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Health & Fitness

Community Update

Herbs
Don't Work, Formulas Work



Over
10,000 natural substances from botanical, animal, and mineral sources have been
used as medicine in China and Asia. The list includes many herbs you've heard
of like ginseng, ginger, cinnamon, and licorice, and very many you haven't.



 

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But the
legendary power of Chinese herbs doesn't come from any particular herb.  It comes from the way herbs are
combined into formulas, multiplying potency, and creating new synergies.



Herbs
are food, and a formula is like a recipe, different than any single ingredient;
like eating a raw onion is a different from eating onion soup.

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Formulas
are created using the inscrutable theories and logic of Chinese medicine, but you
needn't know yin from yang to use them for common colds.  Nonetheless, it does help to know a few
things. 



Colds,
the flu, and many other virulent diseases are borne by the wind, so they're called Exterior Wind Evils. Wind Evils
are further divided into Wind Cold and Wind Heat patterns, depending mainly on
the symptoms they produce.



Aversion
to cold, a slight sore throat, and generally mild symptoms, indicate Wind Cold.  This is the common cold.  Severe symptoms such as a severe sore throat, high fever, and
aversion to heat indicate a Wind Heat
pattern. Strep throat, measles, mumps, and many epidemic diseases begin as Wind Heat patterns.



As they
attempt to penetrate deeper, the body acts to expel these evils at the surface where
our defensive energy (WEI QI) circulates.



Herbs that
treat the surface are said to open the pores, enabling the evil to be expelled.



The
following formulas treat surface patterns and can induce sweating. Sweating is
one of the eight methods for curing disease.  The other seven being Vomiting, Draining Downward,
Harmonizing, Warming, Clearing Heat, Reducing, and Tonifying.



1. Scallion and Fermented Soybean is an
easy formula used at the first sign of a cold.  It can be used for both Wind-Cold and Wind-Heat diseases:



Ingredients: Scallions,
CONG BAI, 3-5 stalk, Fermented
Soybeans, DAN DOU CHI, 1 ounce (available at any Chinese grocery store), 



Directions:  Boil the
ingredients in 2 1/2 cups of water in a non-aluminum container for 5-10
minutes.  Strain out herbs, and
divide the remaining liquid into 2 portions.  Drink as soon as possible 4 times daily.



2. Cinnamon Twig Decoction - Use this
for early stage Wind-Cold patterns with slight fever and chills. Find these
herbs in any Chinatown herb store (or at Shen Clinic in Albany)



Ingredients: Cinnamon
twigs GUI ZHI (do not use cinnamon bark) 1/3 ounce, White
peony root BAI SHAO, 1/3 ounce, Fresh
ginger SHENG JIANG, 1/3 ounce, Chinese
black dates DA ZAO, 10 dates,  Honey
fried licorice (ZHI GAN CAO), 1/5 ounce



Directions:  Boil the
ingredients over a low flame in 4 cups of water for 15 minutes.  Drink hot and bundle up to induce
sweating. Repeat as needed.  Discontinue
once sweating has been achieved.



3. Yin Chiao Decoction - Use this
at the first sign of a cold or flu. (available as a pill). Find the
herbs in any Chinese herb store. 
Yin Chiao pills are available in most natural food or vitamin stores.



Ingredients:  Honeysuckle
flowers JIN YIN HUA, 1/2 ounce, Forsythia
fruit LIAN CHIAO, 1/2 ounce, Balloon
flower root JIE GENG, 1/4 ounce, Great
burdock fruit NIU BANG ZI, 1/4 ounce, Mint BO
HE, 1/8 ounce, Fermented
soybeans DAN DOU CHI, 1/8 ounce, Schizonepeta
JING JIE, 1/8 ounce, Bamboo
leaf DAN ZHU YE, 1/8 ounce, Reed
rhizome LU GEN, 1 ounce, Licorice
root GAN CAO, 1/8 ounce



Directions:  Boil all
ingredients except the mint in 4 cups of water for 15 minutes.  Add the mint at the end (only cook mint
for 3-5 minutes).  Drink the
remaining liquid in 3 portions.

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