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There are a wide range of dermatological issues that can benefit from the Chinese Medicine approach, including issues ranging from hormonal cystic acne, to autoimmune-induced eczema and psoriasis and everything in between. These issues are induced by a range of hormonal imbalances caused by stress, and also dietary issues that create toxicity in the body. [Read more: Eczema, Psoriasis, Dermatitis: Treating Skin Conditions with TCM]
A few changes in the diet help to clear the skin. According to Chinese Medicine principles, skin redness and itchiness is a reflection of uncontrolled fire energy and the swelling is due to dampness toxin. TCM therapeutics like herbal remedies and acupuncture for no doubt play an important part in deep cleaning and restarting the disturbed internal balance, a correct diet is almost just critical in the skin management. Just like when your mom is cleaning up your home, the last thing she wants is someone creating more mess and bringing in more trash. By adjusting your diet, you can reduce new toxin building up and facilitate the natural cleansing. Today, I’d like to review simple recipes that benefit the skin. [Read more: Acupressure at LI 11 May Reduce Itching and Skin Changes With Atopic Dermatitis] [Read more: Your Body as a Garden] [Read more: TCM Dietary Advice]
Avoid Food with a “Fa” nature
“Fa” in Chinese means eruptive. Foods with a “Fa” nature would flare up the internal toxin and show on the skin. It stimulates pathogenic factors, creates disharmonies and exacerbate inflammatory conditions. They have a deleterious effect on skin disorders, excessive scar formation, allergies, tumors and cancer.
Food such as cinnamon, chili, peppers, peanuts, lamb, chicken, refined sugar, white flour, deep-fried and grilled food carry strong fire energy. If you have red and itchy skin, you should avoid them. The fire energy only stay in the body when there are dampness, so damp creating food like very dense sugar or sweet, dairy products, cold or raw items, tropical fruits (mango, pineapple, durian, avocado, litchi), berries, alcohol, chocolate and seafood with shell are something to avoid. [Read more: Cook your food - digestive system explained in Traditional Chinese medicine]
These food sound so common and ordinary right? This kind of explains the soring number of “developed area diseases” because the modern diet brings too much nutrition to us and end up overflowing as toxin.
Do eat these
Cooked green vegetables
It is so sad that the variety of green vegetables is SO LIMITED in Slovenia. Back at the time when I was in Hong Kong, I had at least 10 times more variety. If you have your own vegetable garden, here are something you can grow or utilize as vegetables:
Bok Choy - cleans up Lung system
Young Goji leaves - clean up Liver system
Young Pea leaves - clean up Spleen system
Young sweet potato leaves - clean up Spleen system
Young chili leaves - clean up intestine system
Remember to gently cook them with quick boiling or stir fry because raw vegetables could harm the stomach fire and slow down congestion which lead to toxin accumulation. If you do not have skin problem, it is even better to cook with a few slices of ginger.
Dandelion
Utilize the early springtime and pick dandelion leaves. Dandelion is a common herb for acne or other inflammatory condition. The cleaning effect is stronger if you pick the whole young plant with root. If you have long term skin redness and itchiness problem, you may pick the dandelion during the season and dry it on the hay rack and use it when necessary. The taste is not the most favoring when taken with root, so you may also cook a high concentrate juice to put on your affected skin.
Mung beans and seaweed soup
Mung beans have good cleaning power. You can also eat the mung bean sprout as vegetables, it is available at some supermarket. Mung beans and seaweed soup can be eaten sweet or salty. For sweet version, put a handful of mung beans and 10 gram of seaweed and cook for 1 hour, then season with brown sugar. I often have a comment that Slovenian find sweet beans weird, so you might switch to the salty version. Same ingredient and some pork and soy cook together as a soup and season with salt. [Read more: The Japanese Diet And Why It Is Good For Health]
Lily bulb rice congee
This works better for moisturizing than cleaning. Lily is very good at nourishing the Lung system which in the TCM theory doctrine the skin. Rice provides Qi energy and improves Stomach function therefore better supply of energy to the skin. [Watch our rice congee cooking video]
Watermelon peel
Why use the peel when watermelon itself is already a good cooling fruit? In the TCM theory, we believe similar structure share similar energy. The peel is the skin of the fruit, so it could connect with the skin condition better. To use the watermelon peel, you can simple use it as a mask on your affect skin, or, cut out the white part and cook for 30 minutes and season with rock sugar as a daily drink. This is also good for urinary tract infection because of its diuretic and cooling effect. [Read more: Foundation of TCM dietary and herbology (1/4)- Four natures]