy products will reduce the absorption of most kinds of medicines that may prevent them from working properly, we are advised not to do so and take medicines only with water.

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A Stretch To Recharge

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As we are basking in spring’s warm sunshine, especially in the afternoon, we just wish we could have a nap… .

A Stretch to RechargeAt this moment, all you need, in fact, is a stretch. As said by Traditional Chinese Practitioners, when stretching, our heart and lungs will be pressed by the organs in the chest, which promotes heart movement and all organs of our body will benefit from it by receiving more oxygen.

In addition, since stretching involves in upper body’s movement, which means more oxygenated blood will be supplied to the brain, and vuala! We feel refreshed and energized.

Tips:
Although human brains average only 2% of body weight, our brain uses a fifth of all our blood. Moreover, as humans walk upright, our upper body and brain are more inclined to have insufficient blood and oxygen supply.

That’s why when we sit still long and keep using brain for long time, we may feel dizzy and drowsy caused by lack of blood and oxygen supply to the brain. We should, therefore, often stretch our body and limbs.

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Spinach To Fight High Blood Pressure

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It’s clinically proven that our blood pressure has correlation to environmental temperature. In fact, a 1ºC decrease in temperature is associated with a rise of 1.3mmHg systolic blood pressure and a rise of 0.6 mmHg diastolic blood pressure.

As spring is a season when temperatures fluctuate widely from dawn to dusk, many high blood pressure patients may suffer from headache, dizziness, and sleep loss caused by the fluctuation of the blood pressure.

Spinach to Fight High Blood Pressure

Aside from wearing proper clothes to keep a stable body temperature, Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners suggest that we can do more: eat spinach. Why? Spinach not only is a rich source of iron; Vitamin A, C, E, and K; magnesium; and several vital antioxidants; but also “cold in nature” and has the function of “nourishing blood and moistening dryness,” which can help easing the problems of high blood pressure, headache, dizziness, diabetes, and anemia.

Try this simple and delicious dish: Spinach Served with Sesame Oil.

Image by Zach Klein

Flower Tea To Relieve Drowsiness

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There is an old Chinese poem says, “In spring, one sleeps and wakes up to find dawn is already passed… .” It, indeed, well describes about “spring drowsiness.”

Flower Tea to Relieve Drowsiness

As pointed out by Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners, our blood vessels supplying the skin constrict or narrow in response to cold temperatures during winter, not only blood flow in the internal organs increases, but so does the blood supply to the brain. While in spring when temperatures warm up, our blood vessels in skin dilate and blood flow in skin increases, the blood supply to the brain will decrease conversely.

As a result, the energy level in the brain will adjust and reduce. Translation? We feel sleepy in spring! Luckily, there is an easy way to boost our mind and remove drowsiness: Drink flower tea.

In fact, flower teas not only have remarkable lingering fragrance, but also bring many benefits to our health, such as this one: Cinnamon-Tree Flower Jujube (Chinese Date) Tea. However, if you need something more than tea to fill up your stomach, Mixed Dried Fruit Wheat Germ Pancake will do the double duties. Enjoy!

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Dessert That Detoxifies

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There’s one dessert that Chinese, especially women who live in Southern and coastal areas where the climate is humid, always love to eat: Kelp Mung Bean (Green Bean) Porridge.

Dessert that DetoxifiesIndeed, this dessert not only is tasty, it’s also good for health and beauty. Kelp is rich in pectin, which can hinder toxic article from entering the blood and assist detoxification. For mung beans, they are “cold in nature” and good at clearing heat.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, by eating this porridge moderately, body toxins will be excreted through bowel movement and urination.

Recipe of Kelp Mung Bean (Green Bean) Porridge.

Image by lynac

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