11/06/2024
I am just sharing my thoughts on what I am working on.
First: my thesis for my 2 year education on cooking based on your constitution. My topic is going to be the first 2 phases of the Shang Han Lun (傷寒論), 'Treatise on Cold damages' in modern terms, mostly commonly known as common cold, influenza.
This treatise dates back from the Han dynasty and up until today it is still effective. What I know sofar is that it is about how the body reacts to pathogenic factors (the reaction of the body when 'things' enter our body, our defense mechanism, or better known as our immunesystem.
I am listening to Chinese youtube lectures to understand the terms they use and compare it with the translation so I understand it from the Western language (my Chinese is not so good, but I am learning Chinese).
Shang Han Lun is a very big topic and I am only focussing on the first 2 stages. Why? Because those 2 stages are mostly ignored by people. How? Most people will not visit the GP, because they know what they will hear 'just wait 3 days and if it still persist, then call us back', or people will just stay in bed and go through the illness. I have been helping my customers to recover faster through these fases. How? Well, when people cancel the appointment I will text them back and ask them what are your symptoms?". The past month I mostly sore throat cases and I will check further symptoms, before I give my advice. 3 cases with sore throat were managed by cooking them mungbean dessert, one person experienced direct effect, she could drink water after 2 spoons of mungbean and she could swallow with less pain, but it came back within 15 min (that is a case that is much severe, she was suffering for at least one week, that means it has been lodging for quite some while, thus need more time to clear the heat).
One case suffered from sore throat a few days, and reported relieve after 4 hours after taking the recipe.
For me, I want to know what they have done and eaten, and what I have discovered is that most cases they have consumed thermal hot foods, such as turmeric, deepfried stuff, pizza, cinnamon etc. Some people have no problem, but some people do, that has to do with their constitution. I am very susceptible for these ingredients. If I would eat a curry, then next time it is bingo, sore throat, that is my experience.
A lot of people have no clue that food can affect their health, because they have not learned to analyze it or link it with food consumption. It would be nice to help people to get to know their constitution and eat according their constitution that helps the body, instead of making it worse. That is why I write this thesis, to offer help, this thesis will include Herbs (Chinese and Western) and recipes so you can make this at home, I am thinking adding something special to my thesis, to make it more fun and helpful, I think people would appreciate this. I get excited when I think about it.
That is my thesis, and on the other hand, to make my life less boring, I am working on Ancient Classical text, like Laozi and Zhuang Zi. Last week I have been watching video's about the 'Empty Boat' by Zhuang Zi about how to let go of anger. Very interesting story. Why? Because it relates to myself, to help myself how to deal with anger. Especially involving my kids...kids are a mirror, I have to deal with my reactions towards them, it is not their fault, they are only helping me to solve my own personal issue. And this story really gives insight on how to deal with it very quickly. Theory is one thing, you need to put into practice.
When working on these topics, I really am grateful for the wisdom that our ancestors have left behind. I hope I can leave behind my knowledge and experiences for the next generation so they can help their offspring.
When I was a teenager I really wanted to become an interpreter or translator...but I never went through with it....now that interest is coming back and I am so thankful for all these social media platforms to find help on different topics and levels..and I get to decide what I want to learn and how I want to learn on my own pace. I am asking help on different platforms about ancient classical text, and it makes it way much easier to find the right document..also youtube provides a lot of information, I can find different video's on the same topic as well as English vs Mandarin vs Cantonese and Dutch. So interesting to find the difference and interpretations..I prefer the Classic Chinese version...American video's add a lot of salt and pepper (at least 1 video) which is not mentioned in the Classical text..( I have jpg of the original text).
Anyway, this is just a glimps behind the scene of my life to those who are interested in my journey..
Thank you for reading...till next time.
with kind regards,
Nancy Wong
