Eat More Warm Cooked Foods for Better Digestive Health
We live in a culture where many have this idea that if they are eating a salad everyday then they are winning at the healthy eating game. This is not necessarily true. For one, depending on what is in your salad and on how you dress it, it may not be healthy at all. As a matter of fact, it is suggested you stay away from cold, raw foods such as salads and smoothies especially while you are menstruating and during the winter months.
Chinese dietary therapy refers to the middle burner where the spleen and stomach reside and how to support it by keeping your stomach warm. We should consume less cold and raw foods and consume more foods that are slightly cooked. It is also best to eat moderately and chew well. It's highly recommended to avoid chilled cold or frozen drinks and opt for room temperature drinks. To most practitioners of Chinese medicine, the benefits can be quite huge especially in those with digestive issues and what we would call spleen Qi deficiency. This could look like difficulty digesting food, gas, bloating and loose stools. In terms of its relationship to your cycle, you may have bleeding or spotting mid cycle or for many days leading up to full bleeding and/or loose stools or diarrhea while menstruating.
Food is what keeps your middle burner balanced and it is important to maintain a strong digestive fire , which allows for proper digestion and absorption of nutrients. If the fire becomes weak through lack of proper foods, such as cold raw, processed, fried greasy foods and sugar, the middle burner will draw its energy from the lower burner (reproductive organs, kidneys) to supplement its fire. When this happens, your kidney fire may become depleted which can lead to anxiety, fear, reproductive issues, lowback pain and further difficulty with digestion.
There is a whole school of theory based solely on the spleen and stomach also known as the middles burner. The idea is that if the center is out of balance, it throws everything else out of balance. You may feel chronic fatigue, have hormonal imbalances, depression, anxiety. Western medicine has finally caught up to this idea as they have identified that many of our neurotransmitters actually exist in our gut.
It is possible to change the property of food by cooking and adding spices. Steaming vegetables can be thought of as a form of pre-digestion that helps break down the food before we eat it so that our bodies can more easily absorb its nutrients. Cooking also warms and helps lessen the cooling effects of foods. This is why I recommend steaming vegetables before eating them so the raw cold vegetables do not dowse your digestive fire. Adding spices or fresh ginger (which is considered hot), to cooling or cold ingredients can help neutralize the cooling nature of cold food.
If you are experiencing digestive issues, try removing cold raw foods, opt for room temp water and start your day with a warm ginger tea to kick start your digestion. If you are going to eat veggies or a salad, add something cooked to it like chicken, shrimp or salmon and steam your veggies. Do this for a week and see if you notice a change. During the colder seasons, it is highly encouraged to eat soups and stews and foods that are already broken down for easier digestion. Add energetically warmer foods to your juices or smoothies such as ginger or turmeric to help offset the cold. I love soup and have many recipes here in my blog. Keep scrolling through the older posts and you will find them all!
You may need extra support in warming your center and kidney fire again. Acupuncture and moxabustion therapy are a very helpful way to get your digestion back on track.