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Food Cures to Strengthen Your Organs
It's been long understand in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that certain certain foods help strengthen and regulate specific organs. Much of this is based on the color of the foods, the season when it grows and the flavors the food has. For example if the food is sour and green it will have an affinity to regulate your liver and gallbladder.
 Heart
Red is the color of the heart and bitter is the taste associated with the Heart: If you find yourself craving bitter foods your Heart may be asking for support.
Foods beneficial for the Heart are watermelon, plum tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, celery, cucumber, mulberries, lemon, mushrooms, oats, brown rice, lamb, venison (very tonifying), goat milk, ghee, chamomile tea, catnip tea, oatstraw tea, reishi mushroom tea, rosehip tea, dill, and basil.
Spleen, Pancreas & Stomach
 Sweet and bland are the flavors of these organs, while the colors yellow and orange are nourishing to these organs.
If you find yourself craving sweets your spleen, pancreas and or stomach is asking for strengthening. Don't reach for something that is artifically sweet choose from foods that are naturally sweet such as: carbohhydrate-rich vegebables like winter squash, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, turnips, chickpea, back beansm peas, sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkin.
 Certain pungent spices and vegetable have a mild action at strengthening your spleen, pancreas and stomach. These include: ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, fennel and nutmeg.
Small amounts of fruits such as dates and cherries are beneficial.
When there is a more severe weakness of spleen, pancreas and stomach meat and animals products are helpful. They include: chicken, beef, turkey and lamb.
 Lungs
The flavor of the lungs is pungent (spicy), white the color of the lungs.
Foods that help strengthen the lungs are: cauliflower, almonds, daikon radish, potatoes, turnip, parsnip, rutabaga, apple, pear, rice, oats, sesame seeds, onion, garlic, and white peppercorns. (Please note that white flour and white sugar are not part of these Lung-strengthening foods! In fact, they can further deplete the immune system.)
Small & Large Intestine
Foods that are strengthening to the intestines are bone broth, plus fermented foods because they optimize intestinal flora for immune health and digestion health. These foods include sauerkraut, kim chi, kombucha, kefir soda, dairy kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, and sour cream. (Please note that dairy foods can create increased phlegm and mucous for some people. If you have allergies, asthma, skin issues or are in the middle of a cold or flu, avoiding dairy foods might improve your symptoms).
 Kidneys & Bladder
The flavor of the kidneys is salty, while the color is blue, black and purple. There's a lot of deep rich colored foods that are very strengthening to your kidneys. These foods include: micro-algaes (chlorella, spirulina and E3live), wheat and barley grasses, omega 3 rich foods like flax oil, fish and fish oil, almonds, ghee, stinging nettles (steamed or tea), royal jelly, bee pollen, venison, chicken, turkey, millet, quinoa, black sesame seeds, black soybeans, chestnuts, black mulberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, walnuts, and seaweed.
Liver & Gallbladder
 The flavor of the liver and gallbladder is sour, while the color is green. Foods that help strengthen the liver and gallbladder are foods in the onion family, mustard greens, turmeric, basil, bay leaf, cardamom, marjoram, cumin, fennel, dill, ginger, black pepper, horseradish, rosemary, mint, lemonbalm, carrots, beets, lemon and lime, strawberries, peaches, cherry, chestnuts, pine nuts, cabbage, turnip root, kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli and brussels sprouts.
All of this information is based off treating people with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). TCM has been around for over 4000 yrs. You may or may not know that I (Adam Fulmore) have a doctorate in TCM.
You can read more about my background in health and healing on my about page here.
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