Browsing Posts tagged Chinese
Product Description
How to prepare herbal decoctions or tea, and when to take the herbal decoction may have significant influence on the ultimate treatment results. Each herb has its own features. These features illustrate how herbs act on the human body, and their therapeutic effects. It is critical to understand these features of herbs before using them. This issue emphasizes on the preparation of herbs, different formats of using herbs, and energies and tastes of herbs. More than ten different ways of using herbs are described. Interactions among herbs, and among herbs and foods, as well as precautions and contraindications in using herbs are also discussed.
Table of Contents
1. How to Use Herbs in Different Ways
2. How to Make Herbal Tea and Decoctions for the Best Effects
3. Different Energies of Herbs in Chinese Medicine: Cold and Hot Herbs
4. Spicy, Sweet, Sour, Bitter, and Salty: Five Tastes of Chinese Herbs
5. Interactions, Precautions, and Contraindications in Using Chinese Herbs
Excerpts from “How to Use Herbs in Chinese Medicine: The Basics and Practical Guides”:
“In Chinese medicine, herbal wine has been popular for thousands of years. Herbal wine can be made through soaking herbs in wine for some time to get certain effects. The wine can usually improve the effect of the herbs, such as for arthritis. It can be taken orally, or used externally….”
“Add water to the pot to submerge all the herbs. Soak the herbs for about 30 minutes before placing the pot on a fire.
Usually the properties of the herbs decide the amount of water to be added and the cooking time….”
“Incorrect applications of herbs on patients may cause severe problems and strong toxic effects. For example, using herbs of the hot nature on a patient with hot syndromes will only cause the disease even worse. Herbs are safe and effective only when they are used correctly with appropriate properties applied to the corresponding ailments….”
“Herbs with different tastes or flavors have different pharmacological and therapeutic effects. Here the “tastes” do not refer to their real tastes in the mouth, but indicate the actions they have on the human body….”
“Ancient Chinese medicine classics recorded many herb-herb interactions, precautions, and contraindications in the application of herbs. These include the eighteen incompatible medicinal herbs, and the nineteen mutual-restraining medicinal herbs….”
How to Use Herbs in Chinese Medicine: The Basics and Practical Guides
Product Description
Cooking with Chinese Herbs brings the rich and life-enhancing legacy of Chinese herbs to your table. Prized for thousands of years by the Chinese for their health-giving properties, these natural ingredients are at the centre of growing interest and research around the world today. The range of Chinese herbs extend beyond the putrid poultices used on festering sores and evil smelling brews from a culinary cauldron frothing with medicinal mixes that some of us are wont to believe.
This book is an indispensable guide to a time-honoured cuisine that fathoms the efficiency of a multitude of barks, roots, seeds and herbs cherished for centuries by the Chinese for their flavour and restorative powers. The full range of Chinese herbs is presented here in detail, with explanations of their qualities, benefits and use.
A wide variety of recipes is featured, from nourishing herbal stews to convenient one-pot meals. Easy-to-follow instructions make inspirational and informative reading, even for the novice. Discover for yourself the ancient philosophy of Yin and Yang, unravel herbal myths, and learn about traditional cooking utensils and the finer points of storing Chinese herbs in this fascinating culinary journey into the world of Chinese herbs.
Product Description
The first book to exclusively use Chinese medical theories and terminology to guide practitioners of Chinese medicine in the use of Western herbs
• Written entirely according to the theory, diagnosis, and treatment paradigm of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
• Explains how to combine and modify the standard TCM formulas to non-Chinese herbs suitable for Western practitioners
• Includes 58 monographs of common Western healing herbs, detailing how each plant is used clinically
The ever-growing number of Chinese medicine practitioners in the West has brought about an amalgamation of many styles of Chinese medicine and various other forms of medicine from around the world. This book addresses the increasing demand for knowledge of how to integrate plants from outside the standard Chinese materia medica into the fold of Chinese medical practices in the West. It is the first in-depth guide to using Western herbs exclusively according to the theories, diagnoses, and treatments of traditional Chinese medicine that harmonizes the unique terminology and theories of TCM with other botanical medicines.
The book contains 58 monographs, illustrated with full-color photographs, of herbs commonly used by Western herbalists. Each herb is grouped by the basic categorization for medicinals in Chinese medicine, such as Herbs that Resolve the Exterior and Herbs that Regulate Blood. The monographs detail the energetics, function and indication, channels entered, dosage and preparation, and contraindications of each plant. The author also explains how to use the herbs to modify standard formulas used in everyday Chinese herbal medicine, based on his own clinical experience. An appendix of Western Analogs for Chinese Herbs further highlights 40 Chinese medicinals that have related species growing in the West.
Western Herbs according to Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Practitioner’s Guide
Product Description
Traditional Chinese medicine is perhaps the oldest system of health care in the world–and one of the safest and most effective. This easy-to-use handbook provides everything readers need to know to be able to explore Chinese herbal medicine for themselves. Illustrations.
When we speak of Chinese herbs, we are technically referring to herbs sourced straight from China. Chinese herbs are commonly employed for Chinese cooking but may also have medicinal properties that make them ideal to use in Traditional Chinese Medicine too. There are a mind-boggling number of the known Chinese herbs (more than three hundred, at last count) which have reputedly been used in various ways for around 2000 years or so.
Generally, Chinese herbs might either be boiled as a hot tea for at least an hour for the patient to sip, or the Chinese herbs could be incorporated into honey bound pills. The most common purpose for using Chinese herbs is for their health benefits, since these Chinese herbs can reportedly make the human body stronger when the herbs are consumed. Chinese herbs which have developed a strong following are Ginseng, salvia, rhubarb, rehmannia, peony, ephedra sinica, licorice, hoelen, ginger, coptis, cinnamon bark, cinnamon, bupleurum, atractylodes, astragalus, and Dong Quai. Among this list of commonly used Chinese herbs, the one which many might be very familiar with is Ginseng (because of the many commercial products that claim to use this herb as an ingredient.) Much of the Ginseng being used for these commercial products would be made up of the Red Panax ginseng variety which is more affordable than the more highly prized Wild Ginseng variety.
Though not technically part of the Chinese herbs category, there is what is known as American ginseng too, which was employed by Native Americans for their own type of health care treatments.
Are Chinese herbs safe to use? Those who strongly believe in Traditional Chinese Medicine would probably be very convinced that Chinese herbs are very effective, but anyone who is trying out Chinese herbs for the first time (as part of Chinese cuisine or as part of a Traditional Chinese Medicine program of treatment) should always practice caution before ingesting any Chinese herbs. This is because the Chinese herbs that might work for one person might not necessarily work for another. More alarming is the prospect that certain Chinese herbs might even be dangerous for some individuals to use, especially if they happen to be allergic to those Chinese herbs, or if the person is on some commercial drug preparation that might contraindicate with some Chinese herbs. If you are planning to use Traditional Chinese Medicine to complement your conventional medical treatment program, you should always consult your physician first before taking any Chinese herbs on your own. This is for your own protection. Though admittedly various Chinese herbs (like ginger which even Westerners are very familiar with in these modern times) are probably safe to consume on a regular basis, many Chinese herbs are unfamiliar to Western medical practitioners so it is prudent to incorporate such Chinese herbs into your diet and medical treatment slowly – maybe even one at a time – to observe the effects on your body.
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