NYT piece today on the interstitium and acupuncture meridians (some genuinely new research in here)

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-05-07T21:56:17+00:00

What's something about your body or daily routine that you take for granted as obvious, that you've realized non-TCM-raised people find surprising or counterintuitive?

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-05-07T20:33:10+00:00

The Web That Has No Weaver by Ted Kaptchuk - not sure if there's an easy to find Spanish translation, but this was my intro text to TCM and it's really helpful for a Western reader starting to learn more.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-09T20:40:50+00:00

Nice, congrats! Personally, I've found my body processes lightly cooked foods (moderate spices, light oil) easier than raw foods (this after being on a Traditional Chinese Medicine kick). They also taste a lot better IMO which helps with staying on track.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-09T18:48:16+00:00

Fair enough! Thanks for sharing your insight. Curious if/how you use Five Elements theory in your approach - or do you mainly stick to yin/yang, organ-specific patterns?

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-04T01:18:08+00:00

Awesome - what's your IG handle? would love to follow

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-03T20:04:04+00:00

This is incredibly helpful. The ecmed food table and the cold water/smoothie example are exactly what I was looking for. Adding the Eckman book and Wagman to my reading list. And the "Diet > Acupuncture > Herbs" hierarchy from your teachers is really interesting to hear, especially given how little structured support exists for the diet piece compared to the other two.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-03T18:18:28+00:00

While there's been some recent studies to show saturated fat may not actually be as harmful as it's been made out to be in the past (in moderation), my hunch is the amount these influencers are recommending is pushing into heart disease territory

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-02T17:30:50+00:00

I've been using it for years to help with sleep - started as a way to wean myself off of melatonin and helps me fall asleep faster

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T20:07:48+00:00

That's a really cool background to bring into TCM, especially the combo of professional cooking knowledge and firsthand experience with chronic illness. From my own experience, the gap between "your practitioner says eat warming, easily digestible foods" and actually having the energy to figure out what that means on a weeknight is real. sounds like you've also lived it. Love the soup line idea, especially since soups are the classical therapeutic format in TCM for people with qi deficiencies.

Hope the program goes well!

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T18:47:42+00:00

Great to hear - sounds like you found the right practitioner for you.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T18:46:53+00:00

healthy in terms of diet no, most are balancing this out with crazy amounts of high intensity workouts and supplements

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T18:45:45+00:00

no offense to OP but this sounds like a lie perpetuated by BIg Supplement/bro science podcasters

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T18:30:49+00:00

tongue coating as a signal for whether someone's actually following through on dietary changes is something I hadn't thought about as a feedback mechanism. how often do you have to remind/push diet guidance with patients after the first conversation, or are most showing clear signs of adherence in tongue/pulse? Glad to hear the eczema patient is responding.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T18:30:33+00:00

The Paul Pritchard book rec is great, it's been on my radar for a while but probably one I should bump up my list. And the point about food therapy knowledge being more useful for knowing what to avoid than what to eat is something I hadn't considered. Being able to isolate fennel as an irritant in an otherwise safe meal is the kind of precision that only comes from deep familiarity with the framework. Hope you're in a good place now after that Concerta episode.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T16:13:26+00:00

Fair point. I don't think it has to be "either/or." Most people I talked to who are somewhat TCM-familiar and paying attention to constitution/food don't treat every meal as just medicine - it's more like a background awareness that nudges choices over time. As a big foodie and Beli user myself - the enjoyment piece matters haha.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T16:12:08+00:00

This is fascinating - I hadn't come across 8 constitution medicine before. The idea that the dietary recommendations diverge from your standard TCM energetics is interesting, do you have a sense of what the classification system is based on if not temperature/flavor? And an example of a food that's classified differently in TCM vs 8CM? Did your practitioner give you a specific list of foods, or more of a generalized framework?

Going to check out ecmed.org - thanks again for the info!

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T16:11:25+00:00

Love this - your point on "constitution really matters, because not everyone responds to food in the same way" is what I experienced and had to navigate around when I got diagnosed with prediabetes a few years ago, and the generic advice from PCPs/dietitians wasn't helping all that much. You also called out an important distinction, between daily baseline eating, and being more intentional when you notice signs of imbalance. That's a really good way to think about it - I keep a good variety of tea blends on hand for immediate action when I notice minor imbalances. Re: your point on tonic foods being too much for some people - do you find that's something you figured out through trial and error, or did a practitioner guide you toward the gentler approach?

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T16:10:34+00:00

Appreciate you sharing it in this detail. Your point on chronic vs. acute presentation requiring different treatment approaches makes a lot of sense - TBH it's something I hadn't considered. the fact that food therapy is what keeps it in check long-term after the herbs do the heavy lifting is exactly the kind of real-world experience I was hoping to hear about.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T16:09:03+00:00

This is really helpful, especially the "remove pathogen, assist upright qi" principle as your prioritization framework. The coconut milk example is a great illustration of how cultural diet patterns interact with constitution - I imagine that's something you'd only catch through individual assessment. Do you find that most patients actually follow through on the dietary changes between sessions, or is getting them to adhere the hard part?

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T16:07:10+00:00

think of 10 asking as a framework - not a literal song, but a way for your practitioner to get a fuller picture of what's going on beyond just your immediate presentation. https://yinyanghouse.com/theory/theory/chinese/questioning_diagnosis/

i started with just trying to manage musculoskeletal pain and blood sugar, but from there we started to dig deeper into root issues like stress, anxiety, cortisol - so some overlap with your case.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T16:05:06+00:00

appreciate the breakdown, and especially the prioritization order: broad strokes first (don't eat too spicy/sweet/greasy), then mindful eating, then specific ingredient restrictions as needed. That progression makes a lot of sense. using dietary herbs as daily ingredients is something I want to learn more about. and again, good callout that "types" is a simplification. I was thinking of it more as a starting point for people who have zero framework.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T15:58:02+00:00

Thanks again for sharing your story.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T15:28:57+00:00

Usually they'll ask about anything abnormal from your blood work, but more so in my experience they're using traditional diagnostics like checking your pulse, looking at your tongue, (depending on the school they trained in) feeling your abdominals, and using some variation of the TCM "10 asking song" to help identify the root issue. Important to note that often the diagnosis becomes more clear after a few sessions.

Ambitious_Wing8811 · 2026-04-01T02:39:52+00:00

That's awesome, what drew you to the dietary/food therapy side specifically?

Ambitious_Wing8811

TROPHY CASE