Congee Heals

Congee

Oriental Medicine, something I now formally study, played a huge role in my healing. When I first met my second Chinese practitioner, he noticed how weak I was and offered me this wonderful soup to fortify my weaken constitution, which it did... I'm forever grateful. Today I do the same...gi

Congee or rice soup is an excellent source of nutrition when illness strikes.

Traditionally known as hsi-fan or rice water, congee is eaten throughout China as a breakfast food. It is thin porridge or gruel consisting of a handful of rice simmered in five to six times the amount of water. Although rice is the most common grain for congees, millet, spelt, or other grains are sometimes used.

Cook the rice and water in a covered pot for 4-6 hours on warm, or use a crockpot. It is better to use too much water than too little (3x as much as regular cooking) it should be very soupy, and it is said the longer congee cooks, the more powerful it becomes.

Healing Properties
This simple rice soup is easily digested and assimilated, tonifies the blood and the qi energy, harmonizes the digestion, and is demulcent, cooling, and nourishing. Since the chronically ill person often has weak blood and low energy, and easily develops inflammations and other heat symptoms from deficiency of yin fluids, the cooling, demulcent and tonifying properties of congee are particularly welcome. it is useful for increasing a nursing mother's supply of milk. The liquid can be strained from the porridge to drink as a supplement for infants and for serious conditions.

Other therapeutic properties may be added to the congee by cooking appropriate vegetables, grains, herbs, or meats in with the rice water. Since the rice itself strengthens the spleen-pancreas digestive center, other foods added to a rice congee become more completely assimilated, and their properties are therefore enhanced. Listed below are some of the more common rice-based congees and their specific effects.

Aduki Bean   - Diuretic: curative for edema and gout.

Apricot Kernel - Recommended for coughs and asthma, expels sputum and intestinal gas.

Carrot - Digestive aid, eliminates flatulence.

Celery - Cooling in summer, benefits large intestine.

Chestnut   - Tonifies kidneys, strengthens knees and loin, useful in treating anal hemorrhages.

Water Chestnut - Cooling to the viscera, benefits digestive organs.

Chicken or Mutton Broth - Recommended for wasting illnesses and injuries.

Duck or Carp Broth - Reduces edema and swelling.

Fennel - Harmonizes stomach, expels gas, cures hernia.

Ginger - Warming and antiseptic to viscera, used for deficient cold digestive weakness, diarrhea, anorexia, vomiting and indigestion.

Kidney from Pig, Sheep or Deer - Strengthens kidneys, benefits knees and lower back, treats impotence.(use organic kidney)

Leek - Warming to viscera, good for chronic diarrhea.

Liver from Sheep or Chicken - Benefits diseases of the liver, very powerful.

Mallow - Moistening for feverishness, aids digestion.

Mung Bean - Cooling, especially for summer heat, reduces fevers, thirst relieving.

Mustard - Expels phlegm, clears stomach congestion.

Salted Onion - Diaphoretic, lubricating to muscles.

Black Pepper - Expels gas, recommended for pain in bowels.

Red Pepper - Prevents malaria and cold conditions.

Pine Nut Kernel - Moistening to heart and lungs, harmonizes large intestine, useful in wind diseases and constipation.

Poppy Seed - Relieves vomiting and benefits large intestine.

Purslane - Detoxifies, recommended for rheumatism and swellings.

Radish - Digestant, benefits the diaphragm.

Pickled Radish (salt) - Benefits digestion and blood.

Brown Rice - Diuretic, thirst quenching, nourishing, good for nursing mothers.

Sweet Rice - Demulcent, used for diarrhea, vomiting and indigestion.

Scallion Bulb - Cures cold diarrhea in the aged.

Sesame Seed - Moistening to the intestines, treats rheumatism.

Shepherd's Purse - Brightens the eyes and benefits the liver.

Spinach - Harmonizes and moistening the viscera, sedative.

Taro Root - Nutritious, aids the stomach, builds blood.

Wheat - Cooling, used with fevers, clears digestive tract, also calming and sedating due to wheat's nourishing effect on the heart.

Yogurt and Honey - Beneficial to heart and lungs.

Healing Properties of other grains you may wish to try.

Amaranth - Cooling thermal nature, dries dampness, benefits the lungs, high in protein (15-18%), fiber, amino acids (lysine and methionine), vitamin C, and calcium. It contains more calcium and the supporting calcium cofactors (magnesium and silicon) than milk.

Barley - Cooling thermal nature, sweet and salty flavour, strengthens the spleen-pancrea, regulates the stomach, and fortifies the intestines. Builds the blood and yin fluids and moistens dryness, promotes diuresis, benefits the gallbladder and nerves, very easily digested. A decoction of 2 oz. pearl barley or roasted whole barley toa quart of water is traditionally used for convelscents and invalids, treats diarrhea, soothes inflamed membranes, alleviates painful and difficult urination, quells fever, helps reduce tumors, swellings, and watery accumulations such as edema.

Buckwheat - Neutral thermal nature, sweet flavor, cleans and strengthens the intestines and improves appetite. Is effective for treating dysentery and chronic diarrhea. Rutin, a bioflavonoid found in buckwheat, strengthens capillaries and blood vessels, inhibits hemorrhages, reduces blood pressure, and increases circulation to the hands and feet. Rutin is also an antidote against x-rays and other forms of radiation.

Corn - Neutral thermal nature, sweet flavor, diuretic, nourishes the physical heart, influences the stomach, improves appetite, and helps regulate digestion, promotes healthy teeth and gums, tonifies the kidneys and helps overcome sexual weakness. Drink a tea decoction made from whole dried kernels to treat kidney disease.

Millet - Cooling thermal nature, sweet and salty flavor, diuretic, strengthens the kidneys, beneficial to stomach and spleen-pancreas, builds the yin fluids, moistens dryness, alkalizing, balances over-acid conditions, sweetens breath by retarding bacteria growth in mouth, high amino acid profile and rich silicon content, helps prevent miscarriage, anti-fungal, one of the best grains for those with Candida albicans overgrowth. Also useful for diarrhea, vomiting, indigestion, and diabetes. Soothes morning sickness.

Oats - Warming thermal nature, sweet and slightly bitter flavor, soothing, restores nervous and reproductive systems, strengthens spleen-pancreas, builds and regulates qi energy, removes cholesterol from the digestive tract and arteries, strengthens cardiac muscles. Can be used in cases of dysentery, diabetes, hepatitis, nervous and sexual debility, indigestion and swelling including abdominal bloating. One of the richest silicon foods, oats help renew the bones and all connective tissues. Oats also contain phosphorus, required for brain and nerve formulation during youth.

Quinoa - Warming thermal nature, sweet and sour flavor, generally strengthening for the whole body, specifically tonifies the kidney yang(warming and energizing function of the body) and the pericardium functions. Compared wit other grains, it has the highest protein content. Contains more calcium than milk and is higher in fat content than any grain. A very good source of iron, phosphorous, B vitamins, and vitamin E.

Wild Rice - Cooling thermal nature, sweet and bitter flavor, diuretic, benefits the kidneys and bladder. Has more protein than other rice. It is rich in minerals and B vitamins and is a hardy food for cold climates, it cools the superficial tissues and concentrates warmth in the interior and lower body areas.

Dr G Studio Speakers

Zen Saved My Mind

WOOLY BULLY

Seeing things from a new perspective

Resiliency and abuse...

On a sweet day in December of 2001 I went to my doctor for my yearly checkup, something I did just to monitor my well-being and to keep my insurance company happy. Life was pretty good. Things, although not perfect, were moving long well. My new business was growing. Money was not really an issue. My marriage was iffy. My elder mother, who had been living with me since my dad died 9 years before, had Alzheimer’s and this was exerting much pressure upon the household; something looking back I see had a profound effect upon my health and mental clarity.

On that day my blood was drawn, an ECG (Electrocardiography) taken, and I left my doctor’s office not thinking I’d see him again till next year, surprise! Two days later, I received a call from his office asking me to come back in. He had something to discuss with me. I figured my cholesterol was probably too high since for I had not been watching my diet as well as I should, so I called, made an appointment, and saw him the next day. He said, Gabriel, your blood work came back and there are some concerns. I’ll have to refer you to a hematologist. I said ok, thinking nothing of it, assuming my diet had my blood in disarray that I’d get a talking to and my life would continue on... 

The appointment day came. I showed up at the office, an extension of University Hospital in Tamarac, Florida. I was in a great mood, played with the nurses. The one who drew my blood was cute, and I flirted a bit, all the time thinking all was well. It was not...

After waiting for a bit, they had an in-house lab. I finally saw the doctor. An unconscious man who I saw more of his back than his face as he stood back to me flipping through my chart. While still back to me, he said, Gabriel, your numbers are way off. Please lie on the exam table face up. He finally turned and palpated my abdomen. In only a second said, “your spleen is huge, did you not feel this?” I had not, my belly had recently grown, but I thought it was from food and drink and nothing more.

Again he turned his back and began to write, offering me these words, “Gabriel, you are very sick. The exact nature of your disease is yet unclear, but it is severe based on your very enlarged spleen and low blood counts. I will have my nurse schedule a bone marrow biopsy.” He was about to walk out when I demanded more information asking “doctor tell me what are the causes of this and how serious are they?” He just turned, looking not so happy to offer me more time, and spat out a list of nasty things. Hairy cell leukemia, lymphoma, or myelofibrosis (who knew this would be the one since I had never heard of it and it was the most deadly and rare). I asked “can these kill me?” he said yes.

He then turned, leaving the room at a breakneck speed as to escape before I asked more questions. Shocked and angry that after giving me such a bad report, he would walk away so coldly, leaving me in this little room alone. We’ll I did not stay there long. I took off after him, calling his name. He continued to walk. I caught up to him, grabbed his shoulder, and spun him around, saying “doctor you cannot tell me this and then just walk away... we need to talk”. He said “there is nothing to talk about, you need a bone marrow biopsy, my nurse will schedule it”...

The story goes on, you’ll find it complete in my future book and on the net soon. The message of this piece is about how mindless we are about our bodies’ state of being, how I could have walked around dying with a huge spleen and had not known a thing.

During my lectures, I use a prop. It’s a sweet little plant. I carry it out, show it to the audience and say “sweet isn’t it, healthy looking yes?”. Then from behind the lectern I pull a can of coke saying, “oh little plant you look thirsty” and act as if I’m going to “water” this plant with it. Many in the audience gasp, some laugh, but there is always a response. 

I stop before actually pouring the poison into the plant. I say “I see many of you think it would be a mistake to water a plant with coke and yet we drink this garbage, this and worse every day”. If I had poured the soft drink into the pot, the plant would have died quickly, most likely by the next morning. 

The blessing and curse of our sweet bodies is its resiliency. That it can take a beating and keep on living. If we were like the plant. We would have immediate feedback screaming at us saying “stop!”. But because we are so resilient, we continue, day after day, month after month, year after year, to pour crap into our bodies, thinking all is well. This mindless abuse leads to days like the ones I reported above. Days of surprise, as we are told, the years of abuse have come to offer their nasty payback. 

This resilience breeds a mindless attitude of abuse. One in which we take this life, this sweet opportunity for granted. Living our lives pouring, inhaling, and soaking up the poisons of the world we’ve created. Everywhere we look, if we look, is death, from the antiperspirant we spray under our arms, the foods we put into our mouths, and to the toxic news we watch over and over again on the death tube.

My friends, just because the poison we consume doe not immediately show its nasty intent, please don’t be deceived. It is killing you. Don’t let the strength of this flesh suit we live in delude you into a belief that all is well, it is not, and the piper will have to be paid, and the price is high, very high.

Don’t take this life for granted. Don’t assume all is well. Educate yourself, give yourself the same grace, offer the same mercy as you do your pets. You would not feed your dog or cat half the crap we feed ourselves, saying “the vet says” they should eat this and not that. Instead, we buy special formulas, and offer them clean water (not coke) to drink... Friends awaken!

Save yourselves. Know “it is up to you what will happen”. That the thoughts, words and actions of today, yesterday, and all the days you’ve lived, are at this moment an accumulating. Waiting to hit that critical mass. Many are sitting on a fence, a fence that divides life and death, wellness (the appearance of) and disease. The next nasty thing might be the one that takes you over to the other side. You are at a tipping point. Don’t be deceived, you may be ready to fall over to the bad side of the fence... don’t do it! You may not find your way back.

The good news is the healthy, vital, sexy side of that fence is there for you. You can tip over and move into a fine life. One that offers you all the strength to live a sexy, active life long into your later years. Longevity is the goal. One hundred years or more; not sitting in a wheelchair or shuffling around on a walker, demented, but one with a sound mind and body. One that is useful and full of joy till the day you pass into Bardo (the time between lives). Please awaken. Again I say AWAKEN!

I send you all waves of joy, peace, and understanding.

Be well... Dr G

You just can’t consume

Our lives are worth saving if we’re not just consuming instead of nourishing & preserving this planet, those in need, and the gift of life. 

If you're not, just give up the ghost and leave….