Food feels Good

🍊 What does your tongue tell you?
In TCM, the tongue is the "mirror of the organs". The colour, the coating, the shape - all can give clues about your health.

Examples:

White coating: cold or dampness in the spleen

Red tongue: hotness in the heart or liver

Purplish: stagnation of blood

Fissures: Yin depletion or lack of fluids

Tip: Watch your tongue in the morning before brushing your teeth. Ongoing changes often show how diet affects the body.

💧 Why are you tired even after a good meal?
Traditional Chinese medicine says that the spleen is the "root of post-birth energy". If it is weak, it does not convert food into Qi properly.

Signs of a weak spleen:

Fatigue after eating

Craving for sweets

Cold limbs

What helps:

A warm breakfast (e.g., porridge cereal, rice congee)

Skip sugar, dairy, raw vegetables

Ginger tea after meals

🥬 When is "healthy" food unhealthy?
Raw vegetables are cooling and according to TCM weaken the spleen if digestion is already compromised. Typical manifestations? Bloated belly, fatigue after eating, runny stools.

Alternative: Briefly boiled or steamed vegetables (e.g. broccoli, spinach, zucchini)
Spices for better digestion: turmeric, fennel, cumin

Caution: raw vegetables are more suitable in summer, for stronger individuals

🍄 Mushrooms that heal - reishi, shiitake, cordyceps
Mushrooms in TCM replenish defensive Qi (Wei Qi), nourish the blood and calm the spirit (Shen).

Recipe - broth with shiitake and reishi:

5 dried shiitake

1 slice of reishi (or powder)

1 carrot, celery, onion

Boil 1-2 hours, drink as tea or base for soup

Benefits: boost immunity, anti-fatigue, good for convalescence.
Disadvantages: reishi may be too strong in acute illness - consult a therapist.

🍵 Drinking according to the seasons
In TCM it is recommended to change drinks according to the weather and the body constitution.

Winter - warming drinks:

Ginger tea with dates

Warm barley decoction (to strengthen the kidneys)

Summer - cooling:

Green tea with mint

Watermelon juice, barley decoction

Tip: Avoid iced drinks - they slow digestion and weaken the spleen.

🧄 Garlic - an antibiotic from your kitchen
In TCM, garlic is used to expel "external cold" and to disinfect the digestive tract. It has a pungent, warming nature.

Garlic water for immunity:

1-2 cloves of garlic mashed

Cover with warm (not boiling!) water and allow to infuse for 5 minutes

When to drink: in the morning or at the first sign of a cold
Caution: garlic can irritate the stomach - do not drink it fasting if the spleen is weak

🌶️ Spicy food - cure or sin?
The taste of "spicy" in TCM stirs the Qi and blood, warms the body and takes away the cold. But when consumed in excess, it can be drying and promote the development of "internal fire".

When does spicy help:

For colds, chills, chills

For Qi stagnation (e.g., bloating)

When it harms:

For feelings of heat, red face, irritability

For acne or nosebleeds

Alternative: instead of chilli, try milder warming spices - e.g. cinnamon, turmeric or star anise.