asian medicine/recipes

I was very high raw from January til about a week ago, but was struggling a bit mostly with my digestion and my mind, and after reading a bit more about tcm and ayurveda, I realised I have a deficient spleen and realllly need to eat some vata balancing foods...I spent all of last year travelling too so I think thats kind of contributed as well. Anyway I went to a naturopath about my digestion because I really felt like i couldn't eat anything and she told me much the same about my deficient spleen. So in the past week I've dropped the amount of raw I'm eating by a lot and added some cooked grains and root veg soups and I feel a lot better, my stomachs calmed down and I feel much more grounded. I'm seeing it from the point of view that food is meant to be good for you and you have to listen to what your body wants and at the moment my body needs some healthy cooked things (I know some people on this site will disagree but honestly, the balance I feel after a bowl of rice rather than a bunch of fruit). But anyway I really do love raw foods and I love the energy I get off them and the tastiness, I've been making myself more 'prepared' things like pizzas and veggie chips and using my dehydrator a bit more instead of just eating a cold salad but I was wondering if anyone on here has any really good recipe suggestions that are warming and spleen strengthening/balance vata? Or tips for things I can do to help my digestion/spleen? I read that the spleen likes to feel nourished and secure so have started talking to it, I know thats weird but for some reason telling a part of me that is showing signs of unhappiness that its loved is kind of nice. Anyway from some of the threads on here there seem to be lots of intelligent knowledgeable people on such subjects so I would love some advice as I don't want to end up going back to all cooked. I need to put on at least half a stone too so fattening recipes are extra welcome :-)

Comments

  • I was directed towards your post when you mentioned asian medicine and have recently been reading about healing with chinese medicine through food. They mention raw food and its pros and cons and that it can be too 'cooling' and 'damp' of a diet. They talk about how raw food could detrimentally effect the spleen and other organs by making them too wet with yin. If this is happening to your spleen, then you would be deficient in yang and need warming foods to compensate. Chinese medicine really emphasized the use of certain broth and specific warming foods if you look those up. But there are also ways to incorporate more yang into your diet and stay raw at the same time by eating food with warming qualities like hot spices (cinnamon, cayenne, chili, garlic, ginger, jalepeno). The book, Rawsome, names A TON of warming foods while staying raw and definitely has a chinese medicine undertone to the whole book. Good luck!

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    maiden-I would suggest NOT eating grains if you're going to do more cooked food. Try doing more of cooked veggie type things and maybe rice and fish(if you're not vegan). I understand adding in some cooked food because sometimes it's hard to avoid. But you're absolutely right about listening to your body however, don't listen to your cravings....they aren't quite as intelligent. haha

  • vegan2rawvegan2raw Raw Newbie

    I would like to add that I also have some digestive issues when one hundread percent raw (I think its from years of damage to my intestines eating things I am allergic to such as dairy and wheat) I have found that quinoa is much better for me than rice and steamed veggies (as lightly steamed as you can stand) are the best. I still try to maintain 70-90 percent and feel great. Another helpful thing I am not sure if you are doing is MISO we use chickpea or adzuki as our children are super sensisitive to soy and we are all much more balanced and have happy digestion and immunity from our daily cup of miso. We also do probiotics in smoothies I think its important to restrengthen that which has been depleted ideally if you heal the spleen and digestive issues you might be able to do mor e100percent again if you wish.

    You are on the right track all our bodies our different and have different needs some can live on more fruit while others need more greens and veggies so listening to your body is key

    Keep up the good work!

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