Benefits of Limiting Alcohol and Caffeine in Summer

The warm temperatures and sunny skies of summer inspire trips to the beach, backyard BBQs, outdoor sporting events, concerts, festivals, dinner parties, and just an overall desire to socialize and enjoy the weather. Closely associated and culturally expected beverages at such events are alcohol and caffeine, whether it be beer, cocktails, and wine, or coffee, energy drinks, or tea. While a beer or latte here and there will not hurt, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), regular or excessive consumption of alcoholic and caffeinated beverages in the summer heat can cause more damage than just intoxication and jitters.

The TCM perspective is that consuming considerable amounts of alcohol, a yang substance, can create an excess in both heat and dampness, or a deficiency in the liver and spleen. Alcohol is a diuretic, which causes the elimination of water, and in TCM, when water is removed from the body, fire is left, causing heat. Alcohol raises the heart rate, increases circulation, and creates feelings of warmth in the body. This depletes the liver, causing symptoms like sweating, a flushed complexion, inflammation, loose stools, or dark urination.

When alcohol causes dampness, it is due to there being more fluid in the body than necessary, creating a swamp-like state in the digestive system. Overwhelming the spleen like this causes symptoms of fullness, bloating, excess gas, a heaviness in the body and limbs, fatigue, and a thirst without the desire to drink. So even when you’re thirsty from the heat, you have no desire to rehydrate with water due to the buildup of fluids in your system.

Like alcohol, caffeine is another ingredient to limit, especially in the heat of summer. Caffeine also acts as a diuretic, causing fluids to be removed from the body. High temperatures cause excessive sweating, so combined with the effect caffeine is having on the body, essential fluids are being expelled, causing dehydration. Caffeine consumption also harms the flow of Qi in the body by disrupting the body’s ability to maintain peak energy throughout the day. Associated with yang energy, caffeine can cause an imbalance for those who are yin deficient; because caffeine has warming and drying effects on the body, this type of yin/yang imbalance can cause symptoms like insomnia, irritability, anxiety, and high blood pressure.

The best liquid to consume to stay hydrated in the summer is water. It will nourish you from the inside out, and is able to tell what internal fluids are essential and which are not, therefore removing them via urine. Water can help balance yin and yang energies in the body, correcting any imbalances that occur from over indulgence. Along with water, there are many alcohol and caffeine drink alternatives that can aid hydration as well as provide other nutrients while being refreshing and delicious.

Drinks and Recipes

Kin Euphorics:

Kin Euphorics is a woman-founded and owned company that specializes in non-alcoholic, functional beverages made with ingredients to nourish your body and mind. Adaptogens help manage stress, nootropics support brain cognition, and botanicals enhance taste. Combining these special ingredients into delicious, refreshing, and exciting non-alcoholic beverages can help keep you hydrated in the summer while also nourishing your mind and body.

Recipe: Kin Julep

Ingredients:

• ¼ oz warmed honey

• 5-10 fresh mint leaves

• 2oz Kin Dream Light

• 2 oz ginger beer

• Fresh mint sprig for garnish

To Make:

In a julep cup or rock glass, lightly muddle the mint and honey. Add the Kin Dream Light and ginger beer and pack tightly with crushed ice. Stir until the cup is frosted on the outside. Top with more crushed ice to form an ice dome and garnish with a mint spring.

Ghia:

Ghia is a spirit free aperitif inspired by the Mediterranean summer tradition of sharing limoncello with loved ones after a nice meal. For the founder, Melanie, drinking is about connecting, laughing, letting loose, and just enjoying the simple pleasures of great music and warm nights. She wanted to make a drink that encouraged all those positives, without the negatives like hangovers or dehydration.

Recipe: The Hi Life

Ingredients:

• 2.5 oz Ghia aperitif

• 1 oz tonic

• Crushed rose petal

• Fresh sage leaf

To Make:

Pour 2.5 oz Ghia into a shaker. Add ice and shake. Add 1 oz tonic and strain into a chilled coupe or glass. Garnish with crushed rose petals and fresh sage leaf.

HoneyBee Sage:

HoneyBee Sage is a non-alcoholic bar and apothecary located on MLK Drive in Milwaukee, WI. They offer tisanes, herbal teas that are caffeine free and medicinal, as well as alcohol free cocktails and herb-infused beverages. You can order a tisane based on the relief or support you need, like respiratory, menstrual, digestive, antioxidant, detoxification, mood, headache, inflammation, or energy. Using various types of water, they can custom infuse your beverage with any combination of their specialty crafted herbal glycerites for a delicious and elevating experience.

Curious Elixirs:

These alcohol-free pre-mixed cocktails are infused with adaptogens to encourage relaxation, and were created with the sober and those who are less interested in alcohol in mind. Organic juices, herbs, spices, roots, barks, and botanicals are used to nourish the body and mind, as well as increase serotonin and dopamine.

Athletic Brewing:

Athletic Brewing is a certified B-Corp company that brews non-alcoholic beers. Their brewing process results in less than 0.5% alcohol, which is about the same percentage as commercially made kombucha. They have a non-alcoholic version of crowd favorites like various hazy ipas, goldens, witbiers, sours, and more.

Other Drink Replacements

Kombucha:

Kombucha is a fermented tea drink started from a scoby, which stands for a symbiotic combination of bacteria and yeast. According to TCM, kombucha strengthens the immune system, has tons of probiotics that provide oxygen to the body, and is a natural detoxifier. While alcohol and caffeine move energy upwards in the body, causing heat, kombucha draws energy inwards and down, cooling the body. Kombucha on a hot summer day can provide nutrients and cool the body.

Rishi Botanicals - Milwaukee, WI

Juiced! Cold Press Juices - Milwaukee, WI

Tapuat Kombucha - Sister Bay, WI

References

Alcohol and Traditional Chinese Medicine - Chicago

Non-Alcoholic Mint Julep Cocktail Recipe | Kin Euphorics

Recipes – Ghia

Cocktails – Curious Elixirs

Does Athletic Brewing’s Non-Alcoholic Beer *Actually* Taste Good? [2023 Review]

All Non-Alcoholic Beer | Athletic Brewing Co.

Do Curious Elixirs Hit The Spot For The Sober Curious? We Review - The Good Trade

How to Treat Addiction With Acupuncture and TCM.

Alcohol: Yea or Nea? | Wildwood

Top 3 Coffee Alternatives : Can TCM help you Replace Coffee?

Caffeine from a Chinese Medicine View - Fertile Care For Women

Coffee & Traditional Chinese Medicine | Altitude Acupuncture

ABOUT | TAPUATCHA

TCM Kombucha - Floor Tuinstra

The benefits of kombucha according to Chinese medicine

HoneyBee Sage Wellness & Apothecary

Combat Wildfire Smoke Issues

With Canada in the midst of an incredibly bad wildfire season, US regions in the Northeast, Midwest (including Wisconsin), and parts of the South have reached hazardous levels and have been issued air quality advisories. Have you started to feel the effects of the smoke?

Wildfire smoke irritates our eyes, nose, throat, lungs, and overall health which can cause us to cough and wheeze and making it difficult to breathe.

Here are tips to help support you during this wildfire season:

+ check air quality reports regularly and keep exposure to a minimum

+ add more vitamin C: foods like amaranth, avocados, tomato and green-leafy vegetables are the most efficient sources of vitamin C

+ take immune boosting supplements: Reishi, echinacea, and astragalus are our top picks. *Note: always stop taking astragalus at the onset of cold or flu symptoms 

+ antioxidants: green tea, ginger, turmeric, strawberries, green tea, black tea, brussel sprouts, beans, onions, and apples

+ get acupuncture to help strengthen the Lungs

+ keep pathways of elimination open: go to the bathroom, sweat, circulate blood and lymph through movement/exercise, breathe, dry skin brushing

+ try a steam with any of these herbs: thyme, oregano, rosemary, mint, sage

+ stay indoors and minimize duration/intensity of outdoor activities. keep house windows and doors closed to keep indoor air clean and fresh

+ use an N95 particulate mask respirator when outside for an extended period of time, especially if you have cardio-pulmonary problems. We will have a few of these in the office starting on Friday, June 30th

+ avoid unnecessarily exerting yourself. Heavy breathing means you’re going to inhale more smoke

+ add purifiers to your home. HEPA filters or even ACs with filters and recirculating air can help cut down on particulate matter in the air indoors. Do NOT use an air conditioner if it does not have air filters (it will only suck in smoke and make breathing conditions worse)

+ stay hydrated

Skin Support According to the Five Elements

According to TCM, the eyes really are the window to the soul, and the face tells all. Acting as a mirror to the outside world, the face reveals what is happening within ourselves, whether it be physically or emotionally. Through signs like under eye bags, dry skin, red spots, and pimples, the skin on the face reflects our internal workings and can be beneficial to healing.

To heal properly, it is important to consider the 5 element types that people fall into based on their personality and disposition. The 5 elements are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and each type has its own associated season, body part, emotions, characteristics, and diet. By supporting your organs through high quality food and processing emotions, the skin will be clear and healthy.

Blocks in Qi, organ stagnation, trapped emotions, and poor diet can cause physical symptoms that reflect on the skin as pimples, dryness, itchiness, paleness, or redness. To help diagnose what your skin symptoms may be associated with, consult a face map. Try acupuncture, cupping, facial gua sha, and proper hydration to aid the healing of your skin externally.

Wood

Characteristics: Associated with spring, the liver and gallbladder, positive emotions like love, compassion, and growth, negative emotions like frustration, anger, procrastination, and indecision. While balanced, wood individuals are goal setters, high achievers, and planners that accomplish what they set out to do. When unbalanced, feelings of stress lead to irritability and a short temper. Physical signs of an imbalance include headaches, tension in the neck and shoulders, and waking up regularly between 1 and 3 am. Excess feelings of anger and frustration build up heat in the body, and if not processed and released, can manifest as a red rash or pimples on the skin.

Food: The best diet is a light diet to cleanse the body of excess fats that can clog the liver. Flavors like sweet and pungent are most common due to the young stage of plant growth. Eat young plants, fresh greens, sprouts, immature wheat, young beets, carrots, grains, legumes, and seeds. Use pungent herbs like basil, fennel, marjoram, rosemary, caraway, dill, and bay leaf. Avoid salty foods like soy sauce, miso, and sodium rich meats, since they are heavy.

Teas: Mint with honey, dandelion

Treatments: Keep Qi circulating through vigorous exercises and sports, get sufficient sleep to avoid burnout, and practice restful activities like meditation or yoga. The liver is an important part of lymphatic drainage, so incorporate facial gua sha into your routine to encourage drainage. Facial acupuncture could also help, since it creates micro-traumas on your skin to promote collagen and healing. Acupuncture also works externally to reduce inflammation and redness, can promote a clearer and more even skin tone, remove excess heat, regulate hormones, and get rid of toxins and bacteria.

Fire

Characteristics: Associated with summer, the color red, bitter flavors, the heart and small intestines, positive emotions like joy, happiness, and love, and negative emotions like sadness, anxiety, and overjoy. When balanced, fire people tend to be passionate, warm, and charismatic, and when unbalanced, can be easily distracted or bored, prefer company to being alone, may not stick to their word, and lack joy. Physical symptoms of an imbalance include mild anxiety, difficulty sleeping, poor blood circulation, or spontaneous sweating. The heart stores Shen, which is your psycho-emotional connection to your capacity to live passionately. An imbalance of the heart-mind can result in a ruddy or very pale face.

Foods: Foods that nurture the kidney- brightly colored summer fruits and vegetables that are lightly cooked with added pungent or spicy flavors. It is important to replenish salts, minerals, and oils that are sweated out of the body with a diverse diet. Serve cooling foods like salads, sprouts- mung, soy, alfalfa, cucumber, tofu, fruits- apples, lemons, watermelon, limes.

Teas: Chrysanthemum, mint, chamomile

Treatments: On hot days, create a cool environment, like eating outside, and serve cooling foods like salads, sprouts, fruit, and cucumber. Incorporating hot-flavors brings body heat to the surface to be dispersed. With body heat on the surface, the body will be less affected by external temperatures. Use spices like red and green hot peppers, cayenne, fresh ginger, horseradish, and black pepper. On hot days, avoid heavy foods that cause sluggishness like meats, eggs, nuts, seeds, and grains. Drink enough water to keep your skin hydrated and supple. Cupping reduces heat in the body, promotes proper blood circulation, and removes toxins from the body. By placing cups along the meridians of the face instead of on the affected areas, cupping draws essential nutrients to the surface of the skin and reduces inflammation.

Earth

Characteristics: Associated with late summer, the color yellow, sweet flavors, the stomach and spleen, positive emotions like trust and openness, and negative emotions like worry and overthinking. Balanced earth people are nurturing, compassionate, loyal, empathetic, conflict resolvers, and great at forming deep and long term relationships. When unbalanced, earth people can be prone to worrying or overthinking, sensitive to criticism, and are easily taken advantage of. Physical signs of an imbalance include poor digestion, excessive burping or gas, poor appetite, cravings for sweets, blood sugar imbalances, fatigue especially around 3pm, mental fog in the morning, and poor muscle strength. Worry impairs digestion by blocking proper absorption of nutrients, causing the skin to become sallow, can create lines and wrinkles on the face, and ages the face and skin. Acne that appears on the back or chest, paired with oily skin, is believed to be caused by heat dampness in the spleen.

Food: Mildly sweet foods, yellow or golden foods, round foods, millet, corn, carrots, cabbage, garbanzo beans, soybeans, squash, potatoes, string beans, yams, tofu, sweet potatoes, sweet rice, rice, amaranth, peas, chestnuts, filberts, apricots, and cantaloupe. Prepare foods simply with minimum seasonings and mild taste.

Teas: Fennel, ginger, peppermint, jasmine, ginseng, licorice

Treatments: Add walking outside to your daily routine to energize and clear your mind through connecting with the earth. Try moving your body with exercises that will calm your mind, like meditation, yoga, or tai chi. Proper digestion and nutrition nourishes the skin internally. Those with spleen-pancreas harmony likely have a happier disposition and look younger. Facial acupuncture can help reduce wrinkles and worry lines by promoting blood flow and collagen production, which plumps and tightens the skin.

Metal

Characteristics: Associated with autumn, the color white, pungent, sour, and aromatic flavors, the lungs and large intestines, positive emotions like connection and courage, and negative emotions like sorrow and attachment. When in balance, a metal person is meticulous and efficient. They are not spontaneous, and they crave order. They are dependable, hardworking, and disciplined. When unbalanced, metal types can have difficulty opening up and sharing their feelings in close relationships, and are prone to feeling sad, misunderstood, or lonely. Physical signs of imbalance include easily catching colds and flus, shortness of breath, congested nose, constipation, dry skin, and tiredness. When the energy in the lungs is low, the skin around the nose, mouth, and neck can become pale, itchy, and dry.

Food: Appetite is stimulated through the warm fragrance of baked or sauteed foods. Add more sour foods to your diet, like sourdough bread, sauerkraut, olives, pickles, leeks, aduki beans, salt plums, vinegar, cheese, yogurt, lemons, likes, grapefruit, and the sour varieties of apples, plums, and grapes. These foods also help stimulate activity in the body, as well as heightens mental focus. Bitter and salty flavors move energy strongly inward and downward. Cook with less water, at lower heat, for longer periods of time. Add foods like tofu, tempeh, spinach, barley, millet, pear, apple, persimmon, loquat, seaweeds, black and white fungus, almond, pinenut, peanut, sesame seeds, honey, barley malt, rice syrup, milk, eggs, clam, crab, oyster, mussel, herring, and pork to combat dryness in the body.

Teas: Rose hip

Treatments: To balance metal, strengthen the lungs with exercises like qi gong. Process emotions like grief and sadness, as it strengthens lung energy, providing brightness for the complexion. Using a jade roller on the face can help combat dryness by gently working healing oils into the skin without agitating the already irritated skin.

Water

Characteristics: Associated with winter, the kidneys and bladder, positive emotions like willpower and calm, negative emotions like fear, shock, resentment, jealousy, and suspicion, able to go with the flow. When in balance, these individuals are easygoing, creative, self-reflective, artistic, have strong willpower and determination, and value wisdom. When unbalanced, feelings of self doubt and fear of failure inspire low motivation. Physical signs of an imbalance include aches in joints, the lower back, knees, or ankles, feelings of heaviness or swelling due to water retention, memory problems, hearing difficulties, or cravings for salty foods. The skin becomes drier and darker, especially under the eyes.

Food: Salty and bitter foods cool the exterior of the body and bring body heat deeper and lower, keeping the body warm. Balance salty and bitter flavors- too much salt can weaken the kidneys and bladder, causing an overconsumption of water. Eat foods like lettuce, watercress, endive, escarole, turnip, celery, asparagus, alfalfa, carrot top, rye, oats, quinoa, amaranth, black berries, blueberries, eggplant, black beans, chicory root, burdock root, miso, soy sauce, seaweeds, milley, and barley. Avoid stimulants like coffee, caffeine, and energy drinks.

Teas: Mint, ginger, dandelion

Treatments: Hydration is essential for healthy skin. Drink plenty of high quality water, take a bath, or swim in the ocean. The negative emotions associated with a kidney imbalance drain the kidney’s Qi and excess energy. By supporting the kidneys and bladder with quality hydration and proper diet, the kidneys can process emotions and gather wisdom, and keep the skin clear. Slow down, get proper sleep, and try facial gua sha. Facial gua sha supports lymphatic fluid flow, which transports oxygen and nutrients to the skin. Jade rolling de puffs, and facial acupuncture can increase blood circulation, easing the darkness around the eyes.

Face Mapping

Chinese medicine understands that all bodily functions are connected. An imbalance in one organ affects another organ, and if one bodily system is down, another is pulled with it. Yin and yang, the 5 elements, organ systems, and the meridians all work together to maintain balance and harmony within the body and mind, and face mapping is a technique and tool used to connect the dots to finding the root cause of an imbalance. Everything that is going on inside is reflected on the skin of the face. Acne, rashes, change in skin tone or color, dryness, redness, or other changes to the skin of the face directly relates to something going on inside, and can be used to address the internal problem.

Source: Dr. Axe

Each part of the face is associated with an organ. Each side of the forehead is associated with the kidneys and bladder, between the brows pairs with the liver, under the eyes connects with the kidney and adrenals, the nose reflects the heart, the mouth and chin pairs with the stomach and colon, and the cheeks with the stomach and spleen. If you have regular blemishes occurring in the same place, consider what your skin may be trying to tell you.

Like a machine, the body depends on each part working correctly to function at its best. Understand the deeper connection between your organs and your skin, and use that to heal and flourish. Nourish yourself with a proper diet, process your emotions, and cultivate an atmosphere of peace around yourself to best bring your body into harmony. Through diet, hydration, facial modalities like acupuncture, gua sha, jade rolling, and cupping, face mapping, and knowing your element, you can heal inside to be radiant on the outside.

Source: Lillian Bridges

Resources

Chen, Alexa. “TCM: The Five Elements Profiles”. Retrieved from https://www.weeklywisdomblog.com/post/tcm-the-five-elements-profiles.

Falla, Abianne. “THE 7 BEST TEAS FOR SPLEEN DEFICIENCY (RESTORE ENERGY FLOW)”. Retrieved from https://catspringtea.com/blogs/yaupon/best-tea-for-spleen-deficiency.

Gao, Sally. “Traditional Chinese Medicine Tricks to Help You Have Clearer Skin”. Retrieved from https://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/articles/traditional-chinese-medicine-tricks-to-help-you-have-clearer-skin/.

Kokko, Katja. “Bags under the eyes and their treatment”. Retrieved from https://katjakokko.com/en/silmapussit-ja-niiden-hoito/.

“CHINESE FACE MAPPING: AN ANCIENT GUIDE TO HEALING YOUR FACE & BODY”. Retrieved from https://alitura.com/blogs/beauty-benefits/chinese-face-mapping-an-ancient-guide-to-healing-your-face-body.

“The 5 energetic aspects that affect the skin from a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective”. Retrieved from https://blackchicken.com.au/blogs/news/5-energetic-aspects-that-affect-the-skin-in-traditional-chinese-medicine.

“Traditional Chinese Medicine for Acne”. Retrieved from https://www.tcmshanghai.ae/traditional-chinese-medicine-for-acne/.

“TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE IN SKINCARE - THE ANSWER TO FLAWLESS SKIN?” Retrieved from https://www.herbaldynamicsbeauty.com/blogs/herbal-dynamics-beauty/traditional-chinese-medicine-in-skincare.

“Understanding And Treating Acne, Maskne, Back Acne The TCM Way”. Retrieved from https://www.orientalremediesgroup.com/understanding-and-treating-acne-maskne-back-acne-the-tcm-way/.

Power of the 5 Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance- Charles A Moss, MD

Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition- Paul Pitchford

Face Reading in Chinese Medicine- Lillian Bridges