Good November Everyone,

Ni chi fan le ma?  

In contemplating what to write about as the Holiday season descends upon us, the first thing that occurs to me is eating and food, (yum), and along with this, the possibility of overeating and of digestive issues affecting our enjoyment of it all.  So, following this impulse, I am dedicating this month's newsletter to our digestive health, diet, and eating.  There are no breatharians on my mailing list that I know of, so this is something of potential interest to us all.  

And, if I can be of service to any of you during this season for whatever ails you in body, mind, or spirit, please let me know. Keep in mind also that Chinese Medicine excels as well at stress reduction and prevention, and who could not use a little of that? 

Happy November All, see in you December.

Best as Always,

Beth 

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 Chinese Medicine and Digestive Problems               

You all know by now that Chinese Medicine is good for just about everything, and, the great variety of digestive disturbances possible are certainly included in what can be successfully treated.  Digestive problems can run the gamut of course, from temporary, minor, and annoying, to extremely serious and even life-threatening. The simpler things are easier to treat, as always, but that does not preclude the more serious issues responding to acupuncture and herbs as well. For a basic overview (with a few typos) of how Chinese Medicine sees digestive problems, this article is helpful.

The Spleen and Stomach are the "organs" in Chinese Medicine primarily responsible for digestion. To efficiently transform food eaten into the qi and blood responsible for our health and vitality, these organs need to be healthy and in balance. These organs have other correlates as well. This next article gives you more information about these organs, and about their mental and emotional correlates and how these affect digestion as well.  There are even "5 Self Care Tips for Nourishing Your Spleen and Stomach," especially great advice in this season where they may be more challenged than usual.

And last but not least in this section is some acupressure info on three especially potent points for improving digestion.

Depending on our choices, food can be a source of our illness, as we all know, but it can also be a large part of our healing.  There is so much conflicting information about diet these days it seems that at least according to someone, there is potentially something wrong with every single food! (Except chocolate maybe...)

 In Chinese Medicine, foods are categorized as herbs are:  by their nature (hot, warm, neutral, cool, cold), and by their flavor/s (sour, salty, bitter, bland, sweet, pungent) which all have certain therapeutic actions.  Like herbs, a therapeutic diet is tailor made for an individual:  a person with a cold constitution will eat warming foods, etc.  It is a coherent theory, practically proven over the centuries, that takes individual differences into account. As much as I am interested in various dietary theories and regimes, I inherently trust the Chinese point of view, and always come back here to get the bottom line on what is considered a healthy diet.

Volumes can be written (and have been) about Chinese Dietary Therapy.  Traditionally, this is considered the premiere medicine, above acupuncture and herbs, as it is a lifestyle factor available to all, and is the first line of defense against imbalance and illness.

For a bit more information about this big subject, this is your link.  For a book written for the layman about the Chinese version of healthy eating, click here.

 In last month's newsletter, I introduced you to a BBC documentary series about China produced in the  80's called Heart of the Dragon. I am quite fond of this series, and last month I encouraged you to watch "Understanding" which profiled the ancient Chinese worldview, and featured quite a bit about traditional medicine.  This month, in honor of our theme, I am linking you to the episode called "Eating."  As the series was produced in the 80's, some of the economic news may be dated, but much of the episode continues to be pertinent and insightful around the history and culture of food and eating in China.  Food is an especially potent force in China for many reasons. A common greeting in China is "ni chi fan le ma" which literally means "have you eaten yet?" I hope you watch, and I hope you enjoy this episode.