Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what’s your biggest takeaway about Cold from this episode?

Health trends often encourage a diet rich in raw fruits and vegetables to maximize the enzymes and nutrients available in these foods. But what if we told you those same nutrition-packed smoothies and salads may be contributing to weight gain, fatigue and a slower metabolism?

More important than how much nutrition is in foods is your body's ability to absorb nutrients.

According to Chinese Medicine, nutrition is food + digestion, which means that no matter what you eat, your digestion needs to be healthy first.

In this episode, you'll hear about the shift Dr. Moafi made in her dietary health after connecting the dots with her health issues when she was eating what she thought was a “healthy” diet filled with salads, smoothies and cold drinks.

You’ll learn about the 8 principles of Chinese Medicine and how applying these principles to your food and lifestyle choices can optimize your health and weight loss goals.

The 8 Principles

According to Chinese Medicine, the 8 Principles that guide diagnosis are Yin and Yang, internal and external, hot and cold, excess and deficiency.

The 8 Principles are rooted in the Daoist principles of Yin and Yang, which are both the foundation of all of life as well as the foundation of Chinese diagnosis.

Yin is anything that’s more cooling, quiet, contemplative and slow. In nature, it’s most closely related to nighttime and the moon. On the other hand, Yang is more warming, active, extroverted, and fast. In nature, it’s most closely related to the daytime and the sun.

From there you can understand the other six principles: cold and hot, internal and external, and excess and deficiency.

The Perils of Cold

Cold is a common factor that can become pathological if the weather is too cold as well as through a diet that’s too cold.

Internally, cold is generated by diet such as a lot of raw food, including smoothies and Western pharmaceutical drugs especially those which suppress inflammation, pain and the immune system or antibiotics.

Cold constricts Qi and its movement, which can create both sharp pain as well as stiffness. Internally, it can manifest as gut pain and menstrual pain, as well as infertility if the cold lodges into the reproductive system.

Cold freezes pain and inflammation to bring temporary relief, but Cold also freezes the problem into the tissues and inhibits the circulation of Yang Qi and blood, both of which are needed for longterm healing. Yang Qi is metabolic energy that creates body warmth and supports healthy immunity. Once the Yang Qi is compromised, a person's healing capacity is weakened.

Hyptertension medication for example lowers blood pressure while suppressing the Yang Qi and therefore inducing cold internally that can manifest as erectile dysfunction.

Birth control medication similarly can induce cold and cause stagnation.

A person with Yang Qi insufficiency will show signs of fatigue, low metabolism, gets sick easily and tends to feel cold.

Cold leads to the stagnation of circulation and pain and can also be induced by working in a cold environment such as the fish department in a grocery store. Arthritis conditions can develop over long term exposure to cold environments. 

For any condition of cold and to counter the effects of cold from medication or your environment, it’s essential to focus on warming your core energy.

Tips to Counter the Effects of Cold

One of the most essential tips is to avoid drinking cold drinks or adding ice to your drinks. So drink more hot water with ginger or turmeric or even just room temperature drinks.

Another tip is to soak your body or just your feet in warm water to increase your core temperature.

Hot packs are another great way to warm your body — place a hot pack on your lower back, lower abdomen or at the base of your neck, especially if you have cold limbs or experience headaches or neck stiffness.

The most important thing is to remember that eating a lot of cold foods like salads, smoothies and yogurt will induce cold internally over time. This will make you feel colder, slow down your metabolism and inhibit you from losing weight over time.

The Spleen Qi regulates your metabolism and when it’s taxed, the Spleen won’t be able to create Qi and therefore won’t be able to regulate the metabolism.

At first, eating a lot of salads can result in weight loss especially if you’ve been eating a diet rich in carbohydrates, sugars or any type of refined foods. However, over time, as this cold food taxes the Spleen Qi, your digestion and metabolism will be compromised and therefore the transformation and transportation function of the Spleen is impacted. Since the mind is an extension of the Spleen according to Chinese Medicine, the mental processes including your memory and concentration may be impacted by weakness in the Spleen Qi.

Diarrhea, fatigue, poor memory and poor concentration are all common symptoms of Spleen Qi weakness.

A great way to strengthen your Spleen Qi is to eat more warm, nourishing foods including congee, which you can learn all about in this article.

In general, remember to:

1. Eat fewer cold foods and drinks

2. Keep your body warm with hot baths or foot soaks as well as the use of hot packs.

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what’s your biggest takeaway about Cold from this episode?

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