Digestive Health
The Chinese medicine approach to gut health is unique, as we assess the balance between the strength and efficiency of the digestive system, and the need to clear any unwanted products from the digestive tract.
In other words we assess how well your body is breaking down and assimilating food as well as how efficiently it eliminates waste. Each person’s digestive capacity is different and we aim to work with your body, responding to changes over time.
Herbal medicine and dietary therapy combined are very important for bringing the digestion back into balance.
Chinese medicine approach to gut health
What to expect
If you are suffering from long-term digestive problems, we recommend a course of treatment that is about 3 months long. Most people begin to notice changes within 1-2 weeks.
Herbal medicine is important for re-balancing the gut. We find that making some dietary changes can optimize the effects of acupuncture and herbal medicine.
When working with long-term digestive problems we find that our patients commonly go through ‘treatment cycles’; their symptoms disappear and reappear periodically, usually with less severity over time. This is part of the rhythm of making changes to the digestive environment. We always aim to follow the rhythm of your body, responding to your body’s signals and meeting your body’s unique needs as we go.
Research into Chinese medicine for digestive health
The importance of gut health
The digestive system really is central to health and wellbeing. On the surface, it’s just an extremely long tube going all the way from the top to the bottom, but looking closer there is a whole complex world of chemical reactions and exchanges taking place.
Then there is the microbiome, also known as gut flora, which is so very important to our health an wellbeing. A compromised microbiome affects many other aspects of our wellbeing, not only our digestive health. This includes the health of our immune and endocrine systems. Microbiome health has also been found to link strongly to emotional state and is often a contributing factor in emotional imbalance.
The quality of the food we choose really does matter. When we eat, we feed not only ourselves, but our microbiome. Any other freeloading parasite we may be harbouring also relies on what we eat to sustain it. Bad bacteria, fungi and parasites love to eat processed foods like sugar, alcohol and white flour. In fact, we believe that the way we eat as a society and the way our microbiome suffers as a consequence may be a major contributing factor in the rise of allergies and autoimmune disease.
Knowing how to shop, eat and cook in our world of industrially produced food and fast-paced living is posing a major challenge and our digestive systems are suffering for it! We aim to make the transition to healthier food choices, healthier cooking and healthier eating easy and enjoyable.
Why can detoxing feel so rough?
As many who have attempted a detox know, ridding the body of environmental toxins, parasites and un-beneficial microbes can be a pretty rough experience.
When the body’s detoxification systems become clogged it is common to feel as though you have a constant, bad hangover. Not only does this make us feel terrible, but any substances that don’t make it out are reabsorbed into the bloodstream and redistributed around the body.
In fact, detox symptoms are the body’s cry for help – they mean the systems involved in detoxification (the liver, bladder, kidneys and skin) are labouring with a backlog of rubbish. What many don’t realise is that the most efficient detox has few side effects.
How is Chinese medicine different
The Chinese medicine approach is unique, because we are able respond to the signals your body is giving as we go. We believe it is not necessary to endure severe detox symptoms. In fact, we believe that the most skillful digestive therapy is side-effect free.
We aim to work with you towards an optimal state of health in which the body’s elimination systems keep the body free from harmful organisms and substances. We aim to support these elimination systems until your body is sufficiently balanced to maintain itself.