Geri asks me: “Hi, I have been constantly sick for years, catching everything going. Immune system shot. Started Miso soup 3-5 days a week and didn’t get sick for months. But, gained 15lbs. Dr. advised i stop it, and lost 6 pounds within a week.
Would the miso have any benefit to me if i drank just 2 tablespoons a day instead of small bowl? Small amounts of vitamins and medications suit me, and am always told take the least of anything due to reactions.
What do you think?
Thanks very much. Geri “
So, lets see if we can’t help Geri and others raise their immune system in a healthy way. Hopefully we can do it in a way where no one is going to have a reaction!
I would like to start with the Miso Soup. Good job on picking up the miso and sticking to it. Well, gaining 15 lbs in a few months isn’t a medical problem so I don’t know why your doctor would intervene in this when you clearly made a good change and have not gotten sick! Seaweed and the minerals in miso soup are truly miracle workers in themselves. Seaweed is very alkaline which works to balance your body’s pH. Its a fact that people with higher acidic pH levels are more prone to getting sick. Seaweeds also balance your thyroid and metabolism as well. A problem I am seeing is the amount of salt in the miso soup! My suspicions here seem to be confirmed based on the fact that you lost 6 pounds in a week by not eating the miso soup. The saying goes like this “where sodium goes, water follows”. You have clearly built up quite a bit of water weight and your body has been able tore-balance itself when you stopped taking in the miso. You have taxed your kidneys a bit at this point in filtering the sodium out, but now you should be okay.
At this point lets talk about increasing immunity. In Chinese Medicine people don’t ‘catch a cold’. We believe that we are exposed to pathogens (germs) all the time. These external pathogens want to invade us all the time. It depends on the person and their defense system (wei qi or immunity) if they get sick or not. This old Chinese Medicine way of looking at this has been proven by Western Science. In recent studies on ‘common cold’ or ‘rhino virus’ patients were planed with the rhino virus directly in thenostril . About 60% of the patients got sick. This study was used in very different ways, but as far as Chinese Medicine is concerned- What Happened to the Other 40%? Simply they had defense high enough to dispel the virus!
There are many herbs when used together to supplement the system they can raise your immunity! However, alone there is one that stands atop these called Astragalus or Huang Qi. Huang Qi is well documented for this task and is recommend for everyone. This is a typical herb used through the Fall and Winter season. I would also note that Echinacea is also used to raise white blood cell count, but this herb should be used in no more than 10 day increments.
Immunity is best done by eating soups and such. Foods like Congee or Kicharee offer foods and herbs that are already cooked down. This allows your body to easily digest and assimilate the nutrients and foods. This really gives your body a break from working so hard on the foods we take in all the time. Also, making a soup or other food like this allows you to add herbs. Herbs for medicinal purposes need to be decocted down. Being in a crockpot and slow cooking for a few hours, you are also decocting these herbs!
Here is a recipe I would like you to switch to:
http://blogofherbs.com/herbs/energy-weight-maintenance-congee-recipe
This Congee recipe has many great herbs and is very uplifting to your energy and immune system. I want you to pay special attention to use the herbs Huang Qi and Dang Gui. If you can’t or aren’t able to source the other herbs that is fine! Huang Qi and Dang Gui together is going to supplement your body and immune system.
For ongoing immunity supplementing you can take pills for this as well! Lung Tonics, Yin Tonics, Immunity Tonics and such are essential here.
Dimmak Herbs sells a formula called ‘Immunity’. These pills contain Ginseng, Huang Qi, Dang Gui, Goji (Gou Qi Zi) Berries, Licorice Root, and about 5 other herbs that synergistically are used to raise your immunity to these external pathogens!
I think between alternating these other foods and maybe eating Miso once a week should be great. Also note the usage of seaweeds in the Congee recipe, add more if you like!
译文:
用以提高免疫力和健康状况的食物和药草
格瑞问我：“你好，我这些年一直受病痛困扰，染上各种各样的病症。免疫系统已遭破坏。开始每周内3到5天我都在喝味增汤，这样下来几个月都不曾患过病。但是增重6.8公斤。医生建议我停止这样的饮食，很快一个星期内我又瘦了6磅。
如果我每天喝两大汤匙味增汤而不是一小碗，我还会受影响吗？我适合服少量的维他命和药物，我常被告知尽可能少地服用任何会引起生理反应的药物。
你对此怎么看？
非常感谢，格瑞。”
所以，让我们看一下如果我们能不能帮助格瑞及其他的人以一种健康的方式来提高免疫系统。希望我们可以用一种不会引起生理反应的方式来帮助大家。
我想从味增汤说起。好好地挑选味增汤并坚持喝。在一个月内增重6.8公斤并不属于疾病问题，所以我不知道为什么医生会在你有了好的转变并无产生呕吐反应的情况下还要加以干涉！在味增汤里含有的海藻和矿物质本身就是非常好的疗物。海藻富含碱，对平衡你身体内的PH值有很大帮助。事实上那些身体内PH值呈酸性较多的人更容易有恶心的反应。海藻也能平衡你的甲状腺和新陈代谢。我现在关注的一个问题是味增汤里的含盐量！基于你在没食用味增汤的一星期内减掉了6磅的事实，我的猜想似乎得到了验证。俗话说得好“有氯化钠的地方就会有水”。你当时显然已经增加了相当多的水的重量，而当你停止摄入味增汤内的盐分时，你的身体体内就自行把这种平衡切断了。在把氯化钠滤除的同时你加重了肾的负担，但现在你应该没事了。
到这个时候，我们来谈一下提高免疫力吧。服用中药不会感冒。我们相信我们一直遭受病原体（病菌）的侵害。这些外界的病原体总想要入侵我们的身体。会不会得病关键在于个人情况以及他们的防疫系统（胃气或免疫力）。传统中药对此的观点已得到西方科学的验证。在最近的一些关于 “普通感冒”或者“犀牛病毒”的研究中，犀牛病毒从鼻孔处入侵患者的身体。大约有60%的患者会因此生病。这个研究被用于各个方面，但是从中药的角度看——在另外40%患者的身上发生了什么？简单来说，他们有足够高的免疫力来抵御病毒入侵。
很多的药草只要放在一起服用来修复免疫系统就能提高你的免疫力。然而唯有一样药草是最好的选择——黄芪属植物或是黄芪。黄芪据记载是很好的有助你提高免疫力的药草，被推荐给大众。这是适用于夏冬季节的一种典型药草。我也注意到海胆亚目也被用于提高白细胞数量，但是这种草药不能服用超过10天。
通过喝汤和诸如此类的食物可以很好地提高免疫力。象是粥和饭可以提供已经煮熟的食物和药草成分。这就能让你的身体很轻易地吸收和消化营养和食物。这确实可以让你的身体在总在为消化摄入的食物而工作的过程中得到休息。把同样，做一道汤和其他类似于此的食物的时候你可以加入药草。药用的药草需要经过熬制。把药草放置于克罗克电锅中，然后用慢火熬几个小时，这样你也能把这些药草熬好！
这里是我希望你转向采用的食谱：
http://blogofherbs.com/herbs/energy-weight-maintenance-congee-recipe
这个粥的食谱中含有很多好的药草，对你的能量和免疫系统有很大的提高作用。我想你特别注意去食用药草黄芪和当归。如果你不可以或不能去获得其他药草也不要紧！黄芪和当归放于一起食用可以补充你的身体需要和提高免疫系统。
为了持续填补免疫系统，你也可以服用些药片！肺部滋补、阴滋补、免疫滋补都是很有必要的。
Dimmak Herbs 出售一种配方叫“免疫力”。这些药片含有人参、黄芪、当归（枸杞子）浆果、欧亚甘草根和其他5种药草，这些药草在相互作用下可以用以提高你对外界的病原体的免疫力。
我认为在轮流服用这些食物的同时，也许每个星期都吃点日本豆面酱效果会更好。也要注意下粥食谱中海藻的用处，如果你喜欢，可以多加点！