Eggplant

I have worked with many women suffering from painful periods. The stabbing pain (hypochondrial, abdominal, etc) felt either before, during, or after is a clear indication of Blood stagnation. This can be verified by noting the addition of a couple of the following symptoms: dark-colored menstrual Blood, dark-clotted Blood, purple nails, purple lips, purple tongue, dark sublingual veins, and a wiry, choppy pulse.

In TCM to alleviate the pain, we would use herbs to move Blood along w/other herbs in an appropriate formula. (Please consult a qualified herbalist).

One food that has an affinity for the uterus and moves Blood is eggplant. 

TCM

• Taste: Sweet

• Temperature: Slightly cold

• Direction: Downward

• Organs: Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen

Moves Blood, relieves pain, clears Heat, cools Blood, reduces swelling, activates Qi and Blood in the Lower Burner 

Nutrition Note: 

• Vitamin C, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, alkaloids

• Contains vitamin P which can prevent hardening of Blood vessels 

• Contains solanine in its skin which is a calcium inhibitor and may also aggravate arthritis

How to enjoy: steam, roast, grill, stew, make dip, juice or wine infusion

Benefits Uses:

🍆Abdominal pain

🍆Stomatitis: bake peel from fresh eggplant until v dark on outside but inside intact; mix w/honey chew like gum

🍆 Promotes urination: dehydrate and grind into a powder ¼ tsp

🍆 Painful urination

🍆 Blood in urine

🍆 Snakebites

🍆 Bee stings - use raw, slice open rub on the affected area

🍆 Diarrhea

🍆 Treats dysentery

🍆 Assists bowel motions

🍆 Hypertension

🍆 Skin ulcers

🍆 Skin eruptions: dehydrate and grind into a powder, mix w/sesame oil for external application

🍆 Canker sores 

🍆 Toothache

🍆 Chronic cough: boil white eggplant in water and drink the soup w/honey

🍆 Mastitis

🍆 Carbuncles

🍆 Jaundice-type hepatitis: eat with rice for several days

🍆 Bloody stools due to Heat in Blood: steamed eggplant 

🍆 Bloody stools due to Hemorrhoids: eggplant leaves boiled in water, drink water

🍆 Bloody stools due to Intestinal Wind: eggplant wine = toasted eggplants soaked in wine

🍆 Bleeding Hemorrhoids or difficult stools: steamed eggplant

🍆 Treating corns (clavus): raw juice topically 

🍆 PID, ovarian cysts, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, uterine myomas

🍆 Chronic venereal infections

Special notes: 

• Due to its cold energy it stops Bleeding as well, it is therefore considered obstructive to some extent.

• Overconsumption may harm the uterus because it moves Qi and Blood without tonification 

• Please avoid if you are sensitive to nightshades

• Avoid in cold patterns 

Simple Baba Ganoush recipe

• 1 medium eggplant

• ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

• ¼ cup tahini

• Clove or 2 of garlic - crushed and minced 

• 1 Tbs olive oil

• ¼ cup fresh parsley

• Turn the oven to 400 F. 

• Make several piercings with a knife and place in a shallow baking dish. 

• Tent with foil for about 45 minutes until tender. 

• Peel and discard skin taking care not to burn yourself. 

• Put the eggplant in a food processor to puree.  

• Add in the lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, and parsley to just blend. 

• Place in a dish to serve. I like this at room temperature.

Other ingredients:  tahini is cool (roasted seeds are warmer) and nourishes Blood, parsley is warm and stimulates digestion, lemon is cold and expels Heat, olive oil is cooling and moistening.

The Importance of Food in Maintaining Balance

Herbs are meant to assist the body back into homeostasis. To keep the body balanced we rely on diet, lifestyle, and healthy emotions. If any of these are out of balance, the physical body will become strained and the emotional body will eventually follow or vice versa. Let’s talk a bit about diet today. 

Unless urgency does not permit, prior to an initial consultation I ask clients for a current 5-day food log. This gives me an idea of what organ system might be in need of some care. If possible, I then try to give food recommendations (again, before the consultation). This gives me an idea of how compliant a client might be once we dig-in. This also gives the client a true look at what they are eating and allows them easily to see what might be missing and what might be in excess. It also serves as a reference point. Once the client feels better, they start to understand how specific foods make them feel, good or bad. Once this connection is made, most clients are more than ready to maintain the balance they find through herbs, diet, lifestyle, and emotional wellbeing. And if they stray from their balanced path, at a minimum they understand why they are feeling poorly again and choose whether to return to their balanced path ... at this point, they are making an informed decision.

The number one aha moment clients have is when they realize that eating certain healthy foods might not be right for them in their current state. There is NO one-diet-fits-all mode. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approaches diet through the organ system ... identifying what organ(s) is either in a state of excess or deficiency, and then amending, by eliminating the excess or nourishing the deficiency. This is such a valuable approach, because it works!

An example that comes up frequently in my practice is Spleen Qi deficiency. According to TCM one of the Spleen’s functions is to transform all foods and drinks we consume into nutrients and Blood for the entire body. If the Spleen is deficient it isn’t functioning properly and we might see symptoms of fatigue/tiredness, bloat, weight gain, loose stools, etc. Often in this situation, when we take a look at the foods eaten, we see raw and cold-natured foods like salads, smoothies, and fruits, which by their nutrient content are thought to be healthy. And they are for folks with healthy Spleen Qi, when eaten at certain times of the year, and in appropriate amounts. The Spleen is affected negatively by an excess of raw and cold-natured foods though, nutritional value aside. And if the Spleen is already deficient and not functioning properly, even a moderate amount of cold and raw food is likely to cause further decline.

Herbs can be immensely valuable in assisting the body back into homeostasis, but they are not meant to be used indefinitely.* If you are curious about how your diet, even if you eat healthily, may be affecting your body, contact me. I love to work with clients on diet, as well as herbs and lifestyle.

In the coming weeks, I will be sharing how diet and emotions affect specific organs.

* There are exceptions, however, these are for another post at another time.