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SUPPORTIVE FOODS WHILE BLEEDING
Depending on Your Constitution
When evaluating a woman’s goals and needs to what their current situation is, I pull from many different medical models + research to formulate a plan.
One medical model that I weave into my work is Chinese Medicine’s Five Element Theory. Learn more here.
The two most common constitutions I see in my practice {lesser yin and lesser yang} often present with similar cyclical symptoms, but for entirely different reasons. This has to do with the climate of your internal landscape + what your strongest and weakest organ networks are.
Here are three symptoms I often hear about with examples of what it can mean for each person (note the common theme within each constitution from symptom to symptom):
Fatigue
Lesser yin
↠ Excessively cold kidneys, exasperating sluggish + sinking energy into the lower body
Lesser yang
↠ Excessively weak kidneys and/or hot + dry stomach/spleen energy
Skin breakouts
Lesser yin
↠ Cold, damp + deficient spleen
Lesser yang
↠ Excessive blood heat with possible heat in the lungs
Dysmenorrhea
Lesser yin
↠ Cold, damp + deficient spleen with liver qi stagnation
Lesser yang
↠ Weak kidneys not supporting the liver, leading to liver blood deficiency
So what to do about it?
This is the fun part and where thermal natures come into play. Here are the food cures recommended (and not recommended) to keep in mind depending on your constitution.
Lesser yin: add warmth, warmth, and more warmth
The more heat a lesser yin constitution to their system, the happier their hormones and cycle will be. With an internal landscape like that of thick, sluggish ice, they will thrive off of foods that will melt + invigorate to increase circulation, such as:
↠ Ginger
↠ Cayenne
↠ Onions
↠ Garlic
Lesser yang: cool down, especially with black foods
If someone with a lesser yang constitution were to try and treat with those food cures above, I would expect them to experience exasperated symptoms as they pile heat on top of heat. Rather, this constitution will find harmony if they balance out their inborn foundation with cooling foods, especially those that are black in color. In Chinese Medicine black foods are associated with the kidneys and the bleeding phase of our cycle. With infamous weak kidneys, a lesser yang constitution will thrive off of:
↠ Black sesame seeds
↠ Black beans
↠ Black rice