“Everything in life has some risk, and what you have to actually learn to do is how to navigate it.”

Reid Hoffman
A Real Life Example, Putting it All Together:

It can be very helpful at this point to see the information presented in the past 2 pages in a real life example. A presentation of symptoms such as those common with “heart disease” can develop from 2 main paths in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The deficiency Type:
  • Deficiency Type
    • The Qi of the heart becomes weak from lack of proper rest, and not enough building foods in the diet.
      • This presents often with general mild fatigue, problems falling asleep, and palpations (an uncomfortable awareness of the heartbeat)
    • As this person continues to overwork themselves and avoid building type foods the Qi of the heart becomes so weak it begins to drain the Yang energy from the body
      • This presents with more intense fatigue especially with mild exercise, and a feeling of cold either in the hands or in general.
    • As this person continues on their previous path the Yang energy becomes so depleted that it can no longer keep a “toxin” out of the body called Cold
      • This presents with pressure and aching in the chest, intense fatigue with even simple exercise such as going up the stairs, and often a cough triggered by exercise.
    • As the Cold type toxin builds up in the body it prevents Qi from circulating entirely causing symptoms common in a “heart attack.”

Once the Cold type toxin accumulates in the body then this person is primarily in a state of excess. In this case the person would need a diet that is part detoxing to get rid of the Cold but also part building or their body will just continue to accumulate more Cold. As odd as it would seem to many people, in this case if the person started eating red meat they would actually detox their body of the Cold naturally.

So in this “case” of “heart disease” the root cause was actually not ENOUGH building foods such as red meat.

the excess type:
  • Excess Type
    • The body begins to accumulate Heat toxin from drinking too much coffee, eating too much red meat, and smoking
      • This presents often with a racing heart, anxiety, and problems waking up during the night
    • This person continues to “push through” by drinking coffee, managing their anxiety by smoking, and eating a diet of primarily building foods and avoiding detoxing foods such as vegetables. They continue to accumulate Heat toxin and now also begin to accumulate Damp Toxin
      • This presents with thirst, intense anxiety and insomnia, pressure in the chest that is worse with eating heavy food and better with light mild exercise.
    • As this person continues on their previous path the Heat and Damp toxins accumulate to a critical point where Qi can no longer circulate entirely causing symptoms common in a “heart attack”

From the beginning this person was primarily in a state of excess. In this case the person would need a diet that is strongly detoxing with lots of raw vegetables, fasting, and avoiding building foods such as red meat. In this case eating more red meat would ADD to the amount of toxins already in their body and could trigger the “heart attack” symptoms.

So in this “case” of “heart disease” the root cause was TOO MUCH building foods such as red meat.

Almost all dis-eases in Traditional Chinese Medicine can be created in more than 1 way similar to the above example. There are no “good” or “bad” foods, only inappropriate foods for a specific person at a specific time.

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