What are qi, blood and fluids in yakuzen?

Hello. This article explains qi, blood and fluids, the idea at the root of Chinese medicine, in plain terms.

Qi, blood and fluids are three important things that circulate through the body, and health is held to depend on all three circulating neither short nor in excess. Here we cover how to keep them in balance through yakuzen in daily life.

What is qi? The source that carries the body's energy

Qi in Chinese medicine is the energy that circulates through the body and carries the foundation of life. When qi runs short or gets stuck, complaints like these appear.

What a shortage of qi brings

• Tiring easily, a sense of heaviness
• A quieter voice, finding it a chore to speak
• Shallow breathing
• A poor appetite
• Catching colds easily

I felt these myself when overwork broke my health, and finding it a chore to speak was a serious problem in a sales role. Eating with yakuzen in mind improved it bit by bit, and I felt the difference.

Ingredients that replenish qi

These ingredients are held to help replenish qi (taken from the qi-replenishing group):

• Rice, glutinous rice, oats, Japanese yam, potato
• Kabocha squash, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli
• Green beans, haricot beans, shiitake, jujube, chestnut, peach
• Chicken, pigeon, goose, quail
• Pork stomach, pork kidney, pork bone, beef, ham, eel

What is blood? It moistens the body and carries nourishment

Blood is close to blood as Western medicine means it, but taken more broadly as what moistens the body and carries nourishment. When blood runs short, symptoms like these appear.

What a shortage of blood brings

• Dry skin, a loss of lustre
• Brittle nails with ridges
• Hair losing its shine, more hair falling out
• Dizziness, light-headedness on standing
• Failing eyesight
• Poor sleep, trouble dropping off
• Numbness and cold in the hands and feet

Many people today struggle with these, women in particular. Amid the busyness, nourishment falls short and blood readily runs low.

Ingredients that replenish blood

These ingredients are held to nourish the blood (taken from the blood-nourishing group):

• Carrot, spinach, peanut, grapes, lychee
• Pork liver, pork heart, pig's trotter
• Squid, octopus, ark shell

What are fluids? What keeps water in balance in the body

Fluids govern the metabolism of water and the balance of moisture in the body. What matters is not simply drinking but whether water circulates and is cleared properly inside you.

When fluids fall out of balance

• Swelling (particularly a puffy face or legs in the morning)
• Diarrhoea or loose stools
• Needing the toilet often, including at night
• A dry throat
• A lot of phlegm or a runny nose
• Dizziness, headaches

My own legs swell after a long stretch of desk work, and I make a point of corn silk tea and adzuki soup. I have been surprised by how light my body felt the next day.

Ingredients that bring fluids back into balance

• Encouraging urination: winter melon, cucumber, watermelon
• Helping the metabolism of water: sweetcorn, adzuki bean, mung bean
• Seaweed: wakame, kombu, hijiki
• Mushrooms: shiitake, maitake, enoki

Daily habits that keep qi, blood and fluids in balance

Yakuzen puts weight on looking again at daily habits as a whole, not only at food.

A regular daily rhythm

Chinese medicine holds that the flow of qi in the body changes with the time of day.

• 5 to 7: get up, light exercise (Large Intestine)
• 7 to 9: a proper breakfast (Stomach)
• 9 to 11: focused work or study (Spleen)
• 13 to 15: rest or a nap (Heart)
• 21 to 23: getting ready for bed (Triple Burner)

Living along this rhythm should help keep you naturally well.

Choosing ingredients for the season

• Spring: sprouting vegetables and green leaves (to get qi circulating)
• Summer: bitter and cooling ingredients (to cool heat)
• Autumn: white and pungent ingredients (to moisten the Lung)
• Winter: warm and salty ingredients (to warm the body and store qi)

Where qi, blood and fluids slip in modern life, and what to do

Stress and stuck qi

• Deep breathing and meditation
• Light exercise (walking, yoga)
• Herbal tea
• Laughter (it improves the flow of qi)

Too little movement and stuck fluids

• Aerobic exercise
• Bathing and warmth
• Stretching and massage
• Sipping room-temperature drinks through the day

How a yakuzen beginner should start

There is no need to start from difficult recipes. Bring yakuzen wisdom into everyday meals a little at a time.

Easy ways to start

• Warm porridge or miso soup at breakfast
• Making a point of seasonal vegetables and fruit
• Aromatics and spices (ginger, spring onion and the like)
• Dried fruit or black sesame on top
• Yakuzen teas (Job's tears tea, jujube tea)

How to work out your own constitution

• Body temperature (do you feel the cold, or the heat)
• How much you sweat
• How your bowels are
• The quality of your sleep
• Which way your emotions lean (irritability, anxiety and so on)

Looking at these together and choosing ingredients to suit is the short route to getting more out of yakuzen.

In summary: yakuzen wisdom in daily life

Qi carries energy, blood carries nourishment and fluids carry the balance of water, and each supports health in body and mind. I brought yakuzen in myself while rebuilding health that overwork had broken, and felt a great deal from it. Even in the middle of busy days, small adjustments can keep qi, blood and fluids in balance.

Yakuzen is not a medical act but a way of managing how you feel through food. If you notice something wrong, always see a medical institution. Use yakuzen as something that complements Western medicine.