FOOD FOR NOURISHING THE BLOOD
Healthy Blood is the key to feeling juicy & alive
Signs of blood deficiency
❊ Tiredness / Fatigue
❊ Dizzy when standing up
❊Vague anxiety / Palpations
❊ Cloudy thinking / Brain fog
❊Poor memory
❊Pale
❊Tendency to freeze
❊ Difficulty falling asleep
❊ Muscle soreness or/and weakness
❊ Dry skin
❊ Ridged / brittled nails
❊ Feeling of being weak and fragile
❊ Difficulty falling asleep
For women
❊ Long period cycles
❊ Light / scanty bleeding during periods
❊ Absent periods
❊ Fatigue after period
❊ Slight headache after period
REASONS FOR BLOOD DEFICIENCY
❊ Insuficient diet
❊ Imbalance of blood building organs (kidney & spleen)
❊ Imbalance of digestive system
❊ Blood stagnation
❊ Loss of blood - through childbirth, injuries ext
EATING TIPS FOR MAINTAINING HEALTHY QI & BLOOD
❊ Don't drink with your meal.
if so only rinse your mouth with water
or drink warm water with a little ginger.
❊ Don't eat to late in the evening
❊ Eat mindfully
don't watch tv, phone, engange in heated arguments ext.
❊ Drink tempered or warm drinks
drinking cold beverages slows down your digestion
❊ Eat warm
stews with warming spices is fantastic in this sense.
Don't eat to many cold and raw salads, especially not in the winter. If you do anyway make sure to drink some warm water with ginger in
Improving your Blood quality has to be approached with an increased awareness on a overall healthy and nourishing diet eaten mindfully.
Try to insure suffient amount of rest and restorative activities.
To focus on a yin yang balance in life.
From here you can add specific food, supplements, acupuncture, chinese herbal medicine ext. with great success.
BLOOD BUILDING FOOD
Grains:
oats, rice, dinkel wheat, amaranth, bran, millet
Fruits:
dates, figs, apples, pomegranate, abricots, cherries, grapes,
avocadoes, goji berries and other red berries
Nuts & seeds:
almonds, sesame seeds
Beans:
aduki beans, kidney beans
Vegetables:
beetroots, brocoli, dark leafy vegetables, spinach, shiitake, mushrooms, cabbage,
artichoke, seaweed salad, sellery, parsley,
Meat:
red meat, bonemarrow, liver, tuna, sardines, mussels, oysters,
Supplements:
krauterblut, bonebroth, wheat grass,barley grass, spirulina, chlorella, don gui,
umeboshi plums, bee pollen
Herbs:
nettles, parsley, dandelion
Other:
molasse, soy milk, eggs
BLOD IN CHINESE MEDICINE:
Firstly it is of importance to understand that the term Blood In Chinese Medicine
has a broader range than that of Western Medicine.
So while it is still a red liquid rich in nutrients circulating through the vessel of the body, Chinese Medicine ascribes some extra qualities to the blood
1. Blood nourishes the body
The bloods main function is to distribute nutrients around the body -
both in the organs in the interior og to the muscles, tendons,
bones and skin in the exterior
2. Blood mousturizes the body
Blood is a more condensed form of qi. It is a more yin form of qi.
With these yin qualities blood is to make sure the body is moistened.
It prevents muscles, tissues, sinews, organs ext. from drying out.
In this sense healthy blood works as a cooling agent that makes sure
your system is not overheating.
3. Blood harbours the Mind (shen)
The Mind is said to reside in the heart and run with the Blood.
So if there is a lack of Blood Mind will be lacking its foundation -
which can result in restlessness, insomnia, agitation and anxiety.
In Chinese Medicine you do not only relate to the quantity of blood but also to the quality of the blood. So when your acupuncturist says you have Blood Deficiency it can mean that you have a low Blood volume (amount of Blood circulating in your system)
or/and it can mean that the quality of Blood is indicating a lack of nourishment
(such as low iron)
So it is possbile that you can get the diagnosis Blood Defiency from your Chinese Medical Practioner but it is not neccesarily detecable from a test at your doctor.
Most of the time though if you have got diagnosed with Blood Deficiency at your doctor it will also be in your Chinese Diagnose.
