"How do you eat at other times?" Lu Jiu asked.
Qiao Ling paused, then said, "In the morning, I make a cup of oatmeal, then a slice of bread, have a cup of coffee before class, lunch is at the school cafeteria, and in the evening I eat meal prep I made on the weekends for fitness. That's basically it. Occasionally I have some snacks, but not much."
"A fitness meal?"
Lu Jiu asked, "How is the fitness meal structured?"
Qiao Ling didn't understand why Lu Jiu was asking so meticulously. Could her headache be related to these things?
"It's hard to say. I prepare a week's worth of fitness meals on the weekend. The combinations vary every day. For example, today it's chicken breast, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, and bok choy. Anyway, it can't exceed 500 calories because I can only consume 1500 calories a day. I eat more at noon, so I eat less in the evening." Qiao Ling explained.
No wonder!
After hearing Qiao Ling's description, Lu Jiu finally understood why Spleen Earth said she always ate things that it couldn't transform.
The caloric content of this fitness meal indeed wasn't a big issue, but there were countless problems with the nature of the food.
The nature of food refers to the qualities of food, similar to the properties of traditional Chinese medicine.
Medicine has four natures and five flavors. The four natures are hot, cold, warm, and cool. The five flavors are sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty. Food follows the same principle.
If you eat food without considering its nature and flavor, over time, you'll accumulate some issues.
Take fruits for instance. Most fruits are cool in nature and sweet-sour in flavor. The more you eat, the heavier the burden on the spleen and stomach.
Although Qiao Ling doesn't eat much fruit, she eats plenty of vegetables.
And the most critical issue is that for convenience, she keeps her food frozen in the fridge. Even after high-temperature processing, the food's qualities have already changed. Even modern medicine agrees that food stored too long produces nitrites, which are not good.
Of course, to discuss problems without considering dosage is nonsensical. But Qiao Ling's dietary structure clearly leads to higher intake levels.
Oh, right, and there's coffee!
"Do you drink coffee every day?" Lu Jiu asked.
"It's not that frequent, about five or six days a week. I drink it less during weekends at home." Qiao Ling replied.
Oh my!
These eating habits are really something!
Among the five flavors, there's a distinction between thick and thin flavors. Take sourness, for example. Some foods have a mild sourness, which is a thin flavor, while others have a heavy sourness, which is a thick flavor.
Generally, thin flavors relate to qi, while thick flavors relate to blood. Within the Spleen and Stomach, the Spleen governs blood and the Stomach governs qi, meaning all thick-flavored foods enter the spleen.
As for coffee, it has a thick flavor and is sour in nature. Sourness relates to wood, and in the five elements, wood overcomes earth. The spleen, stomach, and pancreas belong to earth, so drinking too much coffee adds stress to the spleen and pancreas.
Drinking occasionally is fine, but long-term drinking inevitably affects the body.
Furthermore, after 3 PM, the body's qi and blood withdraw, and the spleen and stomach's transformative functions weaken compared to the morning. The ancients had a saying: "Don't eat after noon."
Nowadays, people understand it as not eating after noontime, but this is incorrect. The ancients meant not to eat after the afternoon, which corresponds to before it gets dark.
In the morning, after the sun passes the horizon, it is when Yang Qi fully sprouts. Our spleen and stomach function increases, so eating cold items in the morning digests faster, especially at midday. But after midday, the sun begins to go west, and as Yang Qi wanes and Yin Qi rises, spleen and stomach functions weaken. Once the sun sets, the spleen and stomach need to rest. Eating at this time isn't advisable, and consuming cold, hard-to-digest foods causes more phlegm and dampness in the body.
From Lu Jiu's perspective, Qiao Ling's dietary approach is almost like perfect, unwitting self-harm.
Any minor error wouldn't have led to the current situation.
If it weren't impolite, Lu Jiu would love to see Qiao Ling without makeup, to check how her skin really looks and whether her face retains any luminosity.
"Do you feel headaches every time you menstruate?" Lu Jiu suddenly asked.
Qiao Ling was taken aback, "How do you know that?"
She remembered not mentioning her period!
Lu Jiu didn't answer her question but continued, "Has the amount of your recent menstrual flow been more or less than before?"
Qiao Ling admitted embarrassingly, "I haven't really paid attention to that..."
Lu Jiu exclaimed helplessly, "What about your stool? Is it formed, dry, or watery?"
Qiao Ling hesitantly replied, "Sometimes dry, sometimes watery. I usually just flush without paying special attention..."
They have a toilet at home, and who examines their stool in the toilet after wiping?
This...
What Lu Jiu feared most were these vague answers from patients, mainly because his pulse diagnosis was weak, relying heavily on observation and inquiry.
And this young lady even came with makeup on and gave off-target answers, leaving Lu Jiu quite at a loss for diagnosis.
Forget it, best to rely on the Five Viscera.
Lu Jiu decided to stop questioning this young woman and directly communicate with her Five Viscera.
After a brief self-introduction, Lu Jiu connected with Qiao Ling's Five Viscera and began the diagnostic process.
"Liver Wood, in recent times, has her menstruation been more or less than before?" Lu Jiu asked.
"That depends on when recently. But compared to two years ago, it has been much less." Liver Wood replied.
Oh?
Two years ago?
Could it be...
"Did her dietary habits change starting two years ago?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Yes, she used to eat things I couldn't easily transform, but not much. Back then, her Nutrient Essence was quite plentiful, so the impact wasn't significant. But since she started an everyday diet of foods difficult for me to transform, my transformative skill has worsened." Spleen Earth complained.
"What is her stool situation?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Loose stools," Fei Jin said.
The Fei and the large intestine are closely related, so it was no surprise that it spoke up.
Among the five viscera and six bowels, the small intestine governs fluids, and the large intestine governs the transmission of bodily fluids. The small intestine differentiates clear from turbid, absorbing the essence of food and a large amount of water, while the large intestine absorbs a small amount of water from food residue and transforms the excess into feces.
With this complementary relationship, the heart and small intestine, as well as the Fei and large intestine, mirror each other.
The six bowels cannot speak, so they rely on their corresponding viscera to articulate for them.
From what has been observed, Lu Jiu can largely determine Qiao Ling's condition.
This is purely due to improper diet leading to inadequate function of the Spleen and Stomach. This, in turn, generates excess phlegm and dampness in the body. Simultaneously, insufficient intake of grains results in a deficiency of Qi and blood, causing menstrual issues where the blood cannot descend through the Chong Meridian due to a lack of Qi support, resulting in reduced menstrual flow.
A prolonged deficiency of Qi and blood certainly leads to Qi deficiency or blood deficiency. In Qiao Ling's case, it's clearly both. No matter the type of deficiency, headaches are likely.
Yet there are differences: blood deficiency causes headaches with dizziness, accompanied by palpitations, while Qi deficiency results in dull, intermittent headaches.
If both symptoms are present, it's undoubtedly a case of combined Qi and blood deficiency.
"When you have a headache, do you experience dizziness, along with chest tightness and palpitations?" Lu Jiu asked.
Qiao Ling nodded without hesitation.
"Do the headaches persist, or do they come and go, with periods of relief in between?" Lu Jiu asked again.
Qiao Ling replied, "They come in waves; it hurts when I wake up, then improves after I eat, but soon starts again."
Diagnosis confirmed!
Qi and blood deficiency!
But Qiao Ling's issues are not limited to one symptom.
"This time, besides the headache, is your abdominal pain worse than before during menstruation?" Lu Jiu asked.
Qiao Ling nodded shyly.
"Do you exercise regularly?" Lu Jiu inquired.
Qiao Ling responded, "Yes, I dance every week and also teach students."
A dance teacher, no wonder the long legs.
Oops...
Went off topic!
"Is your exercise intensive, do you sweat profusely?" Lu Jiu asked.
Qiao Ling said, "Very much, often leaving a pool of sweat on the floor."
"Do you exercise in the evenings?" Lu Jiu asked.
Qiao Ling said, "About two or three times a week."
With this, Lu Jiu could not hold back anymore, "Since you're exercising so much, why not eat more?"
Qiao Ling pursed her lips, "What if I gain weight?"
Lu Jiu held his forehead in exasperation!
He was at a loss for words.
He didn't truly understand the anxiety women feel about their figures.
Yet, after two years of following this diet regimen, and having only menstrual headaches, exercise did play a part.
Otherwise, without the help of Yang Qi, Qiao Ling's Spleen and Stomach might have been more damaged.
Of course, they're not in great shape right now either.
The increasing pain during menstruation is due to the prolonged accumulation of cold and dampness in the body that can't be expelled. Cold congeals the blood, leading to blockage when the menstrual blood cannot descend, which results in pain.
Even with ongoing exercise, the cold and dampness couldn't be expelled. Sweating doesn't remove cold dampness, and maintaining the diet while exercising almost leads to catastrophic results.
Previously, the conversation hinted that Qiao Ling was depleting the Innate Essence stored by her Hydronephrosis, no doubt due to inadequate grain intake and persistent exercise.
When Qi and blood are insufficient, exercise is financed through whatever reserves available. Hence, Hydronephrosis is used harshly.
Ultimately, while one might appear fit, any illness immediately exposes the condition of the five viscera and six bowels.
It's like treating a cold with antibiotics. Modern medicine knows a cold is viral, and antibiotics are ineffective against viruses. So why use them?
Because antibiotics stimulate Kidney Essence, prompting the body to fight the virus, giving the illusion of cure.
It's not the medicine that heals, it's the kidney acting in silence, uncredited, and voiceless when harmed.
Still, Hydronephrosis isn't foolish. Chronic exploitation drives it to economize. Excessive antibiotics render it non-responsive, causing treatments to be less effective. Once antibiotics enter, they compete with Hydronephrosis for resources, so excessive shots damage rather than heal.
The nation has since banned antibiotic abuse for its irreversible harm!
Surge therapies, including mass antibiotic and steroid use, often leave patients with avascular necrosis of the femoral head.
This profoundly injures the kidneys because they govern the bones, with the femoral head being the source. Severe kidney depletion leads to deterioration there first.
However, if it's life-saving, these treatments, allowing survival, are justifiable with patient and family consent.
Nonetheless, traditional Chinese medicine sees kidney essence depletion as a non-exclusive treatment for acute conditions.
Kidney essence, the Innate Essence stored by Hydronephrosis, is congenital and irreplaceable.
Treatment should safeguard kidney essence, layering the necessary reserves to cultivate postnatal essence, ensuring the balance of the five viscera and six bowels.
Undeniably, the grains' role is paramount!
Minutes ticked by as Lu Jiu released a gentle sigh, "Ah, do you hold a grudge against your own body?"