Remedies

How To Cure Acne Naturally (Dood / Diet To Eat And NOT To Eat )

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cure acne

Recently, I see more people are troubled by acne and face inflammation issues during this covid period so I decided to share my personal experiences in this blog post hoping it will also benefit you if you are troubled by acne.

I used to have acne problem even when I was in my 20+ when I was working after my graduation.

My acne that time got so bad that I decided to seek for medical attention. 

antibiotics for acneThe medical doctor prescribes anti-biotics for my condition and I was amazed by the results that the anti-biotics really works for me at that time.

After consuming anti-biotics for a while, I found that actually anti-biotics is not good for our health in long term because it will affect our immune system.. 

Furthermore, whenever I stopped the anti-biotics, it seems that my acne problem got worsen.. so I have no choice at that time but to keep taking anti-biotics.

I reached a point where I am sick of taking anti-biotics because I can’t imagine taking it for life and end up with a worsen acne situation if I were to stop someday!

Thus, I went onto a journey to learn what can I do to cure my acne. I read lots of books about skin and diet.

Eventually I got to find out about this term ‘integrative medicine’ and Dr Andrew Weil. From there, I learn a lot about holistic healing and started to look at what are the areas in my lifestyle that causes my acne back then.

It was enlightening that I found out that it was the dairy products (milk and cheese) and the spicy stuff that I was eating that is causing my acne!

If there is one thing that you can take away from this post, I hope let this be the point – to cure any acne problem, there must be a source causing it, and most of the time, it is the food that you are eating!

Avoid Eating These Foods:

I highly suggest to avoid eating the following foods if you are having acne or face redness inflammation  all the time:

  1. Dairy products like milk, cheese (this is the cause for me!) 
  2. Beverage that contains milk (you will be surprised that there are lots of them!).
  3. Biscuits that contains milk (check the biscuits ingredients too, there are lots of them around).
  4. Oil fried foods.
  5. Spicy foods (If you can’t avoid them, then reduce the times you are eat them).

Just by reducing the above food products, you will sure notice improvements to your skin and acne starts to fade away after a few weeks.

Now, You May Have These Main Concerns:

Now, you may think that if you stop drinking milk and taking dairy products, then where does your source of protein and calcium comes from, right? 

soy milk for acneThe answer is start to take soya bean drink (also known as soy milk), nowadays, there are a lot of choices of soya bean drink in the market. You can even buy those powdered types which are organic too!

Soya bean is a good source of protein and also helps to improve immune system, so it is a good replacement for milk.

As for calcium,  some soya bean drink comes with enriched calcium too.

Besides soya bean drink, you can eat black sesame seeds spread with bread. In traditional chinese medicine, black sesame seeds contains good source of calcium.

yogurt to replace milkSpecial note: Yoghurt is also high in protein and calcium but some people will still develop acne after eating yoghurt. But I think it is the type of yoghurt you choose. Once your acne has became better with the above tips,  you can try taking yoghurt and see if it will cause acne again on you.

Some Tips For Face Washing

When it comes to face washing, pay no or little attention to TV commercials because most commercial face washing products are too harsh for acne prone face. You will realise that the more you use it, the more irritated your face will be.. 

For acne prone face, you should use gentle cleaning agents. One of the best face cleaning product that is both gentle and affordable is the African black soap, it is recommended to me and I have been using it for many years already! It contains shea butter and aloe vera. You can check out the details here.

One last thing that I would like you to know is about sleeping habits.

Turn In Earlier

sleep before 11pm to help cure acneIf you are a teenager or young adult, you will not be happy to hear this – yes, sleeping earlier can help to improve your acne condition.

Ideally, you want to sleep before 11pm because that is when your body starts to detox and help to make your skin looks good.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, sleeping late will cause your body inner heat to rise and hurt your liver too.

So if you really care about your body and skin, start to think about sleeping earlier.

Ending Note

Acne is triggered because we have done something wrong in our lifestyle and mostly it is due to the food we eat.

You do not need to spend a lot of money seeking treatment. Just look very closely at your lifestyle (starting from eating, sleeping habits) and slowly making adjustments.

I am sure you will be able to cure your acne problem after adjusting your eating and sleeping habits.

It will definitely take some time, but never give up because our body has also been damaged for quite some time due to wrong diet and habits – thus, it will take some time too to help your body recovers.

Best wishes to your health and may you have the wisdom to identify the cause of acne.

Best Chinese Herbal Tea for Sore Throat

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In this post, I will be recommending a herbal tea drink that will help you cure your sore throat. Keep reading to find out what is the herb and how to prepare this effective drink.

First, you may want to know that most sore throat is caused by inner heat. Hence, if you feel that you have a sore throat coming your way, please stop taking deep fried, processed and spicy food.

The herb you should consume is 罗汉果, Luo Han Guo (it is also know as Monk Fruit). Luo Han Guo has good cooling properties that can sooth your throat and reduce your inner heat. It also has properties to relief constipation. Hence, it can be taken regularly for people who often gets heaty and constipation. 

How To Prepare An Effective Luo Han Guo Drink

First, you can buy a dried Luo Han Guo in most TCM shop. For one serving, just one piece of Luo Han Guo will do. Wash the exterior of the dried fruit and smash it open, Take out the core fruit inside and break it further to smaller pieces (5 to 6 smaller pieces etc).

Second, place the Luo Han Guo (with the shell) into a pot of water (approx. 500ml), you can add rock sugar if you want but you may want to try without added sugar because Luo Han Guo itself is sweet. Bring the water to boil then turn the fire to smallest and simmer for 2 to 3 minute. Turn off the fire and let it sit for another few minute before you drink it, you should have about two cups left.

Do take note that this herbal tea is the most effective if you feel a sore throat is coming your way. I also want to advise everyone to pay close attention to your body at all times so that you will be sensitive to such symptoms when it arise. It is easier to cure the sore throat in the first 1 to 2 days instead of letting it develop into cough after that.. Once you are good at listening to your body, you will be amazed that you can stop most illness by taking natural herbs before it further develops.

How Long Do You Need To Drink It To See Results?

If you drink this remedy in the first two days (when you feel the sore throat sensation), you should feel your sore throat relived after drinking it for continuous two to three days. 

What If I Am Busy And Can’t Find Time To Cook It Myself?

If you do not have time to prepare the drink yourself, you can choose to purchase the prepared herbal drink from some TCM shops. Ask them for Luo Han Guo herbal tea. It is better to take those that are cooked on the same day rather than taking those canned herbal drink.

Luo Han Guo is very affordable herb and effective for sore throat so make sure you give it a try especially if you start to feel the sore throat sensation. 

I wish you well and hope this information helps you!

Learn How To Choose Which Herbal Tea Is Suitable For You

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In Singapore, there are many types of herbal tea and do you know how to choose which one to drink? In this post, I will share some common types of herbal drink you can find in Singapore and their properties so you can make the right choice for your health!

Chrysanthemum Tea

1. Chrysanthemum (菊花) Tea / Drink

Chrysanthemum is the most common herbal tea or drink you can find in most herbal stalls or shops in shopping mall.

The main property of Chrysanthemum is cooling (beneficial for lungs and liver). It can help to reduce body heatiness, headache and dizziness, and swollen / painful eye area due to liver heatiness.

Thus, you should choose Chrysanthemum tea / drink if you experience some headache, dizziness especially due to lack of sleep these few days or just starting to have some flu (heaty type) symptoms such as sore throat and keep feeling your mouth is dry.

American Ginseng (洋参) Tea

2. American Ginseng (洋参) Tea / Drink

Good american ginseng is expensive and helps in strengthening qi (补气) but the type that you find in common herbal tea / drink normally do not have such strong potency.

The main property of american ginseng is strengthening qi (beneficial for heart, lung and kidney) and cooling effect. For the purpose of this blog post, american ginseng tea / drink has the effect of cooling and small effect of boosting your qi (energy).

Thus, you should choose american ginseng tea / drink if you often experience tiredness, and mouth dry. You can also choose american ginseng tea / drink if you feel that your palm and feet often feels hot.

Monk Fruit Tea

3. Monk Fruit (罗汉果) Tea / Drink

Monk fruit is also known as Siraitia grosvenorii, or more commonly as Luo Han Guo (罗汉果) in Singapore. It can help to reduce heatiness in lungs and improvement bowel movements (beneficial for lung and big intestine).

The main property of Luo Han Guo is to soothe throat and moisturize lungs. It also helps to ease constipation.

Thus, you should choose Luo Han Guo tea / drink if you have sore throat or feels that you have symptoms of sore throat coming. Also choose this drink if you have minor constipation these few days. Lastly, it will also help in dry cough (very hard to spit out the phlegm).

NOTE: Do visit a TCM physician if you have coughed for more than 2 weeks, because herbal tea will not cure the root issue of the cough.

Chinese Barley Tea

4. Chinese Barley (中国薏米) Tea / Drink

Chinese barley is another very common type of herbal tea / drink in Singapore. In fact, I highly recommend most people to consume Chinese barley drink because of our tropical climate here in Singapore. Chinese barley can help to reduce water retention and strengthen the spleen. Out of all the herbal tea / drinks, Chinese barley is the only one that can strengthen one’s spleen.

The main property of Chinese barley is to help you get rid of excessive water in your body especially in spleen and lower part of your body. This is why Chinese barley is a common herb to use to treat swollen angle, feet and lower part of the leg due to water retention.

Thus, you should choose Chinese barley tea / drink if you have water retention in the lower part of your leg or generally you have weak spleen (have stomachache after cold drinks and oily food). Chinese barley can also help in weight loss but you must make it a habit to drink it consistently to see results.

Caution: Women who are pregnant please consult a TCM physician before you make Chinese barley a regular drink.

Note: There are two types of barley, one is Holland barley which main property is cooling and the other one is Chinese barley, which we mention in this blog post. make sure to choose the right one when you buy.

Honeysuckle Tea

5. Honeysuckle (金银花) Tea / Drink

Honeysuckle is also a common type of herbal tea / drink in Singapore. Out of all herbal tea / drinks, Honeysuckle has most cooling effect and is highly recommended for people who are very heaty!

The main property of Honeysuckle is cooling and detox (beneficial for lungs, heart and stomach).

Thus, you should choose Honeysuckle tea / drink if you have bad breath, sudden rush of acne or feeling very heaty (symptoms of sore throat, mouth dry and keep wanting to drink water and urine appears very yellowish and feels hot)

Caution: Honeysuckle is extremely cooling hence it is not suitable for people with weak spleen. If you often have diarrhea after drinking cold stuff or oily food, then I would say Honeysuckle is not suitable for you.

Mixed Herbal Tea

A Note About Mixed Herbal Tea / Drink

It is now very common for you to see mixed herbal tea / drink such as Chrysanthemum with Luo Han Guo, or Chrysanthemum with American Ginseng.

For such herbal tea, you can refer to their each effects above but I strongly encourage you to go for the individual herbal tea if you need to relieve a particular symptom. For example if you are only having a sore throat, then I would suggest that you choose Luo Han Guo rather than Chrysanthemum with Luo Han Guo.

I hope these information helps! If you like a particular herbal tea / drink but didn’t see it listed here, you can comment below and I will consider adding it to the list!

TCM Food / Dessert for Constipation

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tcm food dessert for constipation
tcm food for constipation

In this post, I will share a very simple-to-prepare dessert that everyone can try at home to relief constipation.

That is – Papaya Aloe Vera dessert.

Both aloe vera and papaya have the effects of increasing bowel movement. In fact, aloe Vera is classified as 泻下药 in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).

Both papaya and aloe vera can also help to improve liver functions. Papaya helps in liver detox while aloe helps in decreasing heatiness in liver.

This dessert is suitable for people who has constipation or heatiness in liver (symptoms such as redness in the eye or feeling giddiness).

If your stomach can’t take cold stuff (always have diarrhea after taking cold stuff) , then you can add some longan (龙眼) in this dessert.

I have been using Del Monte Aloe Vera and I find that their aloe vera has good effects. You can purchase this brand of aloe vera in the local supermarkets (I bought mine in AMK NTUC).

tcm dessert for constipation

I hope these information helps someone out there!

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