Waking up each day...

I may sound a little odd or cooky to most... but anyway...


- finally finished reading "人体使用手册" (Manual to the Human Body)... a book that puts some Chinese medical principles in layman's terms and explains how adequate and timely sleep plus stimulating different pressure points and meridians along the leg and arm can help improve one's metabolism and immune system (something like that...)
It also states that obesity is more than just a problem of excessive consumption, it's more to do with the body not functioning properly to remove waste from the body and this build up of waste is what makes people fat.
- started massaging the meridians along my thighs and arm and using a massage mallet to beat certain pressure points on my legs (I've started this quite a while ago but just haven't been very diligent about it... planning to do this every night before I go to bed because it seems to help improve the quality of my sleep

- I haven't been sleeping very well recently, sometimes I just stay up too late, sometimes I just can't fall asleep and sometimes I just wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep... etc etc... and I wake up most days with a cold head, then I start sneezing or start getting a runny nose

- having stumbled upon a chinese herbal shop in Shikoku I now enjoy the luxury of teas (non-caffeine) made with long-an , lily roots and wolfberries ... it's meant for relaxation and improving blood production in the body


Why do I believe in this stuff so much?



I used to have really really bad skin problems and asthma way back when I was in high school.

I went to see the doctors almost everyweek and saw a skin specialist every week or two for over one year... I tried all sorts of antibiotics and  steroid creams and took anti-histamines and even strong prescription sleeping tablets. Seriously I've cried over it more than a few times.
Since the specialist and his impressive arsonary of medication and tests didn't really help we looked to alternative methods.

At the time, my mum made friends with a Chinese Medical practitioner who not only had patients will common ailments but also people who want cosmetic results without the harmful side effects. I started seeing her every couple of weeks. I was given ointments that she prepared herself some of it include an oily paste made of black sesame seeds, a mentholy cream that soothed the itchy spots while moisturizing at the same time and another cream that helped brighten my skin... all made by herself with the herbs and extracts from the chinese clinic she worked at. After seeing her and keeping up the treatments and drinking teas (that taste really bad) prescribed by her, not only did my skin condition improve, my asthma also went away.

Then in Japan, one day I woke up with a rash all over my body. Then I started getting it on my face too. Seeing the doctors didn't help so I decided to make my own herbal teas (I asked my dad for help as to what herbs I need) and ate foods that had medicinal value. I even washed my face with the herbal teas. It worked though.

When I was little, my asthma used to be really bad, I'd had my fair share of hospitalisation. I used to hate Chinese medicine, the taste of most of my dad and my grandpa's concoctions are quite nasty... but I do remember there were a few times when my chest of really congested, I couldn't breath and I didn't even have the strength to cough up the gunk, my dad made this yucky smelling extremely bitter tea... soon after I drink this tea I would eventually throw up and then I'll be fine again.

I could harp on and on and on but unless you try to read that Chinese book I just read or do some research on how the different pressure points and meridians are linked to different organs in your body and how problems in the different organs in your body can cause seemingly unrelated symptoms on other parts of your body you'll probably just dimiss all this as unscientific myth.
 

- I also read "The China Study"... a book about terrifying health consequences of an animal-based diet and the benefits of a plant-based diet... so now I'm a LOT less inclined to eat meat

- I've been eating almost like a vegetarian, avoiding meat where possible. I like vegetables and tofu anyway so it's not that difficult. My groceries have been looking a lot more colorful recently with pumpkin, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, all sorts of beans etc... I've also been putting packets of multi-grains in my rice, quite nice.

- also been reading about homemade body creams and shampoos etc.. might give it a go when I come back from my week in Kanoya


Well, I'm gonna get of my lazy behind and do some long overdue chores and then head out to the onsen before it gets dark.

<b>EDIT</b> didn't end up going to the onsen, had Aya over for the evening instead; we make gummies and candied orange (that's still drying at the moment.)