Now that I’ve provided you with a wealth of new information about health and beauty in the Chinese tradition, it’s time to discover how to put these principles to use. The first step in this process is to take my Beauty-Wellness Test to determine if you are primarily yin, yang, or yin/yang (balanced) in nature.
Don’t try to look through the book for the “right” answers! There are no right answers. This test is designed to enable you to identify your current state of balance, or wellness. You will discover if you’re primarily a yin type or if you are currently in a yang state. Some of you may even be surprised to learn that you are basically in balance!
Like chi and our cells, which are ever changing, yin and yang express the constantly evolving connection between body, mind, and spirit. Yin and yang are not absolute, exact conditions. We can be yin today and yang tomorrow. This test simply identifies your fundamental state.
Select the most appropriate response to each of these questions and total your answers. This score will determine your primary state—yin, yang, or yin/yang (balanced)—so that you will be able to design the most effective program for yourself.
1. My age is:
15 13 to 25
10 26 to 45
5 46 or older
2. My weight gain/loss pattern can best be described as:
15 I can eat anything I want without gaining a pound
10 Up and down, but no more than three to five pounds a month
5 I gain weight easily
3. My appetite is:
15 Hearty
10 Moderate
5 Light
4. My skin—especially my face—looks shiny or oily:
15 Often
10 Only in the “T Zone” around my forehead and nose
5 Seldom
0 Tends to be dry
5. My face breaks out:
15 Often
10 Occasionally
5 Rarely, if ever
15 A lot
10 A few
5 None
7. I have whiteheads:
15 A lot
10 A few
5 None
8. I have dark circles around my eyes:
15 Rarely, if ever
10 Occasionally, during allergy season or when I am exceptionally tired
10 Yes, due to family heritage
5 Usually
9. I have wrinkles:
15 None
10 Only around my eyes
10 Around my mouth or on my forehead
5 Around my eyes, mouth, and forehead
10. My pores are:
15 Large, open
10 Medium
5 Small, fine
11. The texture of my skin is:
15 Coarse
10 Average
5 Smooth
12. I experience dry, flaky patches on my skin:
15 Never
10 Occasionally
5 Often
13. I smoke cigarettes, and I would be considered:
15 A heavy smoker (a pack or more per day)
10 A moderate smoker (less than a pack a day)
5 An occasional smoker/a nonsmoker
14. I drink alcoholic beverages:
15 One or more drinks a day, usually every day
10 Three to five drinks a week
5 Occasionally/never
15. My hair is:
15 Coarse and straight
15 Coarse and curly
10 Moderately thick
5 Fine
16. My daily hair loss is:
15 Very few
10 Normal (80 to 100 hairs per day—there’s hair in my brush but not an alarming amount)
5 Heavy (I get a handful of hair when I run my fingers through it or my drain is full when I wash it)
17. My hair and scalp are usually:
15 Oily
10 Normal
5 Dry
15 Rosy
5 Pale
19. The surface of my fingernails is:
15 Smooth
5 Ridged
20. I have sore throats:
15 Often
10 Once or twice a year
5 Never
TOTAL SCORE: __________
Yin bodies, like yin personalities, tend to be low-key, even cool, less emotional, and more reserved than their yang counterparts. If you scored primarily yin, you probably have a softer, rounder body than those who fit the yang profile. You often have dry, sensitive skin and a tendency toward premature fine lines and wrinkles, most often around your eyes and mouth. Your complexion and lips are often pale and you may suffer from the cold—especially in your hands and feet—not just during winter months.
To bring balance to your body, your diet should be full of warming yang-energy foods to increase circulation and rev up your sluggish system. These foods will not only lubricate your joints and internal organs but will also increase the elasticity of your skin. Yin personalities can have more hot, spicy, Jalapeño-peppered Mexican foods … and those peppery Chinese cuisines from Szechuan and Hunan! Add cinnamon, ginger, garlic, or dill to almost any recipe to give it the warm yang energy you need to achieve your maximum beauty-wellness potential.
One of my clients, Kitty, scored a solid 100 on her Beauty-Wellness Test. She fits the classic yin profile to a tee. Kitty, whose nickname stems from her catlike nature rather than her name, appears much younger than her thirty-two years. Only five feet, two inches tall, she has a soft, curvy figure and a soft, high-pitched voice—like Marilyn Monroe, the ultimate yin woman. Fair-skinned, with blue eyes and baby-fine blond hair that has the slightest bit of wave to it, Kitty is extremely sensitive to the cold, often complaining of cold hands and feet, especially during the winter months when, as she tells it, she goes into “hermit mode.” Until she began to bring balance to her body, she frequently sought treatment from her dermatologist in hopes of finding relief from flaky, tender skin.
Kitty was so afraid of gaining weight, she eliminated all oils and fats from her diet. She refused to believe me when I told her that this contributed to her dry skin problems. The body needs fats for proper metabolism, and without them, it suffers. The results include flaking, dry skin, and low energy. Because digestion is slowed, weight loss is impaired.
If you could use only one word to describe a yang person, it would probably be “active.” As a rule, yang types have lean, generally slender, body builds. If you scored primarily yang, you are probably youthful, outgoing, outspoken, and exuberant. You should not expect to age prematurely. Your hair and skin tend to be oily, and especially if your yang score is very high, you may be prone to acne.
The teas you drink and the foods you eat, as well as the herbal compounds you apply topically to your skin and hair, should be yin in nature to cool down or calm your fiery yang energy. Reach for foods that will calm your hot energy and bring moisture to the systems of your body, nourishing it and lubricating and toning your skin without increasing oil production. Choose yin foods—tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, melons, citrus fruits, clams, crabmeat, and tofu. And don’t forget green tea! That’s the coolest of all teas.
Another spa client, Jan, is tall and slender with long, lean legs. At twenty-eight, she is the same weight as when she finished high school at seventeen. Headstrong, restless, and relentlessly independent, Jan dropped out of college her junior year to travel, which lead to a career as a travel photographer. Despite her active, athletic lifestyle and her health and fitness awareness, she thinks nothing of feasting on rare steak and spicy, greasy Mexican food. Her wild, thick, curly hair tends to be oily, as does her skin, which she abuses by too much unprotected time in the sun.
Before Jan altered her eating habits by adding more foods with cool energy to her diet, and treating both her hair and skin to cooling tonics and treatments, she had frequent and painful bouts of acne and intense bouts of PMS.
Congratulations! If you fit this profile, either you were born with perfect original chi, or you are doing a terrific job on your own to maintain nutritional balance and are living a balanced life. Still, just because your yin and yang are in balance today doesn’t mean they will be tomorrow! So your beauty-wellness assignment is to maintain that balance.
A person who has a yin/yang profile is generally even-tempered, alert, and fit. If you scored primarily yin/yang, your body type is probably neither too thin nor too fat; your skin is neither too dry nor too oily. By staying aware of your body’s state of harmony, you will be able to maintain a high level of wellness and, as a result, optimum beauty. You will need to nourish your body with the right foods, and to lubricate, tone, and cleanse your skin thoroughly with the right topical treatments. You’ll need to exercise to maintain muscle tone and keep chi flowing throughout your body.
Eat from all food groups; however, it is essential that you take equal amounts from each to stay in peak form. On this page, you will find a chart that lists foods by their inherent hot or cold energy properties. The middle, or neutral, column features a tasty list of foods that will leave you totally satisfied, including papayas, beef, potatoes, green mung beans, corn, chicken, eggs, pork, kidney beans, fava or broad beans, raw peanuts, and honey.
Another client, Margaret, might be described as “all-American Average”—thirty-three years old, five feet five inches tall, brown hair, hazel eyes, with a fair complexion that turns pink before it tans. Except for slight breakouts around her period, her skin is decidedly normal, neither too oily nor too dry. Margaret has little difficulty maintaining equilibrium between her work and personal life. A moderate drinker, she laughs about being able to make a white wine spritzer last all night. She weighs a comfortable 130 pounds, and if she picks up a few extra pounds during the holidays, she can drop them in a month by leaving out bread and potatoes.
Armed with this information and with a greater awareness of the changes in your body, you will be able to adapt the special programs that are detailed in the chapters ahead to suit your body’s needs. For example, in Chapter 4, I lay the foundation for your beauty-wellness program by learning the principles of detoxification, nutrition, and regeneration. In Chapter 5, you will choose from the foods and skin-care treatments—bath salts, scrubs, toners, and the like—that will soothe, moisturize, and tone your skin. In Chapter 6, I’ll tell you how to care for your hair and scalp according to Chinese tradition and according to your type. You will be able to select the appropriate foods, soups, and teas to stimulate the systems of your body that relate to hair and scalp health while satisfying your tastebuds.
An important reminder: Be aware of your own physiology. By staying aware of your body’s state from day to day, you can eat foods from every food group … in moderation. That’s the key to balance.