I Can Talk to the Internal Organs-Chapter 103 - 83: Can Hunger Train Gastric Qi? (Part 2)
"You are..."
Upon Lu Jiu’s inquiry, Guan Wei laughed, "You don’t even know who I am after blocking my door?"
The onlookers couldn’t help but laugh, "Dr. Guan, why aren’t you getting angry?"
Guan Wei chuckled, "Why would I be angry? I’ve been running this clinic for five or six years, and never have I had so many people coming just to join the fun. I’m quite thrilled."
After speaking, Guan Wei looked at Lu Jiu, "Dr. Lu, you haven’t finished teaching yet. Since Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) considers Gastric Qi important, you should know how to nurture it, right?"
Lu Jiu smiled, "Dr. Guan, have you studied TCM?"
Guan Wei explained, "Actually, I studied a combined program of Chinese and Western medicine. Of course, after finishing the course, I only know a bit about TCM, like syndrome differentiation and treatment, Yin Yang Five Elements, and those traditional Chinese herbs, which I’m clueless about. However, after learning some TCM, I can tell a bit from someone’s complexion, like if there’s a problem with the Spleen and Stomach, sometimes the nose can have pigmentation. This big brother’s nose tip is black."
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately looked over.
Indeed, the nose tip was a bit black.
Many had thought it was a natural birthmark, but with Guan Wei’s explanation, it turned out to be a Spleen and Stomach issue causing the pigmentation.
Lu Jiu noticed that Guan Wei wasn’t entirely ignorant; perhaps he only knew some theoretical knowledge and didn’t know how to use TCM to treat diseases.
"Didn’t your teacher teach you these things during school?" Lu Jiu asked.
Guan Wei laughed, "The TCM teachers at our school weren’t really TCM practitioners. When they took us to practice at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, I never saw him take a pulse, it was all about using instruments for examinations and talking about Gastric Qi. Plus, back then, the teachers who taught Western medicine generally looked down on TCM, especially the pharmacology teachers. Out of 45 minutes of class, 30 minutes were spent criticizing Chinese medicine. What do you think I could learn?"
Guan Wei’s self-deprecation is now a common phenomenon in today’s medical universities.
Those who know TCM don’t have time to teach, and those who have time to teach don’t know TCM.
Many students who love TCM enter college, wasting five years, and when they face life’s pressures after graduating, how many can still stick with TCM?
Even if you insist, if you end up in a third-tier city’s TCM hospital, and it’s all about instrument reports, what do you do?
Medicine, especially TCM, requires a lot of practice for learning, just like a Western medicine student needs to perform numerous surgeries to become an expert in the field, it’s not just about book knowledge.
Among the many hospitals across the country, how many pure TCM hospitals can allow TCM students to practice learning right after graduation?
Nowadays, TCM’s teaching model and employment environment have nothing that can compare to Western medicine, and on such a basis, TCM still has to compete with Western medicine on efficacy.
Is it fair?
Everyone knows it’s unfair.
But what can anyone do?
Lu Jiu didn’t continue questioning Guan Wei and instead went on with his explanations, "Hehe, actually, there are many kinds of loss of appetite. The first is food retention. If a person is constantly in a state of fullness and eats too much, the Spleen is always working overtime. Once it’s exhausted, the food stored in the stomach gets stuck and eventually forms retention."
"In the Five Viscera and Six Bowels, the stomach belongs to the bowels, which can be full but not overfilled. If you always stuff your stomach to the brim, over time, you’ll damage the Gastric Qi, and your appetite will decrease. The second is insufficient Spleen Qi. You may consume a normal amount of food, but if digesting personnel is insufficient, you’ll also have no appetite. The third is insufficient stomach yin, which in Western medicine refers to gastric juice. Spleen Qi is the digestive force, but digestion requires more than just force; substances are also important. Lacking substances is like having commanders but no soldiers; the battle can’t be fought."
"The fourth is liver Qi not flowing smoothly. When liver Qi can’t circulate normally, it affects the Spleen and Stomach. From a simple perspective, when you’re furious about something and your face turns red, afterwards, you don’t have an appetite, right?"
"The final factor is insufficient Heart Yang. Fire generates Earth, and the kinetic energy of Spleen Qi comes from Heart Fire. When Heart Yang is insufficient, Heart Fire’s energy is inadequate. Without enough energy, how can it pass extra energy to the Spleen, right?"
The crowd was a bit confused!
So complex!
Completely incomprehensible.
What are Gastric Qi, Spleen Qi, stomach yin, liver Qi stagnation, and Heart Yang insufficiency?
These things are so hard to understand, but fortunately, when Lu Jiu talked about these terms, he somewhat offered simple explanations.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t understand a single word.
Maybe seeing the crowd’s expressions, Lu Jiu immediately smiled, "Actually, looking at these factors comprehensively, if you want to nurture your Gastric Qi and maintain a good appetite, it’s actually just one word: hunger!"
Huh?
Hunger can help maintain a good appetite?
The crowd was dumbfounded again!
"Dr. Lu, are you kidding?" someone said.
Lu Jiu laughed, "Of course I’m not joking. When I say hunger, I don’t mean you shouldn’t eat, but not to eat too full. Each meal should be around 70-80% full, that is, stop when you feel you could eat a bit more."
"Moreover, every time you feel hungry, you don’t need to rush to eat. Hunger indicates that your Gastric Qi is moving; it’s signaling you to give it food. If you don’t control it, and every time it’s hungry you feed it, and even when it’s not hungry, you give it food, over time you’ll spoil your stomach."
"It’s like raising a child. If you always indulge them, they grow up to be overgrown babies. Not only will they ignore you, but they might also hit you when they’re strong enough. Of course, we can’t be too harsh, not letting it eat at all is not right either. Everything should be done with a sense of balance, not too much, not too little, and that’s what I’ve always wanted to tell everyone."
"Many of our illnesses are caused by emotions and lifestyle habits, either too much or too little, it’s always hard to find a balance point. Once the body has issues, people only think of finding a doctor, never of relying on themselves to solve it, and that’s actually wrong."
"Huaxia’s civilization has been passed down for thousands of years, with many long-lived dynasties. These people’s longevity never relied on doctors. Doctors can only address minor aches and pains, but they can’t extend life. Rather than seeking doctors, it’s better to rely on oneself. Ask yourself honestly, have you ever truly taken your health seriously all these years?"
"If you haven’t, then how can you complain about your body’s failure when you fall ill?"
Lu Jiu’s voice fell.
The crowd fell silent.
It seems to make sense!
It’s not wrong to see a doctor when sick, but only seeing a doctor is slightly wrong.
"Amazing, Dr. Lu. If I may ask, are you self-taught or from an academic background?" Guan Wei looked at Lu Jiu full of admiration. It was the first time he’d seen someone explain TCM theory so vividly. He wasn’t sure if anyone else could do it, but his school’s teachers definitely couldn’t.
Those people would turn a simple sentence into a lengthy book, making it as complex as possible.
Lu Jiu, however, was quite straightforward. Although some statements might be a bit rigid and could be misquoted, his analysis was actually true to the central theme.
"Half and half," Lu Jiu replied.
Guan Wei had guessed as much.
Only a solid TCM foundation combined with modern medical theory could explain TCM concepts using Western medicine terminology.
Although many areas are forced, as long as everyone can understand it and know what TCM is about, even if it’s just one knowledge point, like Lu Jiu mentioning that hunger can nurture Gastric Qi, that’s enough.
The reason TCM hasn’t spread widely is that there’s too little label-style language.
For example, thirst encompasses many symptoms and diseases. If you explain them all to the patient, they won’t understand, but if you say diabetes, they’ll understand immediately.
This is the advantage of label-style language!
It’s simple and clear enough for immediate understanding!
Lu Jiu’s current explanations, in a sense, could be described as using Western techniques to promote TCM.
This strategy of aligning with the masses seems to offend people and isn’t profitable, but once his clinic reopens, his momentum might be unmatched on Garden Street.
Anyone who dares to touch him is challenging the masses.
Guan Wei couldn’t help but secretly laugh.
A TCM doctor not reading medical books, but studying military books, that’s just ridiculous!
