The earth element rules the spleen-pancreas and stomach, are primarily responsible for the digestion and distribution of good and nutrients.
Physiology
These organs are seen as partners in Chinese medicine. They are connected with storage of energy and form the foundation of our immune system.
Damaged By
Dairy foods and sugar, being constantly criticized, feeling anxious, insecure and worried about the future.
Supported By
Good-quality sweet tasting foods, including fruits, root vegetables and round vegetables. Grain malts.
Diagnosis
A tendency to complain, to be suspicious and to be apathetic.
Persons with a balanced spleen-pancreas
These people are generally hard-working, practical, and responsible. They like to nurture themselves and others and are strong, active, and stable. They have endurance, good appetites and digestion, their limbs have strength, they tend to be orderly and careful, and often excel at some creative activity. They have fertile imaginations.
General signs of spleen-pancreas imbalance.
Characteristics are chronic tiredness, physical and mental stagnation, and compulsive, stuck behavior that prevents them from creatively developing their personalities. They typically have weak digestion, often accompanied by nausea, poor appetite, dull sense of taste, abdominal bloating, hard lumps in the abdomen, and loose stools. Blood-sugar imbalances may be present. those with weight problems tend to be overweight without over eating, or thin and unable to gain weight. They tend to have sallow complexions and are often sloppy in appearance, live in dis-order and accumulate useless possessions.
Syndromes - more specific symptoms
Weak spleen-pancreas qi signs: loose stools, general weakness, fatigue, pale tongue with a thin white coating, weak pulse, food sensitivities, nervous indigestion, anemia, chronic diarrhea or dysentery, ulcers, pain in the upper abdomen, weak limbs and prolapses such as hemorrhoids and prolapsed uterus.
Dietary Suggestions for deficient qi:
Foods that are warming include: congee, oats, spelt, sweet rice, carrot, turnip, peas, yam, leek, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, fennel, garlic, nutmeg, barley malt, molasses, cherry, date, beef, beef liver or kidney, chicken, turkey, lamb, butter. Other foods that are sweet or pungent in nature are carbohydrate-rich vegetables such as winter squash, rutabaga, parsnip, garbanzo beans, black beans, sweet potato, pumpkin, onion, rice syrup. Foods need to be taken in small amounts and chewed well.
Deficient digestive fire:
All the same symptoms as deficient qi above but also showing signs of cold digestion. These includes, watery stool perhaps with undigested food in it, aversion to cold weather, cold hands and feet, clear urine, pallor, pale, swollen and wet tongue with teeth indentations in the sides of it.
Deficient digestive fire:
All the warming foods as mentioned above except for sweet rice. Restrict these foods; excessive raw vegetables, fruit(especially citrus), sprouts, cereal grasses, cooling foods such as tomatoe, spinach, chard, tofu, millet, amaranth, seaweeds, wild blue-green algae, salt, too many sweet foods, liquids, dairy products and vinegar. Avoid large meals and rich foods such as nuts, seeds and oils.
Signs of Dampness in the spleen-pancreas:
Feelings of heaviness, particularly in the head, lack of appetite, bloated abdomen, watery stools, coating on the tongue in thick and possibly dirty or greasy.
Foods that dry dampness:
rye, amaranth, corn, aduki beans, celery, lettuce, pumpkin, scallion, alfalfa, turnip, kohlrabi, white pepper, raw honey, all bitter herbs such as chamomile, chaparral, paul d'arco, micro algae dunaliella and wild blue-green. Raw goats milk is the only dairy product that does not contribute to dampness.
Resources: Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford & Acupressure by Jon Sandifer
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