As I headed off to my clinic this morning I made sure to put on a couple extra layers because fall is in full swing. I just returned from a weekend in Edmonton, my home town, and every time I return to Victoria I notice how damp it actually is here. This brings up the concept of ‘dampness’ in Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture.
Dampness is a condition that one can have in the body. Just like a rooms, towels, and sweater sleeve cuffs pulled out of the dryer too soon can be damp so can our bodies. It usually arises from improper digestion and assimilation of food or choosing the wrong food for our body types.
When we accumulate a lot of dampness in our systems it can cause many symptoms such as:
· Feeling of heaviness in the body, ‘brain fog,’ confusion
· Middle body weight gain, metabolic disorders
· Candida, fungal infections, yeast infections
· Gas, bloating, stomach discomfort, food sensitivities
· Allergies, depression, anxiety, frequent colds
Foods that cause dampness:
· Milk products (except yogurt)
· sugar and sweets
· white flour
· refined starch and highly processed starch products
· alcohol
· excess raw fruits (because of sugar) and vegetables
· excess mushrooms
· icy and cold beverages
· fatty, greasy and deep fried foods,
· excess fermented, yeast containing foods
· excess vinegar
If our spleen, stomach, and kidney systems are not working properly then we get dampness. By avoiding these foods we lessen the potential of creating this state of dampness.
If one comes in for acupuncture I would also work on the liver, spleen, kidney, lung, and bladder to make sure everything is in balance and drive out the excess dampness.
What else could you do? You can drink dandelion tea, it helps strengthen the liver and drain dampness. You can purchase dandelion tea; you don’t have to harvest it from your front lawn! Eat more that dry dampness such as garlic, onion, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, scallion, cayenne, basil, rosemary, dill, oregano, sage, parsley, cardamom, fennel, anise, clove, coriander, leek and chives.
Until next time, stay dry and…
~Think Vitality!~
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