TCM and Incense: A Cornucopia of Chinese Herbs

Handmade, all-natural incense

I might as well take advantage of the amazing national health care system in Taiwan, which includes traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). We aren't sick, but my kid wants to grow taller and I want my hair thicker or at least return to the state before I had a kid when my hair was at its healthiest.

On the left: giant bowls of powdered incense. On the right: my TCM herbs

We went to the TCM Dr right before his lunch break. It cost 140NT each including a week's worth of herbs (powdered to be taken with water 3x a day). On the way back we stopped at this family-owned incense making shop. It smells like heaven driving by on the scooter. They have been using the same methods since time memorial, no synthetic toxins and only make sandalwood or "Chinese medicine." Incidentally, the incense in its powdered form looks exactly like the Chinese medicine prescribed to us that come in little packets (washed down with a big gulp of water.) I bought a pack of sandalwood for 200NT and Chinese medicine for 100NT. Looks like 100 sticks in a packet, sure to last a long time.

She is her mother's daughter, and my kid was quickly using my phone to look up the herbs she would be taking to help boost a growth spurt. I had her try and find the English translations for me. Here is a comprehensive list of TCM herbs and another glossary of herbs.

12 Year Old Girl's Herbs for Growing Taller:
1.Shenling Baizhu San (Mix) Nourishes the spleen and enhances the absorption of nutrients
A proprietary blend of:

Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae Sclerotium Poriae Cocos Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma Dioscoreae Oppositae (Mt. Potato) Semen Lablab Album Semen Nelumbinis Nuciferae Semen Coicis Lachryma-Jobi Fructus Amomi Radix Platycodi Grandiflori Radix Glycyrrhizae Uralensis (Licorice root)

2. 4 Plant Soup The formula consists of four Chinese herbs, Ginseng or Codonopsis, Atractylodes, Poria, and Licorice.

3. Mt.Potato/ Chinese Yam/ "Mountain Medicine" (Dioscorea) Is a tonic for the kidneys and spleen and nourishes Yin. This slimy, starchy tuber is commonly found in the morning markets in Taiwan, although I have never cooked it before. It often is included in tonic packets, in a dried form, to be included in chicken herb soups, which I have cooked before. Maybe I should try it in a stirfry as it has antiaging properties and supports a healthy immune system. It also is used in most Asian cuisines and can be eaten raw.

4. Glossy Privet Fruit  Used for premature menopause and aging. Chinese privet has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 1,000 years. The fruit is antibacterial, antiseptic, anti-tumour, cardiotonic, diuretic and tonic. It is taken internally in the treatment of complaints associated with weak kidney and liver energy such as menopausal problems (especially premature menopause), blurred vision, cataracts, tinnitus, rheumatic pains, palpitations, backache and insomnia. Modern research has shown that the plant increases the white blood cell count and is of value when used to prevent bone marrow loss in cancer chemotherapy patients, it also has potential in the treatment of AIDS.  Good results have also been achieved when the fruit has been used in treating respiratory tract infections, hypertension, Parkinson's disease and hepatitis.

• Enrich the blood and invigorate the circulation of blood.
• Fight against oxidation and scavenge free radicals.

5. Xuduan (Teasal Root) Tones liver, kidneys, sinew and bones and helps lower back or knee pain. It stimulates new bone growth and regulates menstruation.
6. Glossar ?

43Year Old Mom's Improving Blood/Chi Circulation for Hair:
1.Gui Pi Tang/"Return to Spleen" (11 plant soup stock) Nourishes the blood and chi to the spleen and offsets stress, being overworked and turning off the busy mind at night. Being a working single mom, I can attest to overthinking and worrying which aggravate imbalances in heart blood and spleen chi.  Symptoms of such an imbalance are forgetfulness and insomnia. Well, I don't have insomnia, I just stall going to bed. Gui Pi Wan improves sleep, mental clarity during the day and digestion. (Check out Mental Tranquility)

2. Zuo Gui Pian (8 herbs including arugula, honey and dried dates) A classic Ming dynasty formula used to treat infertility and kidney yin deficiencies. A proprietary blend of:

Radix Rehmanniae Preparata Rhizoma Dioscoreae Oppositae Fructus Corni Officinalis Colla Cornus Cervi Colla Carapacis Et Plastri Testudinis Fructus Lycii Chinensis Semen Cuscutae Chinensis Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae

3. Shen Chang
4. He Shou Wu/Fleeceflower Root/ Fo Ti (radix polygni multiflora) The herb of intuition and longevity, it is rich in iron and zinc which nourishes blood deficiency, premature greying, hair growth, boosts the libido, and repairs DNA. There's a tincture on Amazon ($20).   The herb was found in ancient Taoist texts, written about in AD 800 when a frail old man named He reportedly fell asleep next to this vine. He felt inclined to dig up the root, consumed regularly for a week and his youthful vigor returned. Even his hair color returned, giving it the Chinese name" "He's Black Hair". Fo Ti is traditionally prepared in a "secret" method involving a black bean sauce. Interestingly, its one of 3 herbs said to expand the consciousness, the other two being Reishi (mushrooms) and Tulsi/Holy Basil according to this article.

5. Chai Hu (purple yam)/ Bupleurum Traditionaly used for blood disorders and liver diseases it is anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer.

6. Dan Shen/Salvia Miltiorhiza (red sage)/Chinese sage/ The root and rhizome are used to nourish the blood and calm the spirit and balance the circulatory system. Its very powerful in treating heart disease and agina and many other benefits.

Our TCM Dr. recommended  that I get a sonograph (ultrasound) of my thyroid as I had a thyroid problem post-partum (12 years ago.) So I went to the new University hospital by the train station and had them take 6 vials of blood to test. I'm going back in 2 weeks to discuss the results. Until then its powdered TCM herbs with water 3x a day.

Wake Up and Smell the (Funky Fungi) Coffee of Immortality

The latest health food trend (in America) is Mushroom Coffee; coffee spiked with Asian medicinal mushrooms. I was debating whether or not to order some from i-Herb, but it's pretty expensive and I am not sure of whether or not its medicinal properties are lost during processing and if I might find something cheaper and purer right where I'm at. For example, the medicinal mushrooms in America are really mycelium grown on grain. According to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), medicinal mushrooms should be grown without chemicals and those that grow wildly on wood (like Reishi) should be cultivated on wood, as the different trees produce subtle differences of medicinal applications. 

Reishi Coffee from Nantou

The medicinal mushrooms in such coffee are usually including Lion's Mane猴頭菇, Cordyceps蟲草  (冬蟲夏草), Chaga白樺茸, Turkey Tails雲芝 and Reishi 靈芝.The health benefits are increased mental alertness (without jitters or insomnia), and a power shot of adaptogens, anti-oxidants and anti-carcinogens.

The other week, Z and I watched an awesome documentary (Himalayan Gold) on Discovery Asia about the cordycep pickers of Nepal. It's a mushroom that grows out of a body of a caterpillar and also one of the 'magic' medicinal mushrooms in TCM  (and in the latest mushroom coffee fad of the West).

The more I learn about mushrooms, the more I realize how much I don't really know. Thankfully my friend and former body combat sparring partner Erin, helped me find some local shrooms. 

Lion's Mane猴頭菇 and Cordyceps蟲草 are very common in Taiwan. Fresh Lion's Mane can be ordered from Fengnian Farm in Puli or occasionally you can see them at major supermarkets. It looks pretty far out, as its furry (it's also called Bear's Head in North America) and looks more like cauliflower than fungi.

 I have experimented with cooking with fresh Lion's Mane and use it as with any mushroom. I prefer to saute it with butter and garlic and have added it in to creamy pasta, sandwiches and omelets. It has a consistency and texture much like scallops. It's no wonder it's also called the 'Lobster of the Wood.' 

Above:Creamy Pasta with Lion's Mane and goji berry
Below: Lion's Mane upclose

Reishi in TCM is known as the "mushroom of immortality" as its a powerful tonic and immunity booster. That same Fengnian Farm does sell organic Reisi mushroom (Ganoderma antlers) coffee and it's not cheap- a packet of 10 little satchels is 270 NT (plus shipping). Unfortunately, it's watered down with powdered creamer and sugar. I'm drinking a cup right now and it tastes like any instant coffee with creamer and sugar, with just the slightest aroma of mushroom. I prefer my coffee black but this is still palatable.

 I feel like the reishi does give me more stamina (rather than quick energy) and I drink it when I have a particularly heavy schedule (7 back to back classes and running errands on my lunch break) or after a stressful previous evening (my last night). For more on the benefits of reishi read here.

Taiwanese use Reishi 靈芝 in chicken soup the same as dried Cordyceps冬蟲夏草 . Both are very expensive and  can be found in all quality Chinese Herb/medicine shops.

Turkey Tail 雲芝 mushroom is the rarest. It is also found in the best TCM  herbal shops.  My next mission will be to check out the local herb apothecaries and see what fungi I can experiment with.

I still might order this, energizing hot cocoa with reishi and cordyceps,
30 servings for 300NT via iHerb. Use my reward code(LRF400) and we both get 5% off our next order.

(For the record "magic" psychadelic mushrooms are available in Taiwan but not as commonly used recreationally as at home or SE Asia, yet they are known to be enjoyed by artists and bohemians every now and again).

Chinese Medicine Part 3: When it hurts

We live in a toxic world, no matter how well you sleep, how loyal you are with your exercise, and diet. With work and stress it is easy to get out of balance. When Taiwanese get out of balance and become tired, with back ache, neck ache, poor sleep head ache, they quickly get some traditional treatment before making the appointment to see the Doctor. Part of a healthy regimen or as a treatment there is massage 按摩 an (4th) mo(3rd), cupping 拔罐 ba(3rd)guan(4th) , cupping with bleeding 放血  fang (4th) xie(3rd), and scraping 刮沙 sha(1st) gua(1st). If those do no work then it is off to the Doctor.

I try to get a massage twice a month. I would do more if I could afford it. The woman I have been going to does the deep tissue, Chinese acupressure massage. It is excruciating. I am making animal grunts and my face is contorting into grimaces of pain and torture, but afterward I am as loose as a goose and everything is all worked out. Occasionally she will give me some cupping therapy, occasionally I go get some cupping somewhere else. She charges 800 NT for an hour and half, I usually go during my lunch break. She doesn't speak any English and I have been going to hers for almost 2 years and it such a blessing because I hold stress in my neck and shoulders and with training so hard at the gym as well, its just wonderful.

When I lived in Korea the parents of some of my students were Traditional Chinese medicine doctors. Every Monday during lunch me and 2 co-workers would go for treatment. First she would start out with having tea with us and she was very intuitive. For their particular constitution my coworkers usually got moxibustion, and I always got cupping and blood letting along with acupuncture. The blood letting is used with the same cups (like glass jars), they suction your skin into the cup and instead of leaving you there for some minutes, after the blood rises to the top, they get a little pin and start jabbing you and all the "bad blood" is released. It feels great. They show you what the blood looks like and it isn't the nice red liquid that you would think but dark, congealed, blobs, that looks like grape jelly. When I was in London I found a set of cupping jars (plastic) and bought it. It is now in  my folks home in storage, but whenever I went home I had my my mom help me (to her utter disgust.)

Photo taken of me in Seoul, S.Korea of cupping/blood letting.

I see some of my students come to class with their necks scraped raw. They were probably coming down with something and their folks used scraping to release the "bad chi". It really works. I have seen people use the lids from their Tiger Balm for scraping and I have 2 little tools for scraping/acupressure massage, one that is wood and the other stone.

Any of the above treatments can be done at home, the Chinese Medicine Doctor or the neighborhood traditional massage place of business (not to be confused with other types of massage places).

Traditional Chinese Medicine Part 1: Food as Medicine

Taoist principles are apart of ever day Chinese cuisine and health. The Taiwanese look at food as medicine (or poison). Depending on the season, weather, time of day, a woman's menstrual cycle, etc, the Taiwanese can adjust their food/cooking to balance their body harmony and keep in health. All food can be divided into hot or cold (yin or yang), Typically, the Taiwanese try to avoid cold food for optimum health. Cold food doesn't mean just the temperature, but also its yin energy, like watermelon or citrus fruits. When a Taiwanese person is sick, they avoid all yin food, which is the opposite of Americans, when we are sick we eat oranges. All food is also composed of 5 flavors(sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, pungent) which correspond with the 5 elements (water, fire, earth, wood,metal) found in food, the body and all of nature; these in turn stimulate specific organs in the body. It can get very specific depending how deep you want to go, but the masters of this are the traditional Chinese medicine doctors and Taoist shifus. Really every plant, mushroom, meat has some kind of medicinal value and a specific combination can of course have stronger effects on the body. There is still the thinking that if you eat a specific organ you will gain that organ's strength, for example eating pig brain makes you smarter.

For the lay person or the average mom like me, this is what you cook, certain soups to heat the body. You can buy these soups in the local grocery store or the local traditional Chinese pharmacy where they have jars of herbs, fungi, dried endangered animal parts (like whole seahorses), etc and you buy by the weight. The following soups are the most common and based on plants although they are supposed to be cooked with meat, most likely pork or chicken. Thanks to my Taiwanese friend Doreen who is a "foodie" and wonderful cook. This is her advice: You just boil water, and put the herbs which are probably in muslin inside your pot like a tea and infuse. When the water is very dark add your chicken and simmer all. Add salt to taste, maybe a little rice wine and black sesame  oil for further heating properties. You can leave your herb muslin pouch in your pot as long as you want, it all depends how strong you want the flavor and the medicinal value. Typically you do not add vegetables in these. (I have to restrain myself from adding carrots, celery, etc, western style). If you want veggies make them in a side dish. Chinese cabbage is probably the only veg that will do in these.

Four things soup 四物湯 (si wu tang): This soup is composed of 4 main ingredients and used for women's health as a tonic for the uterus and productive hormones after her period (not to be eaten during!). It is also given to women after they give birth. It stimulates the balance of hormones, and the circulation. It has angelica root and lotus root. It is supposed to be cooked with chicken or pork in a soup. It can also be cooked with milk fish.

Eight Treasure Soup 八 珍 湯 (ba zhen tang ): This soup is like they one above but only stronger, its has 8 key ingredients rather than four. It very much stimulates heat in the body and should be avoided if a person already has a lot of yang energy anyway. So if you are always thirsty and breaking out, do not drink this one.

Ten Gentlemen Soup 十  君子湯 (shi junzi tang): Since men are more important (joke) they get 10 key ingredients. Most Chinese medicine for men has only specific goal in mind and thats to get the blood flowing to one area, take your guess where. Men no matter the culture share one common trait, that singleness of mind. Before there was Viagra there was this soup which is probably thousands of years old. Most of the terrible consequences of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), like the almost extinction of seahorses and other endangered animals come from men seeking to prolong erections. Having said that, women can drink this soup too if they want, it wont increase their testosterone or anything, just increase their blood pressure and circulation.

Four Spirits Soup 四神 湯(si shen tang ): This soup is traditionally drunk by children to increase their appetite and promote good digestion. Children like it because it does not have that dark color like the above soups, nor does it have the 'mediciny' flavor like the above. It is white in color and should be cooked with chicken or pork. You can add some carrots. Of course adults can drink this soup too to promote healthy digestion.

This is just a sample of how food is medicine and these 4 soups are probably the most commonly used in a typical Taiwanese household. I try to eat Four things soup 四物湯 once a month and it is safe for my daughter to eat too (although she will just eat the chicken).