The Spleen Deficiency Diet

The Spleen Deficiency Diet

To learn more about what Spleen Qi Deficiency is and the different treatment strategies for this diagnosis, please refer to my previous article titled, “What is Spleen Qi Deficiency?”

Traditional Spleen Qi Deficiency Symptoms

The main symptoms of Spleen Qi Deficiency are fatigue (especially after eating), low appetite, loose stools, slight abdominal distension after eating, a desire to lie down (especially after eating), pale complexion, weakness of the limbs, and a tendency towards obesity. There are different variations of Spleen Qi Deficiency. The main ones are: (1) Spleen Yang Deficiency, (2) Spleen Qi Sinking, (3) Spleen Not Controlling Blood, (4) Spleen Deficiency with Dampness. The symptoms for each of these patterns includes a few, some or all of the symptoms of Spleen Qi Deficiency in addition to:

(1) Spleen Yang Deficiency: feeling cold, cold limbs, edema

(2) Spleen Qi Sinking: depression, a bearing-down sensation in the abdomen, prolapse of the stomach, uterus, anus or bladder, hemorrhoids

(3) Spleen Not Controlling Blood: blood spots under the skin, blood in the urine or stools not related to an infection or ulcer, tendency to bruise easily, excessive uterine bleeding

(4) Spleen Deficiency with Dampness: obesity, excess body fat, edema, oily skin, fungal infections, thick tongue coating, excessive mucus production or phlegm, heavy feeling of the body, slow or foggy thinking, lack of taste or thirst, nausea, excessive vaginal discharge, mucus in the stool, tumors, cysts

Based on the variation of Spleen Qi Deficiency, a patient may want to include foods that not only tonify the Spleen, but also deal with the underlying symptoms of their particular variation. The different variations are included in the foods lists below.

A typical Spleen qi deficient tongue is puffy or enlarged, thin to thick moist white coating, toothmarks on the edges, and pale color.

Modern Spleen Qi Deficiency Symptoms

There is another way to look at Spleen Qi Deficient patients and that is to break them into groups based on weight and blood sugar regulation. Because Spleen Qi Deficiency is so closely related to diabetes, two groups that automatically emerge are Type I and Type II diabetics. We might also include a third group, the Pre-diabetics (Type II), or people on a trajectory to developing Type II diabetes. The most common symptoms belonging to each group are as follows:

(1) Type I Diabetes (juvenile onset, insulin-dependent diabetes): pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin, if at all, excessive thirst, frequent urination, weight loss, normal or underweight, extreme hunger, fatigue, blurred vision, neuropathy, viral infection leading to acute diabetic episode

(2) Type II Diabetes (adult-onset): cells may be resistant to insulin, pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin, excessive thirst, frequent urination, increased hunger, weight loss, but overall overweight or obese, fatigue, blurred vision, slow-healing sores, frequent infections, areas of darkened skin, neuropathy, constipation, high fat and meat diet

(3) Pre-Diabetes (Type II): Any of the above symptoms for Type II Diabetes in addition to hypoglycemia or other blood sugar abnormalities listed below.

Blood sugar levels for normal patients, pre-diabetics and diabetics are listed below:

(1) Normal:

1. A1C of less than 5.7%
2. Random blood sugar of less than 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L)
3. Fasting blood sugar of less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L)

(2) Pre-diabetics:

1. A1C between 5.7% and 6.4%
2. Random blood sugar between 140 mg/dL and 199 mg/dL (7.8-11.0 mmol.L)
3. Fasting blood sugar of 100 mg/dL to 125 mg/dL (5.6-6.9 mmol/L)

(3) Diabetics:

1. A1C of 6.5% or higher on two separate tests
2. Random blood sugar of 200 mg/dL or more (11.1 mmol/L)
3. Fasting blood sugar of 126 mg/dL or higher on two separate tests (7 mmol/L)

Spleen Tonifying Foods, Diabetes and the Glycemic Index

In Traditional Chinese Medicine a lot of foods classified as Spleen tonics are actually considered high sugar/high glycemic foods, which are not recommended for most diabetics. These foods are only appropriate in cases where the patient is normal or under-weight (such as with Type I diabetics), and only when their blood sugar is very low and needs to be brought up quickly. Because it is more common to see overweight, Spleen Deficient Type II diabetic and pre-diabetic patients, I have mostly included low glycemic index (low-GI) foods, or foods that raise blood sugar the least on the general food charts. For a more complete listing of low glycemic foods and how to determine the glycemic load of meals, please see: www.glycemicindex.com

I have also included a generalized list of foods categorized by their glycemic index. Glycemic index refers to the glycemic impact of a single food on the blood sugar. When various foods are combined in a single meal though, the “glycemic load” of all the foods combined will determine how strongly the entire meal raises the blood sugar. Glycemic load is a combination of a food’s glycemic index and the serving size of that particular food. To help off-set high glycemic foods they can be combined with low-glycemic foods to create an overall lower glycemic load.

As a general rule, whenever eating a carbohydrate food, such as sugar, grains, fruit or starchy vegetables (like potatoes, carrots, or root vegetables), combine it with fat, fiber and/or protein in order to reduce the glycemic impact. Fat, fiber and protein take a longer time for the body to digest and thus slow down how quickly the meal will raise a person’s blood sugar. This creates a more gradual release of insulin over time, which can stabilize blood sugar, mood, energy, and food cravings. For best digestion, try to avoid combining too many different foods in one meal though.

Another general rule for overweight, Spleen deficient patients is to avoid or limit foods that promote dampness or mucus: dairy products, meat, eggs, tofu, and other soy products, excessive amounts of oil, nuts, or seeds, pineapple, salt, and concentrated sweeteners. Please take this suggestion into consideration when reading through the following food charts.

Low Glycemic Load Food Combining

• Sugar and excessive intake of grains, fruit, juice or soda should be avoided!

• When eating grains, choose whole, soaked, sprouted, and/or fermented grains. This makes them easier to digest and less irritating to the GI tract. Whole grains have more fiber than refined grains and flours, which will slow down their digestion and lower their glycemic impact.

• Green and non-starchy vegetables are considered carbohydrates, but their fiber and water content negate most of their glycemic impact. Hence, green and non-starchy vegetables can be eaten in abundance and lower the impact of other high glycemic foods.

• Beans and legumes, while considered high in protein, also have relatively high carbohydrate content, making them unsuitable in large amounts. Small amounts may offset other high glycemic foods though.

• Fats and proteins like those found in oils, nuts, seeds, meat and full-fat dairy, have very little glycemic impact and can be eaten in moderation. The type and quality of the fat/protein is very important though – choose organic, cold-pressed, soaked, sprouted, unrefined, high Omega-3, and unsaturated fats as much as possible. These should come mostly from: olives, avocados, almonds, walnuts, sunflower, hemp, flax, and sesame, just to name a few. Coconut oil, despite being a saturated fat, has many healing qualities and thus can be eaten in abundance. Organic lean meat, wild-caught, low heavy-metal containing fish and organic eggs are also fine in moderation. Other saturated fats should be limited or avoided, such as from fatty meats and dairy products.

*A lot of people worry about dietary fat in terms of calories and weight loss. But this type of thinking has recently changed. Although fats have more calories per gram than carbohydrates and proteins, healthy unsaturated fats, such as the ones listed above, leave a person feeling more satiated and less likely to overeat. Calories from excessive saturated fat, sugar and grain consumption are more likely to contribute to weight gain than healthy fats.

• High glycemic fruits should be avoided in general. These include bananas, melons, oranges, grapes and stone fruits. Low glycemic fruits tend to be less sweet and have higher fiber content, such as apples, pears, berries, grapefruit and lemons/limes. These can be eaten freely, but patients should aim to only eat 1-2 servings of these fruits per day. Green and non-starchy vegetables should make up the other 4-6 servings per day. Dried fruit is generally considered high glycemic because it lacks water and the drying process concentrates the naturally occurring sugars. Fruit juice is also considered high glycemic because the fruit’s fiber has been extracted, leaving a higher concentration of sugar.

Spleen Tonifying Food List

Grains

• barley
• broomcorn
• Job’s tears (including root, leaf, and grain)
• millet
• spelt
• whole grain rice

Vegetables

• cucumber
• rice sprouts
• shitake mushrooms
• string beans
• squash
• sweet potato
• radish
• rutabaga
• turnips
• white mushrooms

Beans and Legumes

• black beans
• broad beans
• fava beans
• garbanzo beans
• hyacinth beans
• tofu (organic, sprouted or fermented)
• yellow lentils
• yellow split peas

Fats, nuts and seeds

• apricot seed
• bitter gourd seed
• butter
• goat's milk/yogurt
• lotus seed
• pine nuts
• pistachio

Fruit (in moderation)

• cherries
• coconut
• figs
• strawberries

Meat

• anchovy
• beef
• carp
• chicken
• clams
• duck
• eel
• goose
• halibut
• ham
• herring
• lamb
• mackerel
• mandarin fish
• octopus
• perch
• pheasant
• rabbit
• sturgeon
• tuna
• turkey
• whitefish

Herbs and supplements

• aloe
• cardamom
• cinnamon
• cherry leaves
• cloves
• crown daisy
• dill seeds
• fennel seeds
• garlic
• gingko
• ginseng
• licorice
• royal jelly

Foods for Diabetes and Related Symptoms

Foods that are generally good for diabetics (in addition to all of the above Spleen Tonifying foods)

• asparagus
• avocado
• barley and wheat grass
• black fungus
• blueberry and leaf
• bottlegourd
• cedar berries
• chlorella
• chlorophyll
• dandelion root and leaf
• eggplant
• flax oil
• fresh corn
• grapefruit
• huckleberry and leaf
• Jerusalem artichoke
• kiwi fruit
• lemons/limes
• licorice tea and powder
• mulberry
• mung bean
• oats
• oranges
• palm seed
• pears
• plums
• spinach
• spirulina
• stevia powder and extract
• sweet rice
• tangerine
• wheat and wheat bran
• wintermelon
• yam
• yarrow flowers
• chromium, zinc, manganese, silica

Foods for weight loss

• adzuki beans
• alfalfa
• amaranth
• anise
• asparagus
• basmati rice
• bean sprouts (various)
• bee pollen
• black currant oil
• blue-green algae
• borage oil
• bupleurum root
• burdock root
• cayenne pepper
• celery
• cereal grass powders
• chamomile
• chickweed
• cloves
• corn
• cumin
• dandelion root
• evening primrose oil
• fennel
• flax oil and flax seed meal
• ginger
• goat's milk and yogurt
• grapefruit
• green tea
• kohlrabi
• lemon
• lettuce
• mung beans
• oats
• quinoa
• raw honey
• rye
• scalion
• seaweed
• spearment
• spirulina
• stevia leaf
• wintermelon
• yam
• yellow dock root
• all vegetables except zucchini, summer squash, sweet potato and yam
• apples, plums, peaches, berries, oranges and pears in moderation
• for heat symptoms: peppermint, chamomile, kohlrabi, turnip, radish, taro and white pepper
• sun exposure

Foods for lowering blood sugar in diabetic patients

• bitter melon
• chives
• citrus fruits
• dandelion leaf
• ginseng
• mung beans
• pancreas glandular
• plums
• potato leaf tea, sweet potato vine leaf tea
• radish
• spinach
• sweet rice
• turnip
• watermelon rind tea
• wax gourd
• yarrow flowers

Foods for normal/underweight patients with low blood sugar, or in combination with low glycemic foods

• black and red dates
• carrots
• chestnuts
• corn
• fermented glutinous rice
• grapes
• honey
• jackfruit
• longan fruit
• lotus rhizome powder
• mangoes
• milk
• parsnips
• peas
• persimmon
• pineapples
• polished rice
• pumpkin
• rock sugar
• squash
• tapioca pearls
• white potato

Foods for poor appetite

• black, green and red pepper
• cantaloupe
• ham
• honey
• kiwi fruit
• onion
• orange
• shiitake mushroom
• tangerine
• tomato

Foods that Promote Digestion

• apple
• cilantro
• ginseng
• green and red pepper
• hops
• malt
• nutmeg
• papaya
• pineapple
• plum
• radish and leaf
• sweet basil
• tomato

Foods Based on TCM Diagnosis

Foods that tonify Yang (warming function)

• chestnuts
• chive seeds
• cinnamon
• cloves and clove oil
• dill seeds
• eggs
• fennel seeds and roots
• fenugreek seeds
• green onion seeds
• kidneys (from animals)
• lobster
• orange seeds
• oxtail
• pistachio nuts
• prickly ash root
• raspberries
• shrimp
• star anise
• strawberries
• sword beans

Foods that warm the body

• black, white, red and green pepper
• chicken
• chive roots
• clove
• fennel
• ginger
• mutton and lamb
• nutmeg
• sword bean
• wine

*Note: there is a difference between yang tonic foods and foods that warm the body. Yang tonic are usually warm or hot in nature, just like foods that warm the body, but they have a nourishing component as well. Foods that warm the body tend to do so because they are hot and spicy in nature, but may not offer as much nourishment as a tonic food.

Foods that move qi upward (for sinking qi symptoms)

• abalone
• adzuki bean
• apricot
• beef
• beetroots
• black fungus/mushroom
• black sesame seed
• black and yellow soybean
• broad bean
• cabbage
• carp
• carrot
• celery
• cherry seed
• chicken egg and yolk
• corn silk
• crab apple
• dry orange peel
• duck
• eel blood
• fig
• grape
• guava leaf
• honey
• kidney bean
• kohlrabi
• licorice
• lotus fruit and seed
• milk
• olive
• oyster
• peanuts
• pineapple
• plum
• pork
• potato
• pumpkin
• radish leaf
• rice bran
• saffron
• Shiitake mushroom
• string bean
• sugar
• sunflower seed
• sweet rice
• sweet potato
• taro
• white fungus

Foods to stop bleeding from qi deficiency

• black and white fungus/mushroom
• cayenne pepper
• chestnut
• chicken eggshell
• cottonseed
• cuttlebone
• day lily
• gelatin
• guava
• leek
• lotus rhizome
• mugwort leaf
• olives
• radish
• shepherd’s purse
• spinach
• vinegar

Foods for draining dampness (promote urination)

• adzuki beans
• alfalfa
• amaranth
• asparagus
• autumn bottle gourd
• barley
• beef
• bitter herbs: chaparral, chamomile, pau d’arco, valerian
• blue-green algae
• cabbage
• carp
• carrot
• celery
• chicken
• clam
• coconut
• coffee
• corn and cornsilk
• cucumber
• day lily
• duck
• grapes
• hops
• Job's tears
• kidney beans
• kohlrabi
• lettuce
• mandarin orange
• mango
• mulberry
• mung beans
• muskmelon
• onion
• pear
• pineapple
• plum
• pumpkin
• radish and leaf
• rye
• scallion
• seaweed
• shepherd's purse
• sorghum root
• star fruit
• sugar cane juice
• turnip
• water chestnut
• watermelon
• wax gourd
• white pepper
• wintermelon

Glycemic Index of Foods

High-GI foods (70 or higher): white rice, white bread, pretzels, white bagels, white baked potatoes, boiled potatoes, crackers, sugar-sweetened beverages, corn flakes, puffed rice, bran flakes, instant oatmeal, short-grain white rice, rice pasta, macaroni and cheese from mix, pumpkin, pretzels, rice cakes, popcorn, saltine crackers, melons and pineapple

Medium-GI foods (56-69): bananas, grapes, spaghetti, ice cream, raisins, corn on the cob, whole wheat, rye and pita bread, quick oats, brown, wild or basmati rice, couscous

Low-GI foods (55 and under): oatmeal (rolled or steel-cut), oat bran, muesli, peanuts, peas, raw carrots, kidney beans, hummus, skim milk, most fruits (except those listed above and watermelon), 100% stone-ground whole wheat or pumpernickel bread, whole grain pasta, converted rice, barley, bulgar, sweet potato, yam, lima/butter beans, legumes and lentils

Cooked vs. Raw Foods

Foods that are more nutritious when cooked

• asparagus
• carrots
• cabbage (for antioxidant absorption)
• mushrooms
• peppers
• spinach
• tomatoes

Foods that are more nutritious when eaten raw

• beets
• broccoli
• cabbage (for water-soluble vitamin absorption)
• cantaloupe
• citrus fruits
• kiwi
• onions
• strawberries
• sweet red peppers
• watercress

*Adding a little oil or fat to cooked veggies and salads can help the body to better absorb the fat-soluble vitamins they contain, such as A, E, D and K. Try adding small amounts of olive oil, coconut oil, other plant oils, butter, milk or cream to dressings and sauces.

Original article and pictures take wayoflife.hubpages.com site