“When a person is sick the doctor should first regulate the person’s diet and lifestyle” – Sun Si Miao

Many patients present with some kinds of digestive issues, even if only loose stools, bloating after eating, indigestion or food sensitivity. This tells us that the Earth element needs to be addressed for these patients.

The Earth element (Spleen and Stomach) is vital for our health and well-being. It is responsible for extracting the Gu Qi (‘grain qi’) from food, which is then turned into Qi and Blood for the whole body. The post-heaven Jing is also derived from our food. Because the Shen resides in the Blood, and requires strong Qi and Jing in order to flourish, it also depends on a healthy and strong Earth element. Dampness and Phlegm, so often seen in clinical practice, are also produced by the Spleen. All aspects of our health therefore rely on the process of digestion.

A ‘Spleen friendly’ diet is helpful in a wide range of digestive imbalances.

For instance – The ‘healthy diet’ of Chinese medicine consists of a number of basic points which make digestion as easy as possible, in order to extract maximum goodness (in the form of Gu Qi) from our food:

• Always eat breakfast

• Don’t eat late at night (the weak time for the Spleen and Stomach is 7-11pm)

• Favour warm and cooked food over cold and raw food

• Chew well

• Don’t “flood the Spleen” by drinking too much fluid with meals

• Eat a varied diet, and avoid extremes

• Don’t eat ‘on the go’ or when emotionally agitated

• Avoid too much Damp producing food (dairy products, sugar, wheat etc.)

• Avoid unnatural, processed and refined food

• Don’t overeat

The most common kinds of digestive issues is as follows:

• Too much meat in the diet, leading to Heat and Stagnation

• Too many spicy or rich foods, leading to Heat, Dampness and Phlegm

• Too few vegetables, or a lack of good quality food leading to Qi and Blood deficiency

• Too many Damp foods (especially dairy products and sugar) leading to Dampness and Phlegm

• Too much coffee, leading to Yin deficiency and Heat

Each food has an energetic temperature that effects the Qi of the stomach and spleen. For every patient with internal Heat avoiding Hot foods will help, and for every patient with Cold avoiding Cold foods will help. This is a simple but powerful way of starting to work with food, without getting too complex.

Almost everyone thinks that salads and raw foods are good for them, but easily see the sense in sticking to mainly warm and cooked foods because much extra effort by the stomach is required to process the cold raw food.

Drinking ginger tea or chai is very simple for Yang deficient people, cabbage or beetroot soup for Blood deficiency, and lemon juice in hot water for Damp-Heat or Qi Stagnation.

Eating a “Spleen friendly” diet can improve the success of almost any acupuncture treatment, and in some cases can be the missing element which is preventing an acupuncture treatment from working. All cases of Spleen disharmony or any patient that presents with digestive issues will benefit from the basic ‘Spleen friendly’ healthy eating advice, and for deficiency cases, this alone can make a huge difference to a person’s health.

Supporting patients with basic cooking ideas or recipes and working with diet and lifestyle as Sun Si Miao recommended, can get to the root of many problems, and help patients to truly heal.

Further Reading

Leggett, Daverick. Recipes For Self Healing (Totnes, Meridian Press, 1999)
Flaws, Bob. The Tao of Healthy Eating (Boulder, Blue Poppy Press, 1998)
Ni, Maoshing and McNease, Cathy. The Tao of Nutrition (California, Severn Star Communications, 1987)
Pitchford, Paul. Healing with Whole Foods (North Atlantic Books, 2002)
For using Chinese herbs in cooking
Liu, Jilin. Chinese Dietary Therapy (Churchill Livingstone, 1995)
Flaws, Bob. The Book Of Jook (Boulder, Blue Poppy Press, 1995)
In addition, basic advice for the main imbalances can be quite straightforward. For example, for Yang deficiency we should avoid energetically Cold foods (mango, bananas, tofu etc), use hot cooking methods such as baking, and eat more Warming foods such as Lamb, Trout, and most spices.

When I meet a new patient, I wonder, “Who is this person? How is she feeling? What does she need to become whole on all levels — physical, emotional and spiritual?” To find out, I ask deeper questions about her well-being in order to find the symptom’s cause and treat it.

Any symptom a patient reports can be the result of an imbalance in one of the five elements — Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal. Once this happens, the imbalance can spread throughout the body, because all five elements are connected like members of a family. When one member is sick, unable or unwilling to do his tasks, the rest of the family suffers. In time, they all become symptomatic, too.

Because symptoms and imbalances are interrelated in this way, I need to know more than just that my patient has migraines, arthritis or insomnia. Those symptoms can be the result of imbalances in any organ or function, so I have to find the elemental cause.

In classical five-element acupuncture, this is done through the senses — perceiving the odor (yes, odor!), color, sound, and emotion that identifies which element is out of balance. Then I work empathetically — feeling what the patient feels in order to understand the level of disease.

If a roof gutter fills with leaves, water may stagnate rather than drain, encouraging clogging and the growth of unwanted seedlings. In the same way, when the body’s gutters and drains stop flowing, manipulation of an acupuncture point opens and clears out stagnation, encourages flow and returns the body to a balanced state so that it can heal itself.

Symptoms are the body’s distress signals, clues to what’s going on inside. When symptoms are suppressed by prescription drugs, the body is being told to “shut up!” But centuries of Chinese medicine have demonstrated the wisdom of listening.

The waning days of summer known as “Indian Summer” is the perfect time to nurture your Earth element.  Earth, the source of all of the other elements of  Metal, Water, Wood and Fire follows the continuous, circular ebb and flow of life, death and rebirth.  We owe our level of grounded ness to the relationship we have with “Mother” Earth.  When our Earth is balanced we experience stability, nourishment, equanimity and equilibrium. The organs associated with the Earth element are the Stomach and Spleen.

  The Stomach’s role is to pass food energry to the Spleen that then transports the nutritive energy to the rest of the body.  Known as the Rotter and Ripener, the Stomach culls essential nutrients and makes it ready to be passed on for distribution by the Spleen.  If this function is not working, whatever we take in will not be digested properly.  Symptoms from indigestion to over thinking, obsessing and worrying can indicate a poor Stomach function. 

  Weak Spleen Qi can lead to slow digestion,  fluid accumulation and a feeling of heaviness.  Spleen Qi is responsible for keeping  “blood” in the vessels and organs in place.  Bruising easily, ”flooding” during your period and prolapsed organs may also indicate weak Spleen Qi. 

Do you ever experience muzzy-headedness, loss of appetite, energy lows and/or gain weight?  Here are 5 simple tips you can incorporate right now to support your Stomach and Spleen and help keep them healthy and happy:

     1.  The peak time for Stomach Qi is between 7:00-9:00 the perfect time to eat a nutritious breakfast.  A coffee and donut won’t make the Stomach Qi very happy.

    2.  Chew your food slowly.  The first part of digestion happens when the enymes in your saliva mix with your food.  Gulping your food by-passes this important first step.

    3.  Drink liquids separate from your meals for the same reason as #2.      

    4.  Eat smaller portions.  It takes a lot more energy for you to digest a big meal resulting in feeling tired afterward, especially if you’re prone to sugar ups and downs.

     5.  “Sweet” is the flavor associated with the Earth.  Include healthy “sweet” foods in your diet like fresh fuit and root veggies like butternut squash or yams.   

If you’re still having digestive problems you may want to visit your local acupuncturist as they can help with sweet cravings, low energy and other symptoms while re-balancing your Stomach and Spleen Qi.

For any new patient – I’m offering $25 Off your initial consultation and treatment.