Guest guest Posted January 19, 2001 Report Share Posted January 19, 2001 Hi Patricia - I would be interested in the information about what blows away phlegm. I've noticed lately I have a preponderance of it. My sinuses are small, too, so any increase in phlegm makes it hard for me to breathe through my nose. Thanks - Susette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 19, 2001 Report Share Posted January 19, 2001 Actually I think I may have posted this in the past. Although the focus is excess weight, phlegm is phlegm and the underlying system that is weak creating excess weight is also the same system that is connected to the sinuses. Many people report when they make the dietary changes their sinuses clear up. They should. So here it is - Susette - you had requested this as an autoresponder a few months ago. **************** The Oriental Medical View of Excess Weight Introduction Here in the West we have been conditioned and trained to view excess weight as a problem and not as a sign and a symptom of an inner imbalance. We keep attacking the symptom, (the excess weight) and wonder why the weight, once it does come off, simply and all too easily is regained. Most often when the weight returns it does so with an extra few pounds to boot. The reason for this is that we are treating the symptom and not the cause. Unless the underlying imbalance is addressed, the excess weight is destined to return. Diets, especially deprivation diets, usually leave our bodies improperly nourished, our systems more deeply damaged, and our emotions in turmoil. Dieting is only a way to weaken and already weakened system. The key to losing the excess weight and to keep it off is to bring the body back into balance and hence, back to health. In that way the body moves from a weakened condition to one of strength and vigor. A healthy energetic body does not want to hol! d onto the excess weight. By strengthening the body the weight safely and quite naturally disappears. An Eastern Approach The oriental energetic way to reduce weight and prevent fat and cellulite is to improve your chi. We can¡¦t see weak chi directly, but we can see it¡¦s effects. Weak chi can be seen when we need to go out and buy larger sized clothing because we can¡¦t fit into our old clothes but we¡¦re too tired to go shopping. Moving around is an effort, we feel puffy, slow and heavy. Our waist gets bigger or we hold water all over. Energy, what in oriental medicine is called chi, is the basis of good health. Chi powers your metabolism so that the food that you eat is made into energy and into blood instead of just waste. When your chi is lacking, your have poor digestion and you don¡¦t eliminate toxins efficiently and effectively, you start to retain water and to accumulate fat. An Eastern approach to successfully losing weight is based on eating delicious, nutritious foods, not starving yourself or counting calories. The goal is to strengthen the body, not to weaken it, certainly not to starve it. When you eat the correct foods for you, you can gain energy and become stronger and healthier. As for fat; fat is treated like a toxin to be eliminated. You have a weight problem because you are not well. You are not in healthy balance. You need to get healthy. You won¡¦t lose the weight and keep it off unless you are brought back into balance, back to health. Diets that deprive you are not a way to nourish yourself back to a state of balance and well being. What they are, are a way of weakening an already weakened body. If you¡¦re bloated and tired, depressed or fatigued, you are out of balance. You need to care for yourself, not go on some diet that makes you feel worse. Start seeing fat as a sign, as a symptom of inner imbalance. To lose the fat you must first strengthen the body and bring it back to balanced health. Many diets, certainly the extreme ones, end in a binge or an illness or a depression. You¡¦ll benefit far more from eating foods that dry up the damp condition of your body, strengthen and detoxify you. Unfortunately there is no one magic bullet for everyone that will take the weight off while making you stronger. A diet that assumes that everyone is the same is a Western medical view. We are all unique and have different needs. An oriental medical approach recognizes that. I¡¦m sure that you have heard experts tout weight-loss diets that are low in fats or high or low in carbohydrates, or have you weighing your food. All these universal diets ignore you as an individual. Your digestion and energy are not like everybody else¡¦s. An Oriental Medical approach treats you as an individual. * * When you go to practitioners of Oriental Medicine there are many aspects of assessing you and your condition. They not only listen to your complaints and your past medical history, they will also take a pulse assessment which actually accesses all of the meridians and organ systems in your body. They look at the color of your skin, they will listen to the tone of your voice. If you are not wearing heavy perfume or deodorants they often times can actually detect a smell. There are several different ways of assessing the body¡¦s energetic system including looking at the tongue. Chi ¡V Water ¡V Earth - Phlegm Chi (qi) is what makes everything go. It¡¦s the petrol or gasoline of existence. It is everywhere, inside and outside of the body. You can¡¦t see it, you can¡¦t taste it, you can¡¦t smell it, but it¡¦s there. Chi is the energy or life force that makes everything work. Inside the body chi, energy, is made by the Spleen-pancreas from the food you eat. Chi follows pathways in the body also called meridians or channels. Each of the channels are named for certain organs and have different functions. On these pathways are acupuncture points. In Japanese these points are called tsubos. This is where you can connect with the chi more easily. . Each pair of meridians are grouped under elements. The organ systems are also grouped under the elements. The elements are named Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. Oriental medicine views excess weight as a sign and a symptom of weak energy. Specifically, of the Water (the kidney/adrenal) energies and the Earth (stomach/Spleen-pancreas) energies. Physical and emotional stress and imbalance can result in an overall weakness, hormone imbalances, and over-weight conditions. You have to strengthen the Water and Earth energies to bring the body back to health. When our Water element is healthy and in balance we have good energy, our immune system is strong and our emotions are in balance. When weakened we begin to retain water. We need water in our bodies but not so much that we drown in it. Too much water shows in excess weight and also emotional imbalances that go along with hormonal changes, such as depression and moodiness. If your Water element is weak you may barely eat and still gain weight and inches. You retain water. You may be wiped out and exhausted before your period. Your digestion isn¡¦t that great. You have mood swings. And your Earth element, the one attached to your Spleen-pancreas digestive energy? When your Earth element is in healthy balance your digestion is good, your blood is strong, your emotions are balanced and you have wonderful energy. In other words, you are well nourished. Your body properly uses the food and air that you ingest. When the Earth element is weak you gain weight and inches, usually in the lower abdomen, the waist and the hips. You tend to get moody and crave sweets. The result is excess dampness and phlegm in the body. Abdominal bloating and distension as well as cellulite are all results of excess dampness and phlegm stuck in the body. When the Earth element is weak you can experience blood sugar imbalances and get spacey or feel exhausted. Also thinking gets muddled. Poor digestion results in dampness, which can become toxic and then you get phlegm. Phlegm is toxic waste. When we don¡¦t process the dampness or water and waste products in our bodies it builds up and it gets thick. The water holds onto the other toxic accumulations. It can first show up as mucus. The gets thicker and turns into phlegm. Fat is phlegm and it is not that easy to get rid off. Cellulite is also phlegm. Weakening Factors - Cold fÞ Phlegm accumulates on the body when the body is weak and is exposed to dampness. fÞ Dampness can be a condition on the outside of the body and can also be due what we put into the body. Outside factors that affect the Spleen-pancreas (our earth element and area that rules our digestion) include dampness and coldness. These words, damp and cold, describe how the body senses and responds to outside forces. Dampness or coldness from the outside can come into our bodies due to cold or damp conditions like the weather. Cold weather or eating a lot of cold or raw foods impairs your digestive energy. Raw foods such as salads can actually damage your digestive process. Cold, raw foods can reduce your digestive energy by forcing the system to work extra hard and subsequently weakening it. The weakened digestion results in excess water accumulation and dampness trapped inside. This in turn leads to phlegm (fat). Ingesting dense raw vegetables (unless you have an energetically strong system) is taxing on the digestive process and should be avoided. Many people think that making their digestive systems work harder facilitates weight loss. Working our muscles ma! y help but not over-working our digestive systems. We need to nurture the digestive process, not further impair it. Many of the raw food diets have originated in California where it is warm year round. There one lives in a constant summer. In New England, or seasonal areas of the country, often there are six months of cold weather. People instinctively want warm, heavier foods then. Our bodies are telling us something. Consuming a lot of salads when we are in the colder season is too much for our digestive system. Vegetables are a main part of a healthy diet, but you will do far better by lightly steaming or stir frying them. By choosing the correct ones for your condition, you will be strengthening your body and reducing the dampness trapped inside. Weakening Factors ¡V Damp The Spleen-pancreas (our earth element and digestive energy) is most sensitive to Damp. Especially damaging are sweets, either in the form of processed sugars or an over-abundance of natural sugars. As alcohol is intrinsically sweet, it too is considered a sugar. Sugars damage the spleen very deeply, weaken the entire digestive process and cause the body to make and hold fat. Alcohol is something more than just a damaging sugar, it also creates a detrimental type of heat. It is called damp heat. When you consume too much alcohol you often can feel the affects into the next day. Even if you urinated a great deal the night before often you awake puffy. It may be hard to make a fist and your rings fit tighter. You have a heavy head as your brain fits tighter too (that¡¦s the hangover). Women¡¦s breasts get tender and their abdomen becomes distended and bloated. Much of the bloating can occur two days later as the initial stage of the after effects can first be dehydration. Once the body is re-hydrated it cannot process the water and it is the second ¡§day after¡¨ when the bloating shows strongly. All this is retained moisture. Another thing that destroys the Earth energy, the Spleen-pancreas digestive energy, are dairy products. What is cold, sweet and dairy? The answer is ice cream, sherbet, and frozen yogurt. After consuming these foods one feels all mucusy in the throat and sinuses congest. It happens with all dairy products. Eat them and it is like injecting mucus directly into the body. Anyone with allergies, hay fever, asthma, respiratory conditions, acne, skin problems, chronic fatigue should try to stop eating all dairy. That includes, but is not limited to milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream etc. In North America there are very strong dairy councils. They strive to make people believe that we must have dairy products for calcium. Milk is not the only source of calcium on this planet; to the contrary, there are many calcium rich foods that do not contribute to the dampness in our bodies. After all, where did the cows that produce the milk get their calcium? It did not come from milk. After a cow is weaned it never drinks milk again. The calcium that ends up in milk comes from the grains and grasses that the cows eat. Calcium can be food in salmon, sardines, leafy vegetables, soy-tofu, artichokes, broccoli, string beans, parsnips, lima beans, sesame seeds, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, beans are loaded with calcium, black beans, lentils, navy beans, pinto beans, chick peas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts. They put calcium in OJ. You may also to opt for taking a calcium supplement. Other foods that don¡¦t help a damp condition are rich meats; concentrated juices and food products made with yeast. Yeast overgrowth is phlegm. Some people have sensitivities to wheat products and wheat can add to dampness as well. Dampness can also come into the body through the Spleen-pancreas meridian, the energy pathway or channel. The pathway begins on the first toe of both feet. If you walk around in bare feet or let your feet get too cold or wet for a prolonged period of time, dampness can invade the body by that route. Always wear boots in the snow and dry socks. Weakening Factors - Emotions Emotions also affect the organs and energies. You can¡¦t separate the body and the mind. Even the West recognizes that too much anger can make your blood pressure rise and cause headaches. We know that ulcers come from too much worrying and over-thinking. Oriental medicine sees these emotional factors as not separate from our physical bodies but all a part of the energetic system imbalances of the individual. The West hasn¡¦t gotten that yet. Asian cultures haven¡¦t chopped the head off the rest of the body as the West has. The West¡¦s separation of mind and body stems from a time in history when the church felt that the study of the mind was a study of the psyche (or the soul) and was to be ¡§under the realm of the church.¡¨ It was at the time of Descartes that our mind became separated from the rest of our physical body. As Eastern cultures and Oriental Medicine do not separate the mind and the body, they don¡¦t have problems dealing with emotions. Emotions are not a problem. They are built in. Emotions are the mind expressing itself. If we didn¡¦t let the emotions out we would be in serious trouble. There really is no separating the mind and the body. When you treat the body, you treat the mind. When you treat the mind, you treat the body. Asian cultures have few psychiatrists and many bodyworkers. We not only need to digest our food, we also need to digest or thoughts. We need to pull them together so we can use them. Thinking too much and worrying causes damage to the Spleen-pancreas or digestive energy. Too much thinking can cause the ideas to get all jumbled up. Strengthening Factors Again, it is essential to weight loss that the body, specifically the earth and water energies, be strengthened. Any other course will only result in possibly losing weight only to regain it later, and in turn, making the body even weaker. This is the reason that yo-yo dieting exists. To strengthen the body you need to eliminate the foods and situations that damage and weaken it and also add to it foods that strengthen it. Everyone is an individual and will require slightly different food choices but many foods are appropriate for the vast majority of people. The following damp-reducing foods should be added to your diet. A private practitioner, after a personal assessment will give you additional foods for your shopping list. FOODS THAT RESOLVE DAMPNESS, WATER, PHLEGM GRAINS AMARANTH BARLEY CORN JOB¡¦S TEARS KASHA MILLET RYE VEGETABLES ALFALFA SPROUT ARTICHOKE ASPARAGUS BAMBOO SHOOTS CABBAGES CAPERS CELERY CHICORY KOHLRABI MUSHROOMS ONION PUMPKIN RADISH SCALLION SEAWEED TURNIP WATER CHESTNUT WATERCRESS FRUIT BLUEBERRY CRANBERRY GRAPE GRAPEFRUIT PAPAYA PEAR WATERMELON BEANS ADUKI BEANS BLACK BEANS KIDNEY BEANS LENTILS PEAS SOYBEAN FISH ANCHOVY CLAM CRAB EEL LOBSTER MACKEREL SHRIMP HERBS & SPICES ANISE BASIL CARAWAY CARDAMOM CINNAMON DANDELION ROOT ELDERFLOWER FENNEL FENUGREEK GARLIC GINGER HORSERADISH LICORICE MUSTARD PEPPER PEPPERMINT RASPBERRY LEAF ROSEMARY SAVORY THYME Patricia Gilmore, C.M.Ht. Pan American Whole Health Alliance http://www.PAWHA.org http://www.BeBest.com Be the Best That You Can Be - Susette Horspool <susinv Thursday, January 18, 2001 8:22 PM Re: Phlegm blower > Hi Patricia - I would be interested in the information about what blows away > phlegm. I've noticed lately I have a preponderance of it. My sinuses are > small, too, so any increase in phlegm makes it hard for me to breathe > through my nose. > > Thanks - Susette > > > **************************************** > Visit the community page: > For administrative problems -owner > To , - > > All messages, files and archives of this forum are copyright of the group and the individual authors. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 19, 2001 Report Share Posted January 19, 2001 Calendula tea works pretty well. Steep marigold petals for about 10 minutes. I find that honey helps make it more palatable. > " Susette Horspool " <susinv > > > Re: Phlegm blower >Thu, 18 Jan 2001 17:22:17 -0800 > >Hi Patricia - I would be interested in the information about what blows >away >phlegm. I've noticed lately I have a preponderance of it. My sinuses are >small, too, so any increase in phlegm makes it hard for me to breathe >through my nose. > >Thanks - Susette > _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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