Constipation & Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Healthy foods that can worsen constipation

Today I thought I would do a short combo post on constipation and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). 

I will frequently see constipation patients who are trying their best to get their diet in line to help with their constipation.  What they will commonly do is start eating lots of salads, smoothies, seeds (like chia) in yogurt/pudding/smoothies etc. 

Did you know that in TCM, cold/raw foods like salads & smoothies are considered bad for the gut?  Due to their cold, raw nature it is difficult for the stomach (& spleen) to process; thus, possibly worsening constipation symptoms?

In TCM-land, warm, cooked foods are more preferable for the gut and far easier to digest; especially if you have an already compromised constitution (that’s a whole other post). 

And yes, for those of you who are asking…even a salad at room temperature is considered cold in TCM.

Soups and stews, warm oatmeal etc. are all foods that will be more easily tolerated and may help you leave behind your constipation woes. 

This makes sense, right?  Our bodies are on average 98-ish deg.  Putting something that’s cold into our warm system is a shock and not always easily accepted.  It makes our bodies work harder to warm up & break down the very cold/raw foods in order to process them.  And if we’re asking our bodies to do that on top of an already taxed system…well you can imagine that problems start to arise.  Like constipation…

If you’ve been struggling with constipation and eating lots of raw/cold things, try out some warm foods on a consistent basis and see what you think!

Oh, and along with this – room temperature water is again, far easier on the system than cold water.  Just an FYI!

Happy Monday, friends!