Winter is the season of the water element; when yin energies are at their peak and the energies of the kidney system were most active. After a year of physical, mental and emotional taxations, Winter was the respite for the body to replenish. The focus during this time was placed on restoring the fundamental qi (energy) and enrichment the yin energies. Winter’s theme encouraged stillness, more rest, and less movement, and an inward focus, engaging in activities that nourish the body and cultivate inner-self. 


While Winter was the time for replenishment, Spring is a time for renewal. In TCM, Spring is the season of the wood element; a time when yang energies of the world start to emerge from the yin again. If the themes of yin are those of stillness and rest, nourishment and the inward movement; Yang is the opposite, representing activity, outward movement, and putting nourishment to use. With this in mind, Spring is about awakening; fresh starts and growth. This is a period which influences the Liver and Gallbladder sytems; these systems being most representative of, and are most effected by, the season of spring. 

The wood element and Liver system represent flexibility and movement. On a phyiscal level, this is the time to tend to your tendons, ligaments and contractile aspects of tissues. We are waking from winter slumber and it is time to stretch and move. Look to activities that emphasize dynamic movement and stretch. Try a daily stretching routine, start those classes in yoga, dance, qi gong and tai chi. If you already do these activities, then find poses and movements specific in cultivating spring, Liver/Gallbladder and Wood elemental energies.  

Now is the opportune time to walk, hike leisurely, meander, or go spring foraging. The wood element of Spring suggests it is good practice to “root down to rise up.” Do this by grounding yourself in the earth through walking barefoot in the dirt and sand, getting muddy; or by tending to some early spring gardening with your hands. 

The Liver is about regulating a smooth flow of energies and emotions; of unblocking and moving the stagnant energies within and around us. Beyond physical movement, this also pertains to our environment. This is an excellent time to declutte and spring clean. As the old saying goes, out with the old and in with the new. 

The Liver and Gallbladder systems govern the eyes and the nails. Coming out of winter’s dark slumber it is time to open our eyes and exercise our sight by tending to vision care. Book that eye appointment, practice visual qi gong and eye exercises. For strengthening nail health and growth, a manicure or pedicure works well. 

Where Winter encouraged us to look inward, Spring encourages us to look outward. We had all winter to analyze ourselves, our values and dreams, and the fears that might get in the way of these. The liver system governs planning, and the gallbladder system governs decisiveness and action. Spring is about taking our internal valuations and creating movement and acting on them, by making those necessary decisions and start building momentum towards goals. 

The wood element and liver/gallbladder systems are related to the color green and the flavor of sour. TCM always emphasizing eating in season and what grows in your local climate. For the season of Spring this often means lighter meals and foods easier to digest. During this time we emphasize our green foods, espwcially those tender shoots and new greens; we emphasize the pungent and sweet flavors and a touch of the sour. We refrain from the heavy, oily, overly rich foods. Move away from the low heat, slow cooking methods of winter and towards the quicker higher heats; poaching, blanching, steaming and lightly stirfrying. If you have a healthy and strong constitution, now is the time for that cleanse or detox. 

In TCM a healthy transition from one season to another is important. Resistance and difficulties in attuning to the energies of a season can lead to disorder and imbalance in the body; which can lead to injury and illness. Efforts in the above mentioned activities can help one adapt and attune more easily; reducing the stresses and strains of disorder. 

Difficulties in attuning also hint at already present imbalances in the body. This period of transition often fluctuates between two themes and energies; and requires our bodies do the same. It is common for more yin natured individuals to want to take things too slow, even resist the change. It is equally common for yang natured individuals to want to take things too fast and force things along. Both of these can be damaging to attunement and health. It is important in this time of flux to be fluid and flexible (water and wood), to exercise moderation and go with the flow. 

Healthy attunement will show itself with a flexible ability physically and mentally; with an ease of mood, the ability to be decisive and with productivity in planning. There will be a natural desire for movement and activity, an upswing in energy and alertness, and a want for declutter and new. There will be health in vision, tendons and joints as well as nails. 

A lack of attunement will show as new or worsening issues, often involving the Liver and Gallbladder systems of the body. These may involve rigidity and stiffness on both physical and mental-emotional levels. This may involve pain or discomfort particular to the areas of the temple or top of the head, in the neck or shoulders, ribcage/flank, the low back, lateral hip and leg, or knees.  There may be increased frustration, irritability or anger; one may lack in motivation and planning, be indecisive or resistant to changes. There may be new issues or an increase in chronic issues involving vision, eyes and nails and tendon and joint. Digestive issues can manifest themselves, especially those that have an emotional basis. There may be more active dreaming and dream disturbed sleep. 
 

TCM has several tools that can effectively help ease individuals into seasonal shifts and help optimize health during this time. Specific points can be used with the application of either acupuncture or acupressure and tui na massage. In doing this, the practitioner stimulates certain actions of the body to create better harmony to processes and an overall better balance of the body. Several points can be used to strengthen the functions of the Liver and Gall Bladder systems and to move the energy of the body in an effort to reduce stagnant energies. 

Cupping and gua sha work to invigorate circulation, remove stagnant build up and guide nourishing circulation to areas of stagnation. These methods are often used in detoxifying the body during cleansing. 

TCM practitioners can direct patients in qi gong movements and meditative practices specific to the spring energies and the Liver/Gallbladder systems. 

Spring based dietary programs can be established with the TCM understanding of specific foods, food practices, and the individual’s personal constitution. Herbal formulas can also be recommended and prescribed for specific issues aggravated by spring such as spring allergies. 

TCM practitioners can provide specific seasonal attunement sessions or treatment courses, and can provide at-home suggestions. To learn more, or to book your Seasonal Attunement treatment(s), use the contact page to call or email Cassandra Hecker TCM Health today.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) health is heavily centered around the ideas of optimizing balance and harmony; not just within the body, but between ourselves and the natural forces of our environment. TCM views the human body as a microcosmic mirror of its environment; influenced by and reflecting the natural forces that surround it. We are therefore heavily influenced by our surroundings and the natural themes that take place within our environment. TCM stresses the importance in health of aligning ourselves with these natural themes and attuning ourselves with the natural changes that take place within them. 

One of the greatest example of this alignment and attunement with our natural environment comes in the form of seasonal changes. For all our technological and scientific advances, we still find ourselves revolving around nature’s seasonal changes. For the 2000+ years that TCM has existed, these seasonal themes and their influences on the human body and health has been abundantly observed, tested and recorded. This information has created an understanding of how to balance and harmonize with these seasonal changes in order to optimize health and wellness. 

Observed by TCM, there are four seasons and between each are a transitionary period; each season and transitionary period has an underlying theme and aspects that are particular to each. It is important in health and wellbeing that one adapts to the transition and changes fluidly, and follows the seasonal currents smoothly. Difficulty to adapt in times of transition can lead to imbalances in the body; which can result in impacts on physical, mental, emotional or spiritual levels. 

Surrounding us now is the transitionary period from winter to spring. Soon we will be in the full awakening of spring. In terms of our health, it is during this transitionary period that one should begin to attune to the energies of the Spring season. 

Join me in part II of Seasonal Attunement for Spring, where I will provide an understanding of the Winter-Spring transition, of the themes particular to Spring, and with these understandings, suggestions and practices for aligning oneself harmoniously with the season of Spring.

Modified milk ingredients exist, and continue to thrive in place of both unaltered, natural milk and milk ingredients for a number of reasons. A Leading argument to the existence of modified milk ingredients is the claim that these modifications improve product quality.

There are many claims by companies that the switch to modified milk ingredients is, in part, due to these modifications promoting either a better quality product, or a healthier to consume product. This is the aspect companies will again and again highlight with many examples.

​As an example, whey, a protein of milk, is actually the by-products of the cheese making process. In the past this was a waste by-products, but has in recent years been repurposed in the use of other products to "improve both functional and nutritional properties," as the Quebec Dairy Council states, or on has been used on its own as an "essential nutrient beverage" (also known as protein powder).

Milk proteins in general are added to food products to improve quality. Adding more of these proteins to cheese makes for better color, flavor and moisture control; by adding it to yogurt it gives the product a softer, thinner and smoother texture. Whey has been used in other various ways; It is said that beans and grains soaked in whey are easier to digest, it is used in marinades and condiments, it has replaced some vinegars in pickled vegetables. According to the Quebec Dairy Council’s literature, certain milk proteins and protein fractions added to cheese have been linked to regulating blood pressure, modulating the immune system and facilitating the transport of minerals in the body.

Of course, keep in mind that the above highlights literature from various pro-modified milk ingredient industries and companies. The debate of transitioning to modified milk ingredients leading to better quality versus sacrificed quality has two sides. Many will argue that quality texture, taste and mouthfeel are actually lost with the use of these modified milk ingredients. Those who argue that a healthier product is lost in this transition will cite arguments debating cancer causing agents, increased subjection to allergy and intolerance inducing ingredients, excessive consumption causing kidney and liver damage (whey), lack of nutrients that are readily found in whole and unaltered milk products, and lack of nutrient absorption (when the fat in milk is useful in fat soluble vitamins for example). Many advocates against the use of modified milk ingredients will often state that this controversial quality and health improvement reasoning used by companies is one to hide the truer driving force, cost.

Cost is arguably the greatest driving force of the entire modified milk ingredients transition. Reduced costs come in various ways, three that I will highlight.

​The first is shelf life. This benefits the producer, as well as both supplier and consumer. Modified milk ingredients mean modified; and those modifications that take place can be done so to increase the shelf life of the product they are placed in. This is really more of a relative relation to fresh dairy’s hindering quality of limiting the shelf life of the product they are an ingredient in. This is where you, your grocery store and the company all win. The product keeps longer in your home as well as on grocery store shelves, meaning less is wasted and considered a loss by you, the supplier, and by the company.

The second cost factor is in the efficient use of milk ingredients. Not all products need all milk ingredients; in fact some milk ingredients traditionally ended up becoming waste byproducts of food making processes. When we modify milk, we remove the liquid and separate the various ingredients that milk is comprised of, then reassemble select ingredients as needed. What was one, now becomes many; This means the many parts of milk can be divided up amongst various products, using less in more products, and in more ways. Some items that would never have used milk in its whole fluid form, now contain modified milk ingredients. Items that once contained milk in its whole and fluid form, now contain select components of milk.

And finally, the third cost factor, and a reason for Canadians to see more “modified milk ingredients” in their food products, is their food sources. Many products are import products. The amount of fluid milk that can be imported into Canada without being subject to tariffs is quite limited. Modified milk ingredients are not fluid, and therefore do not fall under the same category as fluid milk (non-modified milk). Of course, if it is cheaper to import, we should hope it would also be cheaper for consumers to buy than those items made with imported fluid milk. Whether this is the case is unknown.

So there are various reasons to the existence of modified milk ingredients; and much can be debated as to whether each of these have a more positive or negative impact (cost effectiveness, quality, health impact). But what does this all mean from a Chinese medicine perspective?

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, every whole food has its temperature (hot, warm, neutral, cool, cold), its flavors (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, acrid, pungent, bland etc.), and its actions on certain organs and systems of the body (channel affinity). The issue here is whole food. Modified milk ingredients aren’t whole. You’ve modified the whole, which also means that you’ve modified the nature of the whole.

This is an issue because, with the vague term “modified milk ingredients” listed instead of the actual ingredients, we don't know what modification have truely taken place. This means we can only best guess the select impact on the body. Knowing those modification is incredibly important to understanding the action that “modified” has on the body.

After this is the issue of then trying to determine the actions of the all the possible wide and varying combinations and amounts of these modified milk ingredients. Again, Chinese Medicine is about whole foods. Hundreds, if not thousands, of years have gone into studying the nature of a food and its impact on the human body in health and in healing. The concept of Modified Milk Ingredients is so recent and new; and so varying depending on what is used and what is not, that it becomes difficult to determine if there is any significant change in nature from natural unaltered milk, and what these exact changes are.

Often these modified milk ingredients are increased amounts of milk fats, or milk proteins added to non-milk amd milk products alike. In TCM we have a saying; "everything in moderation." Large amounts of anything, even healthy things, can have negative impact on the body. Knowing what ingredients of milk have been extracted from or added to the product is important, but also the amount of supplementation is equally important when considering eating in moderation.

The simple truth is that the nature and actions of modified milk ingredients on the human body and their impact on health are still undetermined and unknown. Whether it strays far enough from its original whole form to cause consequence on health is something that will take time to determine. What is important, from a TCM perspective, is what these modifications are and at what quantity, so we can, over time, understand and answer the important questions of their impact and on long term diet and health

With the basic and general understanding of the Yin and Yang concept discussed, we now delve into the relationship between yin and yang as we discuss the four relationship aspects between Yin and Yang. This is where simple becomes a bit more complex. The four aspects of the yin and yang relationship would state that:
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As mentioned in the previous post (click here to view), whole foods are important. Every food is viewed for its qualitative aspects as a whole. These qualities include the food’s physical nature and temperature, but more importantly its innate physiological temperature, its flavors and its affinities within the body. These aspects together create actions on, and within, the body that are very specific.

Weight
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Weight bears consideration in a food's actions on the body. Is the food light and fluffy or heavy and dense for its size? An example of this might be  the filling of a bag with mint leaves, and filling that same bag with walnuts. The same amount of space is filled, but the there will be a very noticeable difference in weight. Many heavy things tend to have downward, sinking and condensing actions, light weight foods tend to have upward, rising and dispersing actions. Of course, like the I before E except after C rule, there are always exceptions.

Physical Temperature

Another physical aspect to consider is physical temperature. This is the temperature to touch; when something is placed in the mouth and the teeth bite down, is it warmer or cooler? This is often where prep and processing effects the physical temperature; cold beverages versus warm, raw or chilled in the refrigerator versus steamed or baked. These are physical temperatures that give a different temperature feeling in the mouth, and prep and processing can easily change them. This physical temperature effect the actions of food on the body, but no nearly as much as a food’s innate thermal nature.

Innate Thermal Nature

From the views of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), every whole food contains an innate thermal nature. This is not the same as the physical temperature of a food (such a cooked food being hot and chilled food being cold). This innate thermal nature of food is an innate physiological temperature of the food that remains regardless of being heated by fire or chilled by ice. The innate thermal nature of a food effects the body’s temperature, making an individual feel warmer or cooler; or can cause actions associated with warming or cooling. The innate thermal nature of a food can fall on a spectrum; cold, cool, neutral, warm, hot. An example of the innate thermal nature of a food might be mint, which is cooling in nature, regardless of consuming it in a hot tea or in an iced beverage. Mint has a soothing effect to a sore and inflamed throat, such as found in flues and colds. In this example the sore throat is seen as a heat condition, and the ability of mint to soothe such a condition makes it cooling in its innate thermal nature, regardless of the temperature it is consumed at. 

Affinity

Each food has affinities for certain systems, organs, structures, tissues, and areas of the body. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the body is mapped into systems called meridians or channels. There are 12 main meridians and 8 additional meridians called extraordinary meridians. Each of these meridians map out an interconnected area on, and within, the body; these meridians include associated organs, structures, tissues and processes (on physical, mental and emotional planes, as is the holistic approach). All 12 main channels and 8 additional channels, while having separate processes and functions of their own, will greatly influence one another and will rely on one another for certain cooperative processes and functions. 

Flavor

A major qualitative aspect of food, and one regarded closely in healing, is flavors. Every whole food has one or more flavors associated with it, and each flavor is associated with specific actions on the body (be it physical, mental or emotional). The main flavors include pungent, salty, sour, bitter, and sweet. 

Pungent foods (also known as acrid) disperse, invigorate and stimulate; these foods are associated with the lungs. These actions are often most clear when mentioning spicy foods, which are pungent in nature. Pungent, and therefore spicy, foods have the effects of stimulating sweating and blood circulation (think of spicey foods and red faces), and encouraging appetite.

Salty foods are known to dissipate, descend, dissolve and soften as well as remove moisture. They are associated with the Kidney. Foods with a salty nature are good for purging constipated bowels, reducing hard lumps (think kidney stones and various cysts), and treat toxic swellings; they are often thought to soften and make more supple, such as the case with Epsom salt baths for sore tight muscles.

Sour foods astringe, arrest and contract, prevent leakage, and firm up. They are thought to be good for the liver and gallbladder. Foods of this nature can be used for preventing and restraining any loss of fluids, such as in excessive sweating, incontinence, diarrhea, and the loss of reproductive fluid; they are also used to firm up flaccid skin.

Bitter foods cleanse, reduce, descend, drain and dry, and are thought to be good for the heart. Foods of this nature encourage bowel movement, reduce high blood pressure and high cholesterol (I always think of bitter coffee and bitter chocolate with this one). Foods of this flavor can also reduce inflammation and skin issues, drying excess mucus and fluids such as swelling and edema.

Sweet foods are tonics that energize, nourish and build; they generate fluids and lubricate; as well as relax, soothe, harmonize, and reduce irritation. They are associated with digestive organs; in the case of TCM the stomach and spleen (spleen here is different than in western medicine). Examples of these actions include the building and nourishment of energy and fluids, the ability to calm and settle upset of many sorts (physical and emotional), as well as the ability to slow down toxins and acute negative reaction. 

Balance as Key

As discussed in the previous post, Food is an effective force on, and within, the body; and balance a crucial factor to maintaining health or leading to unhealthy states. When we consume too much of a good thing, it becomes a bad thing. Consuming too many things that are one-sided in temperature draws the body in the direction of that temperature and has adverse effects on the body and processes in the body. Eating too many physically cold foods, can lead to the body temperature dropping regularly, leading to feeling cold as well as to sluggish processes. Eating too much physiologically hot natured foods can lead to heat accumulation in the body and hyperactive processes.

Too much or too little of a specific flavor can have negative and detrimental effects. Flavors are associated with specific organs and the meridians and processes that these organs are part of. Too little foods of a certain flavor can lead to deficiency or weakness of the organ and its associated processes and meridian system. Too much food of that flavor can lead to excess which causes its own set of issues. Too much sweet can lead to what TCM calls dampness. Dampness  leads to conditions causing diseases of the flesh; which can create a heavy weightiness of the body or obesity, sluggish processes, or issues of mucus, phlegm or fluid build-up. Too much pungent can lead to hyperactive processes as well as causes heat and dispersion, which means loss of fluids and dryness. Too much salty means too much purging or dissolving, leading to dryness as well as too much softening causing weakened structures. Too much sour leads to excessive astringing, leading to fluid build-up and retention; on the other hand it can also lead to too much firming up which can cause tight structures such as tendons. Too much bitter foods can adversely effect blood pressure and cholesterol, cause purging of the bowels and weaken processes. 
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Regard and respect of food and the impact food has on the body is the approach one should take to avoiding these negative effects. When in doubt, moderation is key. The following post, Food as Medicine Part III: Food Preparation and Eating Practices, will discuss further considerations in food practices such as the effects of processing food, different preparation and cooking, as well as various eating practices.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a unique approach to food, and the impact food has on the body and on health. TCM is fundamentally holistic, where comprehension and full understanding only come when viewing things in their entirety. This means all aspects of any given thing are considered intimately interconnected, the parts only having full value and effectiveness when brought together in its whole form. With this in mind, when it comes to food, TCM does not place focus on the components that make up a specific food in an independent manner (ex. carbohydrates, fats, vitamins etc.).  It instead views the qualitative aspects, and effects that these components have on the body, as a whole; placing almost all emphasis on the food item in its totality; what we shall call a whole food.

Whole foods are foods in their natural, unaltered, complete form. Whole foods are, in the views of TCM, the best versions of themselves. Nature knows best, as they say. Each smaller component of food contributes towards a larger holistic nutritional purpose. These components of food work best together, not independently of one another, each having multiple part to play individually and interactively for a more efficient, effective and “whole-pictured” purpose.

Viewing a food as its whole, and for its qualitative aspects, TCM places greater emphasis on temperature and flavors of a food, and a food's affinities within the body. These aspects together create actions on, and within, the body that are very specific. TCM places emphasis on the health impact that preparation and storing practices, cooking processes, and eating practices have on the body and its systems; And, always is stressed the relationship between these above qualities and individual constitution (click here to learn more about constitution)

Balance is essential, especially in diet. One needs to be mindful of the temperatures and flavors of food and the negative actions and impact that can occur with the consumption of any of these qualities in a deficient or excessive way. Too much or too little of one thing can lead to imbalance within the body and beget negative consequences. Everything in moderation, as the saying goes. This would be the quantitative aspect of the TCM view of food and healing; Balance based on constitution. Food is an effective force on, and within, the body. It can create disharmony and disorder if its effectiveness is disregarded and dismissed; or can be used as a resourceful tool towards balance and health if approached with awareness, understanding and respect.

In the next part to the Food as Medicine series, I will discuss the eastern approach with qualities such as temperatures, flavors, and affinities of food items; and how these together create specific and intended actions on, and within, the body.
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