Familiar with the famous stomach ache and pain after your 3rd trip through the Chinese Buffet line? Did your last trip to Las Vegas leave you in a ‘Carb Comatose’ from all the Buffets?

Regardless your eating style you may have experienced the same symptoms from weak GI tract or many other reasons. In Chinese Medicine this is known as Food Stagnation. The intestines are very durable but have their limit. When more food is taken in than your body can keep up with then food isn’t moving. The food movement is supposed to be a slow process of churning and decomposition so your body can take in the good, clean and clear and discard the turbid. This process is strained and overworked and cannot perform its functions and intended. We literally end up with non movement of food or Food Stagnation. Signs and Symptoms of Food Stagnation include abdominal distension, abdominal pain, acid regurgitation and brief relief is found from flatulation, vomiting, and burping.

There is no secret that most herbs don’t taste all that well, but of course things that taste terrible usually seem to be great for you. In this case Shan Zha is a berry, more specifically Hawthorn berry. I wouldn’t recommend running out and buying these to eat like some strawberries or anything, they are quite sour, I am saying they are definitely on the tastier end of herbs. Shan Zha tastes pretty sour and has an unusual taste to your palate at first (some describe it like meat) but it is sweet and easily eaten straight up by itself.

Now that early ‘meat taste’ has a bit of importance. Shan Zha has a specific affinity for certain stagnation of foods- meat and greasy foods. What a perfect choice for a Buffet? This herb also has some other great features that make it a great herb. Shan Zha has been clinically shown to be a cardio-tonic- more specifically lowers cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, widens the coronary arteries, etc… What a perfect choice for a Buffet herb?

As usual Shan Zha is best in specific formulas and dried out, but Hawthorn is available in raw berry form and in drinks found at your local Asian Food Stores.

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Let’s talk about home dieting. An easy and efficient way to help with weight loss and living healthy is to buy the right food. The good news here is that in many cases you can just modify the items you buy rather than buying something completely different. Some of this information may not be completely new to you, but I hope to get some awareness out there.

Fiber- This is the key to dieting and let me tell you why.
Fiber content is mostly indigestible fully in the body because we don’t contain the enzymes to do so. What Fiber does is compact our food and moisture and clear out our intestines on the way down. The regularity that Fiber gives to the bowel movement has many benefits. First, I would like to define regular- I mean have a bowel movement AT LEAST 1 time daily. What doctors consider normal is the national average, that’s why blood pressure normality seems to raise every couple years. So if you were told that going every 3 days is okay, its not. Regular bowel movements keep your intestinal muscles healthy, toxins out of your body; regulate proper water weight, and nutrition absorption (all of these can also help with your complexion).

Secondly Fiber just so happens to be in foods that are all good for you! Fiber is found in Whole Wheat, Brown Rice, Seeds, Whole Grains, etc… When you are eating ‘Whole’ foods you get the benefit of the Fiber and many B-Vitamins (energy), protein, and iron.

Fiber and ‘whole’ foods are denser. You just can’t simply eat as much as you would. This helps you on your goal of losing weight as one of the things you need to do is learn portion control. Fiber is a great snack before meals as well. A slice of whole wheat bread in your system some time before meals will greatly reduce your appetite. The whole wheat portion is a natural part of food. It is processed off of the grain when you it is purchased in a non-whole wheat fashion. When you take in the whole grain your body must use more energy (work off calories) to break off this ‘capsule’ of the wheat.

Lets recap-

Healthy intake

Less appetite

Bowel regulation

Here’s a secret of diet pills- help regulate appetite, regulate bowels, and make you lose water weight. Sound familiar?

Now I would like to talk about what I think as the greatest of all fiber foods- Flax Seed. Flax Seed, like many other seeds, are an excellent source of oils along with protein and iron and such. The oils of nuts and seeds are quite healthy and Flax Seed is not only no exception but the king of all oils. Flax Seed is high in Omega 3 fatty acids; an essential fatty acid that our body cannot produce on its own it must be outsourced. Flax Seed has a high content of fiber and it’s a ‘moist laxative’. Flax seed needs to be ground up prior to use for full effect, but I like to buy it pre ground from say Uncle Bob’s. What is the usage you say? It can be used at every meal if you wanted to, but specifically- Sprinkle on your cereal, cook in with hot cereal, goes great on peanut butter sandwiches, add to soups, add to crock pot meals, add to chili, wok it in to meals early when you are sautéing just to name a few. Flax Seed has a very subtle taste and usually won’t be tasted. Its taste is sorta nutty when you can taste it so it’s especially great with anything that would have peanut butter or where that taste would compliment the dish.

Here’s a little sample shopping list to give you some ideas:

Flax Seed

Multi Grain Hot Cereal

Whole Wheat Bread (Double fiber or Whole Grain)

Whole Grain Pastas

Whole Wheat crackers

Fiber One Cereal

Whole Wheat Waffles (Eggo’s Cinnamon Whole Grain Waffles are great!)

Brown Rice

Buy Wheat Flower and use instead of White

There are many whole wheat pasta sides available

Eat the fruit, not the fruit juice

Buy fresh vegetables

Have side salads at as many meals as possible (easy and light dressings!!)

When you’re out getting a salad load up on the green vegetables

Whole Wheat tortilla chips

And much more!

Keep an open mind about it and look for a whole wheat alternative to what you normally buy.

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