Common Floweringqince Fruit ( Mu Gua)

Action:

Relaxes the sinews and dredges the channels

• For stiffness and spasms of the sinews, muscular stiffness and spasms, and muscular atrophy. This is one of the best herbs for relaxing the sinews. Also for the weakness and pain in the lower back.

Regulates the stomach and resolves dampness

• For abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and nausea. Also for cramps of the calves, and edema in the legs.

Note:

Use with caution for person suffering from hyperacidity, food accumulation and stagnation. Excessive consumption may damage the teeth.

Quality Herb:

• The good one has a compact, shrunken surface, with thick pulp, reddish in colour, and is sour.

Indian Bread (Fu Ling) (Poria)

Excerpt from book...

'Fu Ling has always been regarded as a nourishing food well-liked by people. It is old Empress Dowager Ci Xi's favourite snack.

According to legend, Ci Xi suffered from weak health and a poor appetite. The imperial chefs racked their brains to selet medicial herbs that helped to invigorate the spleen and promote appetite. They found out about the uses of poria. Hence, they used pine nuts, peach kernel, sweet osmanthus flower and honey as the main ingredients, and mixed with an appropriate amount of poria powder. Ci Xi was very pleased with the recipe and would offer poria pastry as a form of reward for court officials. Thus, poria cake become a popular imperial pastry. '

That's how fu ling became popular.

Uses of fu ling

• Drains dampness and reduces swelling.


• Promotes urination


• Relieves phlegm

Quality Herb

The good one is heavy, hard and compact, sticky, with a white fine core; the outer skin is brown, with striattions but no fissures.

Slenderstyle Acanthopanax Bark (Wu Jia Pi)

Action:

• Dispels wind and dampness in Bi syndrome, strengthens tendons and bones.
  
• Treats deficiency in the liver and kidney
  
• For elderly, or children with weak bones and tendons.
  
• Alleviates dampness and swelling in the limbs resulting in feeble gait.
  
• Relieves water retention in the face and body, and pain in urinating.
  
• For edema in limbs of cold-dampness type.
  
• For threatened miscarriage with vaginal bleeding arising from yin deficiency of the liver and kidney.

Note:

Use with caution in the person with hyperactivity fire due to yin deficiency.

Relieving Wind

The newly launched Essential Chinese Medicine Book is out. 'Relieving Wind'
This book focuses on rheumatism, what type of medicine is suitable for rheumatism.
Why is 'fu ling' (Indian Breand) famous?



This book will cover the following.


Antirheumatic Herbs

• Antirheumatic herbs for expelling cold


• Antirheumtic herbs for clearing heat


• Antirheumatic herbs for strengthening bones
  

Diuretic Herbs

• Diuretic herbs for relieving edema


• Diuretic herbs for treating stranguria
  
• Diuretic herbs for reliving jaundice

Interior-Warming Herbs


Medicinal Cooking.

How to decoct medicine

Washing the pot
Pot used for decocting medicine should be washed thoroughly.

• To prevent medicinal dregs from staying in the pot


• To prevent interfering with the properties and effectiveness of the next brew


• To prevent dregs from setting at the bottom of bot and becoming burnt

Soaking the medicinal herbs

• Soak the herbs in cold water between 30 minutes to an hour.


• Do not wash the medicinal herbs

Amount of water added

• Distilled water will be most ideal to decoct Chinese medicine


• Water level should be about 3-4cm above the drugs


• *Some drugs float, so take note of the drugs before adding the water

The duration of decoction
*To be decocted at least twice

Medicine for general ailments

First decoction: Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes
Second decoction: Bring to boil and cook for 20 minutes

Medicine to dispel exterior heat syndrome

First decoction: Bring to boil and cook for 8-10 minutes
Second decoction: Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes

Nourishing medicine

First decoction: Bring to boil and cook for 60 minutes
Second decoction: Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes

Taking the medicine (depends on the nature of the medicine)

Consumption before a meal: Nourishing medicine

Consumption after a meal: Medicine to dipel wind and dampness
Medicine that is strong on the stomach

Consumption on an empty stomach: Medicine to kill parasites and treat constipation

Consumption before bedtime: Medicine to settle the mind and heart

Consumption without restricted timing: Medicine to treat exterior syndrome or acute illness

Lotus Seed (Lian Zi)

Action:
Strengthens the spleen and relieves diarrhoea

• Treats diarrhoea due to deficiency of the spleen

Benefits the kidney to preserve essence, keeps the heart-fire and the kidnet-water in balance

• For palpitation, vexation, insomnia, soreness, weakness of the back and lower extremities

Nourishes the heart and calms the mind

• Treats palpitation, insomnia, amnesia, etc

Quality Herb:

The good one is big and full-grained in shape, powdery and not infested by moths.

Storage:

Keep in dry and well-ventilated place.
Protect from moths, mould and mice.

Red Sage Root (Dan Shen)

Source:

Red Sage Root is the root and rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhizd Bunge

Action:
Invigorates blood and dispels stasis

Treats gynaecological disorders such as irregular menses, amenorrhea and post-partum abdominal pain.

Clears heat and soothes irritability

Relieve chest, epigastric and abdominal pain

For restlessness, irritability, palpitations and insomnia due to heat in nutritive (ying) level

Cools blood and reduces abscesses

Reduce swelling in toxic sores and breast abscesses.

Cools blood to treat symptoms of febrile disorders

Nourishes the blood and calms the spirit

Treats palpitations and insomnia due to heat in ying and xue levels and heat surrounding the heart.

Quality Herb:
A good Danshen root is thick in depth and has a purplish red colour.

Ground Beetle (Di Bie Chong)

Action:
Promotes blood flow, removes blood stasis.

Relieves pain, amenorrhea due blood stasis, abdominal pain due to stasis after delivery.

Heals fractured bones, injured muscles and tendons.

Characteristics of Herb.

Shape

Flat and oval in shape, 1.3-3cm in length, 1.2-2.4cm in width

Surface

Narrow on top and wide at bottom, purplish browm at the back with gloass and no wings

Texture

The mass is fragile, easy to break

Nature and Flavour

The smell is foul and has a slightly salty flavour

Common Aches

Headache

Headaches are caused by blood stasis result from external injury, prolonged illness, and are characterised by pain in specific areas or spots on the tongue.


Recommended : Szechuan lovage rhizome tea with rock sugar, motherwort congee and chrysanthemum tea.

Waist Ache

Waist aches are usually caused by traumatic injury or weariness from overwork. They often occur in specific areas and may worsen at night. The patient's face and lips may turn dark, and the tongue may also turn green with spots.

Recommended: Safflower and pig's liver soup, eucommia bark wine.




Gastric Pain
The patient may experience these symptons, pain in specific areas, tongue turns purple, black stools and vomiting of dark purplish blood.

Recommeded: Safflower tea mixed with honey and red sugar, ruhbarb and flatsedge root soup.
When in great pain, add an adequate amount of notoginseng root and corydalis rhizome powder.

Mix and Match Answer

Here's the answer for 'mix and match'.


So, do you get it all right?

Mix and Match

Match the appropriate herbs(black) to its category(blue).



Have Fun! The answers could be found in Book 3- Improving Blood Circulation.

Good luck to all!

Improving Blood Circulation

This book will cover the following

Blood-Activating Herbs

• Herbs for relieving pain


• Herbs for regulating menstruation


• Herbs for healing


• Herbs for removing blood stasis

Hemostatic Herbs

• Herbs for blood cooling


• Herbs for clearing blood stasis


• Herbs for warming the meridians


• Herbs for retarding bleeding

Astringent Herbs

• Herbs for reducing perspiration


• Herbs for Astringing Lungs and Intestines


• Herbs for Arresting Leujorrhagia and Reducing Urination

The main focus for the book will be under the 'Questions and Answers' section whereby it explains "why do the elderly need to be cautious about the frequent use of Red Sage Root?" It provides an in-depth explanation about the usage of Red Sage Root and whether is it the ultimate medicine to cure common illnesses among the elderly.

Herbs commonly used in beauty treatment

Rejuvenation and anti-wrinkle treatment
Ginseng, Fresh rehmannia root, dodder seed, Chinese angelica root, pilose antler and etc.

Moisturing and whitening the complexion
Greenbrier rhizome, dried silkworm, dittany bark, winter melon seed, pearl and etc

Moisturing and improving circulation to the skin
Peach flower, walnut seed, chaste-tree fruit, wild ginger, almond and etc

Removal of skin discolouration
Typhonium tuber, Magnolia flower, costus root, cloves, musk and etc

Removal of warts
Almond, pearl, argyi leaf, rhubarb, coix

Maintaining black hair
Fleeceflower root, astragalus root, chuanxiong rhizome, red sage root, wolfberry and etc.

Interested in knowing certain common herbs used in beauty treatment?

Watch this space for new updates!

Puzzle Answer

Puzzle (Book 1 and 2)

Try out this crossword puzzle.

Aloes (Lu Hui)

Source:
Aloes is the dried concentrated matter obtained from the juice of the leaf Aloe barbadansis Miller.

Action:

Drains fire and reduce accumulation

• For constipation, headache, dizziness, red eyes, inosmnia, and irritability due to heat in the large intestine and liver.


• To treat chronic constipation.

Kills parasites and strengths digestionn

• For childhood malnutrition especially as a result of roundowrm. And effective in treating ringworm. Used topically for treating burns.

Caution!
Use with caution in the case with deficiency of the spleen and stomach.

Green Bean (Lu Dou)

Everyone should be familiar with green bean soup. It has been carried down from many generations in my family. Till now, my mum still cooks green bean soup for the family because she claims it's good for the health, but never know the real reason behind it. And so, the curious me looked into the Essential Chinese Medicine books.

Of course, I found it.



How green beans is beneficial to us?
It is that it clears away toxic heat, summer heat and promotes diuresis.
Green beans is to prevent and treat summer-heat synfrome and miliaria.

Quality Herb:
The good ones should be full-grained, green in colour, hard, with pale yellowish green kernel and thick cotyledons.

Hope it helps all.
Extract from Essential Chinese Medicine- Restoring Balance.
If you are interested in finding out more, do check out the bookstores for this book. =)

Glabrous Greenbrier Rhizome (Tu Fu Ling)

Usage:
The usage for glabrous greenbrier rhizome can be for rejuventation and anti-wrinkle treatment.
It is also good for treating chronic and recurrent dampness heat skin disorder or acute skin lesions caused by heat.

Quality Herb:

A good glabrous greenbrier rhizome is big in size , heavy with powerdery, pale brown surface.

Medicinal Cooking:

Greenbrier can be used together with lotus root, pork, fresh coix, adsuki bean and hyacinth seed to prepare the following...

Greenbrier and Lotus Root Pork Soup

Effects
It clears heat and summer heat, relieves coughing and dampness builds the spleen and improves appetite.

A learning point while reading the book on 'Restoring Balance'. Some medicinal cooking recipes are included and the effects of the herbs/recipes are clearly stated. This books is really helpful in guiding someone towards TCM and allow us to understand more about the effects of the herbs.

Restoring Balance

These are the guidelines on what the book covers.

Antipyretic Herbs

• Hers for Eliminating Toxic Heat


• Herbs for reducing Intense Internal Heat


• Herbs for heat-clearing and blood-cooling


• Herbs for eliminating heat and dampness


• Herbs for clearing Astenic Heat

Purgatives Herbs

Dampness-Resolving herbs


Watch out this space for understanding on some individual herbs.

Are you Yin or Yang? - QuizMyMates

Try this out!

Are you Yin or Yang? - QuizMyMates

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Health Tonics

After a long time searching for the book which clearly describes about TCM.
I HAVE FINALLY FOUND IT!!!

It will be none other than Essential Chinese Medicine: Health Tonics.

book cover.

What's more, the herbs are categorized under 'Qi Tonics', 'Blood Tonics', Yin Tonics' and 'Yang Tonics'.
Each description about the herb is clearly stated, the uses, source, usage and dosage and also recipes on medicinal cooking.

a short excerpt from the book...

Qi Tonics
Tonics of sweet flavour and wamr or moderate nature, used for replenishing the vital energy. Qi tonics are usually used in the treatment of qi deficiency of the spleen, lungs, heart and other organs.

Blood Tonics
Sweet, warm-natured tonics for nourishing the blood, with a moisturising effect. They are mainly used to treat deficiency in the blood.

Yin Tonics
Cool-natured tonics with a sweet flavour, used for replenishing vital esence and fluid. There are usually used to treat deficiency of vital essence and fluid marked by thirst, tidal fever, malar flush etc.

Yang Tonics
These tonics are warm-to hot-natured with sweet, pungent or salty flavour. They can reinforce the kidneys and are used in the treatment of insufficient vital function of the kidney marked by chilliness in the back, aching loins and etc.

What's more, the focal point of the book will be the 'desciption of quality herb' column of each herb. It clearly explained how to examine a quality herb. Since the herbs found in Health Tonic are expensive, it is important for us to understand and able to examine quality herbs. This way we will not be cheated of getting bad herbs.

There's so much more to learn from this book.
I couldnt wait to finish this book and move on to the next series.
Stay tuned for more updates.

Have you ever wondered what are Chinese medicines?
Does it derived from plants only?
Or is there any other sources, such as insects?
What exactly is the use of Chinese medicines?
And definitely, how are the names derived from?

Basically, Chinese medicines (zhong yao) refers to the medicines prescribed in accordance with the principles and theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM).
They possess healing prepertires and health benefites are used to prevent, cure and diagnose disease and illness.
Of course, they derived from unprocessed plant, animal and mineral medicines.

As for the names of Chinese medicine, there are numerous criteria of which the names derived from, such as based on the main effects of the medicinal materials or based on parts for making medicines and etc.

The wonders of origins of Chinese Medicines and the herbs themselves are remarkable.

What''s more can I say when my interest lies in this.
It's just simply amazing.