Lets talk a little about your lungs. Your lungs are much bigger than one thinks at least as far as surface area is concerned. I have seen it quoted that your lungs total surface area is about as big as a tennis court. The area that creates the largest part of the surface area gets down to 1 cell thick so that Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide can pass between them freely. This makes for a delicate area, and a possibility for easy disruption. The lungs must maintain a moist environment and be free of foreign matter.

Now lets turn our attention to 2 common problems had with the lungs and the 2 that I want to talk about. First, the most common problem is congestion. In this huge surface area that I spoke about there is a bottle neck where the trachea branches out into the lungs, called the bronchis. So we have a few weak spots here. So a few common problems happen to clog up the system here. First is that we can get a runny nose and do a little to much snorting and it ends up in your respiratory tract. Second a post nasal drip can drip right back into the respiratory tract. Lastly that natural moisture throughout your lungs can get heated and ‘cook’ that fluid down, or decoct it, and it makes a much thicker fluid- phlegm or mucous.

Next problem I want to discuss is overworking the lungs. Believe it or not you can overwork your lungs. What is happening here is that you are breathing very heavily and the air is not able to gather moisture and equalize in air temperature. If you would like to see this in action just set the computer down and go for a sprint outside and continue running while you are breathing very heavily. You will eventually stop and your lungs will feel quite uncomfortable. I actually got this problem researched and herbal help from it from horses. Racing horses take lung supplements as they overwork their lungs and usually bleed after races.

So lets talk about some herbs for your lungs.
Thyme- yes, good old household thyme in your kitchen is a great lung herb and you probably have it already.
Mullein- a very common lung herb here. Mullein is often smoked to lung and cough relief, but we are gonna make a tea instead. Mullein is great because it cools and disperses. As you see the most common problems with the lungs are overworking, heat, and inflammation (bronchitis).
Elecampane / Xuan Fu Hua- Elecampane is not an herb that may be in your collection, but is essential to strengthen the lungs. This is really our main tonifying herb here in the mix. Ayurveda tags Elecampane as promoting the longevity of lung tissue. What we need to do with this herb to tonify, strengthen, and for prevention is to increase this properties through honey frying. Basically heat up a pan and throw your herb in there and slowly add little bits of honey to coat the herb and ’sear’ it on there.
Lobelia / Ban Ban Lian- You will find Lobelia in alot of herbal formulas. This is because Lobelia is an Antispasmodic which means it relaxes muscles and allows the body to accept your formula. Well, that is great but it just so happens that Lobelia has an affinity for the lungs and helps relax the upper respiratory tract. Great Success!
Lastly, we want to throw in some dried Ginger. This will help with our lung ailments and harmonize the formula.
Lastly I would like to mention that Ma Huang or Ephedra would make a great addition assuming that you were not on MAO inhibitors or heart problems. Unfortunately Ephedra was misused as a weight loss herb (which it is NOT used for by ANY herbalist) and it is quite difficult to get now. If you got it, this is a great herb for this formula and can actually increase your breathing ability. While im on this subject Ma Huang is not to be used for a long period of time. So If you are using preventative measures with this herb use low doses.

Throw your combo here in a pot and make some nice tea. Also feel free to ground this all down and make some pills.
If you are really interested in this, but want a professionally done make up of this formula visit www.dimmakherbs.com and go under products and pills. You will see a product called Breath E.

Hope this helps some athletes as well as those with those with lung problems!

Share This

I occasionally get questions asking me to translate a herb name for them.

The list is in alphabetical order from PIN YIN. Let me explain quickly why we use Chinese names and not English names when working with Chinese herbs.
English names for herbs usually use the Latin names or other common names for herbs. This poses a problem because English names can use family names and ’slang’ names. Lets take Angelica for example. Now there are 3 different types of Angelica. Now if you only use Western Herbs you may only use 1 type, if you use Chinese Herbs you will only use 2 but if you use both Western and Chinese Herbs you have 3 different types. Using the English name of Angelica there is no difference. This is a Family name, and using Latin is difficult to remember. Now in Chinese Angelica is Bai Zhi and Du Huo. As you see 2 totally different names.
Next, example is the fact that we don’t use the hole part of where the herb came from. For example Dandelion has a root, leaves, and flower. Well if you say Dandelion there are some issues on what you are using. In fact, separate parts of herbs have different properties. When you use Chinese names it is inclusive on the usage. For instance Pu Gong Ying doesn’t mean Dandelion, but rather is a Chinese herbal name for Dandelion which uses the leaves and Roots.
Lastly, this takes away the nicknames that herbs get to save confusion: Knitbone/ Comfrey, Lycii Berries/ Goji Berries/ Gou Qi Zi, etc…

Now, I didn’t take a huge list and copy it over. I just pasted the list that I use which covers the herbs that I use. This isn’t an exhaustive list and I don’t have all the blanks filled in, but I’m posting up what I have. Anyone can feel free to email me more info and what would be great is the characters.

AI WEI                            ASAFOETIDA                            FERULA ASAFOETIDA
AI YE                              MUGWORT                                ARTEMISIA ARGYI
BAI DOU KOU              CARDAMOM                              AMOMUM COMPACTUM
BAI GUO YE XTRCT   GINKO LEAF EXTRACT         GINKO BILOB EXTRACT
BAI GUO YE                 GINKO LEAF                             GINKO BILOB
BAI GUO                       GINKO NUT                               GINKO BILOB
BAI SHAO                     WHITE PEONY                          PAEONIA LACTIFLORA
BAI ZHI                        ANGELICA                                  ANGELICA DAHURICA
BAI ZHU                       WHITE ATRACTYLODES        ATRACYLODES MACROC
BAN BIAN LIAN         CHINESE LOBELIA                   LOBELIA CHINESIS
BAN LAN GEN             ISATIS                                         ISATIS TINCTORIA
BI BA                             LONG PEPPER FRUIT              PIPER SYLVATICUM
BI MA ZI                      CASTOR                                        RICINUS COMMUNIS
BING PIAN                  CAMPHOR RESIN                      CINNAMOMUM CAMPHORA
BO HE                           MINT                                            MENTHA HAPLOCALYX
BU GU ZHI                   psoralea                                        psoralea corylifolia
CANG ZHU                  BLACK ATRACTYLODES          ATRACTYLODES LANCEA
CAO GUO                    CARDAMOM                                 A TSAO-KO
CAO WU                       Aconite                                           aconiti asrestis
CHAI HU                     BUPLEURUM                               BUPLEURUM CHINESIS
CHE QIAN CAO         PLANTAIN                                    PLANTAGO ASIATICA
CHEN PI                     CITRUS PEEL, AGED                   CITRUS RETICULATA
CHI SHAO                  RED PEONY                                   PAEONIA RUBRAE
CHIH SHIH                CITRUS BITTER                          CITRUS RETICULATA
CHUAN LIAN ZI       melia fruit                                       melia toosendan
CHUAN HUA JIAO   PRICKLY ASH                               Z BUNGEANUM
CHUAN NIU XI         CYATHULA                                   CYATHULA OFFICINALIS
CHUAN WU                Aconite                                            aconiti carmichaeli
CHUAN XIN LIAN    ANDOFRAPHIS                            ANDROGRAPHIS Pniculatap
CHUAN XIONG         LIGUSTICUM                               LIGUSTICUM WALLICHII
DA HUANG                 RHUBARB                                      RHEUM PALMATUM
DA SUAN                    GARLIC                                          ALLIUM SATIVUM
DA ZAO                       JUJUBE DATES                            ZIZIPHUS JUJUBA
DAN SHEN                 SALVIA                                           SALVIA MILTIORRHIZA
DANG GUI                 DANG GUI                                     ANGELICA SINESIS
DANG SHEN-MED   CODONOPSIS-MED                       CODONOPSIS PILOSULA
DING XIANG            CLOVE FLOWER BUD                  SYZYGIUM AROMATICUM
DONG CHONG XIA CAO    CORDYCEPS                       CORDYCEPS SINESIS
DONG QUAI SEE DANG GUI
DU ZHONG                           EUCOMMIA                        EUCOMMIA ULMOIDES
DU HUO                                ANGELICA                          ANGELICA PUBESCENS
FANG FENG                         SILER                                   LEDEBOURIELLA Divaricatad
FU LING                               PORIA COCOS                    PORIA COCOS
FU PEN ZI                            RASPBERRY                       RUBUS CHINGII
FU ZI                                    ACONITE PREPARED       ACONITUM CARMICHAELI
GAN CAO                             LICORICE RAW                 GLYCYRRHIZA URALENSIS
GAN JIANG                         GINGER DRIED                 ZINGIBERIS OFFICNALIS
GE GEN                                PUERARIA                          PUERARIA LOBATA
GOU QI ZI                           LYCII BERRIES
GOU TENG                          GAMBIR
GU SUI BU                          drynaria                               drynaria rhizome
GUA LOU                            HEAVENLY FLOWER      TRICHOSANTHES KIRILOWII
GUI ZHI                              CINNAMON TWIGS           Cinnamomum Cassia
HE HUAN HUA                  ALBIZZIA FLOWER
HE HUAN PI                      ALBIZZIA BARK                  albizzia julibrissin
HE SHOU WU                    HE SHOU WU
HE ZI                                                                                   A MYOBALAN
HONG HUA                        SAFFLOWER
HOU PO                              MAGNOLIA BARK              magnolia officinalis
HU JIAO                             BLACK PEPPER
HU LU BA                           FENUGREEK
HU TAO REN                    WALNUT
HUO XIANG                      AGASTACHE
HUAI NIU XI                    OX-KNEE ROOT                  ACHYRANTHES BIDENTATA
HUANG BAI                      CORK TREE BARK               PHELLODENDRONCH BARK
HUANG LIAN                   COPTIS                                  COPTIS CHINESEIS
HUANG QI                        ASTRAGALUS                 ASTRAGALUS MEMBRANACEUS
HUANG QIN                     SCUTELLARIA                      SCUTELLARIA BAICALENSIS
JI CAI                                SHEPHERD’S PURSE
JIE GENG                         PLATYCODON
JIANG HUANG               TURMERIC RHIZOME         curcuma longa
JIN YIN HUA                  HONEYSUCKLE
JU HE                               CITRUS TANGERINE SEED
JU HUA                            CHRYSANTHEMUM
KUAN DONG HUA         COLTSFOOT                           FARFAICA FLOWER
LIAN QIAO                     FORSYTHIA                            Forsythia suspensa fruit
LING ZHI                        REISHI                                      Ganoderma lucidum
LIU JI NU                                                                           herba artemisiae
LONG DAN CAO            GENTIAN
LONG YAN ROU            LONGAN                                   DIMOCARPUS LONGAN
LU HUI                            ALOE
LU LU TONG                  taiwanese sweetgum fruit       liquidambar taiwaniana
LU RONG                        DEER ANTLER
MA HUANG                    EPHEDRA                                  ephedra sinica
MAI MEN DONG           OPHIOPOGON                         OPHIOPOGON JAPONICS
MAN JING ZI                 VITEX                                        Viticis Fruit
MO YAO                          MYRRH                                      mmiphora myrrha resin
MU DAN PI                     PEONY TREE, MT
MU GUA                          QUINCE FRUIT                       CHAENOMELES SPECIOSA
MU LI                              OYSTER SHELL
MU XIANG                     COSTUS ROOT                SAUSSUREAE SEN VLADIMIRIAE
NIU BANG ZI                 BURDOCK SEEDS
PI PA YE                         LOQUAT
PU GONG YING            DANDELION                    TARAXACUM MONGOLICUM
QIANG HUO                                                              notopterygium incisum
QING PI                          CITGRUS GREEN
REN SHEN - MED         GINSENG - MED            PANAX GINSENG MED ROOT
ROU GUI                        CINNAMON BARK         cinnamomum Cassia Bark
RU XIANG                     FRANKINCENSE             Boswellia carterii resin
SAN QI TIEN QI, TIAN QI, TIENCHI, TIAN SAN QI     panax notoginseng
SAN LENG                     sparganium                        stoloniferum rhizoma
SANG BAI PI                MULBERRY ROOT BARK
SANG SHEN                 MULBERRY FRUIT
SANG YE                       MULBERRY LEAF
SANG ZHI                     MULBERRY TWIGS
SHA REN                      chinese amomum                 amomum fructus
SHAN YAO                    WILD YAM CHINESE       DIOSCOREA ROOD - MEDIUM
SHAN ZHA                    HAWTHORN
SHAN ZHU YU             CORNUS
SHEN JIN CAO             japanese club moss             lycopodium japonica
SHENG DI HUANG      REHMANNIA RAW           rehmannia glutinosa raw
SHENG JIANG             GINGER FRESH
SHENG MA                   BLACK COHOSH
SHU DI HUANG           RHEMANIA PREP              rehmanmia glutinosa prepared
SU MU                           sappan wood                         caesalpinia sappan
SUAN ZAO REN          JUJUBE SEEDS                    ZIZIPHUS JUJUBA SEED
TANG KUEI SEE DANG GUI
TAO REN                       peach kernel                         Prunus persica seed
TIAN MEN DONG      ASPARAGUS                     ASPARAGUS COCHINCHINESNSIS
TIAN QI SEE SAN QI
TIEN QI SEE SAN QI
TOU GU CAO                                                                soeranskia speranskia tuberculata
TU BIE CHONG           WINGLESS COCKAROACH  eupolyphaga sinesis
TU FU LING                SARSAPARILLA CHINESE    chinese smilax rhizoma
TU SI ZI                       CUSCUTA                                 dodder sead cuscuta chinensis
WEI LING XIAN         chinese clematis root               clematis chinensis
WU JIA PI                   FIVE-BARK ROOT    ELEUTHEROCOCCUS GRACILISTYLIS
WU WEI ZI                  Schisandra Berry                      Schisandra Chinenisis
XI YANG SHEN          AMERICAN GINSENG
XIAN HE CAO             ARGIMONY                              agrimonia pilosa
XIANG FU                   CYPERUS  nutgrass                 cyperus rotundus
XIAO HUI XIANG      FENNEL                                    foeniculum vulgare
XIN YI HUA                MAGNOLIA FLOWER
XING REN                   APRICOT                                  PRUNUS ARMENIACA SEED
XU DUAN                     sichuan teasel root                   dipsacus asper
XUAN FU HUA            ELECAMPANE
XUE JIE                        DRAGONS BLOOD                 CALAMUS DRACO
XUE YU TAN                                                                  CRINIS CARBONISATHUS
YAN HU SUO               CORYDALIS                            CORYDALIS YANHUSUO
YI MU CAO                  MOTHERWORT
YI YI REN                    COIX
YIN GUO YE                GINKO LEAF
YIN YANG HUO         EPIMEDIUM                             Epimedium
YU JIN                         TUMERIC TUBER                    radix curcuma spp
YUAN ZHI                   POLYGALA                               POLYGALA TENUIFOLIA
ZE LAN                        BUGLEWEED                            LYCOPUS LUCIDUS
ZE XIE                          ALISMA
ZHANG MU
ZHANG NAO              CAMPHOR                                 CINNAMOMUM CAMPHORA
ZHI GAN CAO            LICORICE HONEY
ZHI SHI                       CITRUS IMMATURE
ZHI ZI                          GARDENIA                               GARDENIA JASMINOIDES
ZI JING PI                                                                      cortex kadsurae radicis
ZI RAN TONG             pyrite                                        pyritum

Share This

I have a new recipe that I have been promising to get on here. You can find a few recipes online, but I will show you how I make it and what its about.

I’ve talked before about Congee, a Chinese porridge that is made for the purpose of health and healing. Personally I like Congee for breakfast. The white rice porridge with Gou Qi Zi, Da Zao, some cinnamon and sweeten it up a bit. Add whatever you like, the Chinese like to make Congee for Dinner as well with Fish, etc. I however, like Kicharee for lunch and dinner instead.

Remember in the movie ‘Matrix’ on board the ship they were eating a food that was said to have “everything in it that you need.” Well Kicharee is in fact a food that has everything you need. Kicharee can be eaten at anytime, at any meal, and for as long as you like. Kicharee has a balance of all the nutrients you need, is healing, has huge detox properties, and also supports the body functions. Kicharee has been used as diet therapy to heal cancer and many other degenerative diseases. Eat this when your sick, healing, pre and post surgery, can’t hold food down, want to diet.

First, I will tell you how to make Curry. You may have some already made but this is better and you want it roasted.
Combine:
1 part Turmeric Powder
1 part Cumin Seed Powder and
1/2 part Coriander Powder
in a sauce pan under medium heat. Stir around and heat to a nice roast until a pleasant aroma comes off. The Curry Powder is done at this point if you want to have Curry to cook in other meals. For the Kicharee you need about 1/4 cup and you want to continue to roast it until its a nice brown, set aside.

Here is the rest of what you need. Remember that many things can be added or removed or substituted, etc. Make sure you have a Huge Crockpot for this. A Huge Pot would work but requires more supervision.
2.5 cups Brown Rice
3/4 cup Mung Beans
1 Large Yellow Onion
2 Large Pinches of Kombuchu Seaweed
1/4 cup Curry
1/4 cup Chicken Stock
1/8 cup Tamari
Minced Garlic and Ginger
and 1/4 cup of any or all of the following
Flax Seed
Wheat Germ
Buckwheat
Barley
Cracked Wheat
and about 1/2-1 cup of any vegetables you want.

First thing is you need to soak your mung beans overnight. So the night before you need to put the mung beans in a large bowl full of water and add the seaweed to it.
The next day you need to take all of the floating beans and toss them. Drain the mung beans (keep the seaweed) and set aside. Put your rice in a colander and wash with hot water. Put your beans and rice in the crock pot. Add vegetables and the sea weed from the beans. Cover with water over about an inch and set at low for 1 hour. At this point Almost all of your water should be soaked up. Now add your vegetables, meats, herbs, additions of wheats, etc. Add the chicken stock and fill up the crock pot, leaving about 1/4 inch or so, with water. Let your Kicharee continue to cook on low for about 4-5 hours. At this time turn a large frying pan on medium heat. Add olive oil to the the pan and chop your onion. Add garlic and ginger to the oil and add your onion and add olive oil on top of the olive oil. This may seem like a bit of olive oil but look at the pot of Kicharee you have. Cook the onion till the onion is softened, not browned. Add the Tamari and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add your curry in there and cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Now add this directly to the crock pot and stir it in well and pour a bit of olive oil on top and stir. Let that cook 20-30 minutes and you are all done. Dish out and put some soy sauce or tamari on top of it. I portion this out into individual bowls and refrigerate the bowls. The kicharee thickens up in the fridge, but thats okay, you can add water to make it as soupy as you like!

Enjoy!
You also may notice you may need to make a trip to the Oriental Grocery Store before making this, and also you are making a gigantic amount, but you will have to portion down on your own if you want.

Share This

Vanessa, 31 from Garner, NC asks me “what is a good herbal expectorant for phlegm? I am having allergic reactions to ?? I am not sure of. However, i seem to have alot of phlegm collecting in my lungs.”

Well Vanessa lets look at this. Phlegm is also called sputum and mucous. In Chinese Medicine phlegm does not really need to be a physical form coughed up from your lungs, but that is another discussion. Typically here is how phlegm develops. Phlegm starts as a form of dampness and then is decocted down into a much thicker substance. Your lungs are naturally a damp place and if that place is heated up and that fluid is cooked you have created some phlegm in there. This is a generalization, but a very common source of getting this phlegm. Now, typically phlegm will be a dark color from the heat. The lighter the color the more heat you have there. Usually you will end up with a more clear runny phlegm, a yellowish is more ‘cool’ but I will go over herbs to cover both of these.

Vanessa wasn’t very descriptive with her condition. So lets cover a nice general condition. Let’s add in a cough that will usually accompany the phlegm, which is your bodies natural instinctive way to expel the phlegm. What we want to do here is get rid of the phlegm by breaking it down and expelling it. We also want to soothe your throat, tonify your lungs and quiet your cough.
I like to use syrups here since we can soothe the throat at the same time and give an application that will coat the area leaving the medicine on the area. An alternative is a smoking mixture where you can use mullien, but lets move on to the syrup.

We want to use an expectorant, in other words something that expels the phlegm out. Comfrey and/or Playcodon are the good herbs here. To quiet the cough we will use the ultra powerful Kuan Dong Hua or Coltsfoot. This herb can be a little pricey but it works very well and tastes/smells wonderful. To compliment and soothe we will use Wild Cherry Bark that will also add some good flavor. I personally would use Lobelia here to open the system up to the treatment.

Gather these herbs and throw them in a stainless steel pot. You want 4oz of herb and add water to the pot to match the height or 500ml would be good. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for over an hour. Keep decocting and cooking down to get a think substance but make sure not to burn anything. You can remove the herbs and throw the water back in and a add a bit of Slippery Elm pre-mixed with a little water and add it in there. This will thicken the decoction, but don’t add too much it will get slimy. After this add honey and or glycerin to the decoction to thicken.

1-3 teaspoons of this mixture as needed should do a great job to our condition here. www.dimmakherbs.com also sells a cough syrup that is similar to this and works great (go under products and its under ’syrups’). I feel a nice tingle in my throat and fast relief. On a final note your concoction should be kept refrigerated. This should now last you about 3-6 months.

Share This