Blood, Blood, Glorious Blood
Of all the deep esoteric concepts and ancient Chinese philosophies that I discuss with people on a daily basis, by far the most controversial and often the most upsetting is the notion of eating meat. It’s probably safe to say that Glastonbury has more than its fair share of vegans and vegetarians and whilst that may be great for the animals and possibly the planet, it may not be all that great for our health.
Barely a day goes by without me coming to the Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis of ‘blood deficiency’. This doesn’t actually mean that you don’t have enough blood, but that the ‘energy’ of the blood is low. In Western medicine this may be likened to a kind of anaemia, but blood deficiency can occur even when there is measurably enough iron in the blood. Blood is such a far reaching substance, that symptoms of its deficiency are often seemingly disparate and varied. They may include – dizziness, headaches, a pale complexion, cold hands and feet, stiffness, tightness, palpitations, anxiety, eye floaters, tiredness, insomnia and even infertility.
Unfortunately blood deficiency is experienced much more readily in women than men. This is firstly due the fact that women lose blood every month and along with it some of the bloods energy. Secondly, creating babies takes a massive toll on the bloods energy, as does breastfeeding, where milk is seen as highly energized form of white blood. Another reason is that blood itself is a very Yin substance and sadly we live in a very Yang non-stop world, where rest and recuperation are hard to come-by. This lack of genuine time to re-charge also contributes to the bloods decline. The easiest, quickest and most effective way of replenishing the bloods energy is by eating meat. Basically blood feeds the blood and if the blood is not nourished sufficiently then the organs that produce the blood have to work that much harder and may become depleted. This can result in many of the symptoms mentioned above.
Now I am not saying that all vegetarians are blood deficient and some people will find it easier to keep healthy than others. If you were to live in India for example, where the blood doesn’t have to warm up the body, then it’s much easier to be a vegetarian, than say an Eskimo who probably wouldn’t make it through the winter without some decent whale blubber. Here in the UK we are obviously somewhere in between and some people can do it successfully while others cannot.
Another factor to take in to consideration is the reason why someone would become a vegetarian in the first place. Some people find the whole idea so abhorrent that the damage it would do to that person’s soul would far outweigh any potential nutritional benefits. However if you just don’t like the taste meat or are not eating it to try and be health conscious, then it might be a good idea to introduce a little bit to your diet. Obviously going out and eating a 16oz T-bone steak is probably not going to sit well in a stomach that hasn’t digested any meat in years. Far more effective would be to start off by incorporating a high quality, organic chicken stock into a vegetable soup or stew. That way the meat is already broken down and the energy is readily available to be absorbed by the body. The vegetarians who have taken this advice on board, have reported a great sensation of instant relief and an immediate upturn in energy, often resulting in a dramatic decrease in symptoms.
However, boiling up chicken carcasses is possibly not on the top of the list of things to do if you have been a long time vegetarian. So if you don’t fancy a trip to Stephens the butchers at the bottom of the High Street then I have discovered a great local, online stock stockist. They are called Coombe Farm Organic and they will deliver to your door frozen packets of ready-made organic bone broths. These can be added to pretty much anything you are cooking, thereby nourishing the blood’s energy without any of the bloody hassle.
(And what’s more Oracle readers can get a 10% discount code by typing ORACLE10 at the checkout!)
Matt Fellows
www.glastonburyacupuncture.co.uk
07956 328213