Recommended Tea to Drink these Few Weeks – Ginger

ginger tcm

These few weeks, the weather has turned more cooling especially in the morning, and it will remain cooling till the Li Chun (立春) solar term (which will only start in early Feb 2025).

Hence, it is important to keep our body warm during this period, and for most people, I would recommend adding ginger into your diet.

One good way is to drink ginger tea in the morning, especially if you have a stuffy/running nose.

Ginger has three properties from the TCM perspective:

解表散寒 – This means ginger can help to expel the cold Qi in your body. A person can get cold easily when too much cold Qi enters the body. Thus, it is common for people to drink ginger tea when they get drenched in the rain.

温中止呕 – The second property of ginger is that it can help to warm the lungs and relieve vomiting. If you ever encounter a situation where you want to vomit because of motion sickness (seasick/carsick), ginger candy/tea/slices can help a lot.

化痰止咳 – Ginger can also help to relieve cough (phlegm-type cough) so ginger drink is recommended for people who are coughing (with phlegm).

However, you must avoid ginger if you are having heaty symptoms like yellowish urine color, sore throat or keep wanting to drink cooler drinks. This means your body is heaty and you should go for something cooler in thermal nature instead.

I personally like to purchase ginger tea blocks from my local TCM shop—I just need to add hot water to make a cup of ginger tea. You can also purchase ginger tea blocks/bags online nowadays.

Hope you find this information useful!

Recommended Fruit to Eat These Two Months – Cherries

Cherries tcm benefits

This week, I would like to share the benefits of cherries from the TCM dietary perspective.

Cherry is one of the rare fruits that can strengthen the kidney and spleen Qi. Just take note to consume cherry in moderation as it is warm in thermal nature and eating lots of it might make you heaty!

In 南川《常用中草药手册》(one of the ancient TCM classics), it is stated that cherry can 补血补肾,预防喉症. This means cherry can strengthen kidneys and act as a tonic food for the blood. It can also help to prevent throat-related diseases.

Here are the two main properties of cherry:

  1. Strengthen Kidneys – Very few fruits have kidney-strengthening properties like cherry. This means eating cherries can help to strengthen your back and legs (and also relieve lower back pain/back soreness that is caused by weak kidneys). Having a strong kidney will also strengthen your body immunity.

  2. Strengthen the Spleen and Remove Dampness – Again, very few fruits can strengthen the spleen like cherry. This makes it a great fruit to eat especially if you have a weak spleen (loose/sticky stools and stomach gets upset easily after eating cooling stuff).

Do take note that people with flu or constipation should avoid consuming cherries for the time being.

Cherry is a great fruit to consume during the current Da Xue solar term as well as for the next two solar terms (until the end of January), so do find some time to enjoy this tonic fruit if you can!

I hope you find this post useful!

Treating Acne using TCM Food Therapy

cure acne

Recently, I read in my local newspaper that acne is the second most common skin condition treated at the National Skin Centre.

This reminded me of my own struggles with acne, which began in my teenage years and continued into adulthood. Even after I started working post-graduation, I was still battling acne.

At one point, I sought medical help and took antibiotics for my condition. However, once I stopped taking them, my acne would return—redder and more inflamed than before.

That was when I realized that there has to be a better solution than just relying on antibiotics.

My breakthrough came when I started learning about integrative medicine (inspired by Dr. Andrew Weil), reading The Clear Skin Diet book, and exploring the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

I discovered that some of my habits and dietary choices were actually fueling my acne!

Eventually, I overcame my adult acne by focusing on two key approaches:

  1. Reducing my intake of foods that cause inflammation

  2. Consuming foods with anti-inflammatory properties

Acne is essentially an inflammatory condition. It is the body’s way of signaling that certain foods or habits are triggering internal inflammation.

The most effective way to combat acne is to identify and avoid those triggers. Here are some key foods and habits to avoid:

  1. Dairy products (e.g., cow’s milk, cheese, and dairy-based beverages): For me, excessive dairy consumption was a major trigger for my acne. I even traced one of the culprits to a popular national chocolate beverage (M***) that contained cow’s milk! If you’re struggling with acne, consider reevaluating your diet and eliminating or reducing your intake of dairy products.

  2. Foods high in saturated fats: These include fast foods, processed snacks, and deep-fried items. For me, cutting out these foods made a noticeable difference in my skin.

  3. Sleeping early: While not food-related, this habit is incredibly effective. Try to sleep before 11 p.m. to help your body reduce inflammation naturally.

It is important to note that everyone’s body reacts differently to different foods. Certain foods may trigger inflammation for some people, so it’s crucial to be mindful of what you eat on a daily basis.

In my experience, eliminating inflammatory food sources is 70% of the battle against acne. With a little effort and awareness, you can take significant steps toward clearer skin.

The following are some foods based on TCM that have strong anti-inflammatory properties:

Hope this post helps someone out there!

Recommended Vegetable To Eat From 4 Aug to 3 Sep 2024

Chinese Spinach TCM

One vegetable that I recommend most people to eat during these few weeks is 苋菜 (also known as Chinese Spinach or Amaranth).

There is a saying, “六月苋,赛鸡蛋;七月苋,金不换”. What it means is this:

In the month of June (lunar calendar), the nutritional value of Chinese spinach is equivalent to an egg (as you know, egg is a highly nutritional food that contains a holistic range of vitamins and minerals that our human body needs). And when it comes to July (lunar calendar), eating Chinese spinach has so much benefits that people don’t even want to exchange it for gold!

The above saying may be too exaggerated in our times but the Chinese spinach does have its unique benefits.

First, it helps in detoxification, particularly in the large and small intestines.

Next, it can also help in relieving constipation. In the upcoming months as the environment gets drier, some people may experience constipation (especially if they don’t increase water intake), thus eating the Chinese spinach is highly recommended.

Lastly, Chinese spinach is also cooling so it can help to reduce the heatiness in the body for most people.

Do take note that Chinese spinach also contains 草酸 (oxalic acid), just like normal spinach. Oxalic acid can easily combine with calcium to form stones in the body (kidney/bladder), especially for people who have low water intake. Thus, do avoid consuming Chinese spinach together with foods that are high in calcium (such as tofu, milk, soy, etc) in the same meal.

To reduce the oxalic acid, you can blanch the vegetable in boiling water before you cook/stir fry it.

Hope you find this post useful and do share the information with your friends if you think they can benefit from it too!

Have a great day ahead, everyone!