A couple of quick questions

[buddhasbellybuttonfluff]

1) For a long time I have had a craving for sour treats such as sauerkraut, and acidic dips and sauces. What imbalance does it imply in terms of Chinese medicine? Today I tried taking some vinegar with my meal, and for sure it did great for my usually awful blood sugar. I feel better and better almost every day, and this day made no exception, but I couldn't help but notice how the vinegar helped me. Thanks to drewhempel and cat for exposing this treasure, you guys rock!

 

2) When I concentrate on my bones, a curious sense of expansion takes place: It feels almost as if I use the outer muscles when I in fact don't. Does there exist a protocal of cultivation pertaining to this sensation, and should it be considered an important aspect of practice?

 

Blessings

Edited May 7, 2010 by buddhasbellybuttonfluff

[tyler zambori]

Vinegar is well known for helping blood sugar issues.

 

http://tinyurl.com/28wph6m

 

http://tinyurl.com/cwn4jr

 

 

But if your blood sugar is usually out of control,

First make sure you eat a low carb diet, and then add in

exercise.

[tyler zambori]

And here's some more interesting info about apple cider vinegar:

 

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/applecidervinegardiet/a/applecidervineg.htm

 

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/lifestyle/umeboshi_vinegar.htm

 

Some think that vinegar actually has an alkalizing effect on the body.

I'm currently trying this alkaline diet thing, will see how it goes.

 

So far there have already been a few minor improvements.

I mus0t get back into doing vinegar too..I buy the fancy

health food kind because it tastes way better.

Edited May 8, 2010 by tyler zambori

[Gerard]

1) For a long time I have had a craving for sour treats such as sauerkraut, and acidic dips and sauces...

 

It simply means that your meals are not balanced according to one of the main rules of TCM and diet:

 

1. Sour

2. Hot

3. Bitter

4. Sweet

5. Salty

 

You can also take schizandra berry (Wu Wei Zi) called TCM gem as it contains all 5 flavours.

 

Good info about this pearl:

 

From faraway China, a land renowned for herbal and alternative medicines, as well as natural, healthy foods, we hail the schisandra berry. Widely available in America in capsule, extract, or powdered form, schisandra has been used in China for centuries to treat a large number of ailments and provide healthful benefits to the lungs, blood, and kidneys. It has also been utilized as an antidepressant, an aphrodisiac, and as a means to increase stamina.

 

As it is one of the most important medicinal herbs in China, specialty markets and some asian groceries will sell packages of dried schisandra berries. The medicinal secrets of the tiny red berries are being continually studied, as the schisandra berry contains more than just a bouquet of sweet and sour flavors.

 

Vitamins A, C and E commune happily with compounds called lignans. The large amount of lignans found in schisandra berries are most beneficial in treating liver disease and strengthening the immune system. Lignans help enzymes in the liver produce large amounts of antioxidants. Some studies say that lignans can actually help the liver repair itself after suffering damage from either hepatitis or alcohol consumption.

 

Sold in health and nutrition stores for the purposes of health and personal care, schisandra berries also have an effect similar to ginseng, though not as strong, helping to reduce fatigue and increase body energy. Also useful for treating digestive and intestinal problems, it would seem as if the list of healthful properties contained within the schisandra berry reach far beyond simple liver and kidney repair.

 

Acting as a body cleanser, Chinese researchers are further studying the effects of schisandra berries on the human body, claiming that the berries can help detoxify the body, remove parasites, increase energy supply to vital organs, help strengthen the immune system, increase physical performance, and prevent side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, as well as possess anti-inflammatory properties.

 

A recommended dosage of schisandra berries is 1.5g to 6g, taken daily. Your nutritionist or health food store should be able to discuss proper dosages of schisandra berries depending upon your condition, and in what form would be best suited for you.

 

For culinary purposes, schisandra berries can be used to make delicious and uniquely tasting jellies and jams, used in pies or as spreads. They are also used to make a fine tea.

 

If you are able to find dried berries, a simple recipe for schisandra berry tea would be to boil 2-4 tablespoons of the berries in 2 cups of water, and then simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes. Strain and add 3 cups of hot water and a sweetener such as honey or brown sugar, and the tea is ready to drink.

 

Extracted from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/46183/schisandra_berries_one_of_chinas_most_pg2.html?cat=68

 

 

Good luck!

[三江源]

Hello fluff...or BHBBFluff I suppose I should say - you might find this interesting:

 

bone breathing

[Cloudhand]

Nothing like insulin for keeping blood sugar stable. High sugar is nothing to mess with. Cloud

[buddhasbellybuttonfluff]

Hi folks,

 

I have had my blood sugar tested twice without any trace of diabetes or insulin abnormalities. Besides, no one in my extended family has diabetes despite most of them having bulging issues with weight control, so such tendencies seem unlikely. I would also like to point out that my experiences with low carb diets provided no noticable difference to my standard diet which includes fermented bread and porridge.

 

I've read that stress acts as a potent body acidifier along with refined sugars, unfermented grains, coffee, meat, and tobacco. Blood comprises a very delicate buffer liquid in which even the slightest pH variations indicate major changes to the solubility and balance of ionized minerals and dissolved carbon dioxide, which leads to the alteration of breathing pattern and how body handles blood sugar. I did some addinational searching and saw that the sour taste connects to the wood element and liver/pancreas function, so I will pull a mild liver detox in the weekend and see how it helps.

 

Cat,

 

Thanks for the insert! I had previously noticed the term "bone breathing" somewhere, but now that I think about it, focusing the breath enter and leave the bones seems to bring further progress. Why didn't I figure that out earlier? I find it very humbling and immensely insightful to notice how I must once again get back to basics and integrate the foundational knowledge in new light.

 

Blessings

[yuanqi]

cravings are one of the questions that we ask during our intakes in TCM. craving sour foods is a liver imbalance as that is the flavor associated with it. sugar imbalance is a whole other deal in TCM. Liver qi stagnation equals alot of things, but can be and is usually caused by stress. liver detox is a good idea for you.

actually diet in TCM is something rather new as my professors from China with PH.D's didnt know that much about it, doesnt mean you have to have proper amounts of salty, sweet, bitter, sour, acrid substances in your diet in perfect proportions as thats not possible anyway. thats not what it means. it is the fact that certain organs are associated with certain flavors, crave salty, means kidney issue,herbs that are salty enter the kd channel often, doesnt mean you need to add more salt to the diet LOL get my point. The tastes in TCM are the Properties of the herb itself.

 

however vinegar makes you feel better or helps you because it is sour and that sourness will help the liver. most often though an herb with a sweet, sour, bitter property in TCM may not taste that way.

 

wu wei zi is a good herb, that is no question. and one of its flavors is sour so one would think you can use it for the liver, and you can however if you do its mainly for the eyes but most dont, but it is in some classical books for this reason. Current reseach may indicate it is great for this or that, but if using TCM herbal medicine, then you should treat using TCM THEORY, research is great but that gets away from how the herbs are used and why. The fact of wu wei zi being sour ALSO means it is astringent, its not in any of the TONIFYING categories, its in stabalze and bind category. so it is more often used in cough or leaking lung qi etc, it is also used for calming the mind or spirit by virtue of it entering the Heart Channel which is a secondary function, also to bind kd qi, for things like leakage of urine or sperm etc. if you have excess heat in your body (which meditation can build) then wu wei zi wouldnt be great for you nor should you take it when you have a cold/flu that hasnt been cleared properly.

 

So take what is offered with a grain of salt. Too many people go to the Chinese market or even to supermarkets and healthfood stores and buy this or that, chinese herbs and the like. people buy ginseng and use it as a supplement, well do they know what pathologies they may have, if you have heat, then why would you take anything but american ginseng?? if your cold or yang def, then why would you take american ginseng and not chinese or korean?

People used to buy ephedra (ma huang) to lose weight and ended up with heart issues. well you know why? because it is only used for asthma relief and to induce sweat when sick, when the asthma attack is over, or sweating induced then it is discontinued. because of people going and taking stuff without the proper knowledge the FDA banned ephedra where even I cant get it and it is one of the strongest and best herbs in its class if not the best, nothing comes close actually. now the FDA has made our medicicnes dietary supplements so we are under their eye, which is good and bad, gives it recognition but then they can ban whatever they want because of people misusing and not understanding the medicine. so again, take what is offered to you as advice then follow up with someone that actually knows what it going on with you and the medicine they practice.

Edited May 12, 2010 by yuanqi

[tyler zambori]

Hi folks,

 

I have had my blood sugar tested twice without any trace of diabetes or insulin abnormalities. Besides, no one in my extended family has diabetes despite most of them having bulging issues with weight control, so such tendencies seem unlikely. I would also like to point out that my experiences with low carb diets provided no noticable difference to my standard diet which includes fermented bread and porridge.

 

Then I don't know why you said you had problems with "awful" blood sugar.

 

I've read that stress acts as a potent body acidifier along with refined sugars, unfermented grains, coffee, meat, and tobacco. Blood comprises a very delicate buffer liquid in which even the slightest pH variations indicate major changes to the solubility and balance of ionized minerals and dissolved carbon dioxide, which leads to the alteration of breathing pattern and how body handles blood sugar. I did some addinational searching and saw that the sour taste connects to the wood element and liver/pancreas function, so I will pull a mild liver detox in the weekend and see how it helps.

 

 

A vegetarian diet can also certainly be acidifying, with too much grains and legumes. The

key is to have an 80/20 ratio going on. That's what they say anyway.

Edited May 12, 2010 by tyler zambori

[buddhasbellybuttonfluff]

Hi yuanqi and tyler zambori,

 

so again, take what is offered to you as advice then follow up with someone that actually knows what it going on with you and the medicine they practice.

Thank you for your input, I find it a lot to consider about. I will keep looking for a good practioner of TCM.

 

Then I don't know why you said you had problems with "awful" blood sugar.

I might not have diabetes (i.e. insulin non-production or resistance), but the body mechanisms seem complicated enough to warrant other malfunctioning pathways in the case of a disorder.

 

Thanks to everybody who contributed; I will pester professional consultants with these issues in the next time.

 

Blessings

[tyler zambori]

Hi yuanqi and tyler zambori,

 

 

Thank you for your input, I find it a lot to consider about. I will keep looking for a good practioner of TCM.

 

 

I might not have diabetes (i.e. insulin non-production or resistance), but the body mechanisms seem complicated enough to warrant other malfunctioning pathways in the case of a disorder.

 

Thanks to everybody who contributed; I will pester professional consultants with these issues in the next time.

 

Blessings

 

ok, thanks, but all you need to do is get a glucose meter and test strips, and check what your

blood glucose is 1/2 hour and one hour after eating. That's where the spike tends to occur.

You want to see how high the spike goes. Then take a look at table 2.2 on pages 10 and

11 of this document:

 

http://www.aace.com/pub/pdf/guidelines/DMGuidelines2007.pdf

 

Those are the right numbers to go by, not what the ADA says.

 

Seriously, getting a glucose meter and testing yourself is an important part

of empowering yourself - many doctors will just go by the fasting blood glucose

first thing in the morning, and many people with diabetes are not diagnosed

soon enough that way. It can be misleading.

 

An OGTT performed at a lab will certainly do the trick, but it isn't fun.

 

Just my 2 cents, glad the vinegar helps, HTH and all that.

 

Tyler

[yuanqi]

Hi yuanqi and tyler zambori,

 

 

Thank you for your input, I find it a lot to consider about. I will keep looking for a good practioner of TCM.

 

 

I might not have diabetes (i.e. insulin non-production or resistance), but the body mechanisms seem complicated enough to warrant other malfunctioning pathways in the case of a disorder.

 

Thanks to everybody who contributed; I will pester professional consultants with these issues in the next time.

 

Blessings

when i was in school i did a case study on patients with diabetes, some on meds, some on shots, some not on anything. also focus on it alot in my practice. an A1C would be what i would get as it gives you an average of your sugar for the past 3 months or so, so you can see if you are borderline or not, actually i dont like the term borderline, either you have it or you dont. LOL however, the western folks now have something called metabolic syndrome which is a pre-cursor to diabetes mellitus. check out the info on it. then again i heard an announcement on the radio(i never listen to the radio so it was meant to be LOL) about SHIFT WORK DISORDER, you can talk to your doc about it. LOL dont like the shift you work, or work late at night, get on some meds from your doc to help you out. LOL crapola. but there are articles about metabolic syndrome on the net. docs dont know whats going on and it doesnt fit into a box they can check off, so make up a new name. but from what they say it is supposed to be a pre-cursor as i said.

Edited May 13, 2010 by yuanqi

[thelerner]

The Chi Nei Tsang people have a good guided meditation on bone breathing. Its 30 minutes and takes you slowly through your skeletal system, lighting it up. Indepth on the skull creating awareness of the suture's in it and how they move with the breath. Even moves and lights up (strengthening?) the teeth which is nice

 

Here is a link http://www.chineitsang.com/cnti/Bone_Dreaming.html

 

 

Michael

[tyler zambori]

when i was in school i did a case study on patients with diabetes, some on meds, some on shots, some not on anything. also focus on it alot in my practice. an A1C would be what i would get as it gives you an average of your sugar for the past 3 months or so, so you can see if you are borderline or not, actually i dont like the term borderline, either you have it or you dont. LOL however, the western folks now have something called metabolic syndrome which is a pre-cursor to diabetes mellitus. check out the info on it. then again i heard an announcement on the radio(i never listen to the radio so it was meant to be LOL) about SHIFT WORK DISORDER, you can talk to your doc about it. LOL dont like the shift you work, or work late at night, get on some meds from your doc to help you out. LOL crapola. but there are articles about metabolic syndrome on the net. docs dont know whats going on and it doesnt fit into a box they can check off, so make up a new name. but from what they say it is supposed to be a pre-cursor as i said.

 

 

And if you do have metabolic syndrome, you'd do well to eat low carb same as if you have

whole hog diabetes. If you catch it that early you're actually lucky, a lot of people

don't figure it out until they need to be on meds. The whole inuslin regime is kind of

a nightmare I understand, and the other meds have nasty side effects.

 

No lizard spit for me, no thank you.

[yuanqi]

And if you do have metabolic syndrome, you'd do well to eat low carb same as if you have

whole hog diabetes. If you catch it that early you're actually lucky, a lot of people

don't figure it out until they need to be on meds. The whole inuslin regime is kind of

a nightmare I understand, and the other meds have nasty side effects.

 

No lizard spit for me, no thank you.

yeah and eventually the meds stop working and you end up on shots regardless. too many other natural substances and glandulars you can take to help with it before hand.

[Spectrum]

Sounds like adjusting body Ph Balance

[Trunk]

1) For a long time I have had a craving for sour treats such as sauerkraut, and acidic dips and sauces.

 

You might enjoy kimchi, if you've not already included it. Very healthy, used as side dish to most meals by Koreans.

 

p.s.

I've enjoyed kimchi at a Korean soup restaurant for a long time. When I recently bought my first tub of it for home, I craved & woofed down several tubs in the course of several days! Then things evened out and I have it just once-in-a-while.

[dwai]

Hi folks,

 

I have had my blood sugar tested twice without any trace of diabetes or insulin abnormalities. Besides, no one in my extended family has diabetes despite most of them having bulging issues with weight control, so such tendencies seem unlikely. I would also like to point out that my experiences with low carb diets provided no noticable difference to my standard diet which includes fermented bread and porridge.

 

I've read that stress acts as a potent body acidifier along with refined sugars, unfermented grains, coffee, meat, and tobacco. Blood comprises a very delicate buffer liquid in which even the slightest pH variations indicate major changes to the solubility and balance of ionized minerals and dissolved carbon dioxide, which leads to the alteration of breathing pattern and how body handles blood sugar. I did some addinational searching and saw that the sour taste connects to the wood element and liver/pancreas function, so I will pull a mild liver detox in the weekend and see how it helps.

 

Cat,

 

Thanks for the insert! I had previously noticed the term "bone breathing" somewhere, but now that I think about it, focusing the breath enter and leave the bones seems to bring further progress. Why didn't I figure that out earlier? I find it very humbling and immensely insightful to notice how I must once again get back to basics and integrate the foundational knowledge in new light.

 

Blessings

 

Have you also had your Cholesterol checked? High Triglyceride count can also cause the kind of effect you mentioned. As Tyler already pointed out, if you cut back on your carb intake, it will make a huge difference.

 

I have had very high triglyceride count and made some dramatic changes to my diet recently

1) Reduce food intake by 50% per meal, more water

2) almost completely eliminate rice and potato (eating wheat flat breads, called Roti in India)

3) eliminated eating meat and seafood (only limited to 1 day a week in most cases), eat lots of vegetables (including green leafy types like Kale, Spinach, etc)

4) drinking carrot juice (helps eliminate acid reflux and tastes real good, besides reducing cravings)

5) eliminate coffee, limit the tea intake

 

I did these on instruction by my Yoga Guru (http://www.sreesakthiyoga.org/) and it has made a huge impact in my quality of life and both Yoga and Cultivation practices. I feel more energized and less prone to crashes since...it gets really bad when I eat rice or Potatoes...same with meat (any kind, including poultry).

 

But there isn't potentially the same solution for all...it depends on your body-type. You can check yours here (http://www.whatsyourdosha.com/)...and that might lead you down the right path from a diet and nutrition perspective. As we age, our metabolic rate goes down, thus making the effective synthesis of what we eat harder...

 

Just my 2 cents worth...good luck!