If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

—Chinese Proverb

CHAPTER 7

Angry Much?

ANGER

Recommended Foods

For anger in general, eat lima beans, raspberries, celery, and leeks.

 

If you experience any PMS symptoms or flank (sides of torso) pain, are holding on to resentment and anger, or are easily angered, the qi in your liver is probably stagnant. This means qi isn’t flowing properly in your liver, leading to the above symptoms. You should eat plenty of these foods: beets, mustard greens, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, quinoa, asparagus, rye, romaine lettuce, alfalfa, pine nuts, brussels sprouts, vinegars (brown rice, rice wine, and apple cider), spices (dill, cumin, fennel, black pepper, marjoram, ginger, cardamom, onion, basil, mint, turmeric, bay leaf, and horseradish), and fruit (strawberries, peaches, and cherries).

 

When you’ve been exposed to any toxins, you definitely want to eat these foods on a regular, if not daily, basis: cucumber, mung beans, tofu, millet, plums, radish, rhubarb, daikon radish, spirulina, lettuce, kelp, nori, kombu, wakame, chlorella, parsley, kale, collard greens, and sprouts (alfalfa, sunflower, clover, mung, broccoli, and bean). Unfortunately, the world we live in is full of toxins. Our food, water, air, even clothing and beauty products, can contain harmful chemicals. So I recommend eating from this list every day.

 

When you experience menopause, hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, hot hands and feet, dry mouth, and/or any chemotherapy side effects, there are plenty of tasty foods that reduce your symptoms. As all of these symptoms are the result of too little yin in your liver, you can benefit from these yin-nourishing foods: parsley, artichoke, carrots, avocado, lemon, lime, mulberries, yams, parsnips, oils (hemp, black currant, and flaxseed), and aloe vera gel.

 

Liver blood deficiency basically means you’re anemic. Note that this might not even show up on a blood test. Symptoms of anemia include light-headedness, muscle cramps, leg cramps, fatigue, pale nail bed, shortness of breath, and poor concentration. Here are some goodies to build your blood: blackstrap molasses, soybeans, lentils, spinach, collard greens, blackberries, raspberries, prunes, and grapes.

 

Neurological issues can be the result of an unhappy liver in TCM. It’s called “liver wind” when you have any of these health concerns: Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, tremors, stroke, and seizures. You can calm the “wind” with these tasty treats: celery, oats, flaxseeds, black soybeans, pine nuts, black sesame seeds, basil, sage, fennel, anise, peppermint, chamomile, coconut, ginger, and strawberries.

Foods to Avoid or Minimize

For liver qi stagnation: spicy food

 

For liver wind: white flour, white rice, animal fats, and processed foods

 

For liver toxicity: sugar, alcohol, coffee, processed food, food coloring, food additives, and pesticides

Have you paid attention to what makes you angry? Do you let it out in the moment? Ignore it? Save expressing it for later once you’ve had a chance to process it? Do you have rage that seems to come from nowhere?

Anger is that emotion we all want to ignore. It can come out in unexpected bursts or, more predictably, when someone we love pushes our buttons. Sometimes you can experience an intense rush when feeling angry, but there’s usually an emotional or physical crash afterward.

Expressing your anger in public is considered taboo. Women especially aren’t supposed to get angry. We’re considered bitchy or worse if we allow ourselves to get pissed off. Followers of TCM believe that this suppression of anger makes PMS much worse for many women.

So even if you’re great at feeling your feelings, you probably suppress anger on a somewhat regular basis. Anger begins to build up in our livers, causing qi there to stagnate, and it can feel like a pressure cooker. That’s why just screaming it out or punching someone in a kickboxing class feels so damn good.

As you learned in chapter 4, the Wood element is associated with the liver (yin) and gallbladder (yang), springtime, and anger. In TCM, the Wood element is linked to growth, the eyes, and nourishing the muscles and nails, so anything health-related in regard to muscles, nails, or eyes means the liver needs to be treated. I’ll be giving a detailed list of symptoms associated with the liver and gallbladder later in the chapter, but just to give you an idea, if you’re suffering from muscle tension and have brittle nails, most likely there’s an imbalance in your liver.

As you learned earlier, each organ has its own set of emotions connected to it. These unexpressed but all-too-often experienced emotions can cause an imbalance in the organ. Or the imbalanced organ can lead you to feel these emotions more often, or amplified beyond normal levels. It can turn into the vicious cycle I discussed in chapter 1. This means that when you experience a certain emotion such as anger—and especially if you stuff down that anger—your liver will become compromised in some way. The reverse is also true: If the liver isn’t working properly, you may experience outbursts of anger or make impulsive decisions.

Out of all the organs, the liver has the most emotions attached to it.

The emotions most directly affecting the liver are:

The liver is also a factor in:

Any of these sound familiar?

A person with a healthy Wood element will be very balanced. They are able to forgive, make decisions easily, are reliable and confident, have hope and a vision for what the future holds, and are even tempered. Balanced Woods will be flexible but still stand strong in who they are and what they want. Imagine a tree. For it to grow and be indestructible, a tree has to have strong roots, a strong foundation, but be able to bend with the wind. A fit Wood element will manifest as a powerful leader and inspire those around them.

A person with an imbalanced Wood element will always be angry and frustrated, sensing that they are always stuck and never moving forward in life. Every experience is a fight. They are unable to grow. They are total perfectionists who never get anything accomplished, because it has to be perfect.

What follows is a brief list of the functions of the liver and gallbladder in both Western and Chinese terms. As with all the organs discussed in this book, you’ll see that sometimes there is an overlap. As a little reminder, Chinese medicine knew these functions centuries and even thousands of years before Western medicine “discovered” them. I’ve included Western functions both to give you a better understanding of how your body works (particularly when it’s showing signs of distress), and also to help you figure out what imbalances you have to help heal any related emotion(s).

There are only a few similarities between Western functions of the liver and gallbladder and the Chinese perspective on these organs. In Chinese medicine the liver is one of the most important organs, because it’s in charge of so many functions.

Functions of the Liver

Western Medicine

TCM

Builds blood, cleans the blood, and detoxifies the body of harmful chemicals

Builds blood, cleans the blood, and detoxifies the body of harmful chemicals

Breaks down fats, converts sugar to energy, produces urea (the main substance of urine), some vitamins and minerals, and maintains a proper level of glucose (sugar) in the blood

Moves qi throughout the body, stores blood, regulates the menses by controlling how much blood goes into the uterus, and is connected to reproductive organs

Can be made toxic by fatty foods and alcohol

Can be made toxic by fatty foods, alcohol, and suppressed anger

What do I mean above by “harmful chemicals”? Unfortunately, even if you eat really clean, organic food and wear only organic clothes, you’re being exposed to substances that make your liver work overtime. Alcohol, air and water pollution, fluoride, heavy metals and radiation, pesticides, medications, plastic, and chemicals in our clothes, paint, furniture, beauty products, and cleaning products all need to be filtered out by the liver. Pretty grim, I know. This constant exposure to toxins is why I recommend doing a liver cleanse at least once a year. If the liver is trying to process too many toxic substances, it can’t flush all of them out. This can lead to a buildup of these toxins in the body, which causes added stress for the liver and can eventually lead to liver failure, liver cancer, and toxicity throughout the body.

In Eastern medicine, the liver channel is seen as wrapping around your reproductive organs. A possible manifestation of an imbalance in the liver is excess dampness and heat in the liver. This excess can cause herpes, infertility, ovarian cysts, or an enlarged prostate. These alone should be motivation enough to take care of your liver.

What do I mean by excess “dampness and heat”? The body has a naturally occurring amount of damp and heat in the body. Dampness keeps things moist and lubricated. Heat keeps us warm and aids in digestion. As with the balance of yin and yang you learned about in chapter 3, there’s a fine line between the right amount and too much or too little. Too much dampness can lead to phlegm in the lungs; not enough can make your poop dry. Too much heat can cause burning urination; not enough can make your metabolism slow down. Our bodies are highly effective, extremely sensitive machines that need to be taken care of. I’m always amazed by how well they hold up even when we abuse them. It’s time to start taking care of your body now.

If you know someone who is extremely judgmental, they probably have a gallbladder imbalance. What follows are the functions of the gallbladder, as seen from Eastern and Western perspectives.

Functions of the Gallbladder

Western Medicine

TCM

Stores and excretes bile to break down fat

Stores and excretes bile to break down fat

Making decisions, providing qi to the sinews for movement, and judgment

What does “providing qi to the sinews for movement” mean? If the gallbladder is imbalanced, you may experience awkward movements of your limbs or feel weak or strained when trying to move about. Imagine walking around and feeling like your legs have no energy. This could be from your gallbladder not being happy.

Physical Symptoms

Each organ has several physical symptoms associated with its imbalance. I must reiterate that if your organ shows signs of distress in Chinese terms, it doesn’t mean the actual organ is affected. So when I say the liver is imbalanced, weak, or deficient, I don’t want you to think something is wrong with your physical liver. You don’t need to think, Oh my God! I need to get to the doctor now! Relating to the functions of a particular organ is simply another tool for diagnosing and coming up with the best possible treatment.

The liver has the most related symptoms attached to it. Below is list of many of them.

As you can see, your liver plays a very important role in your overall health. Are you ready to pay better attention to it? I see a lot of my patients’ symptoms disappear when we primarily focus on their liver. It seems that once you let go of the anger and resentment, a lot of discomfort is let go as well.

Compared with the liver, the gallbladder only has a few symptoms associated with it, which is typical for all yang organs. These include difficulty making decisions, pain and temperature change along the gallbladder channel, headaches at the temples, gallstones, shyness, belching, and nausea.

Dehydration

Most people I see in my clinic are dehydrated. You are supposed to drink approximately half your weight in ounces of water. This means if you weigh 140 pounds, you should be drinking approximately 70 ounces of water per day. This doesn’t include the additional water necessary when you’ve been sweating, eaten, taken medications, or consumed beverages (coffee, tea, soda, alcohol) that make you lose even more water. Many headaches, muscle pain, and other health complaints would go away or be minimized if people just drank enough water. And here’s an interesting fact: Dehydration can make you crave sugar. So for all you sugar junkies reading this, drink up! If you need help remembering to drink enough water, set an alarm on your phone to go off every two hours during your waking hours, and drink at least one glass every time the alarm sounds.

What’s Really behind Your Cravings?

Cravings. We all have them. The question is why? Why for some things and not for others? And why is it they’re usually for things that aren’t healthy?

Dr. Doug Lisle and Alan Goldhamer’s The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health & Happiness goes into great detail about what actually happens to our brains when we want the bad stuff (or typically the bad stuff). In a nutshell, every time we feel good due to an experience or something we’ve consumed, new connections form in the brain asking for more. Just think of the thousands of chocolate-wanting neurons begging for more!

Also, our minds are designed to put in the least amount of effort for the biggest pleasure response. This definitely worked to our advantage before the agricultural age, when we foraged (and hunted) for food. We ate what we needed to survive. But now that we have easy access to way more food, and a big chunk of it is incredibly unhealthy, this primal instinct is slowly (or quickly) killing us. This chemical makeup in our brains can make us dependent on a whole host of things: sugar, salt, caffeine, dairy, or booze.

On top of that, processed and junk “food” is designed to make us addicted. Food scientists have this in mind with every ingredient they create and add to that can of soup, bag of flavored chips, McDonald’s fries, or the flavored drinks most Americans consume daily. This makes it physically difficult to give up certain foods. Our bodies feel like they can’t live without them. Even the New York Times featured an article about this very real Orwellian problem. Pretty disturbing.

One thing you won’t see in this book is any suggestions for dessert. This isn’t because I don’t want you to have a treat. If you’re going to eat something sweet, I prefer it in fruit form. And if you’re eating out much or buying premade foods, soups, salad dressings, or sauces, you’re eating too much sugar. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that people who eat 2,000 calories per day should limit their daily sugar intake to 10 teaspoons, or 42 grams. But most Americans eat about 21 teaspoons, or 88 grams per day. The American Heart Association recommends 6 to 9 teaspoons (25 to 38 grams), which I think is more like it. When it comes to sugar, less is always best.

You can also crave certain foods because you’re lacking a nutrient found in that food. It might not be the best food for you, or even the best source, but your brain asks for it. If you’ve ever had to have a hamburger or steak, you might be lacking iron. That’s really what you’re craving. But there’s no need to actually eat beef; you can pick up a kale salad, lentils, chickpeas, edamame, or tempeh. Make sure to eat C-rich foods or take vitamin C to aid in the absorption of iron. When you’re dying for chocolate at that time of the month, you might be low in magnesium. Yes, it could be the sugar. But specifically craving chocolate when you’re PMSing might be a deficiency issue; try pumpkin seeds, quinoa, almonds, oatmeal, spinach, black-eyed peas, or a baked potato instead. I often recommend a quality calcium and magnesium supplement to moderate cravings, which will also help reduce other PMS symptoms, including cramps. If you crave seafood, you may need more healthy fat in your diet. Make sure to eat some omega-3-rich sources daily—hemp, kale, flaxseeds, seaweed, or walnuts. Avocado is another fat fave of mine. That all encompassing “need” for dairy comes from casomorphin, an opiate-like chemical produced when digesting dairy products. It hooks you before you even realize it. For humans, cows, or goats, its real purpose is to make sure babies drink enough of their mother’s milk.

We can also have an emotional attachment to certain foods and the memories that come with what Mom used to cook for us when we weren’t feeling well. You may associate ice cream with having a reward. Or you may have a connection with certain holiday meals that can be hard to break. If you think that Thanksgiving just won’t be the same without turkey, butter, sugar, or tons of wine, it may be hard to make a change. But there are plenty of healthier options and recipes available. Eventually, you won’t miss it.

I recommend adding foods that will help you thrive. Get creative. Try something new every week or two. Your palate will change, and you’ll start to crave more of the good stuff. It’s also important not to see the changes as deprivation. Feeling like you’re missing out on the joys of life will set you up to fail. Think of all the new foods you get to try and how much better you’re feeling instead. If you’re having a tough time saying no, then get help from friends and family, or even a support group. Having people around you who have been there is a great tool.

Should you give in to these cravings? Only you can truly answer that. For most people, indulging occasionally is a slippery slope.

What? No Coffee?

Almost all of my patients regularly drink coffee when they first come to see me. And you know what they hate to give up as much as sugar? That’s right, coffee. If you’re a coffee drinker, you’re not going to like what you’re about to read. But this information is vital. Many think it’s good for them. At least decaf isn’t bad for you, right? Sorry! You want to know why I encourage them to give it up? Keep reading!

Toxicity

Caffeine combines with the stomach’s hydrochloric acid to form a potent toxin: caffeine hydrochloride. When it’s absorbed, bile is released in an attempt to flush the toxin from your system. This accounts for increased bowel regularity, of which many coffee drinkers boast. If you only have a bowel movement after your morning coffee, most likely your body has become dependent on the laxative side effect.

Decaffeinated coffee is no better, because it contains a large concentration of the chemical trichloroethylene. It is used mostly as a degreasing agent in the metal industry and as a dry cleaning agent. It is linked to liver cancer.

Adrenal Exhaustion

Coffee stimulates your adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline, which activates your fight-or-flight response. This stimulates insulin secretion and leads to secondary hypoglycemia, which results in a mild rise in blood pressure, a craving for sweets two to three hours later, low energy and mood, and overworking the adrenals.

Nutritional Deficiencies

Drinking coffee and tea reduces iron absorption by 40 to 60 percent, thereby increasing the risk of anemia.

Osteoporosis

Coffee also raises the acidity levels of your blood, causing calcium to be pulled from your bones and teeth to use as a buffering agent. This puts you at an even greater risk for osteoporosis and kidney stones.

Other Side Effects

Some other adverse effects of drinking coffee include insomnia, tremors, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, headaches, temporary increase in the stiffening of arterial walls, elevated blood pressure and/or cholesterol levels, irregular heartbeat and palpitations, increased risk of a heart attack, PMS symptoms, increased risk of bladder and rectal cancer, and higher risk of the birth of a low-birth-weight child.

Caffeine is a very strong diuretic (it makes you pee). Most coffee drinkers are dehydrated, which can result in electrolyte imbalances, kidney failure, and confusion (even coma) due to decreased blood flow to organs and the brain.

I know the thought of giving up your morning coffee sounds almost impossible, and that could be because caffeine belongs to the same alkaloid group as morphine, cocaine, and strychnine. But think of how much better you’ll feel once you’ve quit. The initial withdrawal symptoms and crankiness will subside. If you’re worried about being tired at work, then slowly make the switch to green tea or kombucha (a healthier drink for energy and health). It will be worth it.

Case Studies

Below are two examples of patients I treated who had a predominance of liver issues, both physical and mental. This should help you better understand what it means to have liver disharmony. Having the whole story instead of just a list of symptoms should make it even easier to understand the concepts of TCM and how mental health reflects in physical health.

Jennifer

When Jennifer first walked in, I could see she was in a lot of physical pain. She carried herself in a way that said she was hesitant to move. Jennifer was thirty-nine years old, single, about fifty pounds overweight, and unable to work due to work-related injuries that lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. She’d seen a chiropractor a couple of times for the pain with minimal results. Jennifer had heard about my success treating carpal tunnel syndrome and weight issues through a friend, and decided to give me a try.

Her pain was the main, if not only, reason she initially came to see me. But once I read her intake form and asked her a few questions, I could tell there were several other issues we had to address. As I mentioned earlier, Chinese medicine treats not only the symptoms but also the root cause of an illness or injury to truly heal the problem. So Jennifer was the perfect candidate for TCM.

When I asked how she was doing emotionally with the amount of discomfort she was experiencing, Jennifer was pretty open. She admitted to having a very short fuse, and she also tended to worry quite a bit about her condition. These behaviors weren’t new for her, but they’d definitely amplified in the last few months. Jennifer also had a history of mild depression and a pattern of not speaking up for herself.

She was also very judgmental, which can be a sign of a liver imbalance. Even on her first visit, she spent half the time complaining about how everyone around her was doing something wrong. Even the mailman didn’t deliver her mail the right way, in her opinion.

Jennifer was one of those patients who wanted to get better but was holding back and feeling stuck. She’d tried every diet and always gained the weight back; she said she was tired of the yo-yo dieting and the lack of lasting results. Jennifer was a perfectionist and felt that if she wasn’t eating precisely the right foods all the time she shouldn’t bother. Years of therapy seemed to only be a temporary fix for her lifelong low-grade depression. Any sort of setback at work or in her personal life would bring the melancholy and overeating right back.

Pain made her sleep erratic. Sometimes painkillers knocked her out, and she’d fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Other times, Jennifer tried to take a break from her medication because it made her feel so out of it, but this made it hard to fall asleep. She slept well for the most part, except for the three to five nights before her period; then she had difficulty falling asleep and experienced nightmares. Jennifer mentioned that she often had dreams about fighting and yelling at strangers. The nights she had these dreams, she would wake up feeling full of resentment toward her family.

Jennifer had several other liver symptoms, including migraines, muscle tension in her back and neck, adult acne, premature graying, red eyes, and high blood pressure. I knew without a doubt that treating her liver, along with employing specific acupoints in an acupuncture treatment, would give her the best possible results.

We know that extra weight is an issue for general health. However, another way to look at it is that excess weight leads to inflammation all over the body, which increases pain. So we had to address her eating habits to help her physical health as well. Jennifer said she tried to eat healthy, but tended to overeat and consumed too many sweets. Her sugar cravings increased when experiencing PMS. She said she felt like she was possessed when PMSing, that something took over her brain and made her eat ridiculous amounts of lemon tarts and sorbet. She would hoard Sour Patch Kids like they were being discontinued. I’m sure many women reading this can relate.

My treatments and dietary suggestions focused on her initial complaint—pain resulting from carpal tunnel syndrome. There are plenty of foods that have anti-inflammatory qualities, including peas, asparagus, cucumber, and pumpkin. Actually, most fruits and veggies will reduce inflammation.

One of the great things about Chinese medicine is that you can address several concerns in one treatment. The same goes with herbal remedies. So not only did I treat her pain, but I worked on the other issues as well. Since many of her symptoms were connected to her liver, I used acupuncture points to support the liver.

I also gave dietary suggestions to help heal the liver. With all case studies in this book, I provide a sample meal plan of what I suggested. Keep in mind that Jennifer’s plan is catered to her needs. You’ll be able to make your own lists with the help of the other information you learn in this book.

Here is one of my sample meal plans for Jennifer. As you can see, nothing is too complicated or hard to make. Of course more seasoned chefs who have plenty of time to spend in the kitchen can make their meals more elaborate. But as I’ve written before, I try to be realistic in my suggestions. Who has two hours to spend on cooking dinner every night? Note that for all my patients I also recommend adding lemon to their water, especially first thing in the morning. It gets the intestines working, alkalizes the body, and aids in absorption of water.

 

Breakfast: smoothie with cherries, peaches, strawberries, unsweetened rice milk, chia seeds, and Vega One powder. (Vega One powder is one of the best protein powders on the market. It’s not only high in protein from pea, hemp seeds, and brown rice, but it’s packed full of vital nutrients from whole foods including broccoli, spinach, chlorella, pomegranate, and chia and flax seeds.)

 

Lunch: salad with sprouts, lettuce, celery, cucumber, kale, hemp seeds, and turnips, in a lemon juice–based dressing with garlic and spices; lentil soup with leeks.

 

Snacks: grapes, blackberries, sunflower seeds, plums, or an unsweetened trail mix with cherries and nuts.

 

Dinner: brown rice with steamed kale and broccoli, raw fermented cabbage, shredded ginger.

 

Jennifer’s improvements were impressive. Her carpal tunnel improved about 25 percent in a couple of months, but Jennifer ended up opting for surgery. Her primary care physician and pain management specialist encouraged this, and I understood—she just wanted to be done with the pain. As with most conditions, I can’t be certain what kind of results my patients will experience. All of them do get at least some relief. But sometimes the relief isn’t happening fast enough. I encourage my patients to give their healing process some time. We’re so used to the quick fix of Western medicine, however, it can be difficult to wait for the lasting results of healing the root cause.

Not only did her carpal tunnel symptoms improve, but Jennifer also felt better in general. Her hair became much thicker, and the gray started to disappear. Her blood pressure lowered dramatically and was consistently in normal range within weeks of starting acupuncture. She also mentioned that she felt less stressed and depressed since coming for acupuncture. As she started to get better, she also no longer felt the need to judge other people or herself so harshly. Jennifer realized she doesn’t have to do everything exactly right, which took a lot pressure off of her.

Jennifer noticed remarkable improvement with her PMS symptoms. She was less irritable and was eating a lot less raspberry sorbet and chocolate. Outside of PMS mode, her mood improved quite a bit. Jennifer said her treatments with me helped her let go of a lot of her rage, and she had started forgiving the people she felt had hurt her. The low-level depression started to lift. She described herself as feeling lighter. Even friends and family commented on how laid-back she had become.

Jennifer admitted to following my nutritional guidelines about 50 percent of the time. She would make changes for two or three days, then slowly go back to eating the foods she was used to. Every time she saw me, she was reinspired to eat better. I appreciated her honesty on this. I let my patients know that I’m not judging them if they slip back into old habits. I’ve been there. I had such an addiction to dairy that it took me over twenty years of trying to give it up before I actually did. Being honest about where you’re at and what you’re doing can only help your practitioner help you.

I’ve been told by several of my patients that when they’re tempted to eat or buy something they know they shouldn’t, they picture me or someone else who motivates them encouraging them to make smart choices. I didn’t come up with this idea myself. Several of my patients have said they did this, and it helped them to stay on track. Of course, this visualization doesn’t always work, but it’s nice to know I have had that much of an impact.

I’m confident that Jennifer would have had even better success with her treatments if she had stuck with it a bit longer. Since her treatments were covered by worker’s compensation insurance, she was unable to see me after she opted to have the surgery. I heard from her about a year after her surgery, and she said that her pain reduced another 30 percent after the procedure.

Recap of Jennifer’s Wood-related symptoms: muscle pain, migraines, irritability, depression, premature gray hair, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, anger in dreams, PMS, being judgmental.

Kevin

Suppressing anger can manifest as liver imbalances in so many ways. Kevin’s story is another great example of how holding on to frustration and resentment can impact your physical health.

I knew Kevin was stressed from the moment I met him. He wasn’t the worse case I’ve ever treated—unfortunately, far from it. But he gave off that vibe of “I’m about to lose it.” Kevin was a fifty-eight-year-old male, married with three grown children, an accountant, and was referred to me by a patient who had also suffered from high blood pressure.

All my patients fill out a detailed medical intake form when first coming to see me. Kevin listed several chief complaints on his initial visit with me, which is another sign of someone being stressed. Usually, “chief complaint” means one major health concern; occasionally, people include a second ailment in this category. Kevin’s chief complaints on his intake form were high blood pressure, glaucoma, high cholesterol, and benign tremors. He didn’t know this at the time, but all of these are liver symptoms. For some of them he was taking Western medication and was told by his doctors that these meds would be necessary his entire life. Most of them were helping only slightly, some none at all, and Kevin was very concerned about the side effects.

On top of all that, Kevin had quite a list of other physical complaints: environmental allergies, constipation, headaches behind the eyes, bloating, indigestion, red eyes with yellow sclera (whites of the eyes), and weight gain only in his belly. Gaining weight only in the belly is often caused by stress. The adrenal glands release a hormone called cortisol whenever you are stressed, exhausted, or overwhelmed, and elevated cortisol levels tell the body to make more belly fat.

While getting to know Kevin over the course of several weeks, I noticed that he was very frustrated with several aspects of his life: his marriage, family dynamics, work, money, and living situation. Kevin felt that people around him prevented him from being happy. He held resentment toward several family members, and he also got pretty angry when discussing his past. When I saw Kevin, he was often annoyed and irritated about some aspect of his life.

Low energy levels were a major concern for Kevin. He was so tired at the end of the day that he would pass out as soon as his head hit the pillow. He also didn’t remember any of his dreams. Even after a solid eight hours, Kevin felt exhausted and drank three cups of coffee just to be able to get up and get out of the house. In Kevin’s case, his fatigue came from a host of reasons: caffeine dependency, poor diet, side effects of medications, and stress.

And talk about poor eating habits and needing to make some changes. Kevin ate the Standard American Diet (SAD), consisting of fast food, coffee, soda, meat, dairy, white bread, minimal veggies, nothing organic, and almost no water. I’m still amazed that the body can survive, albeit not very well, for decades eating like this.

With everyone I see, I make sure my dietary suggestions are realistic. Unless someone tells me they’re totally ready for a complete overhaul or they’re very sick (cancer, morbidly obese, AIDS), I keep it simple. This gradual shift in eating habits makes it more likely you’ll keep doing it and you won’t feel deprived in any way. One of the reasons extreme and fad diets don’t work is that they aren’t sustainable. Some personalities work well with going cold turkey on everything at once, but I rarely see this.

I gave Kevin several options for liver-boosting foods, encouraging him to gradually add some of them into his diet. Like most people, he originally wasn’t very happy to hear the suggestions. But right away he did drink less soda, had a few glasses of water per day, and tried what he considered “healthy fast food,” which isn’t healthy at all. But he was at least motivated to make changes and was open to suggestions. Over the years, as he felt better, he became more and more motivated to improve his eating habits. After a few years Kevin gave up all fast food, stopped soda and coffee, and only ate seafood a couple of times a year. See, slow and steady does win the race.

The Joys of Hummus

I recommend hummus or some version of it to most people. Why? Because it’s a healthy, easy-to-make (or buy) snack or sandwich spread. You can’t really go wrong with hummus, unless you’re allergic to one of its ingredients; if so, you just modify the recipe to suit your needs. It’s high in fiber, protein, calcium, manganese, copper, and also has some calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc. It is relatively rich in vitamins C and B6, and also contains vitamin E, vitamin K, folate, and thiamin. It’s also low in sugar and carbohydrates.

There were some long-term goals I had for Kevin. More water. Less coffee and eventually no coffee except for an occasional treat. No soda. No fast food. Fresh veggies daily. I suggested he incorporate them one at time, or let go of the habits one by one. Once he felt stable with one of them, he did one more. With most patients this process takes anywhere from a week to a month.

Kevin’s meal plan consisted of healthier versions of foods he liked. Burritos with tons of meat, cheese, and sour cream became wraps with rice, veggies, and avocado.

 

Breakfast: juice with kale, beets, celery, apple, and ginger; oatmeal with flaxseeds and berries if he was still hungry.

 

Lunch: whole grain Ezekiel or brown rice bread with lots of veggies (sprouts, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, shredded carrots, and beets), mustard, Daiya cheese, and tempeh; or a rice tortilla with lots of roasted veggies, brown rice, and guacamole.

 

Snacks: rice crackers or celery and carrot sticks with nut butter, babaganoush, or hummus; chamomile tea for stress reduction throughout the day.

 

Dinner: quinoa pasta with tomato sauce, veggies, and tempeh “meatballs.”

 

Talk about progress! Kevin’s cholesterol dropped thirty points in one month. After eight months his cholesterol levels were at a very healthy 145. Along with that his blood pressure was a healthy 115 over 82, and his glaucoma was gone within three months. The hand tremors reduced about 30 percent. He and his doctor couldn’t believe the results, especially because he had achieved them without cholesterol or blood-pressure medication. Kevin was always commenting on how much easier he was able to handle stress. He was fighting less with his wife. He thought that his mood and attitude would never improve before coming to see me. He was amazed by the calmness that became a part of his daily life. Kevin said that if I had told him what his life would be like in less than a year, he wouldn’t have believed me.

Recap of Kevin’s Wood-related symptoms: high blood pressure, short fuse, stress, yellow sclera, fatigue, tremors, high cholesterol.

There are plenty of delicious foods to help harmonize the liver. Probably most of you reading this section have at least a few of the liver symptoms. But now you see how many great options there are. You feel satisfied with all the variety and amazing tastes.

With all that you’ve learned about suppressing anger and resentment and its impact on your well-being, you now have some tools to heal. Do you think you have a compromised liver? The examples I shared should give you some ideas of what to eat to heal your liver and release any suppressed emotions. Whether it’s PMS or high cholesterol, you can fix it with food.