Learning Is Fun!

Time seems to past quite fast. I have completed my first book on the basic principles of TCM within six weeks. Last week, we started a new and interesting topic, TCM diagnosis and this topic will also run for another six weeks. The face & skin complexion and the tongue of a person tells a lot of about the health of that person. As part of the training, we viewed a lot of photographs of people in different stages of health. Yes, from the facial complexion, a TCM master can tell if a person is going to pass on.

I must say, my knowledge on TCM has somewhat enhanced my knowledge of some aspects of the alternative therapies. For example, when some people (especially women), after completing the coffee enema detox, they feel very weak. I have always wondered why and there don't seems to have a explanation other than the coffee enema also drains good nutrients from the body along with the toxins. The recommendation is that for every coffee enema that we do, we need to take three juices to replenish the lost nutrients. From TCM's perspective, the lost of nutrients means the loss of acquired qi. Qi can be acquired from food to strengthen the body but loss of qi weakens the body. This is why, I am introducing other detoxing method such as zeolite detox in my own program that can complement coffee enema detox but without the loss of acquired qi.

Interestingly, so far both of the lecturers for the first two TCM modules are engineers by profession. So far, I am having a good time.

Dal Curry Anyone?

This weekend, I will be making Dal curry for the first time in my life. I visited my local Indian grocer to pick up some of the ingredients. She was also friendly and taught me how to prepare the Dal curry. I am kind of bored with my present diet and I thought to make some Dal curry to spice things up.


Ingredients
Toor Dal /lentils 1 cup.
Chopped tomatoes 2 large.
Chopped fresh spinach 2 cup
Carrots, diced 2
Sea salt to taste
Ground cumin 2 tbsp.
Coriander Powder 2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tbsp.
Butter or oil 1 Tbsp. (for non cancer patients only)
Cumin seed 1 tsp.
Small red onion, finely diced 1
Chopped fresh garlic 1 tbsp.
Chopped fresh ginger 1 tbsp.

Method
# Place the lentils, tomatoes, spinach, carrots, salt, ground cumin, coriander and turmeric in a heavy pan.

# Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the lentils are tender, about fifteen to twenty mins.

# In a separate pan, heat the butter, add the cumin seed and stir. Add the red onion, garlic and ginger and stir-fry until golden brown.

# Add the onion mixture to the lentils and bring all to a quick boil. Remove the dal from the heat, sprinkle and distribute with fresh coriander and serve.

Fungicide Therapy Trial - Update
About 5 minutes or so after taking the fungicide, I can feel my chest area having some form of mild reaction and accompanied with slow down in breathing and irregular heartbeat rate. Yesterday, there were like poking sensations on the rib areas.

Today is my forth day on the fungicide therapy. I think so far, there has not been any changes to my node at the left collar bone and the kidney tumor. I think it's a little too early to expect any form of drastic results.