With a cold threatening on the eve of a trip to Melbourne, Gill South fights hard to stay well.
I present myself, a cot case, to Mother-Well Natural Health acupuncturist Lisa Houghton. I have been shivering all day thanks to an early start at Labtests in Grey Lynn, where my blood test takes over two hours. They take the blood, then I have to drink a bottle of a
sweet drink which is like lemonade but 25 times sweeter, then they retest me two hours later. All this is on an empty stomach because I had to fast for the test. Yuck.
Back home, I take to my bed with a hottie, still feeling queasy after that disgusting drink and suffering early cold symptoms.
Lisa is sympathetic as I tell her of my distressing day, taking another look at my tongue to remind herself, no doubt, of my constrained liver and my damp stomach. I am fighting a cold and am getting on a plane to Melbourne in a couple of days and I CANNOT be sick. It's a wind cold she tells me - a wind cold is an invasion where you are feeling cold to the core. Go for a pungent solution, she says - eat veges, spring onion, ginger, cinnamon, to push the pathogens out. Think warming foods - hot spices are good for opening up the lungs and releasing the pores. Good thing I live with a man who likes to cook curries - I eat hot and sour chickpea curry that night.
Lisa recommends a drink of grated ginger, hot water, honey (preferably unheated) and if possible propolis. Also a bath with Epsom Salts, and for good measure, then hold eucalyptus or Olbas oil up to the nose. Up the vitamin C with lemons and grapefruit and eat the pith too, she suggests.
As for when I am well, in summer, I should make sure that I am still having nurturing fat, says Lisa. For example good fats like organic meat and organic pumpkin seeds.
Meanwhile, bump up the salads, eating cooling vegetables with high water content, cucumbers and tomatoes, dark leafy greens, and a lot of detoxing foods like lemon and water and fruit salads. The danger things for me in summer are alcohol, sugar, hot spices, saturated fat and red meats.
For a constrained liver like mine, nuts can be a challenge, as can deep fried foods.
Eat good fats, says Lisa. Fish is much more mellow than lamb. Sour is also good for the liver, so think lemons.
Having a healthy liver is about diet, getting on top of emotional stress, having a good body weight, and listening to the body, says Lisa. The acupuncture treatment this time hurts a bit more but in a good way - it feels like it's doing things to my sinuses. The Hegu treatment concentrates on points used to open the pores and push out the pathogens. It's the same as that used in the four gates last time, with Leique and Wei Guan. And it works, my cold doesn't develop.
Next week
I go to see Dr Frances Pitsilis, who is an expert at treating stressed women. As I enter the busiest time of my year, she's just the woman I need.