Many of you have heard about probiotics. For those of you who haven't, probiotics are beneficial bacteria. We all have them in our intestines and women have them inside their vaginas (lack of these beneficial bacteria is what leads to yeast infections). Antibiotics kill bacteria when there is an infection in your body, but they are often non-discriminating and kill off the good bacteria as well as the bad. This is why many people experience digestive symptoms after taking antibiotics. Probiotics are used to replenish the good bacteria that you have lost. However, antibiotics are not the only thing that can deplete us of our good bacteria. Poor diet and stress can also do that over time.
But let's look at the Eastern perspective.
According to Chinese Medicine, digestion is the realm of the Spleen. When the Spleen is functioning properly it separates the "pure" from the "turbid" in the food that we eat; the pure is transformed into the Qi and the Blood and the turbid becomes waste. When the Spleen is weak or over burdened with too much sugar, refined, raw or cold foods, you experience symptoms such as bloating, fatigue, loose stools, constipation, flatulence and lots of phlegm (like chronic sinus congestion). Antibiotics are seen as very cold (since they attack infections which are hot) so they easily damage the Spleen, causing many of the above symptoms. Probiotics, since they aid digestion, are seen as a Spleen tonic. They warm and improve the Spleen's function thereby repairing the damage that antibiotics cause.
Even without antibiotic use the Spleen can become damaged. As I mentioned before poor diet can affect the Spleen, but emotions can also cause injure it. The Spleen is vulnerable to over-thinking, obsessive thinking, too much mental or physical work. When you are stuck in your head, it is not good for your Spleen. When your Spleen is damaged by your emotions, you might experience a "knot" in your stomach, or bowel irregularities (incomplete bowel movements, alternating between loose and hard stools) or when it is really chronic, more extreme conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Colitis. Probiotics can help with many of these conditions by regulating the bowel movements, seen by Chinese Medicine as improving Spleen function.
According to the Western view of physiology, about 70% of your immune system is found in your gastrointestinal tract. According to the Eastern view of physiology, the Spleen makes the Wei Qi (see Nov. 1st blog entry). Either way, your digestive system plays a huge role in the state of your immune system. Regular probiotic intake can play a big part in keeping your immune system healthy. Probiotics are found mostly in fermented foods, like saurkraut, high quality yogurt, kefir, natto, miso, kombucha as well as in raw dairy products. You can also buy probiotic supplements in your local natural food store or vitamin store.
Keep your Spleen and your immune system happy by eating warm, cooked, easily digestible foods and probiotics. A little goes a long way to keeping you healthy!
This is very informative, Janine. I am eating cooked vegetables and warm food. Sounds like I should incorporate propbiotics too. I eat Greek yogurt most mornings. Does that help? Thanks. Kathy
ReplyDeleteThanks, Janine. This is a clear explanation of how we can stay healthy and it's helpful that you balance information from Eastern and Western understanding of medicine and health. I'm going to forward this to others to read.
ReplyDeleteKathy, greek yogurt does help, although is is cold which the spleen doesn't especially like. However it does build yin so it is not all bad!Also, you don't know how much "probiotic power" the yogurt has. For most people with digestive issues, taking a probiotic supplement of some sort on top of what they are eating is often a good idea.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this piece! I have had deficient Spleen qi for a long time now. My acupuncturist recommended re-integrating meat into my diet after being a vegetarian for 20 years. This is going well and very slowly. However I have recently been making homemade kefir and drinking about a cup a day for 10 days. I am starting to see the affect on my Spleen during my moon cycle: I bleed much slower, longer and more moderate than before, when I practically bled out on the first day. My thoughts have also been much kinder and slower. I think doing a Masters degree got me into my head waaaay too much. I love these connections! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Janine, someone told me that her TCM herbalist told her you should not take probiotics when you have a flu or whilst taking herbs for the flu as it can trap the virus in. Is this true? how does it work?
ReplyDeleteThanks
There is a certain line of thinking in TCM that says you never want to use tonic herbs while fighting a cold or flu because it could strengthen the illness and make it come on more aggressively. There are even certain acupuncture points that one avoids in these circumstances. That being said, I don't believe that probiotics fall into that tonic category in the same way. While they do support the Spleen, the Spleen and Stomach are where our immune system (Wei Qi) comes from, so by supporting it, you support your ability to fight illness. Even from a Western perspective, 75% of your immune system is in your gut, so the better your intestinal flora, the better able you are to fight illness. While I wouldn't recommend taking tonic herbs such as ginseng, poria or licorice when fighting the flu, I feel perfectly comfortable recommending probiotics, as well as elderberry extract. And if you can catch it at the first signs of flu (feeling run down, body aches, relatively sudden fever) Oscillococcinum, a homeopathic remedy, can often stop the flu in it's tracks.
Deletedoes basil seeds consumption cause dampness to the spleen as it is cold in nature? Also consuming eggs (scrambled or boiled) isnt suitable for spleen as it contains protein and also not easy to digest?
ReplyDeleteBasil is actually warm in nature and a Yang tonic so shouldn't cause dampness, if anything it may help. In terms of eggs, depending on how weak the Spleen is it may be something to avoid. Eggs are great for building Blood and Yin, but plants are much easier to digest than animal products. If the Spleen is healthy, eggs are a great source of nutrition. If the spleen is weak, a rice porridge with chicken broth or other bone broth as the liquid might be a better way to go. Increasing foods like sweet potatoes, rice, pumpkin, squash, millet, flax, fresh ginger and cardamom would be great choices to strengthen the spleen.
ReplyDeleteMost people recognize the immunity boosting benefits of probiotics. The beneficial bacteria, however, can be used to accomplish a wide range of additional health goals.
ReplyDeleteRecent research suggests that probiotics could be particularly beneficial for overweight or obese individuals, including the ones suffering from type 2 diabetes.
Isn't dairy bad for the spleen because it causes dampness? But then kefir has probiotics which is good for you, right?
ReplyDeleteYes, dairy isn't good for the Spleen because it creates dampness which is difficult to process with a weak Spleen. However, kefir is fermented dairy, so will affect the body slightly differently than, say, a glass of milk. It still does have a damp quality to it, but, like yogurt, it is much less so. If you are overly damp, then something like a coconut kefir, rather than a milk kefir, might be a better option.
Delete