​If you go to the mountains or in a city in Switzerland and walk into a café with a bakery, you may get a warm drink and, order a zvieri, a snack like Apfelstrudel with cream or vanilla sauce. Or you may take home something from a mountain bakery, like a Birnenbrot, perhaps a Zimtschneken from a regular city bakery, or make Swiss traditional Christmas cookies like Zimtstern, never giving it a second thought. We may associate these with Switzerland but never really realized that one key ingredient which has become traditional food, does not have its roots here but in faraway places. I am referring to Cinnamon. It sits in the spice cupboard of most households in Switzerland and probably Europe but we don't give a second thought about where it comes from, what it actually is or what it does to our bodies. Europeans went in search of spices in the 15th century, which were previously lacking or expensive if they actually managed to get them. This led to colonization of lands, so that the supply of spices became commonplace, as it is today.
 
Cinnamomum has 2 varieties: Cinnamomum verum and Cinnamomum cassia. C. verum means "true cinnamon," which comes from Sri Lanka and is more expensive, as it is rarer. C. cassia or just Cassia is originally from China and has multiple varieties that is now grown in Indonesia, Vietnam and many other South-East Asian countries. Most of the Cinnamon that we get in our stores is actually Cassia, which has a stronger, pungent scent than true Cinnamon and is obviously cheaper, as more countries grow and produce it. If you look at the picture above, you will the see the 2 quills with many thin layers on the right, packed together to create 2 thick quills. This is Cinnamomum verum, true Cinnamon from Sri Lanka. The other 3, which are one thick bark curled to form the quill, are Cinnamomum cassia. In Malaysia, which also grows Cassia, we call Cinnamon Kayu Manis - Sweet Wood. It is often used in curries but seldom in sweet foods.
 
In Chinese Medicine, we use Cassia regularly. In fact, it has many classical formulae In the Chinese Materia Medica with Cassia as a base. In the Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Disease) written in ca. 200 CE by Zhang Zhong Jing, Cassia-based formulae are some of the most important formulae to treat cold conditions. We have 2 forms of Cassia that we use: Guì Zhī, Saigon Cassia Twig and Roù Guì, Saigon Cassia Inner Bark. Both have spicy and sweet flavors, but their temperature differs; the twig is warm and the bark is hot. It makes sense that the younger twigs would be less hot than the inner bark of an older tree. Their organs and functions slightly differ too. Guì Zhī enters the organs of the Heart, Lung and Bladder, while Roù Guì enters the Heart, Kidney, Liver and Spleen. Both will warm and enter the Heart, as such a very important herb in treatment of issues that affect the chest, like chest colds, palpitations or even circulation issues. They can also be used for edema, or swellings in the body, which is often an issue of the lack of circulation of Yang in the body. If you are experiencing any of these themes, talk to your practitioner about using Herbal Medicine.
 
There is a school of thought in Chinese Herbal Medicine called the Fire School. The basic precept of this school of thought is that humans come into the world with a strong Yang capacity, i.e. the capacity to self-heal. As we get older and/ or drain our Life Essence, this capacity to self-heal diminishes. One of the herbs that this school of thought favors in its treatments is Cinnamon, as it is seen as an herb that will replenish the Yang in the body.
 
Cinnamon is one of those underrated herb. We use it in so many dishes and desserts yet we barely give it our attention as a medicine. But we also know that as a spice, if we put too much of it in a dish, it can be unpleasant and even nauseate. As stated in previous blogposts - Food is Medicine. Use Cinnamon sparingly in a dish but use it regularly. Drink the Indian Chai Masala regularly on cold days; it contains Cinnamon and Ginger, as well as other herbs that warm the body. Put a dash of powdered Cinnamon in your oatmeal, or in your apple compote. It brings a little zing into an otherwise plain food, in terms of flavor, but supplements warmth that we are lacking at this present moment in winter.  
 
 
 
 
Image Cinnamon by Elaine

Many years ago, I watched a movie with my husband; it was a Chinese movie involving a student with his Daoist master. The student asks his master for some wise life lessons and the master replies, "Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep."
 
Not long later, I was writing a letter to my university administration, to express my dissatisfaction with how certain class dates were changed at short notice that it had affected my travel plans, which involved flights that had already been booked. In the middle of my constructing this letter, my husband invited me to eat the hot meal that he had prepared and I decided to leave the letter aside to have the meal. However, my mind was still rummaging through the discontent I was experiencing with the school. Later, I had to spend time in the bathroom, dealing with my digestion that was reacting to my emotional state. In this moment, I became very aware how the Daoist master was right - "Eat when you eat." 
 
How often does this happen to so many of us? Many times we try to reflect on what we had eaten to find the "culprit" to blame for the indigestion and diarrhea we are experiencing, but actually it may have been how we were eating, with too many thoughts, among other things, and not what we were eating. Just as when we couldn't fall asleep, worrying about the events of tomorrow. Often times it was our minds being too busy with what was or will be, while expecting that our bodies calm down - "Sleep when you sleep."
 
Such simple advice, yet profound and sometimes feels unattainable. It is these very simple things in our everyday lives that make the difference, but we, unfortunately, seldom give recognition to the simple. We, as a society, love the complicated and the superheroes; hence, the overload of movies in the theatres about them, yet they are the flawed ones, who developed superhuman capabilities due to some deficiency or dis-ease that they experience. Take Batman for instance; his "normal-life" character being Bruce Wayne. Mr. Wayne becomes a vigilante, crime-fighting superhero after witnessing the murder of his parents as a young child. Basically, he experienced Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) as a child and as an adult compensates for his inability to control the events that shaped his life, by having "super" toys as well as assumes a different identity, behind a mask, in order to shape the life of others. Therein lies the complicated.
 
Actually, it is the simple and the steady regularity that gets us through life in a wholesome manner. In the 20 years of being a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, I have observed that those who find this regularity and consistency often also have habits that positively affect their lives. This begins already as children. When as children, we are served regular, homecooked meals, which we are maybe a part of the process of making, we become used to taking time to cook and eat with others. This then shapes the digestive system, in terms of rhythm and environment. I once treated a patient, who shared honestly with me how dietary changes that would require him to cook would not likely be successful. He realized that his growing up in a boarding school shaped his relationship to food; food was served to him and his fellow boarding schoolmates, of which they were not involved in its preparation process. He associated food with just going into a cafeteria, consuming enough so that he would have enough energy to go on with his day. I was thankful for his disclosure of his experience, as it helped me understand what he needed and my becoming aware of other realities of life. Many of us consume what is easy and fast, sometimes as we are moving to our next appointment, as we are trained as such. If we didn't give our digestive system the time or the space needed to digest what we just ingested, how can we expect that it will process it well. Just as when we humans were not given the time and space to do our work, how can we be expected to submit a successful, finished project. So maybe it is not just what is eaten, but also how we eat it, that shapes what we produce out of our bodies. But this does not mean we cannot change what we learned as children. This is where we have a choice, to be conscious of our habits.
 
Similarly with sleep; we drop into our beds after working on stressful projects or doing mind-stimulating activities, expecting that our body-mind would just calm down on its own, at a snap of a finger, enough to fall into regeneration mode. Maybe just like with our digestive systems, they will for a time, until they don't anymore. We are then confronted by our insomnia, tossing and turning in our bed, wondering why we can't fall asleep. Then, we imagine what it will be like when we have to work the next day with little sleep; thus, solidifying our inability to find the peace to sleep. The downward spiral continues on and on until we choose to stop it by becoming conscious.
 
Simple is not always easy, especially in our modern, complicated manner of doing things, which is often times neither efficient nor beneficial to us or our environment, even though we are told it should be. But if this is what we need, then it is time to become conscious of our everyday habits. Let go of the complicated that has not served us. Honour the simple, honour the everyday space and time! - "Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Image Sleeping Dog by Chris F on pexels.com

​A few days ago, I looked into a book that was passed on to me and extremely invaluable as I attended university in the 1990s - an English dictionary. Since my last post about Sweet Potatoes and Roots, I have been contemplating this word "Root." So I looked in to find the definition of Root and I find 12 different possibilities as a noun and as a verb. Most of them have something to do with having a "base" or "core" or "source," whether referring to human, plant, language or mathematics, and even to encourage. Fascinating, isn't it? 
 
Many of the Herbal Medicines in the Chinese Materia Medica are Roots. One that particularly stands out is Ginger and is listed in a few different forms. They are fresh Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang), Ginger peel (Cortex Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜皮 Shēng Jīang Pí), dried Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Officinalis, 干姜 Gān Jīang) and quick-fried Ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Praeparata, 炮姜Páo Jīang).
 
In its fresh form, just like we get them here in the normal grocery store, Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang, is a food-grade herb. As such, one can cook it with other ingredients to enhance the taste of that particular food, like fish, meat or vegetables. In some Asian supermarkets, you may find young ginger, that which is yellowish in color with a green stem protruding out of the rhizome. This form is a little less warming than the older brown version. Herbal decoctions regularly containing multiple Herbs, prescribed by a Chinese medical practitioner, often includes Ginger to harmonize the Herbal Formula combinations; aiding better absorption of the Herbs into the body and to prevent possible toxic side-effects from other potent Herbs. In fact, I have read that Ginger can be used as a remedy for food poisoning, and in fact is cooked with fish in order to neutralize toxins in many traditions. 
 
In the everyday, we can grate it, make an Herbal infusion out of it just by adding hot water and letting it steep for 10 minutes just as a beverage. This can be very helpful too if you had symptoms like chills and/or fever caused by the common cold virus. In fact, making a foot-bath or a whole-body-bath with this infusion till one gets warm and sweaty would also help expel what we call "Wind-Cold Invasion" in Chinese Medicine. If you wanted to enhance the digestive effect of Ginger, then you can throw in a couple of slices of Ginger into a pot with water and cook it for at least 15 minutes. This infusion would be less spicy but more warming for the Stomach, good for stopping nausea and vomiting in pregnancy or otherwise, help relieve bloating and digestive distress. Shēng Jīang enters the Lung, Spleen and Stomach, is spicy and warm. In contrast, Shēng Jīang Pí, Ginger Peel is spicy-cool and is good for edema and promoting urination. 
 
As with anything, too much of a good thing transforms it to a hindrance. If you tend to heat in your system, then too much Ginger will overheat you. A spicy flavor will circulate Qi and too much circulation will dry out the body. Use moderately or speak with your practitioner, if Ginger is appropriate for you. I find that this is one of the many simple Herbal foods that I almost always have at home or with me when I travel. One of our favorite meals is rice with chicken, cooked with Ginger, soya sauce and Sesame oil; a simple but scrumptious recipe passed down to me from my mother. Like so much around the world, people have used food as medicine since time in memorial. It is only us modern urban-dwelling, city-folk, who are often times disconnected from nature, who question the validity of food as being able to affect our health or never really realizing that what we put into our bodies might affect who we are. Just because something doesn't come in a form of a pill, doesn't make it less potent. In fact, it is this that I challenge; something in its purest form, like the Ginger Root, may be the strongest medicine as it is whole. In its wholeness, it helps us to find unity in ourselves, to reconnect us to our source, to our core. 
 
 
 
 
Image Ginger Root by Engin Akyurt on pexels.com
 

​​We just passed the phase of the Autumnal Equinox, around the 21st of September here in the Northern hemisphere. The "change" from Late Summer to Autumn has reared its severe head. Here, we have been presented with 20-degree temperature difference overnight; warm and sunny in the day hitting mid-20s, then down to 5 degrees in the night. Our bodies, with pores wide open like windows of our houses in Summer, were shocked into closure. If not, we got sick with a cold or digestive distress, forcing us to stay in bed under warm covers, which in a way is a form of drastic closure. 
 
After the Autumnal Equinox passes, the light of the sun diminishes every day; over a minute at sunrise and over 2 minutes at sunset. What does this do to living beings on this hemisphere? It makes us, animals and plants, focus more inward; our energies begin to be more Yin concentrated. It is then not surprising that we modern humans stay more indoors, as it is colder, darker and we feel less active, possibly even tired. If you have been feeling this way these past few weeks, there is nothing wrong with you. Nature and the weather affects us because we are a part of nature. What we can do is to honor this connection by taking time to do quiet things, to rest and sleep more. Also, to eat certain foods that will help the process of moving inward, such as with root vegetables. There is this idea in Chinese Medicine and other forms of Complementary Medicine that "like treats like"; if we want to feel more rooted, we should ingest roots, as they will guide our energetic body to create more "rooted connections."
 
One of my favorites is Sweet Potato, 番薯 Fān Shǔ, Ipomoeas batatas in Latin. That's the plant pictured above. For the past few years, we have been planting this wonderful vegetable in our garden as it is a plant that almost all parts - leaf, stem, flower and root, are edible. Its leaves are heart-shaped and they creep and hang off the edge of our veggie-raised-beds, with its blossom so like the Morning Glory. They can propagate by leaf-cuttings but if you had a root that was sprouting, like many root vegetables, you can put this root in a bit of water to allow the sprout to grow leaves and then place them in the Earth. One can boil the roots in water with a little salt, add them to curries, fry/ bake them like Sweet Potato fries or make Sweet Potato pie with walnuts, like they do in the US for Thanksgiving. In East Asia, we make Rice Congee with Sweet Potato roots, deep fry them with a batter to make tempura in Japanese cuisine or in ball-form as a sweet snack in Malaysia (fān shǔ dàn) or served in a sweet soup in China. We also eat the leaves and stems, in the Spring-Summer seasons, as a stir-fry like you can with spinach, with a little garlic and soy sauce. They are beautiful beings that thrive in sunny, warm conditions, but are very sensitive to frost, as they are originally from Central/ South America like the regular potato. As such, it is now soon time to harvest the roots in our garden.
 
In Chinese Medicine, Sweet Potato is sweet in flavor, neutral to cooling in temperature and, affects the Spleen, Stomach, Large Intestine and Kidney meridians. When a food or herb is naturally sweet in flavor, it often will tonify Qi. As such Sweet Potato's functions include strengthening Spleen to promote Qi, increase mother's milk production, as well as helps support bowel movements, remove toxins from the body, builds the Yin in the body, which then treats dryness and inflammation. From a Western nutritional perspective, its orange color already suggests that it is high in Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A. Sweet Potato is also high in Vitamin C and E, potassium and fiber. Its natural sweetness and being a root vegetable, versus fruits, has a low-glycemic index and can help stabilize blood-sugar imbalances such as diabetes. Hence, one can eat it as a dessert without having any processed sugar or fructose. I know people who do not tolerate night-shade vegetables, such as potatoes and tomatoes, but Sweet Potatoes are not night-shades, as such very agreeable with those who have these issues. As often the case with most things, too much of a good thing transforms it to a hindrance. Eat it or anything with consciousness, LESS IS MORE.  
 
I find the Sweet Potato plant so versatile and resilient, taking root all over the world; from the Americas to Asia-Pacific, Africa and Europe through the Columbian Exchange, but also it has been found that Polynesia had cultivated this plant before the British came to the islands. We can learn a lot from this plant in being adaptable yet being able to root almost in every continent on the Earth. Best of all to go inward to find our own roots at this time of year.
 
 
 
Image Sweet Potato Plant and Blossom by Elaine
Image Sweet Potato Roots by Suanpa on Pixabay

As a teenager, I remember observing my mom and her news consumption. She would walk out in the morning to get her newspaper, then read it through the day, clipping articles that she felt were interesting to keep. Then, every hour she turned on the radio to listen to the hourly news bulletin while still reading her newspaper. Then when the news broadcast appeared on the TV, she would turn that on too. She was what we would define today as a "news junkie," an addict of news and she is not alone. In fact, we, the humans living in this time and space of 2021, have become a society of news junkies. 
 
We in the modern world have perfected the art of receiving news by introducing TV news networks that play 24-hour news with second-to-second updates moving below the screen, the internet, push notification on our mobiles phone for the newest, most important news of the minute right at the tip of our fingers, delivered directly to us. I get to the tram station and there is a dispenser for a free newspaper, which many do not think twice to take along to read and leave on the seat of the tram as a service to the next person. I sit on the tram and I am bombarded by the news on a screen, which is extremely hard to avoid because it's right next to the screen displaying the next tram stop. I, like many in our society, was taught to stay informed of the news, as it meant that you were a well-read, aware, educated individual. But is this really true?
 
I believe that one of the questions should not be "what" is the news but "how" is this news. Over the years, I realized that the news being broadcasted/ published has become increasingly negative and bleak, about some event like an earthquake in some part of the world that I have never been to or a plane crash that killed a whole lot of people. If you know how many earthquakes occur in a day, which according the US Geological Survey happens 50 times a day, or that the number of commercial plane crashes in a year in the world is between 0-2. I ask myself sometimes why we don't hear of the thousands of flights daily that landed safely and didn't crash, as well as the information that earthquakes happen on a regular basis because our Earth is a living entity. How is my knowing of this event going to change anything? Many of us just read, listen, watch and do nothing about it except maybe to feel a little depressed or fearful for a moment until the next tragedy occurs. Who defines what news should be? This is where I question the intentions of news providers. Are they reporting this news because they have a genuine intent to aid society or living beings or is it just gaining profit by provoking some sort of emotional reaction in us through sensationalize information reporting? When I consider the "why" I am being provided with a free newspaper at my tram station every weekday morning, I observe that the paper is in fact NOT FREE, as it is filled with advertisements paid for by companies wanting to sell something to the readers. When we get news on the internet or push service, our data is being collected, possibly sold, to companies that are once again trying to sell or get something out of us. We are not benefitting from these but being sapped of our time, energy, attention and mental health.
 
What can we do so that we are getting news that we need and want? We have to be mindful and to search for it ourselves, if we want to. We will need to stop consuming the "media diarrhea" that is being projected on us.  As neuroscientist Beau Lotto describes,
 
"While we still know very little about attention [...], it seems that the power of attention is not in doing the looking but in the ability to stop looking..., to look away, to move your eyes to the less obvious, to stop a cycle of thoughts and perception. (Lotto, 2017, 264)
 
We can consciously look away and fill our space of attention with thoughts and ideas that we ourselves deem important. If you are really in need of news, historian Rutger Bregman suggests:
 
"My rule of thumb? I have several: steer clear of television news and push notifications and instead read a more nuanced Sunday paper and in-depth feature writing, whether online or off. Disengage from your screen and meet real people in the flesh. Think as carefully about what information you feed your mind as you do about the food you feed your body." (Bregman, 2020, 392) 
 
  

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Reference
Bregman, Rutger (2020): Humankind - A Hopeful History. London: Bloomsbury Publishing
 
Lotto, Beau (2017): Deviate - The Creative Power of Transforming your Perception. London: Orion Publishing
 
 
 
 
Image by _Alicja_ on Pixabay

When I was in my Chinese Medicine studies in San Francisco, I had a classmate who was of Japanese ethnicity but grew up in Hawaii. We laughed about how we thought that Pears were meant to be eaten crunchy. Where we both grew up, Pears were imported so when it was shipped to us, they were not yet ripened. This is how I got to know Pears as a child, as sweet, juicy, crunchy beings.
 
The Pear is called 棃子 lí zi in Mandarin. There are 3000 known varieties of Pyrus around the world. We have come to know Pears as "pear-shaped," but there is also the Nashi Pear which is rounder. In Chinese Medicine, Pears are cooling in temperature, with sweet and sour flavors. They enter the channels of Lung, Large Intestines, Gallbladder and Spleen. Like Apples, Pears are from the Rosaceae family, the same family of the Rose. Their main function is to tonify Yin and moisten dryness, especially in relation to the Lung with symptoms like thirst, dry throat as well as skin. They may also help with constipation, specifically when the stools are hard and dry, indicating a Yin deficiency, which can often happen when we get older. Another function of Pears is to cool heat in the Lungs and dispel phlegm. Here we have once again food that is medicinal. One of my teachers in Chinese Medicine school gave us a recipe for a lovely dessert with Pears for the Autumn to help moisturize the Lungs that tend to get irritated in this season. Simply steam the Pears on a plate for 15 minutes and then remove from heat. Then drizzle a teaspoon of honey over the steamed Pears to enhance the Lung moisturizing effect. Definitely drink the juice that has been released from the steaming process. 
 
I have a Pear tree growing in my garden, which my husband and I planted when we moved into our home a few years ago. Last year, as the Spring and Summer were warm and sunny, our young, tender-branched tree bore an incredible amount of fruit, something like 30. Its branches began to bend from the load of the fruit, we had support them with sticks. This year was a totally different story; it was raining in Spring and the Summer cool, as such, we had ONE Pear growing, which has already been harvested. The fruit harvest was meager but the life lesson rich. I learned that Nature is intelligent, a lot more intelligent than us humans. When it produces too much in a year, the next year's harvest will be milder. Sometimes even no fruit. In this way, the being, whether plant or animal, will be able to conserve its life energy for a longer period of time. Thus, ensuring a higher chance of survival for the coming years. We humans, unfortunately do not understand this concept of respecting limits and Nature's rules. We push things to extremes, "bigger and more is better," making bigger cars, buildings, cities and even more as well as bigger humans. We don't just want a 100 percent, we want a 110 percent! So, what happens then is that we overdraw on our resource account and then we have a deficit, which we will be paying back for generations or even the possibility of not surviving. It is simple math that even a primary school child can solve but we adults just can't seem to figure it out. 
 
The answer is simple, USE LESS. Find balance, just take enough and put back what we take. Treat every being with respect, even the common Pear. It has many lessons to teach us.  


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Image by Elaine

Many years ago, as I was reading books on Chinese Nutritional Therapy, which is a big part of Chinese Medicine, a "lightbulb" moment occurred. One book was about treating children's issues by Bob Flaws and how about 90 percent of the time children's ailments have to do with digestive/ nutritional issues. This by the way, in my experience with working with children over the years, is true. The author stated, and I may be paraphrasing it, that "cooking is the beginning of the digestive process." It sparked an awakening in my understanding of food and its transformation within our system. I had never thought about cooking as being food digestion before we ingest it inside us. 
 
In Malaysia, possibly most of Asia and many other parts of the world, food is more than just eating to get energy. It is culture, identity, a socially-binding force, the joy of life...the list of descriptions goes on and on. People in Malaysia talk, cook, eat, breathe and live food. Food is boiled, steamed, braised, stir-fried in a wok, deep-fried, baked in clay...you name it, it gets done. I was exposed to this creativity in cooking early on in life and I too enjoy cooking, as well as eating. But I had never thought of cooking as digestion. What a revelation! But it makes sense! Take rice for instance, if you just took raw grains of rice into your mouth and chewed it, it would be hard and arduous, probably crack your teeth, before you could even swallow a few grains. Would it even taste good and could our digestive system even be able to break it down for energy?
 
The process of cooking is not just a hobby, it is an essential part of life as a human being in order to survive. It goes even further when you look at the theories that have been suggested over the past few years. One such hypothesis was proposed by biological anthropologist and primatologist Dr.Richard Wrangham. He suggests that the human brain evolved to its current size as we began cooking our food. As heating/ cooking what we ate, whether meat, grains or tubers, breaks-down starches, denatures protein and helps kill pathogen, the human body began having more energy to develop other body parts, such as the brain. Through this evolution came other changes in human development and social structure. Crazy to think that something so normal and under- appreciated as cooking could have such an impact on a whole life species and also the whole of the living world since our brain development led us to create a more complex style of living. I watched a documentary on the evolution of the digestive system. Part of Dr. Wrangham's research is featured at the end of the documentary.
 
One of the trends that we have at the moment is the Smoothie/ Juicing trend. I hear and read of many who swear by these methods of obtaining nutrients. As with many things in life, what fits some may not fit others. In Chinese Medicine, we have the view that some individuals tend to have heat in their system and others cold; these individuals who tend to heat may benefit from smoothie/ juice drinking, as most fruit and vegetables that have not been cooked have a cooling nature. From the Chinese medical nutrition perspective, this time of year requires us to eat warm food; one aspect is to have food in a certain temperature that our bodies do not have to expand more energy to warm the food further in order to digest and another aspect is that we receive warmth that will help our bodies stay at the ideal temperature of ca. 37 degrees Celsius. This is not to say that we do not eat any fresh vegetables and fruit, but that our food should be predominately warm and then supplemented by raw produce in winter. This will change as the season changes and the temperature warms up. If we look at the nature surrounding us right now in Switzerland, we will notice that there are little to no fruits growing on trees. They have all been harvested before the end of autumn. What fruit we have that are still fresh here, such as apples and pears, are harvested and stored in special conditions to last through winter. Tropical fruits or citrus fruits that we get from the supermarket are imported from places that are still having warm/ temperate climates currently. Therefore, it is best to eat these sparingly, like 1 to 2 fruits a day. Too many will cool our systems down too much and we will either feel cold often or be unable to digest the fruit well, leading to loose stools or diarrhoea.
 
One of the most beloved food for the Chinese is Congee, Bái Zhōu in Mandarin, Jūk in Cantonese or just simply rice porridge. It's rice cooked in a lot of water over a longer period of time. When I was ill as a child, this was the food my mother cooked for me, as I do for my children. But we cook a hardier version with meat in regular life in winter. It is easy to digest, yet very nutritious, providing enough fluids and nutrients. I have fasted on just water and plain Congee over a span of a week, and felt that I could actually perform everyday activities, including working, without feeling drained. It is simple, wholesome and easy to incorporate into your diet, even and especially if you are not used to cooking regularly but want to begin. Be creative, use the classical recipe as a base and then modify the ingredients to create your own personal Congee. Try it and start enjoying the warming nourishment!

Congee Recipe as pdf in English  

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Image Chicken Congee by Maria & Elaine  

I grew up in Malaysia, in the suburbs of the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Malaysians, who are of different cultural backgrounds like Chinese, Malay, Indian etc., come together for food. They might have many differences but what connects them is food and their love of it. One of my favorite is Dim Sum, a meal, often a brunch, where different types of food, vegetable, meat, bread, rice, which are steamed, fried, boiled, are served in small portions in bamboo-steamed baskets or plates. A little bit like Spanish Tapas but different. Dim Sum originates from the southern part of China, Hong Kong is very well-known for it. Often in a traditional Dim Sum restaurant, one would sit at the table with an order sheet, your pot of Chinese tea and carts with fresh-made food would be rolled around by servers, shouting the dish's name, and you would just have to call out, tell them how many portions you wanted, they would serve it to you and mark it on your order sheet. Then, the next server would come by and the process continues, until you decide that you've had enough. A very lively atmosphere. It brings people together: families, friends, business meetings, workers, anybody. The meaning of Dim Sum, which is in the Cantonese dialect, is "Touch the Heart." I find that incredible, a meal that touches the heart. So often we think of food as just for the stomach but this one is meant to touch the heart as it brings people together and guess what? In Chinese Medicine, the tongue is the orifice of the Heart. It is all starting to make sense, food that touches the heart by nourishing the receptors of the tongue and bringing people together. 
 
Since the whole quarantine process has been in effect, I have been home with the whole family. Our children have been home-schooling and we have had a lot of time to do things we normally don't get to do. We often cook most of our meals at home normally but now we can take more time, experimenting new recipes. We have made meat dumplings, gnocchi, cakes, smoothies, lemon meringue pie and raspberry tiramisu. It has actually been pleasant to have time. There is a popular American saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." In my case, lemon meringue pie. I may not agree or like the situation but it doesn't help if I grumble about it, so I am making the best of it. I am using this time to "touch the heart" of my family.
 
Another effect of the quarantine/ isolation is that we have been called to practice "social distancing," avoiding all physical contact with people, including shaking hands, hugging and definitely not kissing. We have been dictated to stay away from our elderly family and friends, as well as keep a 2-metre distance from everyone in public. 
 
Since I began studying Chinese Medicine, I have become aware what different body parts represent and how they affect our health. For instance, the shaking of hands, which is very prevalent in many places in the world is the connection of 2 points of the palm of the hands which are on the Heart and Pericardium Meridians, both of Fire element. So, when I shake your hand, I connect my heart with yours. Similarly, when I hug someone, I meet my heart with yours. In Malaysia, there is a tradition, especially among the ethnic Malays where they shake hands with both hands and place both their hands right after onto their chest, emphasizing the Heart connection. This I find beautiful. The lips are a little different from the Chinese Medicine and meridian view, they manifest the Spleen and Stomach, both of the Earth element. The cheeks also manifest the Stomach meridian. Of course, the Spleen and Stomach are organs of digestion but in Chinese Medicine, they produce Qi and Blood, the essentials for life. These are greetings with the touch of the skin and there are many more greetings that do not require touch. For instance, in India and in many places in Asia, they place their 2 palms together in front of the heart to greet each and/or they bow their heads to each other, both are as signs of respect and to honor. I am finding these to be very valuable at the current time.
 
So much of how we communicate with each other is the "touch of the heart." Real connection to each other is from the heart. Even if we aren't allowed to touch or be close to one another, we can still touch each other's heart in simple things like greeting and smiling at each other from afar. This current situation is challenging but it also gives us a chance to evaluate what really is important in our lives.   


Image Dim Sum by Alice Cheung from Pixabay

"An apple a day, keeps the doctor away," is a common English adage. I recall as a young student in school, where the girls used to pass on friendship books to write details of ourselves as a remembrance and this was one of the little adages included. I thought it funny and cute. We don't have apples growing naturally in tropical Malaysia; all our apples came from China, Australia, New Zealand or USA. They weren't always the crunchy, juicy, sweet apples we have here in Switzerland. Sometimes, they were soft and powdery on the inside but outside was bright red. No wonder, as they had to be shipped a couple of thousands of kilometers to get to me. The first time I saw an apple tree laden with fruits, ready to be plucked and crunched into, it felt like a dream, like something from a fairytale. What I did not realize then is that apples are very special fruits and symbols of life and bearers of nourishment, holding the power of spring and summer in its flesh.
 
Malus domestica, is the Latin name for the fruit we now know as apple. It is an ancestor of Malus sieversii, which is a wild form of apple native to the mountains in central Asia, in countries like Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Malus sylvestris, European crabapple, found all over Europe. Apples appear to have been around for over thousands of years and have over 7500 cultivars. What also is amazing about this fruit is that it comes from the family of Rosaceae, the Rose. All the relatives of plants that we had no idea of, native to an area and migrating from one place to another and then becoming almost natural to that place over a period of time, as we humans. Have you ever cut an apple horizontally? I normally don't but when I did, this is what I found, a star with five points. Wow! What a revelation for me! The pentagram is sacred in many cultures, the Celts, the ancient Greeks, Romans, Jewish tradition...to name a few. It is also relevant in mathematics and geometry. In Chinese Medicine, it represents the 5 Elements (refer to the diagram in my first post in February 2019). All these years, I have been eating my apple and was never ever aware it had this form within it.  
 
Now is the time of the apple harvest, late summer into autumn, the time of Earth and Metal in Chinese Medicine. As such, the apple affects the organs of the Spleen, Stomach, Lung, Large Intestines and also the Gall Bladder, by nature of its medicinal properties. All herbs and foods in the Chinese Materia Medica, have organs associated with it, a temperature, tastes, which also have connections to organs and its specific functions. Apple is cooling, as most fruits are, and has a sweet, sour taste. This means that apple will cool down warm conditions or heat in the body, its sweetness will nourish Qi and the sour will astringe fluid. So, when we look at its functions of reducing and clearing heat in the body, moistening dryness, stimulating digestion, as well as tonifying Qi and Blood, it all makes sense with the tastes and temperature. It also will cool down heat in the Lung, protecting it from cigarette smoke, stimulate appetite, help lower cholesterol and toxic metal levels in the body. You can grate apple and make a poultice for sunburn and conjunctivitis. Of course, be aware that if you have a tendency to feel cold and have sensitive digestion, like loose stools, you should not overeat apple. Cooking it may help that it be absorbed better, like in the case of babies, who have weak digestive systems. 
 
Remarkable isn't it?  Something so common, found in every grocery store at the moment, or somebody's yard falling to the ground as no one had time to pick it, can do all that. We take too many things for granted. Maybe the simple things in life, right in front of our eyes, hold the magic and the miracle of healing and health. For us in Chinese Medicine, we take the perspective that "Food is Medicine." What you eat in the everyday, affects how your body and mind functions.  Don't just eat apple, because someone told you it's good for you, eat it and sense how it makes you feel, in mind and body. With this, I propose a new adage,
"If you want to stay healthy, listen to your body (and mind ;-))".


Image: apple by Pixabay user bernwaeltz
Image: 5-pointed-star apple by Elaine