Chicken

Meat, including chicken, is acidic and should not be eaten in excess; in excess, it can easily contribute to/exacerbate Damp-Heat, Qi stagnation, etc., in the body.

Slow cooking (chicken and meats) in a soup or boiling vs. grilling, broiling, or frying is easier to digest and creates less Yang energy which can be overheating and congesting.

I recommend chicken fairly often to clients with digestive issues and/or fatigue. In terms of TCM, this could be a Spleen or Kidney deficiency. Symptoms may include, muscle weakness, bloat/distention after eating, loose stools, pale tongue, chills, sallow complexion, poor appetite, edema, infertility, etc.

Even for new moms that are deficient and have had Blood loss, I recommend as little as 2 oz of meat (i.e., beef, dark meat chicken & duck, beef/chicken liver, etc.) 3x per week; this is, of course in tandem with other Spleen and Blood nourishing foods and herbs. I also suggest hormone-free, free-range, organic chicken.

• 𝗧𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲: Sweet

• 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀: Warm

• 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀: Spleen & Stomach, Kidneys (Flaws)

• 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Upbearing

𝗧𝗖𝗠: Warms the Middle Burner, Nourishes the Spleen, Nourishes Qi, Blood, & Jing, Tonifies the Kidneys, Strengthens Tendons & Bones (Lu)

𝗡𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀: Protein, fat, vitamins A, B1, B2, C, E, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, calcium, iron, magnesium

🐔Persistent illness, poor appetite - stewed chicken (add in astragalus and dang gui)

🐔Edema - stewed with red or adzuki beans

🐔Palpitations, dizziness, pale face, fatigue, muscle weakness, amenorrhea, weakness &/or lack of milk after childbirth (Qi & Blood deficiency) = boiled (simmer for a few hours) w/ dang gui & jujube dates

🐔Frequent urination, seminal emission, weak & painful knees, tinnitus (Kidney deficiency) = boiled with equal parts water & rice wine (Livingstone)

🐔Diabetes

🐔 Vaginal bleeding & discharge

🐔Rheumatism - boil 100 grams of pomegranate peel in water with chicken to make soup (Lu)

🐔Classic TCM soup for fatigue = prepare & cut the chicken into small pieces. Fry chicken in a pan, add a little vegetable oil & a few slices of ginger and continue to fry until cooked. Add 3 cups of water & ½ cup of rice wine & boil for 20 minutes. (Lu)

🐔Black boned chicken is considered the best energy tonic food (Lu)

🐔Chicken liver acts on the Liver & Kidneys = tonic = blurred vision, malnutrition in children, habitual miscarriage

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:

🐔 Eating fatty chicken soup may cause diarrhea in those with indigestion or weak digestion.

🐔 Nitrogen compounds in chicken become soluble in soup (creatine, creatinine, & purine) = avoid with gout, gouty arthritis, and high uric acid (avoid drinking soup, eat only the chicken).

🐔 Avoid at the beginning of a cold.

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.

TCM Liver Excess/Full Patterns of Disharmony

Chart #1 in the series of TCM Liver Patterns of Disharmony.

Chart #2 will concentrate on TCM Liver Deficient/Empty Patterns of Disharmony.

𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿

• Time of day is 1 am to 3 am

• Paired with the Gallbladder

• Controls the sinews which include tendons, cartilage, and ligaments

• Manifests in the nails

• Fluid is tears

• Sound is shouting

• Climate is Wind

• Direction is East

• Taste is sour

• Season is Spring

• Sense is eyes

• Odor is rancid

• Emotion is anger

• Color is green

• Development is birth

• Movement is expansion

• Yin/Yang is lesser Yang

TCM Evils - The 6 Pernicious Influences

• TCM Evils otherwise known as the 6 Pernicious Influences are External causes of disease according to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

• Due to overexposure they invade the body and cause disharmony.

• They can be Exterior or Interior.

• They may invade alone or in combination, usually through the mouth, nose, or skin - or in the case of Wind the nape of the neck.

• Wind, Damp, Cold, Dry, and Summer Heat have a seasonal association and have a relationship with a specific organ.

• Wind, Dryness, Summer-Heat, and Fire are Yang pathogenic factors, which injure Yin.

• Cold and Dampness are Yin pathogenic factors, which injure Yang.

• They always correspond to a Full pattern but may be associated with a Deficiency.

• An Evil can give rise to Deficiency or a Deficiency can give rise to an Evil.

• There are many different patterns of disharmony associated with the 6 Evils, in which case symptoms, tongue appearance, and pulses would all vary accordingly - there are simply too many to list in this chart.

• Symptoms, tongue appearance, and possible pulses listed in the chart are all general unless otherwise stated.