Phlegm, Dampness and Chinese Medicine

Internal dampness and phlegm

Dampness and phlegm are buildups that occur in the body that can make us feel ‘phlegm’ or just heavy and tired. When our diet is out of sync with our body, our mind is working overtime, or when the weather is very humid, we tend to get swamped with dampness and phlegm.

Humidity it is generally considered a thicker/heavier viscosity than phlegm, however it may be less apparent in physical signs. Dampness is felt in the heaviness of the body and the confusion of thought, and can be seen on the coating of the tongue.

Phlegm it is thinner and manifests in a runny nose or wet type of cough.

Symptoms of dampness and phlegm

cloudy head

Bad memory

Difficulty waking up in the morning

Low energy, especially after eating

loose stools

bad approach

leucorrhoea

Wet-pustular skin conditions

Signs of dampness and phlegm

Swollen tongue with teeth marks

white coating on the tongue

Runny nose, especially after fatty/dairy meals

slippery pulse

One of the signs of dampness is a thick coating of the tongue and swelling of the body of the tongue. Sometimes the coating on the tongue is very thick and white, especially in people who eat a lot of dairy, such as yogurt and milk. These people often scrape the coating off their tongue too as it is so thick! This doesn’t treat the root of the moisture problem, it just eliminates one of the indicators.

Dampness and phlegm accumulate for different reasons. Initially we can divide the causes into 2 categories: internal and external routes.

Internally Dampness/phlegm can build up due to:

1. Overthinking/stress leading to a deficiency of spleen qi (digestive energy) that cannot cope with all the wet food eaten, leading to slow digestion.

2. Poor diet. Too many dairy, fatty, oily, greasy, sweet, cold, raw, and rich in nature foods.

Externally Dampness/phlegm can build up due to:

1. Humid environment. Tropical climate. Air conditioning blasting on a hot day for long periods of time.

2. The two weeks between each change of season, and especially the end of summer, which is considered the ‘late summer’ or ‘wet’ time of year when we expect moisture to build up.

Chinese medicine is based on the 5 element theory. Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood.

Each element is related to a season, organ, emotion and function, etc. Humidity is most closely related to soil. The earth element is related to the end of summer and the organs of the spleen and stomach.

The job of the spleen and stomach is to convert food and water into energy and the rest into waste. However, sometimes when this system becomes depleted and cannot convert things properly, due to a rich diet for example, there is an excess of waste that cannot be removed efficiently called moisture. Chinese medicine also states that when moisture overflows from the earth element, it is contained in the metal element; this being the lungs and the large intestine. This may explain why we sometimes eat greasy fish and chips or a milkshake and have a runny nose, cough, or diarrhea.

Moisture is heavy and likes to drain down and out. Sometimes it can’t do this because it crashes and gets gluggy. There are a few ways we get rid of moisture. First we want to reduce the foods that add to the problem. So we want to use herbs and acupuncture to open the pores of the skin to disperse through sweat, purge through stool, or drain through urine. We will then strengthen digestion through a bland diet, exercise, herbs, and acupuncture.

Matter and energy

A good way to explain Chinese medicine and what we call ‘digestive fire’ is through basic principles of physics.

Matter and energy. The two fundamental aspects of nature are fire and water. We can refer to these 2 elements as matter (water) and energy (fire). Everything is a form of matter and energy, with matter being a more condensed form with less vibration and energy as a more dispersed and insubstantial form that has highly vibrating electrons and protons.

That said, the two are interchangeable; life and nature are always in motion and changing. We are made of matter and we are moved by passion, emotion, will and love, in this case we can say that this is the ‘energy’ or fire that is life. Therefore, we are made of matter, powered by energy. But what fuels this energy? Food, air and water. So we have life, or this ‘inner fire’, and we want to add fuel or wood. What kind of wood would we add to a campfire?

What overwhelms the digestive fire?

When we want to make a good fire, we need good, light and dry wood; like firewood. We notice that when we put green sticks in the fire, it smokes and puts out the fire. Similarly, if we put a large wet log on the fire, we are likely to put it out completely.

The spleen and stomach like light and dry food. So heavy, oily, greasy, raw, dense foods are not the kind of things that strengthen an already weak digestion. It is like throwing a large, wet, heavy log onto a small fire. Goodbye fire!

We need to start with grains and easily digestible foods that are well cooked and not overly processed. This is our firewood.

Foods to Reduce Dampness and Return Digestive Fire

Cooked whole grains: rice, oats, barley, rye, millet, quinoa, pearl barley, buckwheat, amaranth, corn

Vegetables: beans (if you can tolerate gas), celery, squash, turnip greens, alfalfa, leafy greens

Meat/Protein: Small amounts well cooked (even slow cooked/stewed) are good and moist to drain. Beef, Lamb, Chicken.

Spices/Herbs: Ginger is great for warming up the digestive fire, especially in rice soup. Cardamom, cinnamon, fennel, paprika, cumin and pepper warm the digestion.

Foods to avoid that increase humidity and reduce digestive fire

Basically, too many raw, cold, sweet, oily, or mucus-forming foods.

Too many raw fruits, vegetables, sprouts, juices, cold food from the fridge, salad, too much sushi.

eat late at night

Eat excessively

Not chewing properly

Processed foods such as cakes, pork, duck, salads, wheatgrass, avocados, bananas, tofu, soy milk (soy is 50% fats and oils), eggs, chocolate, ice cream, milkshakes, ice water, girls, dairy.

A raw food or salad diet sounds great and clean, but it may not be beneficial for everyone. A very hot, red-faced, strongly built person will benefit greatly, however, a skinny, pale, tired person will do worse. All this is due to their condition, digestive fire and diet.

Further improve digestion and reduce excess weight.

When the digestive fire slows down and we put in more of the wrong foods, we get leftover residue. This is what we call moisture. This moisture is energy that has become more substantial, matter. This leftover matter can be deposited as fat or converted to more solid matter, such as cysts.

The way to reduce this from happening is:

Reduce foods that accumulate moisture

Restoring the digestive fire

Stay active and exercise every day.

Clearing your mind with meditation and relaxation breathing

Chris Eddy Dr. of Chinese Medicine