Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Care and Diet Therapy

The core essence of TCM health care and dietary therapy has never been the "healthy tea for a thousand people, nourishing prescriptions suitable for all ages" that is widely circulated on the Internet. It is based on the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine as the core, adapting to the weather, body constitution, and individualized diet adjustment that matches food habits and physical conditions. There is no universal dietary formula, only the one that suits you is effective.

A while ago, Aunt Zhang, who lived downstairs, stopped me and asked me, saying that she bought more than 300 yuan of "Universal Yang Qi Cream" following the live broadcast. She took a spoonful of it every morning and evening. After half a month of eating, the corners of her mouth blistered and her gums were so swollen that she couldn't even bite. Did she buy a fake? I looked at her tongue coating. It was as thick and yellow as a layer of sauce. She usually likes to blow on the air conditioner and eat iced watermelon. She has a typical damp-heat constitution. The cream recipe is full of warm and dry things like astragalus, dried ginger, and red ginseng. For her, doesn’t it just add fuel to the fire?

At this point, I have to mention that the traditional Chinese medicine community itself has different tendencies in focusing on dietary therapy, and there is no absolute right or wrong. For example, the Typhoid Sect, which is good at using classic prescriptions, has always given top priority to protecting the Yang Qi of the spleen and stomach. People who usually have cold hands and feet, have diarrhea after eating something cold, and wear three times thicker clothes than others in winter, follow their ideas and drink ginger and jujube porridge, and eat Angelica, ginger and mutton soup when the weather is cold, and they will probably feel much better. ； The febrile disease sect pays more attention to the maintenance of body fluids. If you always have a dry mouth, are afraid of heat, and have stools as dry as sheep dung balls, drinking the mulberry and chrysanthemum drink and Tremella, Lily, and Lotus Seed Soup they recommend will be more effective than drinking any amount of hot water.

When I was doing free clinics in the community two years ago, I met a little girl who was born in 1998. She said that she drank red bean and barley water for three months to get rid of dampness. Her aunt, who was originally on time, was delayed by half a month. When she came, she was so painful that she broke into a cold sweat and came to me for painkillers. Don’t think she is just fooling around. The idea that red beans and barley can remove dampness is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but few people say that raw barley is cool in nature. This recipe is only suitable for hot and humid constitutions with yellow and greasy tongue coating, sticky stools, and heavy sweaty feet. She is afraid of cold due to cold in the uterus and has white and slippery tongue coating, which is a typical cold-dampness. Doesn’t drinking raw barley water make her feel colder the more she drinks it? Later, I asked her to stir-fry the barley over low heat until slightly yellow, and add 3 slices of ginger and 2 red dates each time she cooked it. After drinking it for half a month, she came back for a follow-up visit and said that her stomach was no longer cold, and her aunt's pain was mostly relieved.

Nowadays, many people on the Internet are criticizing traditional Chinese medicine and dietary therapy as pseudoscience. They say that food cold and hot are all made up by ancestors. This should be said in two ways. On the one hand, modern nutrition has indeed verified many traditional dietary claims: For example, gingerol in ginger can promote peripheral blood circulation, which corresponds to what traditional Chinese medicine calls "warming yang and dispersing cold". Eating it can relieve cold hands and feet. ； The glycosides and tannic acid in pears can relieve coughs and moisturize the throat, which also corresponds to the effect of "moistening the lungs and clearing dryness". But on the other hand, many businesses now boast of dietary therapy in order to sell goods. They say that eating Panax notoginseng can open blood vessels and drinking wolfberry can cure myopia. This is purely deceiving people. Dietary therapy is essentially an auxiliary means for daily adjustment and can never replace medicine to treat diseases. If you really have a problem, see a doctor first. Don't think that eating something will cure it.

To be honest, I have been practicing clinical Chinese medicine for almost ten years. I never prescribe any general prescription for patients. I suffer from lung qi deficiency. Every year when the seasons change from spring to autumn, I suffer from allergic rhinitis. I keep sneezing. I take 3g of astragalus, 1g of windshield, and 2g of magnolia flowers every morning. I boil it for 10 minutes to make a frangipani and drink it for half a month. When the seasons change, I basically don’t have the problem anymore. But last time my colleague saw me cooking it and drank it, and she got an oral ulcer the next day. She is usually afraid of heat and loves acne. She has a damp-heat constitution, so drinking Qi-tonifying food with a warm nature will not make her get angry.

In fact, for us ordinary people, there is no need to remember so many complicated menstruation of sex and taste. Diet therapy is a small thing that is integrated into daily life. For example, I usually order takeout every day which is high in oil and salt. If I eat too much and my stomach becomes bloated, I carry two burnt hawthorns with me. I feel better within half an hour after chewing them. ； In the summer, if you eat too much iced milk tea and you get acid reflux in your stomach, just grab a handful of fried malt and soak it in hot water to drink. It’s more effective than taking stomach medicine. ； If the elderly at home always cough in winter and have no phlegm and still have dry mouth, stew Sichuan clams with Sydney and thin phlegm. If they cough up white and thin phlegm, replace the Sichuan clams with ginger and Sichuan peppercorns. Don’t care what others say, it is best to make yourself feel better after eating.

After all, the dietary wisdom passed down by our ancestors for thousands of years is not some lofty metaphysics. It just means paying more attention when eating. No one knows better than you how your body will react. Don’t follow the trend and grab those health-preserving gift boxes that cost hundreds of dollars, and don’t just stuff them into your mouth whatever others say is good. Follow the seasons, suit your own constitution, and make eating comfortable, it will be more effective than any health-preserving prescription.