TCM & Digestive Health
“It is not the healthiness of our diet that is most important, it is the health of our digestion. ”
— Andrew Sterman
Based on the researches, what we put in our mouth affects not only our immune system but also affect our cognition activities and mental health.
In TCM, the digestive system is a crucial component of the body due to its ability to break down food, absorb nutrients, feed the cells, and clear away waste products. From a TCM perspective, indigestion is caused by the accumulation of food in the stomach, improper feeding, over-eating, and having a weak digestive system. A weakened digestion can also be affected from prolonged emotional factors such as over-worrying and thinking too much.
TCM believes the middle burner ( 中 膲 zhong jiao) that includes the Stomach and Spleen are the core of our digestive system. The channel pathways belonging to the Stomach and Spleen are most active in the morning between 7 am and 11 am. Hence, you should have your largest meals during this period by eating a fully nourishing breakfast and taper down throughout the day with smaller meals for lunch and dinner. In fact, eating late-night suppers actually stresses out your digestive system by taking up more energy when your body naturally tries to wind down and conserve energy at the end of the day. As the digestive system weakens, nutrients are not properly absorbed, and you may feel nausea, bloating, vomiting, appetite loss, and diarrhea. Young children are prone to a weakened digestion as the Spleen channel is not fully developed at that stage; hence, they may tend to feel the impact of indigestion as they get older when burdened with too much sugar, dairy, and processed food.
What and How We Eat to Boost Gut Health
You can boost your gut health by eating digestive-friendly foods such as whole grain porridges, stews, rice, bone broth, cinnamon, ginger, green onions, and fermented foods. Rice is easy to digest and gentle on the stomach, and it cleanses the body by clearing dampness. If you have acid reflux, sometimes brown rice works as a better option. Cinnamon bark (rou gui) is warm in nature and can help digestion by nourishing the Spleen. Common Chinese digestive herbs such as hawthorn berries helps to digest proteins and fats, lowers cholesterol, increases blood circulation, and burns fat faster. Tangerine peels is known for treating diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea by alleviating fluid retention that hinders the digestive enzymes needed to break down foods. You can help digestion by eating more warm cooked foods, limit cold, and raw food such as ice creams and salads to avoid taxing your digestive system. Remember to always chew well to allow ample time for the saliva in your mouth to break down food appropriately before swallowing. Try not to get into the habit of drinking iced water during a meal as it dilutes the stomach acids needed to turn food into chyme before entering the small intestines for further breakdown of protein, carbohydrates and fat.
When meal prepping or cooking, try to experiment with the five flavours. From a TCM perspective, it’s important to have a balance of salty, sour, bitter, sweet and pungent flavours in our diet. You don’t need each flavour in every meal, but try to get as many as you can into your diet throughout the day. Different cultures tend to favour certain flavours, you can try some new recipes to see what flavours you can add into your diet too!
Tips to cultivate healthy eating patterns 💪💪
Eat only when you are hungry - listen to your body!
Eat slowly; enjoy the flavours, textures, chew thoroughly and enjoy meal time with your family, or on your own!
Stop eating while you are still hungry; it takes a while to feel full and after a little while you will be satisfied and not over fed.
Eat smaller meals more frequently rather than 2 or 3 big meals a day.
Practice the one-bowl eating meditation - use the same bowl/plate for your meals to try to keep them similar portions.
Fasting; has been shown to deliver health benefits such as weight loss, better insulin resistance and increased lifespan.
Also, consider your body as a whole and really listen to what your body really need and do not need. Check your diet, sleeping quality, and exercise patterns.
TCM can definitely help with issues related to your digestive health. For example, it is not uncommon to release a cleanse-like release of the digestive tract as acupuncture works not only to alleviate inflammation, but any tightness of the muscles around the digestive tract. Below are links to some of the research:
Want to know more how acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine can help you with your digestive issues, ask us! We’re here to help! 📝
.