Course: / Formulas 3 / Date: / June 23, 2010
Class #: / 10 – Food Stagnation Formulas / Prof: / Dr. Ma

Food Stagnation

Lifestyle stuff and various foods will cause food stagnation. Lifestyle stuff includes overeating, eating at weird times (midnight snacks for instance) and such. Spleen Qi deficiency and Liver Qi stagnation (which are often the product of bad lifestyle choices, emotions, etc.) will cause food stagnation also. Allergies can also contribute.

Food that are conducive to food stagnation are greasy, heavy, rich, spicy, sticky, and cold foods. Eating bad food (spoiled) will also cause food stagnation.

Bao He Wan

Functions:

[  Resolve food stagnation, harmonize the Stomach

Indications:

[  Food stagnation

Herb / Function in Formula
Shan zha / Resolve food stagnation (especially meat)
- good for reducing high triglycerides/cholesterol
- doesn’t tonify the spleen, so for long-term, switch to herbs that will also help tonify the SP (zhi shi, bai zhu, etc.)
Shen qu / Resolve food stagnation (especially alcohol). Also tonifies spleen.
Luo bo zi / Aka, Lai fu zi. Descend qi, resolve food stagnation (grains and wheats especially). Mai ya will do this too.
Ban xia / Move qi, harmonize stomach, relieve nausea
Chen pi
Fu ling / Tonify Spleen, leach damp
Lian qiao / Clear heat, resolve/disperse stagnation

“Curing Pills” from Mayway (or “Digestive Ease” from Golden Flower) are often used for the same indications as Bao He Wan, but they contain more moving/draining herbs. Work really well for food stagnation in the bowels. Curing pills have the following ingredients:

Tian ma, bai zhi, ju hua, ge gen, bo he, tian hua fen, cang zhu, yi yi ren, ru ling, mu xiang, hou po, ju hong/chen pi, huo xiang, shen qu and gu ya.

For mild cases you can use chen pi and ban xia together to dry drampness.

Zhi She Dao Zhi Wan

Functions:

[  Resolve stagnation and clear damp heat

Indications:

[  Damp heat and food stagnation

Herb / Function in Formula
Da huang / Drain heat
Anti-Virus: Dosage varies on constitution, want stool to become loose, but not cause diarrhea
Zhi shi / Move qi and relieve fullness.
Very descending
Huang lian / Clear damp heat.
Both have anti-viral properties too.
Huang qin
Fu ling / Drain damp.
Use a higher dose of ze xie if the urine is dark yellow
Ze xie
Bai zhu / Dry damp and tonify spleen
Protects spleen from the bitter and cold herbs here.
Shen qu / Resolve food stagnation
Also strengthens spleen and resolves damp.

Ma Xiang Bing Lang Wan

Functions:

[  Move qi, remove stagnation, drain heat

Indications:

[  Food stagnation, accumulation of damp generating heat

Herb / Function in Formula
Mu xiang / Move qi, relieve fullness and tenesmus
Bing lang
Qian niu / Remove stagnation and drain heat
Da huang
Qing pi / Move qi
Chen pi
Xiang fu / Soothe liver qi and remove stagnation
E zhu
Zhi qiao / Descend qi
Huang lian / Drain damp heat
Huang bai

Zhi Zhu Wan

Functions:

[  Tonify spleen and relieve focal distention.

Indications:

[  Food stagnation: spleen qi deficiency and qi stagnation

Herb / Function in Formula
Bai zhu / Tonify spleen and dry damp
Zhi shi / Descend qi, relieve fullness and focal distention
Bai zhu and zhi shi are used in a 2:1 ratio
He ye / Tonify spleen and stomach, descend clear yang qi.
This is the leaf of the lotus and is used only in the processing of the formula for a patent medicine. We leave this out when cooking raw.

Good formula for little kids – esp with respiratory/digestive combination of problems.

Jian Pi Wan

Functions:

[  Tonify spleen and stomach, resolve food stagnation, relieve diarrhea

Indications:

[  Spleen/stomach stagnation,

Herb / Function in Formula
Ren shen / This is si jun zi tang.
Tonifies spleen
Bai zhu
Fu ling
Gan cao
Shan yao / Tonify spleen and relieve diarrhea
Rou dou kou
Shan zha / Resolve food stagnation.
These are the 3 Immortals
These are often charred which helps digestion.
Shen qu
Mai ya
Mu xiang / Move qi, harmonize stomach
Sha ren
Chen pi
Huang lian / Clear damp heat

Two parts for the final (40%):

[  MCQ covering the whole term contents, starting at Bu Yang Huan Wu Tang.

[  Questions (like on quizes), material starting at class 8 (beginning at Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang).

Indications and ingredients

1.  du huo ji sheng tang

2.  er chen tang

3.  wen dan tang

4.  bei mu gua lou san

5.  san zi yang qin tang

6.  ban xia bai zhu tian ma

7.  zhi su san

8.  bao he wan

Indications only

1.  qing qi hua tan wan

2.  gun tan wan

3.  ling gan wa wei jiang xin tang

4.  zhi shi dao zhi

5.  mu xiang bing lang

6.  zhi zhu wan

7.  jian pi wan

Formulas 3 – Spring 2010 – Class 9

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