How do I know if my liver and spleen are healthy?
Some people may think of going to the hospital for a check-up, which is certainly a good idea, but there is a simpler, more convenient and effective way than a check-up, and that is to observe farting and leg performance.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is about looking at what is happening, and what it means is to judge the body's internal diseases through external manifestations.
In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the fart is the voice of the spleen, and the legs are the mirror of the liver.
There are 7 types of such performances, and if you have one of them, you have to pay attention to 120 points!
The question then arises, which are the 7 of these 7 manifestations? Why is it possible to work backwards for spleen and liver health?
1. The smell of farting
The foul smell of farting can push back the health of the spleen.
The reason is that the spleen is mainly transported, and the so-called transport refers to the operation and transportation, and the transformation refers to digestion.
When food enters the human body, it needs to be digested before it can be transported to the five internal organs through the function.
The human body is very complex in the digestion of food, and it is involved in a variety of organs, not just the spleen.
However, TCM believes that the spleen plays a leading role in this, especially the transmission and transport function.
The stomach is the place where food is cooked and digested, and generally speaking, after digesting food, the spleen will participate in transporting the water valley after the stomach of a normal person has digested the food.
However, if the health of the spleen is impaired, the process of operation is limited, and the food accumulates in the stomach and cannot be transferred, the smell of putrefaction will be filled, and the person will fart, and the fart will be very smelly.
Therefore, if you fart often, and the smell of farting far exceeds the smell of ordinary people's farts, you have to consider whether there is a problem with your spleen.
2. Swelling of the legs
Swelling of the legs, manifested by edema of the lower extremities and increased body fluid.
When the skin is pressed with the hand, the rebound is slower, and the place where the hand is pressed will form obvious finger marks, so leg edema is also called leg swelling or pitting edema.
There are many reasons for leg swelling, including renal insufficiency, heart insufficiency, bacterial infections, and more.
These causes of leg edema will not be repeated here, if you are interested, you can learn about it yourself, here we mainly talk about liver damage, because liver damage can also cause leg edema.
Specifically, if the liver is diseased, it will affect the body's protein synthesis, which in turn will cause hypoproteinemia, blood colloidal osmotic pressure changes, and edema.
Traditional Chinese medicine theory believes that the liver is the main tendon, the tendons connect the limbs, and the nourishment of nutrients throughout the body needs to be transported through the meridians, and the liver plays a powerful role in this process.
If there is a problem with the liver, liver blood deficiency affects the moisturization of the veins, causing numbness in the limbs in mild cases and edema in severe cases.
Therefore, if you often have swollen legs, you can consider whether the liver function is impaired.
3. Farts are silent
Many people tend to go silent when they fart, and it's okay to do so in some public places, but if you can only fart silently when you're alone, it's likely that your spleen is not functioning.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the spleen is not only the main movement, but also the main promotion and clearing.
The so-called shengqing refers to the fact that after the stomach and intestines exchange the refined grains, the spleen absorbs the nutrients and delivers them to the head to feed the human head and eyes.
If the health of the spleen is impaired, the subtlety of the water valley cannot rise, but instead sinks, resulting in spleen deficiency and qi collapse.
Clear matter is mixed with turbidity, even if the gas is trapped after the meal.
When it accumulates, the fart is extremely smelly, and it will make the fart silent.
Because the spleen is deficient, the biochemical source of qi and blood is lacking, and the gas propulsion is insufficient, so the fart is silent.
Usually, such people are accompanied by symptoms such as pale face and fatigue.
As the folk saying goes, the fart doesn't smell and the fart doesn't make a sound, and the source is likely to be the same.
Therefore, if you occasionally fart silently, it is not a big problem, if you fart must be silent, and the fart emitted a foul smell, it is best to consider the spleen problem.
Fourth, the green tendons burst out
The green tendons of the legs are exposed, and ordinary people think that this may be a sign of health, and the more green tendons, the stronger the strength.
As everyone knows, in the view of traditional Chinese medicine, the exposure of the green tendons of the legs, especially the exposure of the outbreak, involves the reversal of liver qi and the blood is not good.
The third volume of the traditional Chinese medicine classic "Rejuvenation of Ten Thousand Diseases" believes that the disease of the husband's green tendons comes from the reversal of qi, and the blood is not good, and the evil blood attacks the heart, and finally manifests itself through the exposure of the green tendons of the limbs, and the evil blood attacks the heart and the liver.
So, why is it said that the attack of evil blood on the heart is related to the liver?
The reason is that traditional Chinese medicine believes that the liver has the function of regulating qi and blood.
Tang Rongchuan expounded in "Theory of Blood Evidence - Theory of Pulmonary and Intestinal Pathogenesis", saying that the liver belongs to wood, and the blood flow is smooth when the qi is rushed and adjusted.
On the other hand, if the liver function is impaired, the qi is not balanced, and the qi and blood are not smooth, it will lead to the two major diseases of liver qi stagnation and excessive discharge.
The former will cause the lack of yin and yang in the qi and blood of the liver, and the impulse will be weak.
It is manifested in pain and discomfort in the breasts, flanks and other parts, and women will also have symptoms such as irregular menstruation and dysmenorrhea.
The latter will cause the liver qi and yang to flourish, and the impulse will be too excited, which will be manifested in red face and red ears, and easy to get angry.
In severe cases, coughing up blood, vomiting blood, or sudden fainting may occur.
The classic of Chinese medicine "Su Wen - The Theory of Anger through Heaven" also says that most people with yang energy are angry and lose their qi, which is exactly what he says.
Therefore, the exposure of green tendons, especially the green tendons on the legs, should no longer be blindly complacent, and consider whether there is a problem with liver function.
Fifth, farts and stomach distention
If there is a lot of farts and stomach distention, it is likely to be related to impaired spleen function.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the human heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys have special preferences for various internal organs.
The spleen likes to be dry and does not like to be moist, because the spleen is the organ of the damp soil of Taiyin, and the stomach is the intestine of the dry soil of Yang Ming.
The spleen and stomach are two major flatulent gases, which are just the opposite.
The spleen does not like dampness, and if the spleen is forcibly wet, it will suffer from dampness and trapping the spleen, and people will feel lightheadedness and abdominal distension.
If a person with a weak spleen produces dampness in the spleen, he will suffer from skin disease and dampness, and symptoms such as phlegm, edema, limb tiredness and even abdominal distension will appear.
Therefore, if you have a lot of farts and stomach bloating, sometimes it is not necessarily because you have eaten a bad diet, but you should pay attention to the health of your spleen.
Because the spleen produces moisture, it may also cause farts and stomach bloating.
6. Cold legs and feet
The reason for the cold legs and feet is mainly due to the fact that the blood with temperature does not arrive, so this symptom is related to impaired liver function.
Because as mentioned above, traditional Chinese medicine believes that the liver belongs to wood, and the blood flow is smooth when the wood qi is flushed and adjusted, and if the blood is not smooth, the blood cannot be transported to the feet and cause the legs and feet to be cold, which is naturally inseparable from the liver.
In addition, the blood contains a lot of water, and traditional Chinese medicine believes that the liver has the function of facilitating the waterways, and the liver of a normal person has the function of excretion, which can adjust the three organs of the lungs, spleen and kidneys, and promote the unimpeded flow of water and fluid in the human body.
If the liver is not good, the water conservancy is not connected, and the water and liquid infusion are blocked, it will cause various problems including water and dampness stagnation and overflow, and naturally also include cold legs and feet.
7. Frequent cramps
Frequent leg cramps are also inseparable from the liver.
The traditional Chinese medicine classic "The Yellow Emperor's Neijing" has clouds, the heart is the main blood, the liver is the main tendon, the kidney is the main bone, and the heart and kidney are not discussed here, let's only study how the liver is the main tendon.
Generally speaking, the liver is theoretically responsible for storing blood in traditional Chinese medicine, and if the meridians cannot be stretched and lose their elasticity, it is easy to cause cramps, which is related to the lack of blood moisture.
Insufficient blood moisture is naturally inseparable from the liver.
Therefore, if you have frequent leg cramps, you should consider liver problems.
8. How to nourish the spleen and liver?
If you can meet all of the above seven symptoms, either go to the hospital for timely physical examination and treatment, prescribe the right medicine according to the doctor's instructions, or take the initiative to nourish the spleen and liver.
So how should we nourish the spleen and liver?
As early as 2015, People's Daily Online published an article on liver function, which mentioned a very gratifying news.
According to the article, traditional Chinese medicine believes that the liver cannot be replenished, and forced nourishment is easy to make the human body angry, which is not good for health.
If you want to nourish the liver, you must start from the perspective of tonifying the kidney and spleen.
In other words, if we want to nourish the spleen and liver, we don't need to take care of the liver, we just need to think about how to nourish the spleen, so how should we nourish the spleen?
You can start from the following aspects.
1. Do a good job of emotional control
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the liver belongs to the wood and the spleen belongs to the soil, and the Five Elements Theory talks about the wood and the soil, if the wood is strong, the soil is weak, and when is the wood strong?
"The Yellow Emperor's Neijing" has clouds, anger hurts the liver, it can be seen that people are the strongest when they have emotional attacks.
Therefore, if you want to ensure the health of your spleen, you can't get emotional.
When intense emotions come, think about heaven and earth and all things, insects and birds around you and flowers blooming, beautiful things in the universe are lined up one after another, be more grateful, be more kind, your mood will be natural and cheerful, and your spleen will be healthy after your emotions are smooth.
2. Diet is warm and dry
As mentioned above, the spleen likes dryness and dislikes dampness, so in the selection of daily dietary foods, it is necessary to eat more warm or dry foods.
Specifically, common marinated spices include Sichuan pepper, cumin, dried ginger, ginger, refrigerator, woody angelica, etc., which are warm and dry seasonings.
Some foods that grow underground, such as sweet potatoes and yams, can nourish the spleen.
3. Incense can awaken the spleen, and incense can be dry and damp
The spleen doesn't like dampness, so there needs to be a way to solve it, and Chinese medicine believes that fragrance can meet this condition.
Therefore, in daily life, you can eat more fried peanuts and fried melon seeds with fried food.
In addition, for example, baked bread and steamed buns can also be eaten more because of their special Huxiang flavor.
In the same way, baking bread until it is charred and crispy can also have a positive effect on the spleen after eating.
epilogue
Spleen and liver health problems should not be underestimated, but there is no need to be too nervous about this, the purpose of popular science is to attract attention rather than cause panic.
As long as everyone can pay attention to the seven manifestations mentioned above, they can take timely treatment or action.
Early detection and early treatment are definitely much better for health than late detection and late treatment.
[Disclaimer] The time, process, and pictures of the article are all from the Internet, and the article aims to spread positive energy, without vulgarity and other bad guidance, please do not sit in the right seat, and rise to personal attacks, etc. Look at this incident rationally, and do not leave subjective and malicious comments, the Internet is not a place outside the law. If there is a dispute about the authenticity of this article, copyright or image infringement, please contact the author in time, and we will delete it.
Resources:
Zhihu Ingenuity Craftsman April 29, 2020 "Traditional Chinese Medicine Tells You How to Nourish the Spleen"
Dr. Lilac September 22, 2021 "Swelling of the Lower Limbs"
People's Daily Online, November 21, 2015 "The liver has six major functions, and the old Chinese medicine teaches the secret of protecting the liver in six steps"
On March 4, 802024, "Medical Sage Zhang Zhongjing: Treatment of Leg Cramps, a prescription with 2 flavors of medicine - peony licorice soup!" 》
The Family of Traditional Chinese Medicine "Spleen"
Treasure Book of Traditional Chinese Medicine "Five Organs - Liver"
The Family of Traditional Chinese Medicine "Green Tendons"
Dr. Youlai August 17, 2023 "What is Spleen Deficiency Qi Trapping Syndrome"
The Paper, July 26, 2024 "If these 6 phenomena appear in your legs and feet, your liver may have problems"
Dr. Xu, Chinese Medicine Hospital, December 13, 2021 "Untitled"