Expert Interpretation of Autumn Health Tonics: Precautions
Introduction: Autumn is an ideal time for health tonics, but toning up in the fall requires proper methods. Blind, excessive, or hasty tonics can lead to counterproductive results.
Regulate the Spleen and Stomach Before Toning Up
The spleen and stomach are often weakened during the summer. After the start of autumn, suddenly consuming a large amount of tonics can abruptly burden the digestive system, which has been in a weakened state for a long time and cannot handle the sudden load. This is known as "the body being too deficient to accept tonification," leading to digestive dysfunction with symptoms like chest tightness, abdominal bloating, loss of appetite, indigestion, and diarrhea. Therefore, it's essential to regulate gastrointestinal function before starting any tonics. This is especially important for the following three groups:
Patients with Spleen Deficiency often exhibit symptoms such as poor appetite, abdominal bloating, loss of appetite, limb fatigue, lassitude, occasional diarrhea, and a sallow complexion. Before tonifying, these individuals can moderately consume spleen-strengthening and stomach-harmonizing foods such as Poria cakes, Gordon Euryale seeds, Chinese yam, cowpeas, millet, or patent medicines like Spleen-Strengthening Pills or Xiangsha Liujun Pills.
Those with Excessive Stomach Fire, who are accustomed to spicy hot pot and greasy barbecue in the summer, can easily develop internal heat and fire, accumulating in the stomach and intestines. Symptoms include a burning sensation in the stomach, a preference for cold drinks, bad breath, and constipation. Before tonifying, these people must clear the stomach fire by moderately consuming more bitter gourd, cucumber, winter melon, bitter herbs, or Kuding tea, and only begin tonifying after the stomach fire has subsided.
The Elderly and Children have weaker digestive abilities and often have stagnant food in their stomachs, manifesting as poor appetite or abdominal bloating after eating. Therefore, before tonifying, they should focus on promoting digestion and harmonizing the stomach. It's advisable to consume appropriate amounts of digestion-aiding, spleen-strengthening, and stomach-harmonizing foods like hawthorn and white radish. For severe cases, herbal medicine under a doctor's guidance can be taken.
Avoid Blind Tonification Without Differentiating Deficiency and Excess
The principle of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is "tonify what is deficient." Non-deficient conditions should not be treated with tonics. Furthermore, deficiency is categorized into yin deficiency, yang deficiency, qi deficiency, and blood deficiency. Tonifying according to the specific pattern is beneficial to the body; otherwise, it can be counterproductive and cause harm.
Qi Deficiency often presents as listlessness, a weak voice, spontaneous sweating, a pale tongue with a white coating, and a weak, forceless pulse. For qi deficiency, one should tonify qi. Suitable tonics include Royal Jelly Ginseng, Zhongyi Qi Pills, and herbs such as Astragalus root, Codonopsis root, Atractylodes rhizome, and Chinese yam.
Blood Deficiency often manifests as a sallow complexion, pale lips and nails, dizziness, palpitations, forgetfulness, insomnia, numbness in the hands and feet, a pale tongue, and a thin, weak pulse. For blood deficiency, one should nourish the blood. Suitable tonics include Shiquan Dabu Pills, Guipi Pills, and herbs such as Angelica sinensis, donkey-hide gelatin, and longan pulp.
Yin Deficiency is characterized by tidal fever, night sweats, a burning sensation in the palms, soles, and chest, dry mouth and throat, a dry cough with little phlegm, dry eyes, a red tongue with little coating, and a rapid, thin pulse. For yin deficiency, one should nourish yin. Suitable tonics include Dabuyin Pills, Shenqi Royal Jelly, Liuwei Dihuang Pills, and herbs such Tremella, soft-shelled turtle shell, Ophiopogon root, Glehnia root, and black sesame.
Yang Deficiency often presents as a pale complexion, cold limbs, impotence, premature ejaculation, poor appetite, loose stools, a pale, tender tongue, and a faint, thin pulse. For yang deficiency, one should strengthen yang. Suitable tonics include Jingui Shenqi Pills, Velvet Antler Oral Liquid, and Linglong Gao, as well as herbs such as Velvet Antler, placenta, Gecko, Cordyceps, and Eucommia bark.
Although health preservation and wellness are not as strictly regulated as medical treatment, it is crucial to distinguish between cold and heat, deficiency and excess. If one indiscriminately uses medicinal diets without differentiating these patterns, it can easily lead to "adding fire to fire" or "adding cold to cold."
Cleverly Choose Tonic Substitutes
Scarcity makes things precious, but expensive traditional foods like bird's nest and shark fin are not necessarily the best tonics. On the other hand, very common foods like sweet potatoes and onions have significant medicinal and dietary value. Moreover, every medicinal diet has specific indications and is suitable for certain individuals. Therefore, one should choose tonics based on actual needs. Tonify what is lacking, and do not judge the value of a tonic by its price. The principle should be practicality and affordability.
Research shows that the main nutrients in bird's nest and shark fin are protein. The collagen in them has beauty-enhancing and calming effects, which are also found in pig's trotters, tendon, and tremella. If you prefer meat, you can substitute pig's trotters or tendon. If you prefer a vegetarian option, tremella is a good substitute with similar effects. The main nutrient in abalone is also protein, specifically globulin, which boosts immunity. In the milk we drink daily, every 100 grams contains over ten grams of immunoglobulin. If you need to supplement globulin, milk is sufficient. The main nutrient in sea cucumber is also protein, especially albumin. If you want to supplement albumin with sea cucumber, eggs are a good replacement. The main effects of Cordyceps are to nourish yin, moisten the lungs and kidneys, and boost immunity. Cheap alternatives with similar effects include Chinese yam and walnuts, which can be used as substitutes for Cordyceps.
Prevent Obesity During Autumn Toning
Obesity can lead to diseases like hypertension, coronary heart disease, and cerebral arteriosclerosis. Autumn is the season for toning up and also an easy time to gain weight, so obese individuals should pay more attention to weight loss. As the weather turns cooler in autumn, people's sense of taste sharpens, and their appetite increases significantly, leading to unintentional overeating and a large increase in calorie intake. Coupled with the pleasant climate, people get more sleep and sweat less. Furthermore, to prepare for the coming cold winter, the body actively stores fat for warmth. The body's calorie intake exceeds its expenditure, and people can easily gain weight, which is a particular threat for those who are already obese. Therefore, obese individuals should focus on weight loss in autumn. First, attention should be paid to dietary adjustment by eating more low-calorie weight-loss foods like red beans, radishes, bamboo shoots, Job's tears, kelp, and mushrooms. Second, one should increase calorie consumption by planning more physical activities and getting proper exercise.
Moisturizing is More Important Than "Gaining Weight for Autumn"
In autumn, as the weather gradually cools, people often experience varying degrees of dryness in the mouth, nose, and skin. This is known as "autumn dryness," which is related to the unique climate of the season. Therefore, one should eat foods that generate fluids, nourish yin, and are moist and juicy, and consume fewer spicy and fried foods. It is advisable to eat foods that are clear, moist, sweet, sour, and cool. Coolness can clear heat, sweet foods have a nourishing and binding effect that can relieve tension, harmonize the middle, and provide nourishment, and sour foods have astringent, fluid-generating, and thirst-quenching properties. Meanwhile, TCM believes that the lungs are closely connected to autumn's energy. Therefore, one should eat more foods that moisten the lungs and generate fluids, such as lily bulbs, lotus seeds, Chinese yam, lotus root, oyster mushrooms, and tomatoes. With the exception of a few individuals with a yang-deficient constitution, one should not consume too many warming foods or medicines like lamb, dog meat, ginseng, velvet antler, or cassia bark, as these can easily aggravate autumn dryness.