Ask Dr Xiang Jun: Misconceptions of Self Healing
We often turn to internet and various social medias for solutions to get ourselves healthier, more balanced and even healing our deepest traumas. Yet not all that is transmitted to us on the world wide web is truly scientific or even helpful. Some may be erroneous and can cause more stress, harm and even damage to our health than do more good.
Here are some of them:
Intermittent Fasting
As I have mentioned before in my previous blog, intermittent fasting is a popular diet now that advocates eating only within 8 hours of the day and stopping any intake for the next 16 hours. Many people use this method as a one time pill or quick fix to have the short term result of shedding a few pounds. They take on this diet for a few days and then switch back to normal irregular eating habits again, instead of adopting this diet as a lifestyle as what many ancient traditions and cultures are doing.
This switching around of diets will actually mess up the organ systems in our body which requires regulation to work well and upkeep proper digestion.
You may realize that ultimately indigestion and bloating may result from improper upkeep of the intermittent fasting method.
Furthermore, for many people who follow the intermittent fasting method, they usually shift the food intake window to afternoon instead of what is recommended which is to “limit the hours of the day when you eat, and for best effect, make it earlier in the day (between 7am to 3pm, or even 10am to 6pm.” This brings us to the next misconception of self healing which is often practiced by many – skipping breakfast.
Skipping Breakfast
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the body functions on a rhythmic pattern which gives rise to the concept of TCM Body Clock, where every 2 hours of the day an organ system has more energy and functions at its best. Hence it is important to do the right things at the right time for heath and healing.
7am to 9am is the Stomach time and 9am to 11am is the Spleen time. This means that 7am to 11am is when the transformation of food to energy is the highest and most efficient, providing you with the day’s supply of battery to last you the rest of the day.
People who skipped breakfast may think that they have scrapped a few calories from their diet in hope that this can help with weight loss. This is erroneous as skipping breakfast means that you have missed the golden period to get the most energy to last you through the day and upkeep your metabolism.
You may find that skipping breakfast will leave you feeling more tired, restless and unmotivated through the day and in the long run, your weight may gain as a result of the long term suppression of your metabolism.
Read more about Acupuncture for Motivation here.
Read more on How Acupuncture help with Fatigue here.
Not eating enough
The ancient old belief to eat less to lose weight is one of the biggest misconceptions in getting the body leaner and in a better state of health.
Not eating enough will signal to the body that it is in a starvation mode. The body will react to lower its metabolic rate so as to preserve as much energy and resources to keep it alive and functioning as a self protective mechanism. When this happens, whatever that is eaten will be converted to fats for storage within the body only to tap on for survival and self preservation when the person is undereating again.
In other words, instead of the misconception of ‘eat less and lose more’, the reality is the lesser you eat, the more weight you gain.
Cutting out a bunch of food
The concept of intolerance to food is only in recent decades that become more prevalent in modern society.
We do not hear our ancestors saying “I am intolerant to gluten. I cannot take dairy. I am allergic to bread.” As a matter of fact, they are grateful enough just to have food placed on the table, not to mention being picky and choosy about the food to take. However their health and digestion are so much better than us modern city dwellers who are suppose to be more affluent and spoilt with choices.
The problem is not with the food. The problem lies in our gut.
We have become so weak in our gut and body systems that normal foods eaten by our very own ancestors can no longer be absorbed and tolerated by our 20th century stomach. So we learn to opt for gluten free, dairy free, nutmilk and other foods that are ‘mutated’ to suit our weakened system. In doing so, we cut out a whole bunch of food and this only means that we are cutting out a whole lot of nutrients, vitamins and minerals by supposedly ‘eating clean’. This goes into the vicious cycle of weakening the body system even more and becoming more unhealthy.
Taking a million supplements
Because of the previous point of cutting out a bunch of food, we lose out on the nutrients and minerals that a body needs. Hence our blood work eventually shows up as deficiency in a long list of essential vitamins and minerals. And we then scramble for quick fix solutions again to increase the numbers of the nutrients that are impoverished within us by turning to taking a million of over-the-counter supplements.
Doing so is futile in aiding our health to be regained as the absorption of any food by the gut is already weak to start with, more so for chemically manufactured pills and tablets. Any supplements that you take is literally just flushing money down the drain.
Furthermore, taking a million supplements can only stagnate digestion further as very little of what is taken is absorbed by the weakened stomach and gut. Especially these supplements are man-made and not natural and organic, they can only cause more indigestion and weakening of the gut and body systems even more.
Read more about Weight Gain from Digestion Induced Dampness here.
Following a long strict self care to do list
The desire to improve, transform and start afresh is always on the minds of all who are resolved to make their lives better. That is because the pains of illnesses and the emotional turmoil of being broken and imbalanced are too much to bear that one will give everything just to have some balance and stability regained in life. We then set ourselves up for a whole list of to-do list for healings and rebalancing, just like we are working on rebooting and reconstructing a failed project.
We are eager to take back control of our lives that we beat ourselves up to get well FAST.
This of course does not work. And it puts more stress on ourselves that all that we have planned can simply backfire.
Conclusion
Self care and healing requires patience, kindness and professional assistance with traditional modalities like acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Although self healing is possible, I would say always talk to a professional so that the right kind of treatment methods and healings can be prescribed.
Read more about Everything you need to know about Acupuncture here.
Read more about How TCM works scientifically here.
All in all, healing will come as a process rather as a destination. A process of self awareness, forgiveness, patience, kindness, opening up to vulnerabilities and acceptance of making mistakes. Just like how this article have shone some light on the misconceptions and given you the strength and knowledge to move things in the right direction in your journey towards well-being and happiness.
Further reading:
Everything you need to know about Acupuncture
Acupuncture for Time Abundance
Acupuncture for Vagus Nerve Stimulation
Men’s Health Series: Which is the Better Way to Treat Prostatitis - TCM or Western Medicine?
How do Acupuncture and Acupressure work and which is the Better One
Everything you need to know about Dampness
It is not normal to have cysts and fibroids
Why Everything Cold is Discouraged during Menstruation