Digestive issues are up now for many people – this is the time of year people often gain weight and can’t lose it; some may have summer diarrhea or loose stools; or others may get more burping, belching and gas. This is the end of late summer period and, in fact, is actually the Spleen time of the Spleen time of year. (the last two weeks of each season is ruled by the Spleen and since we are at this time, it is now the Spleen time of the Spleen time of year!). This will last through approximately mid September and makes it a particularly challenging time for digestion and metabolism.

For those with diarrhea or loose stools, these symptoms often occur due to the excess hot temperatures outdoors at this time of year. The heat can lock the coldness inside the gut, which, of course, is compounded by iced drinks, ice cream, smoothies, and other cold drinks and foods people often crave and imbibe when it’s hot outdoors. The result is feeling hot (external Heat), but having loose stools (Internal Coldness). One could even experience a fever or stomach flu symptoms.

One formula of choice for these conditions is the Chinese patent formula, Curing Pill (called Digestive Comfort by Planetary Formulas). It is based on several herbs that dry the cold damp in the interior with their warm, aromatic damp-dispelling properties, such as agastache (huo hsiang) and magnolia bark (hou po).

Digestive Comfort (fu ling, coix, white atractylodes, angelica, kudzu, magnolia bark, agastache, saussurea, leavened wheat, sprouted rice, trichosanthes, chrysanthemum, cyperus, gastrodia, mint): Removes food stagnation, harmonizes the Stomach, subdues rebellious Stomach Qi, transforms Dampness, subdues Yang, relieves pain; use for abdominal bloating, gas and cramps, belching, hiccups, nausea, abdominal distension and pain, hyperacidity, overeating, hangover, motion sickness, morning sickness, stomach flu and food poisoning.

The other symptoms of burping, belching and gas may be accompanied by nausea, stuffiness in the epigastrum and even extra weight carried in that area. While the above formulas are good for this, the best formula is Bao He Wan. Composed of several herbs that specifically address stuck food (like hawthorn berries, sprouted wheat berries and radish seeds), it assists digestion and gets things moving in even the worst cases when it feels like nothing can work.

Bao He Wan (hawthorn berries, pinellia, massa fermenta, Poria cocos, tangerine peel, forsythia, sprouted wheat and radish seeds): removes food stagnation, harmonizes the Stomach, relieves pain; use for abdominal distension, bloating and pain, a sense of fullness, possible poor appetite, belching, burping, foul breath, and constipation.

Many of us know this feeling after a big holiday meal – that heavy, bloated, distended discomfort. Others get this more chronically from general over-eating.

For some, this sort of acute stuffiness can lead to heart palpitations (the Stomach affecting the Heart, or the Child aggravating the Mother, as it is described in traditional Chinese Five Element theory). If people aren’t aware that stuck digestion is the issue, they may even head to the hospital thinking they’re having a heart problem when really the issue is indigestion, or food stagnation (and there’s no pain radiating down the left arm, sweating or breathing problems).

To prevent such issues form occurring now, eat more lightly and simply. Include a digestive aid with meals, such as ginger or fennel. Balance heating and cooling foods. Wait five hours between meals and if needed, take any of the above herbal formulas to aid digestion.

Happy end of summer!

As we are well into the season of late Summer, more cases are presenting at my clinic with Spleen and Stomach issues. One of my latest was a GERD client, whom I will call Bob. In his late 40s, Bob has had GERD for over 20 years and has tried everything. He currently is on two medications but still experiences terrible burning at night.

Most GERD cases I see are a combination of the patterns Cold Dampness in the Spleen and Liver Qi Stagnation. The Cold Dampness in the Spleen congests and slows digestion while the Liver Qi Stagnation attacks the Stomach, causing its contents to move upward instead of down. In this case we use Damp-dispelling and Qi-regulating herbs to clear the GERD.

Bob, however, presented with different patterns. He has Cold Dampness in the Spleen, yes, but with little Liver Qi stagnation, although he does lead a stressful life. Instead, he has many symptoms of Stomach Heat – a thick yellow coat in the center of his tongue, a big and fast stomach pulse, easily bleeding gums, some bad breath and of course, the acid reflux.

This pattern combination represents a different treatment approach, one of clearing Cold Dampness in the Spleen along with clearing Damp Heat from the Stomach. The formula of choice for this is Pinellia Combination. It contains pinellia to dry the Cold Damp in the Spleen and scute and coptis to dry the Damp Heat in the Stomach. Further, it includes ginseng to tonify Spleen Qi so Dampness doesn’t collect and congest.

After taking this formula for two weeks with excellent results, Bob ran out of the herbs. As he was on a camping vacation, he had to do without and his symptoms returned. Thus, we knew the formula was working effectively and could separate this from the other treatments we did in session together.

This case not only demonstrates how necessary it is to first make a differential diagnosis before automatically treating a health condition, but it further represents how important it is to treat the person who has the disease and not the disease itself. As has been so wisely stated before, “One disease, many formulas; one formula, many diseases.” Further, it shows how one may treat a combination of Heat and Cold factors by simultaneously using herbs that clear Heat and dispel Cold.

As a further note on GERD, along with taking the appropriate herbal formula, it’s important for long-term correction to make dietary changes of course, but also to “re-surface” the denuded linings of the stomach and esophagus. For the latter I recommend “Gastric Soothe” by Source Naturals (a zinc-based supplement) instead of using slippery elm or marshmallow, because these herbs are dampening, contraindicated in patterns with Dampness.

PINELLIA COMBINATION

(Stomach Purging Decoction with Pinellia)

Pinellia (Rhizoma Pinelliae, Ban Xia)
9-12 g

Dried Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis, Gan Jiang)
9-12 g 

Ginseng (Panax ginseng, Ren Shen)
6-9 g 

Scutellaria (Radix Scutellaria, Huang Qin)
6-9 g 

Baked Licorice (Glycyrrhizae praeparatae, Zhi Gan Cao)
3-6 g 

Coptis (Rhizoma Coptidis, Huang Lian)
3-6 g 

Jujube (Fructus Ziziphus, Da Zao)
3 g or 3 pcs 

I find it extremely annoying that the west has gone sweet – that is, sickly sweet.

This occurs not just in mainstream food products, but in health food as well. Until recently, it was easy to find sugarless products in health foods stores, but several years ago when one major brand that contained sugar in every product entered the health food market, all the other brands began to mimic that by adding sugar to their foods, too. Now it’s nearly impossible to find salad dressings, crackers, spaghetti sauce and cereals for example, without any sugar in them whatsoever.

Today people consume 40 more pounds per year – that’s 40 MORE POUNDS – of sugar today than a generation ago*! This is almost double the amount in only 20 years’ time. I find this shocking. Normally this fact would conjure images of people in fast food lines ordering “super size” meals or over-indulging in desserts, but today the situation is much more prevalent than that. Sugar is hidden everywhere and runs rampant in most every food in the grocery store, health foods included. It’s insidious!

Consider this: there are 10 teaspoons of sugar in every can of soda; one can a day can increase your risk of diabetes by 83%. And there are three teaspoons of sugar in every serving of salad dressing (multiplied by the number of servings you actually put on your salad). Ketchup has one teaspoon of sugar in every tablespoon of ketchup – that’s one-third of its content! The list goes on and on.*

What I find even worse is that this situation now affects my choices, too. When health food store foods only included sugar in select products to enhance and provide a certain taste, shopping was easy. Now sugar is in everything. When I can’t even buy salad dressing, spaghetti sauce or crackers because there aren’t any choices without sugar (or to be factual here – just one choice of dozens), that’s poor choice indeed. And bad taste, too!

In fact, I had a good laugh in the health food store today when I saw a spaghetti sauce brand with bold letters on its label: NO ADDED SUGAR. Obviously, someone else has noticed this dilemma, too (so bravo to you!).

While natural foods tend to use alternatives to white, refined sugar, the natural varieties increase one’s sugar load and insulin output, too. Even agave is high on the glycemic index, meaning that it quickly raises blood sugar in the body. On top of that, processed simple carbohydrates actually act like sugar without fiber in our bodies since they convert to sugar very quickly. This includes all those crackers, cookies, chips, pretzels, power bars, juices, breads, muffins, on and on and on. In a natural food store, these products often occupy entire aisles!

Yes, sugar may represent love and comfort, but this really means that the craving for sweet reflects the need to fill a hole inside of us that was created by something else. Sweet foods will never fully satisfy or fill those holes. Instead, we are really looking for another type of sweetness to fill our lives.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the sweet taste nourishes the Earth element and its organs, the Spleen and Stomach. The Earth element is at the center of all the other elements, providing grounding, centering, identity, nourishment and focus. It’s also our relationship with ourselves and ability to manifest our visions and inspirations. It enables us to digest ideas, cultivate our paths, fully commit to ourselves, develop our true identities, love ourselves and have staying power over our lifetimes. A little sweet strengthens these aspects, but in excess, it makes us “sticky” – stuck and needy. In time this not only injuries our digestive processes, but impairs our abilities to develop strong identities as well.

Today, excess sugar is causing one of the fastest growing diseases: type II diabetes. Thankfully, 90% of it can be reversed simply through exercise and diet change. Warning signs of diabetes include: constant thirst, frequent urination, infections that don’t heal, tingling in the toes and blurred vision. If you experience a few of these symptoms, it’s time to make a change, especially if you smoke, have high belly fat, a sedentary lifestyle, and/or family history of diabetes, as all of these lead to type II diabetes.*

So I issue this challenge to the health food industry: make food products without added sugar again! It simply is not necessary. Let’s bring true flavor back and nourish ourselves through our lives instead!

*According to Dr. Oz.

Summer kicharee is not only great for detoxification, but it is also a light summer soup perfect for the hot months of year. It is balanced in protein and can include as many local vegetables as you wish. As well, you can easily cook up a big batch to eat over three days, or freeze for longer, so your time is spent in the garden or hiking, swimming and so on – you get the idea!

Some are surprised with the lightness of summer kicahree and yet how it fills and satisfies them. Many eat it just for breakfast, or for one other meal, while others eat it exclusively for several days or weeks to cool and clean toxins from their bodies. Have fun with it and explore! Your imagination is the limit here.

Here is a sample recipe to follow. You can make it as is, substitute what you have on hand, or change it to satisfy your tastebud desires. To keep it a summer kicharee suitable for this time of year, use only seasonal local vegetables and add light protein (if desired). I give several possibilities here.

Basic Summer Kicharee Recipe

Makes approximately 6 to 8 two-cup servings.

½ cup barley (rice or quinoa)

½ cup green split peas (aduki beans)

½ cup yellow split peas (mung dahl)

½ cup lentils (other dahls)

2 quarts chicken stock

2 tblsp ghee

1 tblsp cumin powder

1 large onion

4 stalks celery

2 big carrots

garnish with ½ lemon per serving of soup and season to taste

Directions:

(Optional but wise first step: Soak grain and beans in water for 12 hours. Strain.)

Place grain and beans in stock and simmer for 30 minutes. In meantime, brown cumin in ghee, then add vegetables one at a time and sauté. Add this mix to grain and beans after the first 30 minutes and simmer all together for another half hour. Eat as is, or add various garnishes, additional protein and so on. Ideas are given below.

Ingredient Descriptions:

Barley is used because it is cool and eliminates dampness, both perfect for the summer heat and balancing the Spleen and Stomach organs, which flourish and rule this season (July to mid-September).

Split peas and lentils are lighter to digest than heavier beans and actually need less soaking time. All are alkalinizing.

Ghee, or clarified butter, is a pure oil that sparks digestion without being too heating. It also doesn’t go rancid without refrigeration.

Cumin is neutral in energy and helps digestion.

Lemon is alkalinizing, cooling and helps digestion.

Substitution Possibilities:

GRAIN: Use brown rice or quinoa instead of barley. (Be sure to soak the brown rice for 12 – 24 hours first to eliminate its outer kernel and make it far more digestible.) Both are cooling and alkalinizing.

BEANS: Use aduki beans (adzuki beans), mung dahl or mung beans. Aduki beans assist kidney function; June through July is when Kidney energy is lowest (this is the opposite time of year from the Kidney/Urinary Bladder time of year, in winter). Mung dahl and mung beans are cooling and detoxifying.

STOCK: You may use a different stock or water instead of chicken stock. Chicken stock is lighter than other stocks and provides additional protein that is easily digestible.

OIL: Try coconut oil instead of ghee. It is light, reduces fat accumulation, is more water soluble and so breaks down more quickly and is immediately used by the liver for energy (see upcoming blog on this!).

SPICES: Try cumin seeds instead of the powder, or also add coriander seeds or power and turmeric. Try other spices according to your individual health needs such as the following (all of which promote good digestion): basil (cooling), fennel (warming, moves Qi), ginger (warming), garlic (warming, anti-parasitical), onions (warming), mustard seeds (warming).

VEGETABLES: Onions, celery and carrots are always a good way to add flavor to a soup pot, but feel free to substitute or add other vegetables as desired. Ideas include: summer squashes, red bell peppers, eggplant, string beans, artichoke hearts, potatoes and tomatoes.

GARNISHES: Try adding yogurt, cilantro, parsley and/or gomasio (sesame salt).

PROTEINS: If you need or desire to increase the protein of this soup and provide more warming energy to your body, add any of the following (all are lighter proteins and easier to digest for the summer months): hard-boiled eggs, sardines or other fish, chicken or pork pieces, chicken sausage, or buffalo (very low fat for a red meat).

We have just moved into time of year that corresponds to the Spleen and Stomach according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. This means that the energy of those organs flourishes now and is at its strongest – or should be. This time lasts from approximately July through mid-September, and while these organs' effects are most strongly felt at the end of the season, now is the time to protect these organs and keep them strong.

The Spleen and Stomach are partners in the Earth Element. This is the most
prevalent and influential element of all five (the others being Metal, Water, Wood and Fire). First of all, it encompasses the organs of digestion and good digestion is a major key to health. But secondly, the energy of the Spleen and Stomach surfaces at the end of all the other element seasons, so that the last two weeks of every season is a mixture of its native element's energy plus the Earth Element energies.

For example, we just finished the Heart and Small Intestine season that ran
from mid-April to near the end of June. For the last two weeks of this time, these Fire Element energies were influenced by the Earth Element energies as they surfaced at that time. This means that along with Fire signs of palpitations, for instance, indigestion signs may have been present as well.

The Earth Element influence and its organs are influential in many ways. The Spleen is responsible for the assimilation and transportation of nutrients
throughout the body (metabolism). As this occurs on all levels, Spleen Qi not
only controls food and fluid metabolism, but also cell respiration and other
similar metabolic functions.

The Spleen opens to the mouth and manifests on the lips. It rules the sense of taste, lymph and saliva along with muscle tone and development, the flesh and limbs. Spleen Qi is in charge of keeping the organs in place and the Blood in vessels. The flavor associated with the Spleen is sweet, meaning that a little sweet strengthens the Spleen while too much weakens it.

The Spleen hates to be damp (externally in the environment or internally in the
body), as this interferes with its ability to transform and transport food and fluids. As well, excessive sitting and the emotions of worry, melancholia, nostalgia and obsession target the Spleen. Conditions involving any of the above factors both indicate a Spleen/Stomach imbalance and can likewise cause one.

A weak Spleen causes poor digestion, low appetite, gas, bloatedness, acid
regurgitation, loose stools, undigested food in the stools, malnutrition, weakness
in arms and legs, fatigue, poor muscle development, edema of abdomen, hips
and thighs, blood spots under the skin, easy bruising, lack of sensation of taste,
prolapsed organs, frequent bleeding, abdominal distension, obsession, worry,
and anemia.

To tonify Spleen Qi, use herbs such as ginseng, astragalus and dioscorea
(Chinese wild yam). To tonify Spleen Yang, warm it with a heating herb such as dried or fresh ginger, give a yang tonic such as psoralea. To transform Spleen dampness, give herbs like agastache or cardamom.

The best way to treat and protect the Spleen and Stomach (digestion and
metabolism) is through diet. Foods that are cooked and warm in temperature
most closely match our own digestive fires and so metabolize and assimilate
easiest. This means that although it is hot outdoors, the intake of raw foods,
salads, juices and fruits should be limited and balanced with cardamom or fresh
ginger. Likewise, iced drinks and foods (ice cream, etc.) also need to be limited
and balanced with warming spices to protect the digestion. Doing so will promote
good digestion throughout the year and prevent those late season Earth Element
experiences of gaining weight without being able to lose it (one of the “delights”
of late summer for most!).

Each spring, the honeysuckle flowers gather at the end of their stems to trumpet their sweet, gentle scent of purification and renewal. When I lead an herb walk in my backyard, I always pause with my students in homage at the woodbine (honeysuckle vine). After a discussion of the powerful antibiotic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and not least, anticancer properties of this gentle herb, I facetiously tell my students to pick a dry weight pound of honeysuckle blossoms as part of their initiation into the world of herbs.

The painstaking task I suggest to my students is something I’ve never personally undertaken. Generally, I don’t pick honeysuckle flowers myself, with the excuse that it’s too much work. Probably it is for this same reason that despite the herb’s fantastic properties of purification and detoxification, it is seldom used by Western herbalists. (This moment does not pass with a feeling of silent gratitude for some poor Chinese peasant who invested hours of time and patience to pick a pound of jin yin hua for a pittance so that I could in turn purchase the flowers at a cost of just a few U.S. dollars.) It’s impossible to only use herbs I personally grow or harvest in my clinic, but in an attempt to complete the cycle from nature to nurture, I always try to harvest some part of the herbs I use every year. This spring, I could not resist the temptation to pick some fresh honeysuckle flowers for personal use and for some clients in my clinic.

Honeysuckle flowers tend to grow in small clumps of up to eight or more blossoms. At first, they are luminescent white; then, as the heat of the sun bears down on them, they begin to yellow with age. I don’t know it for certain, but I imagine that the white flowers are more potent. I single these out for harvest.

Well, in the space of 30 minutes I probably harvested eight to 10 ounces – that is fresh and wet, not dry! Still, the effort is worth it. I think of ascetic monks who charge themselves to the repetition of a mantra counted on a rosary (mala) of hundreds to thousands a day – how much more transcendent and connecting of heaven and earth would it be, if they were put to the task of picking honeysuckle flowers while quietly repeating their prayer? Imagine the even greater healing spiritual energy prayer-picked honeysuckle blossoms would take on!

Medicinal Applications of Honeysuckle Flowers and Leaves

Jin yin hua, the most common species of honeysuckle used in Asia, is Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). With over a hundred species worldwide, ranging in a wide arrange of sizes and colors (including red!) the plants are all in the Caprifoliacea family along with Sambucus (elder). According to herbalist Christopher Hobbs, elder has chemistry and properties similar enough to be used interchangeably with honeysuckle flowers. Lonicera fruit can be red, blue or black and contain several hard seeds. In most species the berries are regarded as mildly poisonous with the notable exception of L. caerulea whose berries are edible. Nevertheless, it is not the berries, but the flowers and leaves that we are after when we look to honeysuckle as a medicinal.

Jin yin hua, which aptly translates as “golden silver flower,” is one of the first herbs considered for the treatment of infections, inflammation, fevers and toxicity. It is an herbal antibiotic effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria including Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Bacillus dysenteeriae, Vibrio cholera, Salmonella typhi, Diplococcus pneumonia, Diplococcus meningitides, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Chlorogenic acid and isochlorogenic acid in the herb has the strongest antibiotic effects. According to Chen and Chen (Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology, 2004, Art of Medicine Press Inc.), the fresh herb only soaked in water has a stronger antibiotic than an herbal decoction, with the leaves having an even stronger antibiotic properties than the flowers.

Honeysuckle flowers are classified as sweet and cold and enter the Lung, Stomach and Large Intestine meridians. They are effectively dosed anywhere from 10 to 60 grams and are used for the common cold with symptoms of fever and thirst, upper respiratory tract infections, boils, furuncles, enteritis and dysentery. For diarrhea and dysentery with watery stool, honeysuckle is taken dry fried and carbonized.

One of the most common formulas using honeysuckle is the famous Yin Qiao San, widely used for treating colds and influenza. However, its broader detoxifying and heat-clearing properties makes it useful for inflammatory skin conditions, inflammations of the upper respiratory tract and is taken both internally and externally for mastitis as well as lung and breast cancer. Several studies (1, 2, 3) have shown that extracts of honeysuckle promote apoptosis and inhibit tumor growth. For more on the anticancer uses of Lonicera and other herbs, I recommend my book Treating Cancer with Herbs published by Lotus press.

The flowers are not the only part of Lonicera that are useful medicinally. While not specifically designated, the leaves have even stronger antibiotic effects than the flowers. This may inspire herbalists to personally harvest and try using more generous doses of Lonicera aerial parts for all infectious diseases. In this regard, though I’ve not tried it, one might consider the use of strong honeysuckle tea, perhaps with added fresh ginger and a little licorice for recalcitrant infections like Lyme’s disease.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a specific through similar anti-inflammatory use for Lonicera stems which are called jin yin teng or ren dong teng. This part of the plant has milder anti-toxin effects but is specific for arthritic and rheumatic conditions, described in TCM as bi pain or ‘wind-dampness.’

While many contemporary western herbalists regard honeysuckle as exclusive to the domain of Chinese herbal medicine, the Roman naturalist writer Pliny recommended it mixed with wine for the treatment of “disorders of the spleen.” This may suggest yet another possible use for honeysuckle: depression. In ancient Greek humoural medicine, the spleen is associated with the black bile humour which in turn is associated with melancholy, or depression. To my knowledge there is no contemporary use of honeysuckle flowers for the treatment of depression unless one considers its use as a homeopathic Bach flower remedy for a certain kind of depression associated with nostalgia.

I’ve always been eager to incorporate and use any herb or healing principle so long as it is safe and effective. This is why I came up with my own approach to herbalism, Planetary Herbology, embodied in the East West Herb Course. If I were an Ayurvedic herbalist or a curandero living in the Amazon jungle, if I learned about the fantastic uses of an herb like Lonicera, I’d have a hard time not wanting to put it to immediate use. If you’ve got a honeysuckle vine giving its profuse blooms over a fence or trellis in your yard at this time of year, I hope you’re inspired to snip some leaves and flowers for medicine; it’ll come in handy later this year!

Now that I’m on to ginseng-like herbs, here’s another one that can be taken during the summer. Its real name is Panax notoginseng, known in Chinese pinyin as san qi, but is best known by its commercial name, Tien qi ginseng.

It is definitely in the ginseng family, but has quite different properties from the ones we usually associate with other ginsengs.

Rather than tonifying Qi, this herb moves and builds Blood. But even better, while it moves Blood it also stops bleeding. This makes it a perfect application for any trauma from falls, fractures, contusions, wounds, cuts or sprains (for this reason it is used extensively by martial artists) and to stop bleeding in vomit, urine or stool along with nosebleeds and hemorrhaging.  

In fact, it is used for any internal and external bleeding and should be taken frequently for this, both internally and externally placed on the wound in powder or liniment form. It is called Yunan Bai Yao in its patent form, which is widely used to stop bleeding, specifically from gunshot wounds.  

San qi also reduces swelling, alleviates pain and dissolves blood clots. I have seen it dissolve large blood clots and slow excessive menstrual bleeding and hemorrhage (high doses are needed for both).  It is used for chest, abdominal and joint pain and diabetic retinopathy. As well, it lowers blood pressure and increases coronary artery flow. Because of its tonic circulatory properties, it is one of the most popular of all herbs used by the Chinese. 

Image of San qi tubers from: ITM Online.

San Qi

Latin: Panax notoginseng, P. pseudoginseng

Family: Araliaceae

Part Used: root

Energy, taste and Organs affected: warm; sweet, slightly bitter; Liver, Stomach, Large Intestine

Actions: stops bleeding

Properties: hemostatic, cardiac tonic

Biochemical constituents: arasaponin A, arasaponin B, dencichine

Dose: 1-3 g powder; 3-9 g whole root, decoction; apply topically as needed

Precautions: pregnancy; Deficient Blood or Yin

Other: also known as pseudoginseng, notoginseng, tienchi, tien qi and tian qi

Indications: internal and external bleeding, nosebleed, blood in urine, vomit, mucus or stool, traumatic injury due to falls, fractures, contusions and sprains, chest and abdominal pain, angina, coronary heart diseases, joint pain, hemorrhage, injuries, wounds, excessive menstruation, diabetic retinopathy

Although not a ginseng at all, codonopsis has similar tastes, energies and tonifying properties as ginseng. As well, both herbs affect the Lung and Spleen organs and meridians. Yet, because it is milder in action and far less expensive, codonopsis is often called the “poor man’s ginseng.”

Because the body’s fires are rising up and out during the summertime, it’s important to switch from using ginseng to codonopsis. Its milder energy is more appropriate for hotter weather and so traditionally is substituted for ginseng in the summer. Partly this may be due to codonopsis not having the potential to stagnate energy as easily as does ginseng, but also because it lowers blood pressure while ginseng elevates it.

Excess heat in the body not only can congest energy, but it rises as well, just as steam rises from a fire. The strong tonifying action of ginseng more easily congests already stagnant energy, which is why it is most always given along with a qi-moving herb. And in the summer, higher outside temperatures can combine with our own inner fires rising upward and outward to create more inner heat if it is not naturally dispersed through activity, sweating and a cooler diet. Ingesting strong tonic herbs in the summer can congest that heat and lead to many unpleasant symptoms.

Some also believe that codonopsis tonifies blood as well as qi and promotes the production of body fluids, making it particularly useful for women. It is even beneficial for nursing mothers as it helps produce milk and its nutrients are especially nourishing to babies. Furthermore, it’s useful for teething babies, as its hard, sweet tasting root can be held like a stick.

When combined with astragalus, it builds immunity, helpful during the weather changes in Spring. It may be given along with exterior-releasing herbs (diaphoretics) for colds and flu in those who are weak.

Its mild action makes it acceptable for children to take as well, helping build muscle and strengthen the digestive, immune and respiratory systems.

According to Ron Teeguarden, “Codonopsis has been demonstrated to have radiation protection activity and can be effective in protecting cancer patients receiving radiation therapy from the side effects without diminishing its benefits. Codonopsis also has interferon-inducing activity that may be of importance in many immune deficiency conditions, including HIV infection.”

Include codonopsis in a weekly tonic soup or morning cereal as a general tonic.

Codonopsis pilosulae

Family: Campanulaceae

Pin yin: dang shen

Part Used: root

Energy, taste and Organs affected: neutral; sweet; Lungs, Spleen

Actions: tonifies Qi

Properties: energy tonic, demulcent, expectorant

Biochemical constituents: saponin, starch, sugar, inulin, alkaloids, sucrose, glucose

Dose: 9-30 g, decoct for 20-30 minutes; eat root after cooking

Precautions: do not use with veratri (li lu)

Other: codonopsis is frequently substituted for Chinese ginseng

Indications: lack of appetite, fatigue, tiredness, weakness, poor digestion, gas, weak arms and legs, bloatedness, diarrhea, vomiting, prolapse of uterus, stomach or rectum, chronic cough, shortness of breath, copious white to clear mucus

Uses: Codonopsis is a primary herb used to tonify Qi, particularly of digestion (the Spleen) and immunity (the Lungs). It is similar to Chinese ginseng, but milder in energy and actions (and cheaper, too!) and so is safe for long-term treatment, in all climates (it is typically given in summer rather than ginseng) and by both sexes. Codonopsis increases vital energy, strengthens digestion and assimilation and treats diabetes and hyperacidity. It is given in all diseases associated with weakness, debility after illness, tiredness, lack of strength, poor appetite and anemia. It also alleviates diarrhea, vomiting, gas, bloatedness, chronic cough and shortness of breath. 

We have now moved into the "Heart time" of the year. It runs from about mid-April through June and encompasses the traditional Chinese medical concept of the fire element and the organs of Heart and Small Intestine. At this time of year everything is surging upward and outward. This includes not only our own outdoor activities, but the body’s energy as well. The Heart time of year is represented by the energy of summer, even though it may not correspond to what we think of as summer calendar-wise.

Summer is the essence of life, growth, heat and activity. Not surprisingly, the fire element and its organs, Heart and Small Intestine, correlate with summer. With the sun at its zenith, nights are short and days are long. Our energy is expansive now, flowing outward to act on the plans and seeds sowed in spring. Similarly, the body’s heat, or “inner fire,” starts rising close to the surface, cooling us inside. We are motivated now to pursue sports, gardening, yard work, hiking or other outdoor activities. We feel compelled to get things done, work and socialize. With increased heat, circulation and joy (the Heart’s emotion), we generally feel more optimistic, find it easier to work on relationship issues, and experience increased sex drive.

General Lifestyle Suggestions for Summer Health

While the fiery energy of summer pulls us into activity, we need to guard against over-activity and over-excitement, as these injure the Heart and deplete our trust fund’s energy reserves and rob our bodies of their vital Essence needed for the rest of the year. If we experience low energy now, it’s often because we didn't rest sufficiently during winter, or we’re overly active. Tiredness, exhaustion and “burnout” result, particularly if we go from dawn to midnight, accomplishing many different tasks, socializing more, working out a lot, skipping meals and snacking instead, having more sex and fitting in vacations, house repairs and yard work with everything else.

Summer is actually the time to protect your energy, especially for those who already have low energy. Thus, rest during the hotter hours of the day (this is siesta time in many countries), pace yourself, delegate, prioritize, moderate activities and exercise, and eat three regular meals daily. Take Siberian ginseng to enhance endurance and immunity.

Dressing in summer seems easy - the fewer the clothes the better. Yet, regularly baring midriffs exposes the Kidneys and abdomen to Coldness, ultimately depleting Essence and metabolism respectively. Those who frequently feel cold should maintain body heat by covering up on cooler summer days. Air conditioning can lower immunity and cause colds or chills, especially if kept too high, or if indoor/outdoor temperatures differ extremely. If air conditioning is a must, keep it at a higher temperature to more closely match that of the outdoors, and wear a sweater.

Summer Ailments and Dietary Suggestions

Because our fires are closer to the surface, we can easily overheat through over-exposure to the sun, heated environments, or hot-natured foods. Lighter, easier to digest foods are appropriate now, such as fruit, salads, grains and legumes. Red meat and excess meat eating should be kept at a minimum, if eaten at all.

People with Excess Heat often feel worse in summer and are generally tired, sluggish and easily overexcited or impatient in hot environments. Many are easily prone to heat exhaustion, headaches, arthritis, colds, allergies, hypertension, chest pains and palpitations. Eating too many hot, spicy, greasy, fried foods, red meats, alcohol, sugar, or caffeine, or smoking tobacco, aggravates these symptoms. Instead, eat fresh vegetables, salads, fruits, legumes, white meats, mung beans, watermelon, soy bean sprouts and room temperature herbal teas.

Drinking excessive amounts of cold and iced drinks causes Stomach Heat (any season) with headaches across the forehead, bad breath, bleeding gums, ravenous hunger, extreme thirst (especially for cold drinks), constipation, nausea, vomiting, sour regurgitation, or mouth ulcers. In fact, iced drinks taken with fatty or fried foods causes cholesterol according to the Chinese because cold drinks “encapsulate” fat, making it indigestible and turning it into fatty deposits in the blood vessels. Although we like iced drinks in the West, they also ultimately create this Heat because the body has to increase metabolic warmth in order to digest them. People who live in hot climates mostly drink hot teas and eat spicy foods since these make the body sweat, ultimately cooling it.

Other people eat excessive amounts of cooling foods in summer, such as salads, raw foods, iced drinks/foods, juices, smoothies, melons, soymilk and too much fruit. Since these cool the digestive soup pot, they cause poor digestion and assimilation, also known as Spleen Qi deficiency, resulting in undigested food in the stools, gas, bloatedness, sleepiness after meals, low immunity, weakness, tiredness, nausea, loose stools, or diarrhea. Thus, if you tend to feel cold, even in summer, limit intake of cold foods, eat all cooked foods, add spices (such as ginger and cardamom), increase protein (such as red and white meats) and drink warm herbal teas. Balance fruit intake by eating its seeds (like watermelon), or a piece of its peel (these are ancient Asian secrets to “keep the doctor away”).

Summer Herbs for Balance

The cooling and drying qualities of the bitter taste strengthen the Heart and Small Intestines and eliminate excess fluid and cholesterol from the blood. Spicy herbs, such as those used in chilies and curries, open the pores and create perspiration to cool the body. Herbs such as mint, lemon balm, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, red clover, violet leaves, honeysuckle, borage, rosehips and green tea also cool the body and make refreshing summer drinks. Hawthorn and longan, because they nourish the Heart, are good now as well. Don’t take ginseng or other strong warming tonics during summer (unless you’re weak) because they’re too heating and stagnating now, potentially causing headaches, chest pains, stomachaches, or excessive thirst and sweating.

For example, Ligusticum porteri (now available as a Planetary Herbals extract), commonly known as "osha," has been found to lower viral count in chronic hepatitis C patients. Traditionally, the herb is considered "big medicine" by southwestern natives who widely utilize this herb in ceremonies and as treatment for a wide variety of conditions including sore throat, and all viral diseases including the flu.

In the marketplace, a typical consumer presented with the choice of capsules of pure lomatium versus capsules of lomatium blended with other herbs would most likely choose the former.

Are formulations better than singles?

Assuming that it is well crafted by an experienced herbalist, a formula consisting of two or more herbs can often more effective than a single herb. The operative word here is 'can' – not always.

Strange how often the first things you hear on your learning path often prove to hold the greatest weight in life. My first Chinese herb teacher, a Taoist named Foon Lee Wong who operates a curio shop on the outskirts of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, once off-handedly said that herbs used together represent more than anything we find in nature -- in other words, herbal formulations are 'unnatural' or perhaps 'supernatural,' as in beyond nature.

In a very real sense an herbalist uses herbs as a musician uses individual notes or an artist uses colors and shapes to create something unique and hopefully therapeutically effective.

Herbs are combined in formulas with particular objectives in mind. For example:

To complement or augment a primary intended therapeutic action: For instance, we might use more than one antiviral herb together to have a wider range of effect in treating viruses. Or we might use several complementary tonics together for a wider range of tonification.

Or, we might add some herbs because we can see the need to support an internal organic function in order to help the body achieve relief of a specific symptom. In other words, extra support for the digestive or urinary systems will help more effectively treat the underlying cause.

We might add in a smaller amount of an herb that slows down the liver's ability to neutralize any strange substance that enters its portals. Usually this would be a small amount of a spicy herb to bypass the liver P450 enzymes. This allows the active principles of an herb to remain in circulation longer than if it were used alone.

Or we might add a small amount of an antispasmodic herb to relieve any physiological resistance to the unique qualities (taste, texture, etc.) of an herb.

However one of the most fascinating phenomena around herbal formulation is how a particular combination, even a ratio of two or more herbs can biochemically optimize the primary ingredients in the herbs themselves.

Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine includes thousands of preparations, sometimes in exact prescribed rations and amounts that have been passed down over millennia because of some unique experientially proven benefit.

Given today's research capabilities, it is difficult enough to try to understand biochemically why some herbs do what they do. Each herb contains thousands of unique compounds. Compound this with trying to analyze an ancient traditional herbal formula containing two or more herbs, and you can see what a challenge this would be! (And that's assuming that there is a will and funding for such research –- which by and large in the West there is scant little of either.)

Over 50% of all pharmaceutical drugs were or are derived from plants. Are there miracle cures in the vast but dwindling Amazon rain forest? Absolutely, but thus far only a handful of drugs have made it to market (including quinine, codeine, morphine, and cocaine). While visiting the Amazon, I spoke with one of the leading Western ethnobotanists whose job it is to discover and send back plants to pharmaceutical companies that may have a value in medicine. He said he's sent them hundreds but because they are unable to isolate, synthesize and therefore patent a single active constituent, all of this traditional knowledge of therapeutic plant usage goes to waste.

In the case of herbal formulas, the challenge to isolate and synthesize is exponentially greater.

Finally, research that supports formula synergy

So given all of the above, you can imagine how excited I get when I find a research paper that substantiates the value of an herbal formula over a single plant, in this case where the herbs work on each other to optimize certain therapeutic properties and effects.

While researching the effects of the Chinese herb dang gui (Angelica sinensis) as a blood tonic especially for women, I accidentally came upon a study of a famous ancient Chinese two-herb formula Dang gui bu xue tang (DBT) which consists of one part dang gui and five parts huang qi (astragalus root). This formula has a wide range of use and is traditionally prescribed alone with other herbs or in soups for anemia, uterine bleeding, post-partum bleeding, fatigue, and symptoms due to hormonal deficiency including osteoporosis.

The odd thing is that the formula is for blood deficiency but dang gui, the herb regarded as the sovereign blood tonic in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is used in a much smaller amount than astragalus root, an herb used as a qi tonic. Why?

The study "Verification of the formulation and efficacy of Danggui Buxue Tang (a decoction of Radix Astragali and Radix Angelicae Sinensis): an exemplifying systematic approach to revealing the complexity of Chinese herbal medicine formulae" demonstrated the higher therapeutic efficacy of the two herbs together with the primary herb being a one fifth the ratio to its secondary counterpart.

The researchers speculated as follows:

"The saponins may liquefy and make the primary properties of ferulic acid and ligustilde in dang gui more bio-available. When boiled it seems that the ferulic acid and ligustilide in dang gui are oxidized and degraded which is far less when astragalus is combined in the 5:1 ratio with dang gui. Finally it's possible that the stability of the active constituents are improved by having the different plant chemicals together."

While none of this is conclusive, it sure supports Foon's notion that an herbal formula is more than the sum of its parts.