Getting a summer TCM booster
By Zhang Qian |
July 17, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THERE'S an old Chinese saying: If you get good gao fang reinforcing therapy in winter, you can kill a tiger in spring. Updated for summer, it might go like this: Get good gao fang in summer and kill a bear in winter. Zhang Qian reports.
In November Chinese people line up at traditional Chinese medicine hospitals for their autumn ritual, a prescription for gao fang herbal paste. Or they just go straight to the pharmacy to buy a jar. They are building up and storing yang (hot energy) to help them cope with recurrent chronic ailments in winter and spring.
For those who feel the enforcement is waning, they can get, in effect, a gao fang (literally "paste therapy") "booster shot" in summer to help them through the winter and beyond. The herbs are different, but the idea is the same: Hang on to that yang energy you're going to need it.
Herbal paste is a jelly-like substance made from condensed herbal liquids and other ingredients, such as honey and brown sugar. Many different kinds of patent pastes are available. Reinforcing therapy dates back more than 2,000 years in China.
It used to be given exclusively in fall and winter, since that is a perfect time to "store" yang energy in the body. Also, the past kept better in cold weather. Since refrigerators and vacuum-packs came along, reinforcement in summer worked too, according to Dr Fang Hong, director of the Prevention and Health Department of Longhua Hospital at Shanghai University of TCM.
TCM calls for reinforcing yang energy in spring and summer, while nurturing yin energy in autumn and winter. Reinforcement in winter is essential but reinforcement in summer is also recommended, as long the rules are followed, according to Dr Wu Yingen, chief physician of the Respiratory Department of Longhua Hospital at Shanghai University of TCM.
Reinforcing method
Gao fang is just a treatment or reinforcing method, and it's not restricted to yin or yang reinforcing, says Dr Wu. "Most respiratory ailments improve with sufficient yang reinforcement in whatever form, and it can work even better when yang energy prevails in the universe in summer."
Since some patients find the effects of winter reinforcement diminished over six months, mid-year gao fang reinforcement can help, according to Dr Fang. But the prescription is different. Considering how much yang energy is consumed because of high temperatures and sweating, yang reinforcement is a key principle during this season.
Opening-the-way
In addition, as the prevailing so-called pathogenic heat and dampness may have already burdened the digestive system, a kai lu fang (literally "opening way herbal decoctions") helps adjust the energy balance in advance of the gao feng. The opening-the-way helps ensure that the reinforcement is properly absorbed.
Generally, gao fang treatment in summer is recommended for the sub-healthy people who suffer from long-term fatigue and poor immunity. It can also help those who suffer summer-sickness with symptoms like digestive upset and fatigue. Patients with certain chronic winter ailments (that worsen in winter) of asthma, chronic sore throat, arthritis and other ailments can try gao fang to prevent relapse in winter. Reinforcement helps patients recover after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
But gao fang is not for everyone. Infants, pregnant women, new mothers and people with chronic diseases that are flaring up should not try it. Nor should people who sweat even in cool weather (they have a lung deficiency) or people who cannot sweat even on hot days. The sweat/non sweat cases need herbal decoction first.
Gao fang summer treatment usually takes 30-40 days, and there is not a specific starting dates (such as the Winter Solstice for the winter gao fang treatment). People taking gao fang should avoid stimulating foods that are hot and spicy, as well as greasy and very cold.
During the reinforcing period, cooling foods that dispel so-called pathogenic heat are recommended, such as white gourd, tomato and asparagus, doctors say.
How to eat herbal paste
1. Get one or two spoons of gao fang according to doctor's prescription.
2. Add hot water and stir.3. Eat every day before breakfast.4. Avoid stimulating and spicy foods that may weaken stomach function.
In November Chinese people line up at traditional Chinese medicine hospitals for their autumn ritual, a prescription for gao fang herbal paste. Or they just go straight to the pharmacy to buy a jar. They are building up and storing yang (hot energy) to help them cope with recurrent chronic ailments in winter and spring.
For those who feel the enforcement is waning, they can get, in effect, a gao fang (literally "paste therapy") "booster shot" in summer to help them through the winter and beyond. The herbs are different, but the idea is the same: Hang on to that yang energy you're going to need it.
Herbal paste is a jelly-like substance made from condensed herbal liquids and other ingredients, such as honey and brown sugar. Many different kinds of patent pastes are available. Reinforcing therapy dates back more than 2,000 years in China.
It used to be given exclusively in fall and winter, since that is a perfect time to "store" yang energy in the body. Also, the past kept better in cold weather. Since refrigerators and vacuum-packs came along, reinforcement in summer worked too, according to Dr Fang Hong, director of the Prevention and Health Department of Longhua Hospital at Shanghai University of TCM.
TCM calls for reinforcing yang energy in spring and summer, while nurturing yin energy in autumn and winter. Reinforcement in winter is essential but reinforcement in summer is also recommended, as long the rules are followed, according to Dr Wu Yingen, chief physician of the Respiratory Department of Longhua Hospital at Shanghai University of TCM.
Reinforcing method
Gao fang is just a treatment or reinforcing method, and it's not restricted to yin or yang reinforcing, says Dr Wu. "Most respiratory ailments improve with sufficient yang reinforcement in whatever form, and it can work even better when yang energy prevails in the universe in summer."
Since some patients find the effects of winter reinforcement diminished over six months, mid-year gao fang reinforcement can help, according to Dr Fang. But the prescription is different. Considering how much yang energy is consumed because of high temperatures and sweating, yang reinforcement is a key principle during this season.
Opening-the-way
In addition, as the prevailing so-called pathogenic heat and dampness may have already burdened the digestive system, a kai lu fang (literally "opening way herbal decoctions") helps adjust the energy balance in advance of the gao feng. The opening-the-way helps ensure that the reinforcement is properly absorbed.
Generally, gao fang treatment in summer is recommended for the sub-healthy people who suffer from long-term fatigue and poor immunity. It can also help those who suffer summer-sickness with symptoms like digestive upset and fatigue. Patients with certain chronic winter ailments (that worsen in winter) of asthma, chronic sore throat, arthritis and other ailments can try gao fang to prevent relapse in winter. Reinforcement helps patients recover after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
But gao fang is not for everyone. Infants, pregnant women, new mothers and people with chronic diseases that are flaring up should not try it. Nor should people who sweat even in cool weather (they have a lung deficiency) or people who cannot sweat even on hot days. The sweat/non sweat cases need herbal decoction first.
Gao fang summer treatment usually takes 30-40 days, and there is not a specific starting dates (such as the Winter Solstice for the winter gao fang treatment). People taking gao fang should avoid stimulating foods that are hot and spicy, as well as greasy and very cold.
During the reinforcing period, cooling foods that dispel so-called pathogenic heat are recommended, such as white gourd, tomato and asparagus, doctors say.
How to eat herbal paste
1. Get one or two spoons of gao fang according to doctor's prescription.
2. Add hot water and stir.3. Eat every day before breakfast.4. Avoid stimulating and spicy foods that may weaken stomach function.
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