you may know that many Chinese are suffering from intestines and stomach diseases
especially after the reform and opening up policy, people's living condition improved
more people suffered from this kind of disease
that is because people eat too much, not too little
in the old poor days, people don't have enough to eat, and thus suffering from malnutrition
as Sun Simiao says,"if one eat all the five flavors, then he must has a control of not eating too much."
that means one could not eat without control, the same knowledge
therefore, "a person good at keeping healthy eats while hungry and drink while thirsty"
that means you eat when you feel hungry
this is mentioned in Qianjin Fangyao
Chinese medicine says eating five flavors may nourish our five organs
but when one tends to one particular flavor, which means the partial eclipse
that hurts five organs too
partial eclipse is normal in us too
that means you could't tend to one particular flavor
you need to keep a balance
modern medicine also requires the balance of nutrition
one must eat vegetables, fruits, staple food and so on
thirdly, let's take a look at the thought of golden mean's influence to Pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine
here i take two examples
in the first example, there is a kind of soup, called the soup of neutralization
it is made by Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae,orange peel, ginseng,liquorice,Poria cocos and Mangnolia officinalis
it could adjust our yin and yang, benefits our spleen and stomach, increasing our appetite
so each medicine in the soup benefit our spleen and stomach in a balanced way, not too little nor too much
then reach the aim of the golden mean
it has the medicine of repair our qi
it also has medicine to excreting dampness and promoting the circulation of qi
that is a nutritional supplement without an overtake
as to the influence of the medicine
Xu Dachun in Qing dynasty once said a funny sentence
saints made the prescription for him to nurse one's health
it may useful to one particular disease, or all kinds of problems, it may coordinate with each other, or opposite, or control each other.
so a prescription not only can preserve each medicine's function, but also lose them
making prescription is tricky.
you have to be careful, or it will lose all their respect functions
if done it properly, it will have the combined function of all the medicines
Cheng Jiamo said we should also pay attention to the balance of the medicines.
the key is mean, less is useless, more the medicine will backfire.
pay attention, if you go home to brew medicines
usually, stems should be heated for a longer time
this way it can perform its functions
as for the leafy medicines
such as those for curing flu, you should not brew them too long.
or they will lose their functions
they are all of the same reason