KC

This is KC who is passionate in TCM.

Qi Deficiency Type – Food and Herbs Recommendation

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A person who is Qi Deficiency (气虚体质) tends to fall sick easier as compared to his/her peers. You will also find your voice softer and sometimes (or oftentimes), you need to raise your voice so that people can hear you properly. You also has poorer adaptability to warmer and cooler weather.

In TCM, qi is what protects our body from virus. Thus if you are deficient in qi, you will find yourself fall sick easily when the surrounding temperature is low or when you are constantly blown by air-con directly.

The following are the main food / herbs that a Qi Deficiency type person can consume to help you build and strengthen qi:

  • Chinese yam (山药)
  • Glutinous rice
  • Rice (from China, known as 大米, not from Thailand)
  • Lotus seeds
  • Dates
  • Walnut
  • Sweet potato
  • Ginger
  • Honey
  • Chicken meat

Food / herbs to avoid or consume less are:

  • Radish
  • Watermelon
  • Bitter gourd
  • Cold drinks

Additional Tips for Qi Deficiency Type Person

Do take note when you are in air conditioned place, it is better to wear an additional outer wear such as Jacket or sweater to conserve your Qi. When external temperature is cool, your body will use your Qi to keep you warm, hence, keeping yourself warm with extra clothing will help to conserve the Qi to be used for your immune system instead.

The most effective way to regain Qi is to exercise regularly.  You can explore going for slow jogging, or brisk walk for a start. Ideal duration is about 30 mins.

Things To Know Before You Take Tonic Herbs Or Supplement This Season

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Traditionally, end of year (Dec) and beginning of year (Jan / early Feb) is one the best times to take tonic herbs and supplements because of the cooler weather we are having. If you are planning to take any herbal supplements or herbs such as cordyceps (冬虫夏草), ginseng (参类) or other tonic products, do take note of the following points so that the products you consume will give you the most nourishing benefits.

Avoid Taking Tonic If You Have Cold/Flu Symptoms

I believe this is the most obvious thing that many people know. But you may not know what are the symptoms to look our for. As long as you are afraid of cold / wind, you should not take tonic until your body recovers. You should also avoid taking tonic if you have fever, sore throat or body ache due to cold/flu.

The reason why a person should not take tonic when he/she has these symptoms is because when a person develops such symptom, it means that person has 邪气 (bad qi) inside the body. If you take tonic now, then it will become the situation “闭门留寇”. It means you are shutting the exits in your body with the bad qi inside. If one has bad qi, the right approach is to either get rid of the bad qi or strengthen your good qi (depends on your body constitute) to overcome the bad qi. Only after you fully recovers, then you are more suitable to take the tonic.

Do Not Take Tonic Together With Radish!

You may have heard this from the elderly that don’t eat ginseng with radish as it will destroy the nourish effects. It is true because tonic products such as ginseng mainly helps to 补气 (supplement good qi) but radish has a property of 破气 (break qi). Hence, if you take tonic products with radish, there won’t be any beneficial effects due the the clashing of the properties.

On a side note, some people say do not take radish with ANY TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) but this is not true. You can consume radish with other TCM herbs as long as the herbs do not have any 补 (tonic) property. For example, you can still drink chrysanthemum and most cooling tea because these herbs only have cooling effects (清热) rather than tonic (补气 ) effect.

You Can Supplement Tonic With 理气药 (Herbs That Harmonize Qi) For Greater Effects

mandarin orange peel

In TCM, your body will absorb the most of the tonic when you have a good spleen (脾) and digestion. If your spleen is weak, most of the tonic won’t be absorbed. On top of that, it is easier for the qi to stagnate in your body if your spleen is weak. Hence, to minimize this from happening, you can take some mandarin orange peel (陈皮) after taking tonic. Dried orange peel can be easily purchased at any local TCM store such as Hock Hua tonic stores (Singapore).

The main property of mandarin orange peel is 理气 (harmonize qi), and this will make any stagnate qi in your body to flow and thus, making the tonic effect work for your body.

These are some of the things I learn in my Chinese Dietitian course over the past 1.5 years. I will be sharing more tips in future in my blog. Do let me know if there’s something you want to ask or find out and I’ll help to clarify them (with the help of my teachers if need be)!

Have a great 2018!

Things You Must Know Before Seeing A TCM Physician 

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things you must know before visiting tcm physicianI am excited to share some of the things I learnt in my Chinese Dietitian course in this post that I believe will help you to make your visit to a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor more effective. If you think the following information is overwhelming, just scroll to the very end for a summary of things you need to know!

A TCM physician will use 望,闻,问,切 methodology to understand your condition especially during your first visit so that the physician will know more about your body constitution in order to Chinese medicine.

The first is 望 which means observing through the eyes of the physician. The physician will observe your face, lip color etc. So try not to put on any make-up as this may affect the diagnosis. In TCM, a person who looks pale may due to to blood deficiency (血虚) so covering up the natural color of your face can affect the judgement of a physician.

It is also very common for a physician to look at your tongue. Your tongue color, surface composition, and the side of the tongue can tell a lot of things about your body to a physician. So very important thing to note is before visiting a TCM physician, DO NOT drink coffee, tea or eat anything that has strong coloring that affects the color of your tongue!

The second is 闻 which includes listening and smell. This is more straight-forward for you as a patient. When you answer the questions asked by a physician, he/she will listen to your voice and cough (if you have) so that he/she can diagnosis better.

If you are seeking treatment for a cough, the physician may not ask you to purposely cough on the spot, but the information they need from you is how long have you been coughing and what color of your phlegm. So make sure you prepare the answers for these questions.

The third is 问 which means to ask. There are quite a lot of things that a physician may ask you so get ready to answer them. The following questions will better prepare you for the visit:

  • Do you feel cold?
  • Do you sweat a lot?
  • Where is the pain located (if it is a pain-related issue)?
  • How is your sleep quality (what time you sleep and wake up, how many times you wake up in the night on average)?
  • Is your stool loose (便溏) or solid? How often you pass motion (defecate).

I want to emphasize on the last question regarding passing motion. Most physician will ask you if your stool is loose or solid but it is very common for normal people like us to misinterpret what is loose and what is really solid??! So I want to use this chance to share with you how to answer this question so that your physician can diagnose better.

Loose stool means the stool is watery, shapeless or very sticky form. After you pass motion and if you noticed that the inner side of the toilet bowl is stained most of the time, then this can be considered as loose stools.

On the other hand, a solid stool resembles something like goat’s stools (image here if you need to see what I mean) or shapes like bananas that doesn’t stain the inner side of the toilet bowl.

The fourth is 切 where the physician will use his fingers to feel your pulse on your wrist. Normally the physician will not ask to feel your pulse in the first few seconds when you entered the consultation room because it is always better to do so when the patient calms down and in a restful state. Just relax when the physician is feeling your pulse on your wrist. Some physician may ask for both of your hands so make sure you wear something that does not obstruct this area of your hand. (Click here to see an image of what it looks like).

Now you have it! These are the few things you must know when you visit a TCM physician. The following is a summary of what you need to know again:

  • Don’t put on make up (especially for ladies).
  • Don’t drink or eat food with coloring (coffee, tea, curry etc)
  • If you are seeking treatment for cough, take note how long have you been coughing, what color is your phlegm (if any).
  • Do you feel cold?
  • Do you sweat a lot?
  • Where is the pain located (if it is a pain-related issue)?
  • How is your sleep quality (what time you sleep and wake up, how many times you wake up in the night on average)?
  • Is your stool loose (便溏) or solid? How often you pass motion (defecate).

Hope you find this useful and do share it with your friends if you think they will need these information!

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