San Bao « Chinese Nutritional Guidelines

[Guest guest]

This is quite an amazing article and actually the whole blog is

fascinating. I dont agree with it all of course and some of the ideas

like the focus on some animal foods etc is very chinese medicine in

origin and may not be everyone's cup of tea but her overall concept of

eating and food choices is very insightful so if that is not your thing

dont throw the baby out with the bathwater.

http://leni.wordpress.com/tag/san-bao/

she does talk about Bob Flaws a few times

and his books on eating and chinese medicine ideas are great like

Arisal of the clear.

in one article she mentioned macrobtiotics in almost a critical way but

later mentions that it is probably close to the ideal diet.

what do you think?

Ilanit Tof - Signature

Ilanit

Ms Ilanit Tof

B.A. (Psychophysiology/Psychology)

Advanced Diploma Healing with Wholefoods

PhD Holistic Nutrition (candidate)

Little Tree Oriental Healing Arts

Helping you grow to new heights of wellbeing

with Oriental Traditions and Modern Nutrition

ilanit@...

www.littletree.com.au

Chinese Nutritional Guidelines

September 24, 2006

The San Bao

Filed under: San Bao — leni @ 1:47 pm

THE  SAN  BAO

CONTENTS

Preserving the source - Building our Reserves - Chronic health problems -

Our daily consumption pattern and health problems - Snotty noses and the good old days - Sugar explosions - Dairy products jam the system - What it is to be in good health - Balance: working with nature - The food we eat and digestion: a symbiotic unity - Eating according to our age and sex - The under-sevens -

Girls and women - The elderly - Work-related diets and diets for the ill

Diets, fads and extremes: a thousand health problems - Breakfast?  No thank you … - Eating out - Chronic health problems revisited - Health Experts wanted!

Other causes of ill-health - Emotions and ill-health - Stress and the liver - Depression and the lungs - Excessive worrying and the stomach - Fear, Jing and the kidneys - The heart and blood house the spirit.

On exercise.

Eating according to our age and sex. The food pyramid - Eating according to your Age - Women’s health - Cleansing grapefruit diets? - The pregnancy wish - Optimal health during pregnancy - Post-partum mother and baby - Lactation - Mochi - Babies - Children under the age of seven - The under-sevens diet - Grain milk, Congee and Child-friendly Tea - Adolescents - Girls and women in the reproductive age-group - Middle Age - Old Age.

THE  SAN  BAO

Everything in traditional Chinese nutrition resolves around one central idea: preserving the San Bao.  The direct translation of these words is ‘the three treasures’ and, to me, these words - the San Bao - sound like a collection of beautiful diamonds. The treasures that the San Bao refer to are good health, a good social life, and joy and wisdom, in other words a healthy mental/spiritual life.  To understand the meaning of the San Bao, the example of a house is often used: the foundation represents your health.  Without good health, it is hard to maintain good social contacts and joy or spiritual health. The walls and inside of the house represent your social life/behaviour.  The roof represents your mental or spiritual life. 

Preserving the source

All branches of TCM aim to maintain the San Bao in order to live a Long, Happy and Healthy life.  If we maintain the San Bao we need not drain, or nibble from, our reserves, or Jing.  The Jing is likened to the ’source’ of our well being.  When we neglect our source, we diminish our chance of a Long, Healthy and Happy life.

Building our Reserves

In order to maintain optimal health, our daily diet and lifestyle should give us enough energy and ‘more to spare’, to get us through each day. The ‘more to spare’ goes into our Jing, or ‘reserve bank’.  A strong Jing has a dual action: it bolsters our immune system and helps us through the more challenging days of our life. When our Jing, or reserves are well maintained, we feel well.  When we become lax and begin to dip into, rather than top up, on our reserves, we undermine our immune system and we begin to feel unwell.

Chronic health problems

Ill health, including chronic ill health is a many facetted fiend. We may be just about able to function under normal circumstances, but when we are confrontedwith more demanding challenges, things change.  When we suffer from minor but chronic health problems, special life events such as pregnancy, the first weeks after the birth of a baby, moving house or difficulties at work, will aggravate the underlying health problem.  This may further undermine our body system, and create a negative downward spiral.

Feeling unwell also requires a lot of attention.  This leaves less attention for the work we need to do and for the world around us.  We are, in short, less able to concentrate on the normal things in life.  But there are other negative side effects.  We loose time, for example, working the medical system - be it western, Chinese, or alternative.  We are tied to pills and potions.  We suffer fatigue, discomfort or pain, etc. In short, ill health is a ‘pain in the neck’.  It interferes with what we have set out for ourselves, and this becomes the more aggravating when the health problems are of a chronic nature. 

Our daily consumption pattern and health problems

Unfortunately, many health problems today are chronic, and many of these problems are linked directly, both to our daily consumption pattern, and our lifestyle. 

When I speak of ‘our daily consumption pattern’, I refer both to the meals we eat and, more importantly, to the in-betweens or ‘luxury foods’.  This last category has, in many cases, grown to be the greater part of what we consume.  Think of soft drinks, fruit juices, iced water or drinks straight from the fridge, yoghurts straight from the fridge, snacks, cakes, pastries, deserts, teas, coffee, and alcoholic beverages.  The number of these in-betweens, and the size of them, combined with changed meal patterns are responsible for the huge increase in many if not most of the chronic health problems we see today.  Though there is a general alertness to the rapid increase in obesity and diabetes, heart problems, cancer, joint problems, rheumatic conditions, MS, Parkinson’s disease and so on, these are often the end product of a ‘degenerative’ trend resulting from our excessive consumption pattern.   These serious health problems are often preceded by many years of  minor problems such as thrush, sinusitis, headaches, migraines, menstrual problems, constipation, diarrhoea, severe pregnancy nausea, post-partum pelvic instability, lowered immune protection against colds, the flu and bronchitis, allergies, asthma, eczema,  etc..

Snotty noses and the good old days

The number of times we consume in-betweens, and the increased portions of these in-betweens has grown exponentially.  When I was a small girl, we had one biscuit a week and that was on Saturday evenings when we were allowed to stay up late. We nibbled the biscuit around the edges to make longer. We also received a pocket money allowance of 10 cents a week, which bought us little, perhaps one chewing gum and one liquorice stick. My parents had one cup of coffee in the morning, a cup of tea in the afternoons, and a cup of coffee after dinner, that was all.  On birthdays we had one small cake each and it was a huge treat - I still remember the delight of these creamy, fruity luxuries!  If we had a flu, it was once a year.  I do not remember my parents ever being ill, or having a cold, until they had passed the age of 50.  I do not remember my friends being ill outside of the usual children’s illnesses such as the measles.  The 24-hour bug, so common when I had my own children, did not exist when I was young myself.  Nor had I ever witnessed the constant stream of yakky yellow-green snot that was so prevalent amongst the tiny friends of my small children.  Times have changes. Young and old have taken to snacking on a major scale.  One biscuit a week became a bag of sweets, a crunchy bar, half of an apple tart for desert.  A bag of chips became a bucket of chips.  A Mars bar, unknown in my childhood, doubled in size in the past few years. A glass of milk each day became several mugs spread over the day, or several yoghurts straight from the fridge.  In my childhood, we had no fridge and nothing except the very occasional ice cream came ice-cold, and that only in the summer.  We had no oranges, but we did eat plenty of apples, pears and plums - in their growing season.  Any spare apples were placed in large rows in the shed and consumed into the winter.  During this storage process they shrivelled and lost much of their moisture.  My mother used to cook or bake them in winter. 

Sugar explosions

Oranges arrived during my teens.  Even then, we only had them in summer.  Remember that, fruit, and especially soft fruit such as bananas and citrus, combined with all the other sugar-based in-betweens, including alcohol, act like sugar-bombs.  Taken in moderation, in the right season, and without all the other sugary in-betweens our system can cope with them.  Taken in excess they lead to system-overload. Problems such as thrush and sinusitis can be seen as the body’s way to rid itself of this overload.  One could say that we do need vitamins and sugars, but a little goes a long way!

Dairy products jam the system

The same goes for dairy products such as milk, yoghurts and cheeses - yes, alittle milk, cheese or yoghurt, now and then, is good - provided milk andiron-containing products such as vegetables, meat and red wine, are taken atseparate meals.  But small portions of these rich food products go a long way! The amounts now consumed, together with the overload of alcohol, coffee and otherin-betweens - helps jam the body system!  An overload of animal fats and dairyproducts produces slime as in snotty noses, phlegmatic coughs and bronchitis. Slime-induced blockages incapacitates the digestive function and obstructs thefree flow of body fluids and qi, leading, among other problems, to menstrualproblems.

What it is to be in good health

Just as being unhealthy or ill means much more than a mere physical affliction,so health is much more than the word might indicate.  In health, you are able forlife: you function well, you feel well, and you are able to concentrate and doall that you set out to do.  You are able to cope with problems as they arise,you are able to fully participate in and contribute to the world around you. 

Balance: working with nature

The basic philosophy of TCM is that we, humans, are part of and bound by the lawsof nature. Health and well being signify that we ’stay within our means’.  Welive within our own limits and those of the natural world around us.  When welive in harmony with nature, and when the natural forces around us areharmonious, we have a high chance of being ‘in balance’ or ‘balanced’.All branches of TCM, be they acupuncture, herbs, nutrition, massage, ormeditative exercise contribute to this one aim:  to maintain or recover optimalnatural balance. This natural equilibrium differs per person, per day, per agegroup and is influenced by our constitution and our condition. Our constitutionis that which our parent passed on to us at the moment of conception - it carriesus through life. Our condition derives from our daily intake of food and air andit carries us through the 24 hours of each day. 

The food we eat and digestion: a symbiotic unity

Traditional Chinese nutritional guidelines, take account, not only of the foodproduct (as in the West) but also of the person eating the food.  Food muststrengthen, not hinder, the digestive function of each individual.  Our dailydiet is seen as preventative medicine - it can prevent disease! Nutritionalguidelines, therefore, address, not only the properties of food products but alsothe specific requirements of the different  age-groups, and of the sexes. TCMnutrition recognises the symbiotic relationship between the food we eat and thestate of our digestive system, and through it our well being. In the West, foodproducts are analysed, for example, for their vitamin- or mineral contents or forthe fibres they contain. Whether and to what extent these vitamins, minerals orfibres can actually be absorbed and used by the individual body system, tends tobe of ignored.  Hence the general advice here in the West, that fresh fruit twicedaily and daily helpings of dairy products are good for us, young or old, summeror winter, sick, recovering from sickness or healthy. 

Eating according to our age and sex

This is unheard of in TCM.  Young children and the elderly, for example, shouldbe extremely careful around raw foods, including raw fruit.  And raw fruit inwinter is considered to be too cooling for all age groups.  Digestion is a warmprocess.  Cooling products slow down, hinder or dampen the ‘upper fire’ ofdigestion.  As you know from my Seasonal Notes, TCM nutrition uses seasonalproducts and cooking methods.  Though the overall diet looks more or less thesame, each season has its own accents.  The same applies to the different agegroups and sexes.

The under-sevens

The choice of food products and cooking methods for the under sevens, forexample, differs from that of other age groups.  Though one cannot speak of a’diet’ as we tend to understand the word in the West, there are age-specificdifferences.  Babies are born with a tiny stomach, a huge liver, underdevelopedlungs and kidneys, and a normal heart.  The relative balance and organdevelopment matures over a period of about 6 years. Their diet aims to nurturerather than counteract the healthy development of the digestive- and immunesystems.  Hence, great care is taken with foods that weaken rather thanstrengthen the immature digestive system of the under sevens. Foods that hinderhealthy development include daily helpings of cold fruit juices, raw carrots,apples, oranges, cheese, fried foods and chips, peanut butter, cold milk andsweetened yoghurt out of the refrigerator (Bob Flaws, The Tao of Healthy Eating,p. 40).  An under-sevens diet of this kind leads to chronic health problems thatcarry over into adulthood.  More about this subject at a later stage.

Girls and women

The dietary accent of girls and women in the reproductive age group, moreover,addresses the very specific requirements of the menstrual cycle and reproductivefunctions. The accent lies on blood nourishing foods and of a food pattern thatenable the free flow of blood and qi throughout the body.  The diet needs tosupport the reproductive organs, including, in particular, the liver.  Thissubject is also addressed in greater detail later on in this chapter.  Recipesare given in a separate chapter.

The elderly

Dietary guidelines for the elderly address the fact that ageing is a degenerativeprocess.  This means that digestion slows down and there is a general cooling, drying and shrinking.  The diet for the elderly should gradually become moreeasily digestible.  And the gradual loss of moisture and body structure should be recompensed by a slight increase in more nourishing and moisturising foods such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy products and fruit - just those foods that cause so many problems when taken in excess by other age-groups  However, as the digestive function decreases, raw fruit should be avoided by the elderly.  Instead, it should be cooked or dried and soaked.

Work-related diets and diets for the ill

The accent of the daily diet of physical workers, again, is different from that of those sitting behind computers all day, and ill or chronically ill people need a different or lighter diet than robust individuals. The overall objective of our daily diet is to work with, rather than against nature, toward optimal health or Balance, i.e. toward a Long, Healthy and Happy life.

Diets, fads and extremes - a thousand health problems

We live in a time of rapid change.  Tradition is disappearing.  Knowledge about food has been transferred to scientists and the food industry.  We are swamped by contradictory food advice that is characterised by rapid scientific development and a quick succession of diets that claim to solve one problem after the other. Exotic foods have been introduced to our diet. We frequent juice- and coffee bars and we consume large amounts of iced water, iced tea and other cold or iced beverages. Food supplements are highly popular and dietary fads come and go.

These ‘diets’ and fads are, unfortunately, particularly embraced by women, whose reproductive function and the turbulence that it entails, make women the more vulnerable of the two sexes to the effects of dietary turbulence and excess.  When I talk of dietary fads, I talk of fruit-, sherry, bread, Montiac-, macrobiotic-, blood group diets, etc., etc. The latest fad is the ‘raw food diet’ (2006). Followers of this new fad eat nothing but raw foods.  The most striking aspect of these diets and fads is their extreme nature.  We live in a time of ‘extremes’.  Perhaps extreme actions call for extreme remedies …  Extreme diets and remedies, however, may seem to work wonders in the short run, but they aggravate any underlying problems and create additional problems, particularly in relation to our source or ‘reserves’.  Note also that, in spite of all these extreme diets and other fads, we grow heavier, more prone to infections such as colds, the flu, bronchitis, thrush, sinusitis, etc.  Menstrual problems have become the norm rather than the exception.  Extreme pregnancy nausea and fatigue are now thought to be ‘normal’ and a ‘healthy sign’.  Post-natal pelvic instability (a low-back problem whereby young mothers are unable to lift their own baby) is rising rapidly. In TCM, this problem is linked to an inferior diet that depletes our reserves.   Post-natal depression, which in TCM is linked directly to a food-induced blood deficiency, is a growing problem.  There are problems around male fertility.  Babies are born with chronic problems such as eczema, asthma, and allergies. ADHD and suicidal tendencies in children are on the increase.  Women suffer unnecessary menopausal problems.  Note that Chinese women did not even know the meaning of menopausal problems, they did not have them! And all this in spite of the food supplements industry, the plenitude and huge variety of food products in our shops, and the dietary fads.  Though environmental pollution and stress are contributing factors, they are not the whole picture.  Nutrition plays a large part.  Balance has become elusive … 

Breakfast?  No thank you …

Underlying this dietary shift lies a rapid scientific and technological development that allows large-scale food production and food storage techniques, large-scale, long- distance haulage, and home-refrigeration.  Besides the milk, cheese and butter mountains, we now have snack mountains, alcohol beverage lakes, ‘exotic’ product mountains, including fruit and hot spices that originate in, and are appropriate to, other climatic conditions. In addition, our food pattern changed from three meals a day to a continuous foraging between the fridge and the food counter and we consume many drinks and yoghurts straight from the fridge. As the digestive system weakens (read ‘cools down’ and ‘clogs up’), many people have shifted to two main meals, skipping breakfast.  The inability to eat breakfast is a sign that the digestive process, and particularly the function of the spleen and stomach, is seriously impaired. 

Eating out

Our lifestyle induces us to ‘use the pan’ less in favour of ready-to-eat or partly prepared meals and products.  We often use the microwave for the last part of the cooking process.  We enjoy exotic meals, and we eat out much more than people ever did.  Eating out usually means rich food combinations. Healthy soups topped off with cream, an overkill of meats, inappropriate food combinations, particularly of dairy products in combination with meats and vegetables (this combination prevents the absorption of minerals such as iron and leads to inferior blood or a ‘blood deficiency’), raw or undercooked foods, fatty, sugary deserts and the regular consumption of alcohol.   To add shame to injury, restaurants have copped on to the health food fad and introduced undercooked or raw dishes, that alter but do not decrease the damage (see Salad the Silent Killer).  Unfortunately, it is again the young, unmarried, female age-group that tends to eat out on a daily basis.  Many young women pride themselves on the fact that ‘they could not cook an egg’. The result, at the end of the day, is not great: most of us rely on a poor or unbalanced consumption pattern combined with food supplements and dietary fads including cleansing diets to get us through life.  This exhausts our reserves and undermines our health. Without a return to the basics of nutrition, or to the ‘root’ or the ’source’, as TCM calls it, the various therapeutic interventions, be they western, ‘alternative’, or TCM remain First Aid and will not lead to lasting health.

Chronic health problems revisited

When a poor or overly rich diet or unbalanced diet leads, as it invariably does, to health problems, these problems tend to start off as rather minor and chronic rather than major and acute in nature.  Depending on our constitution, early and medium term problems may include fatigue, lack of concentration, agitation, thrush, sinusitis, headaches, bloating, abdominal fluid retention, swollen ankles, lower back problems, constipation, diarrhoea, menstrual problems, insomnia, a vulnerability to infections, pressure on the eyes or watery eyes, etc.  If you visit a TCM practitioner in time, he or she should be able to nip these problems in the bud using dietary advice and herbal treatment and/or acupuncture.  If, on the other hand, you accept the western wisdom that ‘you have this or that problem because you are prone to it’, or ‘because it runs in the family’, or because ‘it will stop after the menopause’, in other words, if the problem lingers for many years, permanent recovery will become elusive.  In other words, a three-week diet free of the products that trigger your specific problem (you are now hyper-allergic to certain foods, therefore withdrawing these foods from your diet will give an immediate but short-term relief)  the problem will return and progress to other, more serious problems.  Thrush, for example, may spread to sinusitis, and at a later stage to gallbladder- or kidney stones.  When you accept that you need to change your diet, it will, in fact, be a lifestyle change away from ‘junk’ (to sum it up in one word) towards a basic, no fads, sober diet that is appropriate to your age, your sex, the climate you live in, the seasons, and the work you do. A basic, sober diet does not mean that you never eat ice cream, cake, alcohol or whatever again.  On the contrary, sobriety allows for the occasional indulgence on feast days.  In fact, it makes these days much more special - and more memorable!

Health Experts wanted!

A lifestyle dietary change is a slow process that involves falling and getting up again.  A TCM practitioner will begin with a dietary and herbal treatment that restores the stomach-spleen function, i.e. the ‘upper digestive fire’.   This may be accompanied by acupuncture to resolve stagnation in various parts of the body and restore optimal balance.  You will, temporarily, be taken off the most offending food products, i.e. those that trigger acute symptoms such as sinusitis, headaches, bloating, etc.  But gradually, you should be able to eat almost everything again, though you will never be able to return to the dietary dissipation that led to your problems in the first place. Though you will need a TCM practitioner to start you off*, you will grow into it, over the years.  And as you go along, you will learn a great deal about food and its effect on your body and mind.  You will learn to recognise your reaction to certain foods.  Your attitude will also change.  You will become open to experimentation: how will I react to this tea or that fruit or food product?  In other words, you learn to work with rather than against nature and you will be able to recognise what you lack and what you need in order to address any imbalance. By and by, you will become quite an expert in the field of your own health!  And isn’t that worth something?

* If you have no access to a TCM practitioner with a specialisation in nutrition, you  might find useful information in one of a series of books written by Bob Flaws on specific health problems, such as menstrual problems, headaches, fibromyalgia, insomnia, hay fever and arthritis.  His books are available from Amazon.com.

OTHER CAUSES OF ILL-HEALTH

Apart from a poor daily diet, there are other causes of disease or chronic health problems.  These include inappropriate levels of exercise, prolonged tension or stress and long-term or excessive emotions.  When insufficient exercise or long-term stress or excessive emotional problems are combined with a poor diet there is little chance of a Long, Healthy and Happy life.  External causes of ill-health or disease include accidents, viral or bacterial infections, parasite invasions, environmental pollution, noise pollution, pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, etc. Again, taken in combination with a poor diet, stress and emotional factors, good health is rarely an option.  External disease factors, moreover, more easily invade the body system when indifferent health and lowered resistance are already present.

Emotions and ill-health

Some people insist that emotions are the one and only major cause of ill health.  TCM does, indeed, see excessive emotions as one of the primary internal causes of ill health, but not as the only one.  In addition, TCM starts from the premise that emotions and bodily health are absolutely intertwined, they cannot be seen apart from one another and they cause or negate one another.  Emotions affect the body, and in particular the function of specific organ systems. Ill health, in its turn, evokes emotional problems. If the primary cause of ill-health (chronic or not) is emotional, nutrition can help counteract the undermining forces of emotional problems on our body.

Stress and the liver

Before I begin with this section, I refer you to a later chapter that discusses the TCM definition of our organs.  For now, it is enough to say that when I talk about an ‘organ’, say the liver, I speak of an organ system that affects various parts of the entire body system).

In our culture, stress (including frustration), inappropriate nutritional habits and inappropriate levels of exercise (this includes both too little and too much exercise) are the most common cause of chronic disease and premature. Stress, to begin with, always affects the liver (and gallbladder, the two are seen as an organ-pair).  A stressor, or that which causes stress, should be understood as being either emotional, physical or biological.  The effects on the liver of the excessive intake of alcohol, for example, are similar to those of long-term or excessive mental stress, in other words: both alcohol and stress are stressors that act primarily on the liver.  According to TCM, the liver cleanses the blood and ensures the free flow of blood and energy throughout the body.  A liver problem always leads to blood-related problems plus the stagnation of blood and energy in various parts of the body.  The liver is closely involved with the menstrual cycle, therefore, stress and liver problems cause menstrual problems.

In emotional or mental terms, liver-related problems always express themselves in varying degrees of stress, frustration, agitation, irritation, short-tempered-, angry- or aggressive behaviour.  Chinese philosophy associates the liver with the idea of your ‘territory’.  If your territory is impinged upon, you become stuck and frustrated.  Creativity and flexibility  no longer seem possible. If your job, your relationship, your health or life become a prison rather than a playing field, you become frustrated.  This translates itself into stress and this emotional state primarily affects your liver.   Nutritional changes to encourage normal liver function are always part of the treatment plan.

Depression and the lungs

Though the various emotions affect and bring one another forth, each emotional syndrome affects specific organs (note that with ‘organs’ I mean organ systems, see elsewhere).  As I said, stress, primarily affects the liver.  Likewise, depression primarily affects the lungs (and large intestine, these two organs form an organ-pair). Depression is often accompanied by a restrictive or oppressive feeling in the chest and you may notice that you sigh a lot.  There is a tightening in the chest.  This diminishes lung energy and prevents the free flow of lung qi.  Breathing becomes superficial.  Since depression lodges in the lungs, so to say, any treatment of depression always looks at the lungs.  In the West, the treatment of depression is confined to either counselling or medication. TCM states that intensive talking affects or ‘drains’ the heart energy.  Massage, herbs, acupuncture and dietary advice are used to unlock and release pent-up emotions and boost the lungs.  Massage literally touches the points where the depression or the qi is locked and stagnated.  By stroking or pressing these points, feelings will be released, people will be able to cry and ‘let go’ and this may start the process of talking and healing.  Any treatment that confines itself to talking alone is not thought to be the most appropriate from a TCM perspective.  This does not mean that, where needed, TCM practitioners will not refer clients to counselling in the Western tradition.  It does mean, however, that counselling is part of an overall package. 

Excessive worrying and the stomach

Excessive worrying always affects the stomach.  In the reverse, stomach problems lead to a worried state of mind. Physically, the stomach and ’spleen-pancreas’ represent the start of the digestive process.  They represent the ‘upper fire of digestion’.  By implication, these organs begin the process of blood and qi production that underlie  the formation and maintenance of body tissue, structure and function.  TCM calls this function of the spleen and stomach ‘the production of post-natal Jing’.  Whereas babies are born with ‘pre-natal Jing’ exclusively, people thereafter build ‘post-natal Jing’.  Post-natal Jing, in other words, is the product of the daily intake of food and air. Excessive worry gnaws at and undermines stomach function.  And, since this organ is part of the start of the digestive process and with it the start of the production of blood, qi and post-natal Jing, excessive worry affects our good health. Chinese nutritional guidelines state that any treatment should begin by strengthening the Middle.  And this Middle comprises these two organs, the stomach and spleen.  A strong Middle or Centre, i.e. a strong stomach and spleen (they are an organ pair in TCM), protect against excessive worrying.  An optimal diet is the best way to secure a strong Middle.

Fear, Jing and the kidneys

Fear affects the kidneys.  In line with all emotions, fear has an evolutionary life-saving function.  It is the very first emotion felt by the new-born baby. The infant experiences extreme pain while it is thrust from the one home it has ever known, the womb.  This traumatic birth-event cannot but create an immense amount of stress and fear.  Fear is also our survival instinct.  It is an early warning system that alerts us to danger.  Without fear and caution, there is nothing but blind luck to save us from extinction. But excessive fear undermines, in particular, the kidneys.  Our Jing  is stored in the kidneys.  The Chinese concept of Jing is two-fold, it consists of pre-natal Jing and post-natal Jing.  Together, they are stored in the kidneys.  You could say that pre-natal Jing is the genetic material passed on to us by both parents at the moment of conception. It makes us who we are:  unique.  Among many things, it determines our life span, though we can actively shorten that life span by a dissipate lifestyle. As I indicated above, post-natal Jing refers to the energy and nutrition gained from our daily diet combined with the air we inhale. Anything ‘left over’ is used to top up our pre-natal Jing. Since Jing is stored in the kidneys, the kidneys are one of the most important organs in Chinese medicine.  It is said that all growth and development, and every action, be it voluntary or involuntary, originates from the Jing, also called Fire of Life, in the kidneys.   You could see your kidneys, as a storage vessel of vital essence: a crock of gold,  that carriers you through life. The emotion that primarily affects our Jing, and thus our kidneys, is Fear. For this reason, one of the first principles of child rearing is to protect children from excessive fear. The treatment of any pathological state of fear, be it in adults or children, always includes attention to the kidneys. 

The heart and blood house the spirit

TCM states that the mind, or, if you like, our emotional and spiritual well being, is housed in, and depends on, the state of the heart and blood.  Any deficiencies in either the heart or the blood will lead to problems that have an element of emotional imbalance.  Insomnia, for example, is usually caused by a blood deficiency, as are the inability to concentrate, anxiety, irritation, depression, manic behaviour, or stress. As you see, many of these emotions were discussed in the section on The Liver and Stress.  This is because the TCM liver plays such an important part in the storage, cleansing and regular distribution of blood throughout the body.   But the production of blood starts with a strong spleen-stomach pair, i.e. with a strong digestive system (or upper fire) combined with a good diet.  An unbalanced or poor diet will cause a poor or deficient digestive system.  Poor digestion leads to a blood deficiency - this is so irrespective of the amount of vitamins, minerals and fibres we pump into our system.  Since our blood houses, or carries, our spirit, a blood deficiency leads to emotional instability *. The circle is always round!   Putting it differently, any disease or health problem that originates in the spleen or stomach, will eventually lead to a blood deficiency and this will lead to problems with an emotional undertone.  Learning to cope with or solving the emotional side effects of ill health is as difficult as learning to live with, or solving the physical problems. I can not emphasise enough the importance of strengthening the organs of The Middle, i.e. of the start of the digestive system, namely the spleen and stomach, be it to maintain optimal health or to regain it. Any treatment that does not address the restoration of the Middle and a change in nutrition and lifestyle remains First Aid and keeps the patient a ‘patient’ rather than a ‘client’.  Only self-motivated clients can co-operate towards optimal health.  In the end, however,, prevention is so much more agreeable that the cure!

* To understand the Chinese concept of our spirit, I recommend  the book “Curing Insomnia Naturally with Chinese Medicine”, written by Bob Flaws and available from Amazon.com.

ON  EXERCISE

According to our evolutionary heritage, we were meant - and made - to move.  However, like food, exercise is another fad that is taken to extremes.  Just as ‘too little’ exercise undermines our good health, so ‘too much’ depletes our Jing or reserves.  If we spend more energy in a day on exercise than we gained through our food and air, we are unable to top up on our reserves that day.  If this happens on a regular basis, we begin to draw on, if not deplete, our reserves. As in nutrition, exercise should be geared to individual limitations and abilities.  It is said that ‘willpower’ can become a cause of ill health.  In fact, willpower is another life supporting and life promoting evolutionary property.  The will to live comes before any other motivating force.  But led to extremes, willpower undermines our well being.  We have an evolutionary mechanism that warns us that enough is enough and this mechanism translates itself into ‘fatigue’.  Fatigue is a signal telling us that we are overdoing things.  It is said that when we feel fatigue, it is already too late, we have already overreached ourselves. Misplaced willpower tells us to ignore the warming signals issued by our body.  We push on beyond our own capacity or boundaries.  We must and shall achieve or finish this, that or the other. It is our pride!  In TCM terms this means that having exhausted our post-natal Jing gained through our daily intake of food and air, we have begun to draw on our pre-natal Jing that we received from our parents. An exercise programme needs to be build up gradually.  We want to lead a Long,healthy and HAPPY  life.  

Appropriate levels of exercise are fundamental to good health.  Exercise warms our bodies, clears excess waste and blockages and helps restore a strong digestive Middle. In short, it revitalises us.  Though all sports are good, some sports are particularly good for particular kinds of problems. Long, leisurely walks, for example, revitalise the spleen and stomach and are particularly useful when digestion is sluggish through poor dietary patterns. Sports that involve the arms, such as tennis and ping-pong unlock stagnation in the area of the liver - they create movement and flow in the upper body.

EATING  ACCORDING TO OUR AGE AND SEX

The food pyramid

The ‘Chinese’ food pyramid is very like the western one: plenty of carbohydrates  and vegetables and a little bit of meat, fish, dairy products and fruit. One of the great differences between the Chinese against the western diet is, the enormous variety of foods used in the ordinary diet.  This variety extends both to vegetables, roots, flowers and twigs, animal products and seafood. The Chinese say that we in the West tend to discard the best parts of many foods, such as animal organs, testicles, marrow bones, roots, outer leaves, stalks, shells, skins, etc. The skins of most fruits, for example, and particularly that of of mandarin oranges, possess anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties and are, therefore, thought to be the best part of fruit. They are dried and used in autumn and winter to prevent against colds and flues.  They are added to stews, breakfast gruel, or used in teas (and they taste lovely!). Another difference with the West is that the Chinese diet is nearly, but not quite, macrobiotic.  In other words, the most nourishing foods -  proteins - are used in very small amounts.  An overload of proteins, as in meat, eggs, fish and dairy products contribute to problems such as high blood pressure, overweight, heart problems, arthritic and rheumatic conditions, and all the initial problems I mentioned earlier.  In other words, the regular excessive consumption of proteins leads to deficiency syndromes, with excess symptoms such as sinusitis or high blood pressure!

Eating according to your Age

TCM divides life into seven cycles.  The women’s cycle consist of seven times seven years, that of men seven times eight years.  This means that though girls mature earlier than boys, they also age quicker.  Although aging begins around 40 years for all people, women achieve the change of life around 49 years of age, men at 56! This is one reason why men tend to age more ‘heartily’.  But the underlying reason is this: women are made to produce babies. The female reproductive system, including the menstrual cycle, makes huge inroads both on her health and vitality. Although reproduction system is a natural process, it represents a state of constant turbulence that drains women. This is why attention to healthy consumption patterns is of particular importance to women.

Women’s health

The current consumption pattern is particularly invasive to women.  The best shops for women really are the vegetable shop, the fishmonger and, to a lesser extent, the butcher. Health food shops are even better.  The supermarket is lethal because it displays all those in-between snacks and food products that undermine our digestive system.  Of course, one could simply ignore these displays, but one needs to be very strong - all of the time - to avoid temptation.  And it becomes really difficult when you shop with your children. If we have a problem with temptation, how much worse must if be for our children!

Cleansing grapefruit diets?

I see a huge problem for women.  Just as we have managed to free ourselves from the yoke of male domination and ‘domestication’, and when contraception has freed us from the constant burden of childbearing, we have begun to undermine our health another way - through our consumption pattern.  This is such a pity, just when so many young women are beginning (and eager) to make huge steps forward in the world of work, politics and personal achievement.  It would be such a shame if all this were to be hindered or negated by a degenerative lifestyle, one that undermines the wherewithal to meet the demands of a fully participatory life in the long run.  Unfortunately, young unmarried women earning good money are huge offenders when it comes to nutrition and alcohol consumption.  And it is the female sex that is particularly drawn to a succession of special diets, including cleansing diets.  Young women seem to feel obliged to surrender themselves to the rigours of a yearly returning ‘cleansing week’, often a grapefruit diet.  This, in spite of the fact that these women already tend to suffer the symptoms of a digestive deficiency - think of thrush, sinusitis, bloating, fluid retention, headaches, insomnia, and menstrual problems.  Unfortunately, many of these special diets, and particularly fruit diets aggravate these problems. To quote Bob Flaws: “citrus fruits and juices tend to be the most dampening according to the Chinese theory.  Drinking the concentrated essence of oranges, grapefruits, pineapples and lemons is like mainlining pathogenic dampness…”  If you translate ‘pathogenic dampness’ into a deficient spleen - or in the dousing of the ‘upper digestive fire’ -  and if you further translate this process into chronic conditions such as thrush, sinusitis, menstrual problems, constipation, insomnia or headaches, you will understand why these so-called ‘cleansing diets’ aggravate, rather than cure these conditions. I recently saw a pregnancy internet site advise a breakfast cocktail of fruit juices for postpartum women on the first day after giving birth.  The traditional food made for postpartum women in China is a chicken broth.  This broth is started as soon as the labour pains begins and left to draw and gain enormous strength as the labour progresses.  Overall TCM nutritional guidelines for post-partum mothers include easily digestible, neutral, mildly warming and sufficiently moisturising meals.  Soups, stews, well cooked grains, lightly cooked vegetables and lightly cooked salads are recommended.  The foods to be avoided are: raw foods, raw fruit, fruit juices, cold drinks and all luxury foods (high in refined sugars, animal fats, dairy produce, alcohol, tobacco, etc.)

The pregnancy wish

But let’s start at the beginning: Nourishing the young begins, at the last, in the two years prior to conception.  In traditional China, the ‘pregnancy wish’ was translated into a two-year cleansing and strengthening process.  Any dietary errors were rectified and, where necessary, herbal treatments were used to prepare the woman for conception and pregnancy.  This approach gave women the best possible chance for optimal health during pregnancy and it gave the best possible chance to deliver a healthy baby. In Holland, the problem of diet and pregnant women has been recognised and is being addressed. (article in De Volkskrant, 26 Auguust 2006) Beginning in 2006, ‘pregnancy wish’ clinics (a direct translation) are being set up nationally to give nutritional advice to women with a ‘pregnancy wish’. These clinics are set up in response to the growing number of health-problems, deformities and deaths at the moment of birth or in new-born babies.

With or without these clinics, the pregnancy wish should, ideally, translate itself into a return to a normal diet - away from alcohol, luxury foods and inferior nutrition patterns in the years prior to conception.   This is not the case now.  Most women introduce major dietary changes on finding themselves pregnant.  That is too late.   Conception is, one might say, the peak moment in anyone’s life: it determines our constitution.  The first great gift that parents can give their offspring, is to be in peak health at the moment of conception.  They should be free from latent infections such as thrush or sinusitis.  There should be no toxins.  In short, both partners should be in optimal health. 

Optimal health during pregnancy

Why should women undergo such rigorous preparation?  Pregnancy makes huge demands on the mother.  Medication during pregnancy is not recommended. Chronic health problems such as sinusitis will recur during the pregnancy.  Repeated attacks, say of sinusitis, combined with nausea and extreme fatigue not only aggravate an already weak immune system, they also give additional discomfort to the mother-to-be, particularly when medication is out of the question. Normal foetal development, moreover, is compromised - the baby may, for example, be born with an allergic condition. In pregnancy, particularly in the first three months when the organs are laid down, everything is geared to protect this developing foetus. All of nature, all of evolution is geared to producing healthy offspring. Nothing is left to chance: if the woman’s health is bad, or if her diet was inferior prior to pregnancy, her body itself will eject everything that may harm the growing foetus. Extreme nausea and extreme fatigue will be the result.  The recommended TCM treatment for these conditions is always to strengthen the spleen and stomach.  However, thought the diet prior to pregnancy should undergo huge changes, such huge dietary changes during pregnancy are not recommended.  This poses a real problem for those women who change their diet when they discover that they are pregnant. Though it is true that premature infertility in men is a less immediate threat to the health of the new generation, the quality of men’s sperm is of equal importance to that of his partner’s.   The advice for women, therefore, applies equally to men.  The moment of conception should be stress free in the fullest sense of the word. 

Post-partum mother and baby

The first great gift you can give your children is, as we saw, optimal health at the moment of conception.  The second great gift is optimal health during pregnancy.  The third great gift you can give your children is to ensure an optimal start in life by nurturing them through these first seven years. 

Lactation

The first important step after childbirth is to encourage the full recovery of the mother and to assist in her milk production.  The first 40 days after birth are thought to be cleansing days.  Hence the diet should be easily digestible and it should promote milk production.  Breast-feeding requires an increased intake of fluids, 2 to 2 1/2 litres a day.  Depending of the season suitable teas include those made with fennel, anise seed, cumin seed and ladies mantle - these encourage the contraction of the uterus.  Oat gruel for breakfast (oats or oat flakes should be dry roasted before cooking), barley water and mochi (see recipe below) encourage lactation.  In addition, soups, stews, fish, algae, sea vegetables, sweet and green vegetables, aduki beans with chestnuts strengthen the mother.

Breast milk is transformed blood.  The placenta contains hormones that stimulatelactation.  (In TCM ‘hormones’ translate into the ‘movement of blood and qi’.)

Placenta replacing products that can be used include:

A. the herbal formula: Restorative tablets or Wu ji bai feng wan, taken three times a day for 6 weeks after the birth.  This restores the blood.

B. Mochi.  This promotes the milk production. See recipe below.

C. Homemade chicken soup or soup based on salmon head.  These are rich in calcium, they revitalise and nourish the kidneys, bones and marrow. For recipes, see the chapter on recipes.

Mochi:

3 cups of rice to 5 cups of water (basmati rice is the most easily digestible)

1/2 tsp. sea salt

Bring to the boil, reduce flame and draw 2 - 3 hours.

Transfer to a large pan and mash to a pulp. Sprinkle now and then with water.

Babies

According to Bob Flaws (The Tao of Healthy Eating, p. 39), “most food allergies begin in infancy where our current Western lack of nutritional sense is most glaring and apparent….  Babies need to be fed beginner’s foods.  That means mother’s milk, watered down cereal soups, mashed, cooked vegetables, and small amounts of animal soups and broth.  Instead, we ply our infants with cold fruit juices, raw carrots, apples, oranges, cheese, fried foods and chips, peanut butter, cold milk and sweetened yoghurt out of the refrigerator…  Such foods are very dampening and relatively hard to digest.  These foods may be very nutritious for a grownup with a strong digestion, but they are very difficult to digest for a child below the age of six.  Nonetheless, this is standard fare at most day-care centres and it is all too often what our children are given at home.  Because these things are damp and hard to digest, they further impair the digestion and tend to cause phlegm and dampness which clog the system.”

Children under the age of seven

A well-known Chinese idiom says, “If you want your children safe and well, don’t let them let them eat too much or be overly warm.”  TCM holds this as the basic principle for small children’s diets. Training in cold resistance (having children better able to tolerate cold temperatures) increases the circulation of blood and qi (vital energy) and makes the skin and subcutaneous tissues more firm and smooth.

We already know that babies are born with a tiny stomach, a huge liver, and underdeveloped lungs and kidneys. Normal proportions are achieved by the age of about seven.

Babies and children are, what is called ‘pure yang’. Their huge liver makes them loud and noisy with a hyperactive tendency. The Shen-nong Internet site puts it as follows: “A child’s body is purely yang. Children have a tender and delicate yin-yang balance because their bodies are not yet fully developed. During this time of rapid growth and development, yang qi dominates creating a state of relative yin deficiency. This relative yin deficiency means that children can suffer more easily from vomiting or diarrhea leading to loss of body fluids.”

Since the spleen and stomach are underdeveloped,  children are more vulnerable to digestive problems such as vomiting, diarrhea and parasitic disease. The rate of development of the under sevens is rapid.  They fall ill easily,though they recover as rapidly.  The diet of babies and young children should reflect and assist this situation.  In addition both babies and children should have plenty of sunlight and fresh air. This strengthens the lungs and immune system, thus strengthening their resistance to cold.  Sunlight, moreover, provides vitamin D, which aids proper bone development. 

Children today are softer to the touch than children born into homes without central heating, and raised on computer games and car trips.  Depending on the season, daytime naps in the pram or playpen in the garden are recommended, provided the child is protected against invading cats or other animals!   Children should have plenty of play time or sports in the open air. Young children should also be protected from fear, and medication.

The under-sevens diet

According to the Shen-nong Internet site, “A golden rule of the thumb is that all food should be easily digestible.  Fish, lean meats, soups, dairy products, eggs and vegetables are all suitable. The body is developing healthy bones and muscles and requires a diet rich in protein and calcium. Children are highly active and should eat regularly to maintain high energy levels. In contrast, over-consumption of sweet, fried and greasy foods is not advised since these can’t be digested properly; instead, TCM believes these foods cause evils such as fire and production of phlegm. Coffee, tea, spicy food and liquors are prohibited.

The diet for the under-sevens, should, as we see, be highly digestible and strengthening.   As I mentioned before, the cooking process itself equals pre-digestion.  Mother’s milk, cereal soups, mashed meals, small amounts of soups, broth and stews.  Sweet and fatty snacks and soft drinks should be avoided.  Impediments to healthy development are cold fruit juices, raw carrots, apples, oranges, cheese, fried foods and chips, peanut butter, cold milk and sweetened yoghurt from the refrigerator (Bob Flaws, The Tao of Healthy Eating, p. 40.)  I do recommend you read The Tao of Healthy Eating by Bob Flaws.  In this book the author explains the effects of overly rich, i.e. dampening foods on the digestive system (or the digestive fire) and why these foods create food allergies. Books by Bob Flaws are available through Amazon.com.  Note that he has also published a book titled: Keeping Your Child Healthy with Chinese Medicine.  I haven’t read this book myself but would love to hear the opinion of others! 

Grain milk, Congee and Child-friendly Tea

Recommended drinks include grain milk.  This is the water left over when whole rice or other grains such as barley are cooked over a long time (minimum 6 hours).  Breakfast comes in the form of cereal soups or congees.  A Congee consists of 1 part of rice (basmati rice or white rice are the more easily digestible) to 5 parts of water, cooked at least 6 hours or overnight, preferably in the hay box or electric slow-cooker (this saves energy and prevents overcooking.  In the hay box method, the congee should be brought to the boil, skimmed, cooked gently for about half an hour, then transferred to the hay box to draw overnight, see earlier articles for hay box construction).  Congees can be cooked with various other foods such as chestnuts in autumn, or pearl barley (pearl barley reduces ‘damp’ conditions).  They are eaten for breakfast, sweetened with some malt, honey or amasake.  Child friendly teas include fennel, star mix and leprechaun tea. Avoid: raw foods and hard to digest foods; chilled foods and fluids such as milk, fruit juices or yoghurts straight from the fridge; refined sugars as in sugary, soft drinks, cakes and biscuits, deserts, etc.

Adolescents

Adolescentsshould increase their daily intake, especially of fish and meat; these foods tonify the kidneys and replenish the marrow, and help to speed up development. In other words, adolescents require a good quantity and well-balanced diet with lots of calories and nutrients as they develop. Fresh germinating vegetables such as broad bean sprouts, bean sprouts or bamboo shoot are recommended. Spicy or sour foods, and concentrated tea or coffee are not encouraged. These make the internal balance fluctuate which, for example, leads to emotional disturbances. (Shen-nong Internet site)

Girls and women in the reproductive age-group

Girls coming into puberty, and all women in the reproductive age group, require a blood-nourishing diet.  It is of particular importance that alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, salts, dairy products and animal fats, deep-fried and greasy foods are kept to a minimum.  Other problem foods include the excessive consumption of raw fruits, fruit juices and proteins. I recommend to you The Book of Jook - A Healthy Alternative to the Typical Western Breakfast, also written by Bob Flaws. In this book, the author analyses the western breakfast and its impacts on the digestive system.  Note also that summer salads should be made with ‘ovaries’, i.e. fruits such as cucumber, tomatoes and peppers that are either hollow (with seeds) or contain soft flesh and seeds on the  inside (the seeds should not be eaten). Vegetables do not want to be eaten and have an array of defensive mechanisms that make them hard to digest and that are toxic to us.  Cooking destroys these defensive mechanisms and toxic substances.  If you want to know the ins and outs of raw vegetables, ovaries and fruit, I recommend the book “The Man Who Ate Everything”, by Steingarten, and specifically the following two chapters: “Salad the Silent Killer”, and “Ripeness Is All”. You can order the book from Amazon.com.  Women do best to stick to the food pyramid, consisting mostly of grains and vegetables, and a small amount but great variety of animal, poultry and dairy products.  Foods such as marrowbones, fatty fish, organs, testicles and, in particular, liver nourish the blood and support the reproductive system.  But remember that these should be taken in small amounts and on an ‘irregular basis’.  Liver, for example, should not be taken more than once every two weeks, in small amounts.  Seasonal cooking methods - as outlined in my Seasonal Notes - should be applied. The best diet is, as it is for all people, really almost macrobiotic.  Snacks and sweets, deserts and soft drinks should be confined to very special days. Ice-cold drinks and foods are really very unhelpful and are best avoided.  For recommended foods, see the separate chapter of the San Bao and Recipes for the Age groups and Organs.

Middle Age

“Suwen, The Book of Plain Questions states: “Starting from the age of 40, the body’s yin qi is reduced by about half, and life activities start to retard.” TCM believes that signs of aging appear in middle age. But active measures such as exercise or diet can preserve health, delay the process of aging and reduce the risk of chronic degenerative disease while laying a good foundation for old age.

According to TCM, good nutrition plays a vital role in reducing health risks. A Chinese medicinal diet is recommended for this stage. Herbs of similar, supporting or enhancing natures are added to food to intensify the body’s functions. Special therapeutic diets are consumed regularly and frequently to nourish the body. These are designed to assist the body in healing itself; the results are comprehensive and permanent. Some simple therapeutic recipes have become popular family dishes and delicacies in Chinese cuisine. Samples of common anti-aging food are royal jelly, pollen, legumes, mushrooms, white fungus, carp, sesame, walnuts, bamboo shoot and pine nut seeds.” (Shen-nong Internet site)

Old Age

“TCM believes the amount of stored kidney essence or Jing, will determine how quickly the natural process of aging occurs. The longer a significant amount of kidney essence is stored in the kidneys, the healthier an individual will be. In old age, when the manifestations of aging appear such as stiffness in the joints, bones and tendons, loose teeth and hair loss, it means that the organs are under-functioning, and the qi, blood and body fluids are inadequate. This is referred to as a deficiency. Good nutrition becomes a particular challenge during old age. One of the reasons for this is that food and nutritional intake tends to decrease with advancing age because energy demands, appetite, and the sense of smell and taste decline. Secondly, the digestive system becomes less efficient in absorbing nutrients. However, these challenges can be addressed. A medicinal diet to prevent further depletion of kidney essence and regain some degree of primary strength is recommended for the elderly. In old age, it takes longer to see the effects of a tonification diet, and therefore one needs to be persistent and eat more frequently. The food should be cooked, soft, easily digestible and -absorbed. Food categories suitable for old age mostly benefit the qi, promote blood production, and regulate organ function.  Some commonly used foods are Indian bread, Chinese wolfberry, black soy bean, water caltrop, Chinese dates, peaches, flax seeds, walnuts, grapes and lotus seeds.” (Shen-nong Internet site)

Leni Hurley-Crefeld, September 2006.

 

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