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Arthritic diets and natural healing
There is a great deal of debate in the medical world about the
effects of overall diet on arthritis and using diet toward
alleviating the condition. Doctors have known for a long time
that diet affects gout, a specific type of arthritic...
Chronic Fatigue System - How Does it Affect Sleep?
Chronic Fatigue System - How does it affect sleep? Or to turn it around - How does improving your sleep lessen the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)? Our aim here is to understand the connection between the two as it may be possible to...
Hair Loss and Diet
While the evidence that links hair loss to dieting is becoming increasingly clear, you won't see diet companies providing this information on warning labels. Further, the faster you lose pounds with some of the more severe crash diets, including...
Startling New Evidence: You Can Slow the Aging Process, Scientists Say
What if you could actually slow your rate of aging, and live healthier longer, simply by eating certain foods? U.S. Government scientists now say it’s possible.
Floyd P. Horn, then Administrator of the scientific research arm of the USDA,...
Why diets don't work for most people
If you are like most people, losing weight is at the top of your New Year’s resolutions. But if you are like most people, you have a hard time sticking to a diet. We have all been bombarded with information about eating right and exercising so you...
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What is Qi? (How to Get More Energy)
This is one of the most common questions Americans ask about Chinese Medicine, and not an easy one to answer. Qi (pronounced "chee" and sometimes spelled 'chi') is possibly the most essential and the most controversial aspect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Biomedicine often feels it can quite easily dismiss parts or all of TCM by maintaining that modern science cannot verify the existence of qi. The false idea that qi is an 'energy' like electricity has worsened this controversy.
Is Qi Energy?
Some TCM practitioners say qi is 'energy.' This is not too bad of an explanation. But don't go away thinking we believe there are electrical circuits running through your body! Some scholars (D.E. Kendall, and Paul Unschuld) maintain that the idea of qi as 'energy' was a mistranslation from the Chinese.
Then What is It?
In terms of basic TCM ontology ("what exists"), Qi is one of the four basic constituents of the body:
Yin Blood Qi Yang
< --- Substance Function --- >
< --- Cold Hot --- >
(Yin and Blood are substantial, yin is cold; qi and yang are functional, yang is hot)
Consider this convenient car-engine analogy: Yin is water from the radiator to cool the engine, blood is oil, qi is the force that moves the pistons, and the engine can be said to be in a yang state when operating. Perhaps the explosion itself is yang, while the force of the explosion is qi. We can also say that the gas contains a qi that has yet to be utilized.
(In the actual chinese character for the word, qi is the steam rising from a cooking pot of rice. I hope that explanation made sense to ancient Chinese, because it doesn't make much to me! To be fair to the ancient chinese, we can think of the steam coming from the rice as being less substantial, more yang than the rice itself, but
still...)
What Happens Without Qi?
Another way to understand things is by their absence (darkness is defined as the absence of light). Without sufficient qi,
* your digestive system cannot break down food or transport nutrients to the rest of your body
* you become easily fatigued and are always tired
* you lose your appetite
* your limbs are heavy
* you might wake up frequently at night because you need to urinate
* academic/organizing thought is difficult or impossible
* everything is overwhelming (you cannot 'digest' what is going on)
* you tend to worry (the emotional component - TCM is a holistic medicine that does not separate body and mind)
How Do I Get More Qi?
The proper diet goes a long way. TCM dietary principles are too complex to cover here (I must say though that it is surprising to many patients, perhaps because vegetarianism is thought to be synonymous with alternative medicine, that TCM advocates eating meat and mostly cooked foods).
Herbs that increase the qi include ginseng, and codonopsis.
Avoid activities that drain the qi - Be sensible about your energy expenditure by living a balanced life; don't be too sedentary or too active. If you are a couch potato, your qi can't flow without exercise. If you are a type-A personality, relax and don't use yourself up too early in life - you may live to regret it!
About the Author
Acupuncturist, herbalist, and medical professor Brian B. Carter founded the alternative health megasite The Pulse of Oriental Medicine (http://www.PulseMed.org/). He is the author of the book "Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure" (November, 2004). Brian speaks on radio across the country, and has been quoted and interviewed by Real Simple, Glamour, and ESPN magazines.
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