Tag Archives: spleen diet

Mung Bean Stew with Eggplant and Mushrooms

If you came to the Oils and Herbs class for digestion and weight loss you know we talked about foundations of a healthy diet, sometimes referred to as the spleen diet. Mung beans are a great thing to add to your diet for both healthy digestion and weight loss.

Here are few other reasons to be excited about mung beans. Mung beans originally are from India and are also a staple to Chinese cuisine. They are cooling in nature and help to cleanse the body. They are thought to help with weight loss because of their ability to reduce swelling and can act as a diuretic. Mung beans can be used for food poisoning, diarrhea, painful urination, lead and pesticide poisoning, boils, heat stroke, conjunctivitis and edema. Mung beans can also benefit reducing high blood pressure, acidosis and ulcers. (Healing with Whole Foods. Paul Pitchford) 

I came acrossthis recipe and ended up with what you see below. This was my first time cooking with mung beans and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Even my husband thought it tasted great too. 🙂 This recipe at its core nourishes the spleen and the addition of eggplant strengthens the kidneys, celery and spinach strengthens the liver and mushrooms the lungs. Mung beans green color benefits the liver and gall bladder as well making this a perfect dish to help with transitioning to spring. (learn more about what all this means at this month’s yogapuncture class!)

What you need:

3 cups of mung beans

container of baby bella mushrooms

5 stalks of celery

1 small onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 eggplant (cubed)

2 cups of spinach

8 cups of vegetable broth

2 tablespoons cumin, more to taste

1 tablespoon tumeric

black pepper and sea salt to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

What you do:

Soak mung beans overnight. Strain mung beans and rinse. Chop onions and garlic. In a stock pot add oil, onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add eggplant and cook until tender, another 3 minutes or so. Add mung beans and vegetable broth. Bring to a rolling boil and then turn to low. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, celery, spinach, and spices then turn off heat and let stand for 5 minutes or so. Transfer to bowls. This is hearty enough to eat as is or you can add some rice. If you have one handy add some avocado slices and enjoy!

Let me know what you think! 🙂

Mindful Eating for Thanksgiving

The spleen/stomach system according to Chinese Medical theory is responsible for the transportation and transformation of food. This system is what gives us usable energy. The quality of our health is determined by the essence we received from our parents (DNA) as well as our lifestyle habits. If you were born with good essence that’s great! The best way to keep it that way is to make sure you are living a healthy lifestyle or it will catch up with you.

The spleen/stomach relate to:

  • emotion: worry/over thinking
  • taste: sweet
  • pathogen: dampness
  • color: yellow
  • season: late summer and transitional phases
  • When our stressors cause us to over think or worry it can damage the spleen. You might know a few people who are worriers and have weak stomachs, this is because the spleen/stomach system governs both activities. If you are a multitasker this can also cause disharmony in your spleen/stomach making you feel anxious. The spleen/stomach system also keeps the blood contained. As a women, if you are living a stress filled life with no outlet you might experience spotting between periods, and other disharmonies with your menstrual cycle.

The spleen is a dry organ that hates dampness. What does that mean? Damp causing foods are sweet, especially empty sweet foods like processed cookies and candy. Dampness causes the body to feel heavy and weighed down metaphorically or literally with extra pounds. In order to keep your digestive system strong its important to eat warm foods.

Raw vegetables are considered cooling and are hard for your system to process. Always cook your veggies. Processed, deep fried, fast foods cause dampness in the body and damage your spleen/stomach. What you might not know is that it is important to focus just on your food while you eat. If you watch tv, drive, sit at the computer etc while you eat you are dividing the attention of the spleen with thinking and eating which ultimately imbalances your spleen.

The Dali Lama once said, “if the problem has a solution then there is no need to worry and if the problem doesn’t have a solution worry will do know good.” Easier said then done, but do your spleen a favor and let it go. 🙂
How can you avoid stressing out your spleen?

  1. Avoid refined sugars as much as possible
  2. Eat yellow foods with full sweet flavors such as squash, sweet potatoes, yellow peppers, or baby corn.
  3. Take life one moment at a time. Instead of multitasking, try to tackle one thing and complete it before moving on.
  4. Avoid living spaces and work environments that are below ground like garden apartments and basements. Keep yourself warm and covered when it rains or snows (dampness).
  5. Eat mindfully. Whenever possible eat with friends or family and enjoy their company and the food that you are eating. Notice the flavor of your food and chew! You might notice that you don’t need to eat as much as you used to.
  6. Unplug. Turn your cell phone and computer off when your work day is done. Even if all you do is turn your car off and sit for a moment of silence before going inside your home. Take some “me” time.

Yellow Tomato Salsa

I’m overrun with tomatoes in the garden and wanted to share how I cook because a lot of you ask. I started with the thought that a yellow tomato salsa with be a great spleen/stomach dish due to its yellow color and sweet flavor. I googled a yellow tomato salsa recipe and then adapted it based on what I had on hand. As I was cooking and grabbing new ingredients I realized I had a balanced dish full of great things to keep my family healthy this fall. We plan on enjoying this salsa with our morning eggs, enjoy!

What you need: 

A bowl of yellow tomatoes (spleen/stomach)

A handful of tomatillos (liver/gall bladder)

A small red onion (heart/small intestine and lung/large intestine)

8 cloves of garlic (lung large/intestine)

2 jalapenos (de-seeded)  (liver/gall baldder)

A handful of fresh, hand picked basil (liver/gall bladder)

olive oil and apple cider vinegar to drizzle (liver/gall bladder)

salt and pepper (kidney/urinary bladder)

Prep:

Preheat oven to 375. Wash your goodies. For this batch I didn’t cut the tomatoes but I think next time I might halve them. I cut the tomatillos in quarters. I roughly chopped the onion, garlic, jalapenos, and basil.

I put foil on 2 cookie sheets and layed the tomatoes down first then sprinkled the rest of the ingredients on top ending with olive oil and apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper.  Cook until roasted apprx 45 minutes. Fill jars and enjoy!