Ep 4 Questions on Diet

Hello! Welcome to the “You are your best healer podcast”

This is Dr. Haizhen Yang. I am an acupuncturist and Chinese medicine herbalist.  I am also a certified reiki healer and advanced mechatronic energy healer. 

I am often asked by patients “Is this food good or bad?” 
It depends on your constitution, what your body needs at the moment, and how much you consume. So please be mindful of being balanced in what you eat. 

Is it healthier to be a vegetarian?
Being a vegetarian, you have to be even more mindful than carnivores. Most vegetables and fruits go to the Wei qi level which is the muscular skeletal part of our body. Meats and plant-based proteins nourish our blood. Many vegetarians suffer from deficiencies in blood volume, vitamin B, and calcium.  Please reference the Mediterranean diet to include a lot of mixed beans, quinoa, hemp seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, and mixed nuts into your diet.

Is it better to be dairy-free? 

It depends on the genetic constitution of your ethnicity. For example, Europeans and Americans are very used to having milk and cheese, they are not allergic to lactose. However, most Asians are sensitive to lactose. 

Cow’s milk has a sweet taste, and a neutral nature, and nourishes qi and blood. They enter the Lungs and Stomach energy meridians of our body. Because they are nourishing yin fluids, they are good in treating constipation due to dryness of the colon. Modern milk seems to be more cooling, they can be good in treating gastric ulcers. However due to their nourishing effect, for people who have poor digestion, especially spleen deficiency, milk could induce more dampness, and phlegm (thick mucus) in our body. According to Chinese Medicine, Spleen is responsible for transforming body fluid and water metabolism. When there is spleen deficiency, the body tends to obtain fluid, and have more dampness accumulation. 

Overconsumption of Cheese induces more phlegm heat in the body and could clot our lymphatic vessels.  For people who have arthritis or other muscular-skeletal pain conditions with underlying spleen deficiency, please eliminate the consumption of cheese. 

Soy milk has similar nourishing properties as cow’s milk, but it enters the spleen energy meridian. If you have spleen deficiency, it is better to drink soy milk. It could nourish the spleen. However, due to its nourishing yin and body fluid properties, overconsumption of soy milk could also induce mucus, and phlegm in our body. 

Almond milk nourishes yin and fluid as well. It enters the lung's energy pathway. If you are lactose intolerant and have lung deficiency, you could consider drinking almonds. Be mindful, that overconsumption, could also cause dampness in our bodies. 

In conclusion, the key is finding a balance for yourself. Not to overconsume anything including things that could be good for your constitution. 

My advice about self-care during the winter season. 

• Please dress warmly. Even if you don’t feel cold, the cold air energy could still enter your body. When you have strong immunity, your body can block them at the muscular-skeletal layer of your body and even be able to expel them out of your body. However, they could still accumulate in the muscular-skeletal part of your body. Then you will slowly experience stiffness and tightness. Please dress warmly according to the temperature. 
• After spending some time being exposed to the cold, when you first return to your house, please drink a cup of hot ginger tea or a miso soup with scallions to induce some sweat. This way, you could help your body to expel the cold air energy out.

Thank you for listening to the “You are your best healer” podcast.  Namestate!