Nutrition and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Portland

Nutrition has been on my brain lately.  I got sick this month, and it really knocked me down.  It is Portland in the Spring–the weather is erratic, and my body is paying the price.  Normally, I would turn to my arsenal of Chinese herbs to battle the illness.  I would then take another herbal formula to strengthen my immune system to protect myself from relapse.  As I am currently nursing, some of my go-to herbs are contraindicated.  What to do?  Turn to diet.

Don’t worry.  I am not one of “those” natural health practitioners who tells you to cut out dairy, wheat, sugar, sunshine and all things pleasurable.  Food is one of the few things that we can control in our environments, however, so changing your diet in targeted ways can make a huge difference in your overall health.  We cannot avoid coming into contact with sick people, but if we treat food as medicine (one of the cornerstones of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM), there are all sorts of illnesses we can combat.  For example, ginger and green onion tea can shorten the duration of cold or flu, minimizing inflammatory foods can ease arthritic pain, and eating warming veggies and miso soup can heal certain types of digestive issues.  Individualized dietary plans based on TCM diagnosis can help boost immunity, and can be instrumental in fighting issues as varied as infertility and headaches.

So that is what I did.  I tweaked my diet, which did include cutting back on the extreme, fatigue-induced sugar binge I was on, and I made nourishing soups and teas that were specific to my symptoms.  I did cut out dairy, but that was because of seasonal allergies and my son’s newly diagnosed eczema.  That is a topic for another time.

Enjoy.  Eat well.  Take care.