God blessed us with bounty in nature and endless second chances. Our bodily organs are usually endowed with spares. Except we have only one liver. People who pause in life to look for secrets of longevity realize the liver is a key consideration.
A number of years back, I bought this book off a sale table somewhere: Between Heaven and Earth, by Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korn. Subtitled, "A Guide to Chinese Medicine", it changed how I viewed health. Between Heaven and Earth helped me take more responsibility in my health, and gave me insight into another way.
At the time I seemed mysteriously ill, and after seeing many doctors (HMO at that time) with no clue, I was frustrated. Here is the western clinical model: (1) take a snapshot of your baseline measures; (2) do nothing but wait 'n watch you go downhill; (3) reach the point of severely acute or terminal illness, then intervene with strong treatment. At that point it may be too late to go back in time and recover the lost organ function (for example, as in diabetes onset). Their preventative model is passive – refraining from advocating preventive practices, because doctors by definition intervene through insured and expensive medical drug prescriptions and treatments. We are responsible for our health and well-being. So educate yourself and follow your instincts. Well that's enough soapbox, for a blog on Loving Your Liver…
The book lays out theory behind Chinese medicine. There are 5 Phases or "networks" by which your mind and body are organized. Each Phase has a controlling, root organ – liver, spleen, heart, kidney, and lungs. Each Phase is associated with an element from nature that characterizes them, namely: wood, earth, fire, water, and metal respectively. There is a sixth force known as "qi" ("chi") or energy. These five networks and qi flow and interconnect dynamically throughout your body. Described through "yin" and "yang" relationships, the networks experience dichotomies of waxing/waning, blocked/free, imbalanced/balanced, hot/cold, and wet/dry effects, both within a given Phase and among the Phases. It's not extreme to conceive of the human body as so complex an eco-system. Understand your tendency towards a certain type, while striving for balance & harmony. Never allow total domination by any element or effect over the rest of you. The Chinese view of disease is based on states of imbalance.
I don't disagree with western diet or western medical approaches. Merely hedge your bets with a multi-dynamic "cocktail approach", and look into the Chinese health approaches. Here you must also treat your mind and spirit, and not just your body.
Back to your liver… It is the wood element, and considered the organ where anger is rooted. If you've ever heard of about an alcoholic's fit of rage – this all makes sense. While achieving good diet and liver cleansing practices, you should also work on happiness, positive expression, and relief from sources of stress and anger – if you want health and balance for your liver.
*new, added 11/06/07* --> Control yourself from outbursts of temper (which is hard to do when you have anger built up inside). I don't mean that you hold things in, but rather you should find a way to resolve the source(s) causing anger, and be in peace. Laugh at every opportunity. For diet - sour foods are good for the liver: grapefruit, tomatoes, vinegar. If you are ill with a liver ailment, Chinese medicine uses "Tui Pen Cao" a strong bitter tea made with a special type of grass, and also 2 similar types of little over-the-counter pills (you can buy in a Chinese grocery store) "Shu Gan Wan" and "Xiao Yao Pian", a.k.a. "Happy Pills". The types of supplements are use herbal ingredients, not pharmaceuticals. For example: milk thistle, schizzandra, dandelion, white peony, licorice, etc. And for a dinner recipe - nothing on earth tastes better than chicken and broth boiled in ginseng and scallions (optionally with red dates, ginger root, and "gou qi-zi") .
Love your liver, love yourself.
To keep the blog short, here are good reads when I googled "liver anger" (maybe with "Chinese" "health"?):
And so on for the rest of your Body and Mind. My blog is just a dialog, not-FDA approved. I should start reading again about Chinese Medicine and health, and should practice what I preach!! I'm curious about but haven't read Daniel Reid's many books, which seem to do quite well on Amazon. If anyone can recommend a good book, please do.
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