Lecture 7: Metal Element Flashcards
What season does Metal correspond to? What is the general action of this season?
Autumn/Fall
This is the season of harvest, a time to pull inward and gather together on all levels, a time to store up fuel, food, and warm clothing, to study and plan for the approaching stillness of winter. Everything in nature contracts and moves its essence inward and downward.
What should one consider when preparing food for autumn? (Think of characteristics of metal)
To prepare food that reflects the qualities of autumn, we must be aware of its abundant yet contracting nature. The fall is the time to organize the open and perhaps scattered patterns of the previous warmer seasons
What are appropriate types of food in terms of flavour for autumn, in general?
Mildly acrid and energetically warm foods:
What are strong acrid flavours good for?
For inner cold, shivering, and the beginning of a cold, the strong acrid flavours stimulate qi circulation and rapidly bring defensive energy to the surface.
What foods should be used for external dampness? For dryness?
For external dampness, warm, dry foods should be used to support the middle burner and the lungs.
If dryness predominates, moistening foods should be utilized.
What foods should be avoided in autumn (or with a metal imbalance)?
Fatty, oily foods, and cool or cold dairy products, which burden the spleen and cause dampness and phlegm disorders (bronchitis, sinusitis), especially during wet weather.
What foods can be used to stimulate activity in the body, focus mentally and begin the process of contraction?
Add more sour flavoured foods; Aduki beans, cheese, grapefruit, leeks, lemons, limes, olives, pickles, sourdough bread, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, sour varieties of apples, plums, and grapes, rose hip tea, vinegar, yogurt.
Be cautious with extremely sour foods, because small amounts have a strong effect.
What is a good method of cooking to internalize one’s focus?
Cook with less water and lower heat for longer periods of time
As fall progresses into winter what should you change about flavour selection?
Choose bitter and salty flavours to move energy strongly inward and downward
When a person has a dry condition what organ is it usually related to? What are some likely causes?
Lung
Possible causes:
- Imbalances in diet
- Excessive activity
- Adverse climate
- Organ malfunction
Why is it helpful to nourish yin to treat dryness?
A dry condition is frequently a result of inadequate yin fluids in the body, and therefore many of the remedies for nourishing the yin also treat dryness
What are some foods that moisten and therefore treat dryness in any season? (Dairy, Fruit, Fungus, Grains, Legumes, Meat, Nuts, Seafood, Sweeteners, Vegetable)
Dairy: Milk and most dairy, Eggs
Fruit: Apple, Loquat, Pear, Persimmon
Fungus: Black and white fungus
Grains: Barley, Millet
Legumes: Soybean products, including tofu, tempeh and soy milk
Meat: Pork
Nuts: Almond, Peanut, Pine nut, Sesame
Seafood: Clam, Crab, Oyster, Mussel, Herring, Seaweed
Sweeteners: Barley Malt, Honey (cooked), Rice Syrup
Vegetable: Spinach
Note: using a little salt in cooking also moistens dryness
The Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen are based on what?
The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that protect global and individual health, produce the Shoppers’ Guide to Pesticides in Produce. It is based on the results of 35,200 pesticide tests.
What are the Clean Fifteen?
Which two are the best?
asparagus, avocado, banana, broccoli, cabbage, canteloupe, cauliflower, corn, eggplant, grapefruit, kiwi, mango, onion, pineapple, sweet peas (frozen)
What are the Dirty Dozen?
Which two are the worst?
apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, grapes (imported), nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes
How does non-organic meat stack up in terms of pesticides? Where are the highest concentrations of pesticides found?
It has a much higher concentration of pesticides than all of the fruits and vegetables.
Highest concentration of pesticides in non-organic butter.
What is Grapefruit Seed Extract? What is it useful for?
Is an extremely potent natural antibiotic derived primarily from the seeds of grapefruit. It was developed after observing that citrus seeds do not readily decompose in nature from microbial action.
This extract has been found to inhibit members of several classes of microbes and parasites, among them: protozoa, amoebas, bacteria, viruses, and at least thirty different types of fungi, including the candida yeast like fungi.
What are the most common internal uses of Grapefruit Seed Extract?
- Allergies including hay fever
- Candida overgrowth
- Diarrhea (take daily while traveling to prevent “traveler’s diarrhea”)
- Flu, Strep throat, Staph infections
- Giardia and most other parasites
What are the most common external uses for Grapefruit Seed Extract?
- Athlete’s foot
- Dandruff and other scalp problems
- Ear infections
- Nail fungi
- Nasal and Sinus problems
- Poison oak
- Vaginal Yeast Infections (specific liquified formulaton)
How can Grapefruit Seed Extract be used in the home for cleaning?
- Cleaning contaminated surfaces, kitchen utensils and cutting boards
- Sanitizing drinking, bathing, and swimming water of microbes
- Soak produce in water and a few drops to remove parasites and pesticides
- Sterilizing laundry (used this way in hospitals)
What are some noteworthy folk remedies for the metal element?
Barley water
Cabbage
Celery
Flaxseed
Horseradish
Olives
Walnut
Barley water uses
Eases dry, tickling coughs
Cabbage
Juice - gargle for sore throat
Celery
Grated, raw and applied as a poultice for swollen glands
Flaxseed
tea - for relief of mild constipation
Horseradish
Eaten fresh, mixed with a little lemon juice for relief of sinus infections and blocked nasal passages
Olives
for relief of constipation
Walnut
Oil, as laxative and to relieve discomfort of IBS
Noteworthy herbs (Western and Chinese)
Astragalus
Chamomile
Codonopsis
Echinacea root
Thyme
What is the Chinese name for Astragalus? What is it good for?
Huang qi
Helps to strengthen the immune system
What is chamomile used for (metal element)?
Fevers and teething problems in children, most children’s complaints
What is the Chinese name for Codonopsis?
What is it used for?
Dang Shen
Immune system booster
Echinacea root uses
Antiseptic, boosts the immune system
Thyme uses
Cough with tough phlegm
Whooping cough
Weak tea for nightmares
What is Zong Qi? How is it formed?
Also known as pectoral qi, chest qi, gathering qi
The Spleen sends Gu Qi up to the Lungs, where (with the help of Yuan Qi and Kidney Qi) it combines with air and transforms into Zong Qi.
What are the functions of Zong Qi?
- Nourishes the Heart and Lungs and forms the basis for the involuntary functions of heartbeat and respiration.
- Gathers in the throat and influences speech (which is under control of the Heart) and the strength of voice (under control of Lungs). Strength of Zong Qi can be determined from the health of Heart, Lungs, and from circulation and voice. Weak Zong Qi: Weak voice, weak circulation to hands.
- Promotes blood circulation. Zong Qi assists the heart’s function of governing the Blood and Blood Vessels. If Zong Qi is weak, the extremities, especially the hands, will be weak or cold.
How do Zong Qi and Yuan Qi interact?
Zong Qi and Yuan Qi mutually assist each other.
Zong Qi flows downward to aid the Kidneys.
Yuan Qi flows upward to aid in respiration (and the formation of Zong Qi).
What is Yuan Qi?
Yuan Qi is said to be Essence that has been transformed into Qi, or Jing in motion.
Yuan Qi has it’s root in the Kidneys and spread throughout the body by the San Jiao (Triple Burner).
It is the dynamic force and foundation of all the Yin and Yang energies of the body. Yuan Qi, like Prenatal Jing, is hereditary, fixed in quantity, but nourished by Postnatal Jing.
Yuan Qi emerges and stays at the Yuan Source Points.
What transformations does Yuan Qi assist with?
Yuan Qi acts as a catalyst to transfrom Gu Qi plus air into Zong Qi.
Yuan Qi helps transform Gu Qi into Blood.
Yuan Qi is also the spark that turns Zong Qi into Zhen Qi.
What is Zhen Qi?
True Qi or “Normal Qi” is the final stage in transformation and refinement of Qi. It circulates in the channels and nourishes the organs.
It’s two forms are Wei Qi and Ying Qi.
What is Ying Qi? What are it’s functions?
Ying Qi is Nutritive Qi
Ying Qi nourishes the internal organs and the whole body. It is closely related to Blood, and flows with Blood in the vessels as well in the channels.
It is the Qi that is activated by insertion of an acupuncture needle.
Ying Qi spends two hours in each channel, moving through all twelve channels in a twenty four hour period. During these periods, the specific organs are highly nourished and maintained by the Ying Qi.
What is Wei Qi? What is it’s primary function? Where does it travel?
This is the bodies defensive qi.
It protects body from EPF’s (wind, cold, damp, heat, summer heat, dryness)
Wei Qi is fast, “slippery” and easily motivated.
Primarily on the Exterior (skin and muscles). Travels both inside and outside the channels. Flows primarily in the superficial layers of the body, especially in the Tendino-Muscular meridians.
What are the other functions of Wei Qi? What organ controls Wei Qi?
- To warm, moisten and aid in nourishing skin and muscles.
- To adjust opening and closing of pores (thus regulating sweating and regulating the body temperature).
Wei Qi is controlled by the Lungs, which regulates its circulation to the skin. Lungs also disseminate fluids to moisten the skin and muscles. These fluids mix with Wei Qi. (Perspiration function depends on the Lungs ability to circulate Wei Qi and fluids to the exterior).
How often does Wei Qi circulate through the body in 24 hours? What is a cardinal symptom of Wei Qi Xu?
Circulates 50 times in 24 hours.
- 25 times during the day in external body
- 25 times at night through internal organs
Wei Qi Deficiency create spontaneous daytime sweating.
Flow from interior to exterior emerges at internal corner of eye which opens eyes and wakes us up in the morning
What is Zheng Qi?
Zheng qi is upright qi.
This term is used in reference to pathogenic factors and indicates our bodies resistance to exterior diseases. If it is strong we are able to resist EPF’s
A general term to describe the various forms of Qi that protect the body from exogenous pathogens. Usually only used when contrasting the strength of the body’s Qi with the strength of the invading pathogen.
What is Zhong Qi?
Zhong – middle burner, sp/st in reference to prolapse, qi that keeps organs in place (usually sp qi sinking if there is prolapse)
This is the Qi that is derived from food by the Stomach and Spleen (Postnatal Essence). Central Qi is another way to define Stomach and Spleen Qi, i.e., the Qi of the Middle Jiao (the Center). It is often used to describe the pathological condition where the Spleen Qi is deficient and has caused organ prolapse (“Deficiency of Center Qi”).
