Spinach Tofu Casserole for High Blood Pressure & Constipation

[Guest guest]

Spinach and Tofu Casserole Recipe

http://www.holisticchineseherbs.com/recipes/spinachtofucasserole.html

 

Chinese Dietary Therapy:

Tofu and spinach both sedate yang to lower blood pressure.

 

They also nourish yin and moisten dryness to alleviate constipation.

 

Mix them together and you get a delicious, healthy, and easy to make

casserole!

[Guest guest]

Hi Elie & Colleagues interested in Chinese Cuisine / Five Flavours,

 

> http://www.tcmdirectory.com/spinachtofucasserole.html [spinach and

> Tofu Casserole Recipe]: Tofu and spinach both sedate yang to lower blood

> pressure. They also nourish yin and moisten dryness to alleviate

> constipation. Mix them together and you get a delicious, healthy, and

> easy to make casserole! Elie

 

As an addicted carnivore, I would have to add some sort of meat / fish to

that! Any suggestions?

 

See http://tinyurl.com/28t278 for many pages dealing with the search profile:

casserole tonify yang OR yin OR blood OR xue OR essence OR jing

 

There are some great articles there,.

 

Note: " The Energetics of Food - A Practitioner's Guide " by Daverick Leggett:

http://www.meridianpress.net/intro_pg.html

 

Best regards,

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks! I'm always looking for good sites.

Daverick Leggett's book I read in school and enjoyed it, I will check

out his site for sure.

I'm a light meat eater but def. add some ground beef to that.

Elie

 

Chinese Medicine , " "

< wrote:

>

> Hi Elie & Colleagues interested in Chinese Cuisine / Five Flavours,

>

> > http://www.tcmdirectory.com/spinachtofucasserole.html [spinach and

> > Tofu Casserole Recipe]: Tofu and spinach both sedate yang to lower

blood

> > pressure. They also nourish yin and moisten dryness to alleviate

> > constipation. Mix them together and you get a delicious, healthy, and

> > easy to make casserole! Elie

>

> As an addicted carnivore, I would have to add some sort of meat /

fish to

> that! Any suggestions?

>

> See http://tinyurl.com/28t278 for many pages dealing with the search

profile:

> casserole tonify yang OR yin OR blood OR xue OR essence OR jing

>

> There are some great articles there,.

>

> Note: " The Energetics of Food - A Practitioner's Guide " by Daverick

Leggett:

> http://www.meridianpress.net/intro_pg.html

>

> Best regards,

>

>

[Guest guest]

Chinese Traditional Medicine , " TCMdirectory.com "

<pokerboy729 wrote:

>

> Spinach and Tofu Casserole Recipe

> http://www.tcmdirectory.com/spinachtofucasserole.html

>

> Chinese Dietary therapy:

> Tofu and spinach both sedate yang to lower blood pressure.

>

> They also nourish yin and moisten dryness to alleviate

constipation.

>

> Mix them together and you get a delicious, healthy, and easy to make

> casserole!

 

Thanks, Elie.

 

I like spinach and other greens. Sometimes I crave them.

 

I want to give some additional TCM and Western info about spinach.

 

" Tofu and spinach both sedate yang to lower blood pressure. "

 

Readers who are new to TCM probably didn't catch that it helps in

cases of high blood pressure that have an underlying Root of Excess

Yang and/or Liver Yang Rising. Sometimes high blood pressure can have

an underlying root of Yang Deficiency. HBP with a Root of Kidney Yang

Deficiency isn't as common as that from Yang Excess and Liver Yang

Rising, but it does occur.

 

Henry C. Lu in Chinese Natural Cures lists the properties of spinach

as Qi tonic (p. 508) and as having a sweet taste, a cooling effect on

the body, and targeting the Large Intestine and Small Intestine (p.

524 - 525). One of the main points for readers who are new to TCM to

remember is that cooling has a " sedating " influence on Yang. (Yang,

warms, activates, and dries the body; Yin cools, calms, and moistens

the body. When a person is too hot, in general use herbs and foods

that have a cooling effect. When a person is too cold, use herbs and

foods which have a warming effect on the body. There are exceptions,

but in general this basic rule applies.) Cold can actually damage

Yang, just as Heat can damage Yin.

 

To recap, spinach has a cooling effect on the body, particularly on

the Large and Small Intestines.

 

One of the unusual things about spinach from both a Western and a TCM

viewpoint is that it can either relieve or create constipation.

 

http://www.allayurveda.com/topic_month_may2002.htm

 

" There are some vegetables which work in both ways - spinach relieves

constipation of patients and it also produces constipation tendency

in some patients who are suffering from chronic diahorrea. "

 

TCM offers insights into why spinach can have either effect. The key

phrase in the sentence is " chronic diahorrea " . Beginning TCM students

are taught that whenever there is chronic diarrhea (or mushy bowel

movements, or it takes a lot of toilet paper to clean oneself, etc.)

to suspect and rule in or rule out Spleen Qi Deficiency. (There can

be other Roots of diarrhea, but Spleen Qi Deficiency is the most

probable.)

 

Now spinach is Qi tonic (supplements Qi), but it has a cooling effect

on the body, in particular the Large and Small Intestines. Here we

run into a problem with Western terminology. All cases of a person

not having regular bowel movements are lumped under the

term " constipation " . Strictly speaking, the term " constipation " more

aptly refers to cases where the feces are hard and dry. Spinach with

its cooling and moistening and " glossy " properties is ideal for

cases like that. The term " colonic inertia " is more aptly applied to

cases where there is an absence of the wave-like peritalsis movements

which move fecal matter through the intestines.

 

In cases of colonic inertia, most of the feces will be moist and even

mushy. Colonic inertia frequently has a Root of not just Qi

Deficiency but Yang Deficiency. Remember that Cold can harm Yang, and

foods and herbs which have a cooling effect on the body can further

decrease Yang. In many of these cases, spinach (and other cooling

foods) can aggravate the colonic inertia, creating what the above

quote calls " constipation " , meaning a lack of bowel movement.

 

In actuality, the effect of spinach on a person who is too Cold and

Qi or Yang Deficient can create diarrhea (where there was only mushy

stools before) or actually push the person over into colonic inertia.

 

BTW, people who are too Cold and Yang Deficient also run into

problems with bulk laxatives which use psyllium seed. Psyllium seed

has a very cooling effect on the body. This is why bulk laxatives

which rely on psyllium seed frequently will worsen " constipation "

(colonic inertia) in some people. In some cases mixing the psyllium

seed with dried ginger (which has a very heating effect on the body)

will get around this problem. The very heating effect of the ginger

cancels out the very cooling effect of the psyllium. BTW, it's the

average thermal energy (heating or cooling effect on the body) of an

herbal formula or a meal is what counts the most.

 

Very stinking bowel movements point to Damp Heat being a problem.

Any time there is Damp Heat there will be be a stinky odor.

 

From a Western standpoint, the main potential problem with spinach is

that it has a high oxalic acid content, and oxalic acid combines with

calcium to make it unavaiable to the body. However, cooked spinach

doesn't hurt the availability of magnesium.

 

" The bioavailability of magnesium in spinach and the effect of oxalic

acid on magnesium utilization examined in diets of magnesium-

deficient rats. "

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=8926539 & dopt=Abstract

 

" The data indicate that oxalic acid remained in spinach after cooking

of boil or frizzle was not deleterious to magnesium availability, and

that spinach is one of the most promising sources of magnesium. "

 

There are agricultural practics that can reduce the percentage of

oxalic acid in spinach.

 

BTW, some cases of high blood pressure can have a Root of Kidney Yang

Deficiency.