What TCM Said About My Symptoms

In my mid-30s, I was falling sick very often. I thought that it was the combination of work, looking after two young kids, the lack of self-care and poor sleep quality, that was causing my immunity to become weak. Upon the advice of a colleague, I decided to visit a TCM doctor (Traditional Chinese Medicine), to see if I could do something about my health instead of relying on antibiotics and painkillers.

I saw a female doctor, who was soft-spoken and slim-built. She asked why I was seeing her, and I shared with her my troubles of falling ill frequently. She listened patiently and then asked to see my tongue, and the insides of my lower eyelids. She also took my pulse by placing two fingers on my wrist.

Once she was done, she told me to avoid eating any foods that contained 'mian fen' 面粉. The entire consultation was conducted in Mandarin, and while I could explain my symptoms to her, I could not fully comprehend what she was saying as she was from China, and her Mandarin was quite accented. I asked her what 'mian fen' was, and she explained that it was flour used to bake breads and cakes. I asked what other items contained 'mian fen', and she mentioned noodles 'mian' and emphasized not to take any noodles that were yellow in colour. The conversation went like this:

Me: Ok, so I should not take mee pok, mee kiah and yellow mee. Is that correct?

TCM: Yes.

Me: So I can take the white ones?

TCM: Yes, you can take the white ones.

Me: Like Kway Teow, Bee Hoon and Mee Sua?

TCM: Kway Teow and Bee Hoon are ok, but not Mee Sua.

Me: Oh but why? I thought you said that the white ones are ok. TCM: White ones are ok except Mee Sua. Me: I see. So Kway Teow and Bee Hoon don't have flour? TCM: No.

Me: How about ban mian and you mian? They are white too. TCM: You can't eat those too. Me: (Confused)

TCM: Bread and cakes are also out.

Me: Are you saying carbohydrates in general? How about rice? TCM: Rice is ok.

Me: (Extra confused)

TCM: Also, you must stop taking soy sauce. Me: Soy sauce? (Major confused by now, as I couldn't link flour with soy sauce).

TCM: Yes, and avoid all fried food.

While I really appreciated the TCM doctor's patience and thoroughness in listening to my symptoms, I felt like there was a big gap when it came to her giving me advice. It was probably due to the language barrier and a general lack of understanding on my end on what 'mian fen' was, as I was confusing it with other types of flour. I also did not have a strong grasp of the ingredients that went into making everyday foods, as I don't bake as much as I cook, hence having a poor understanding of flours in general.

I left the clinic feeling confused and unmotivated. If I had to avoid eating bread, cakes, most noodles, fried food and soy sauce - I might as well starve to death. How can I avoid soy sauce in Singapore? What am I going to eat for breakfast if I could not eat bread and muffins? How can I not eat my favourite mee kia and you mian ever?

When I left the clinic, I googled 'flour health impact' and other similar terms. I also googled 'mian fen in English' to make sure that I understood the TCM doctor properly. Most of the research that came up talked about why foods made from refined flour - white bread, pasta, pizza, cakes and muffins, should be avoided. However, several sites including government health websites from all around the world, promoted the consumption of foods made from wholewheat and wholegrains. In fact, the bottom layer of the food pyramid, which shows the foods that we should consume the mosts howed wholegrains. This meant that it was okay for me to eat wholemeal bread, wholegrain pasta and noodles made from wholemeal flour. There was also no mention of soy sauce being a problem, except that it should be taken in moderation due to its sodium content. What the government websites showed, did not align with what the TCM doctor said.

To make things simple, I decided to remove foods made from refined white flour, and replaced them with wholegrains and wholemeal products. I also reduced my intake of soy sauce, but did not cut it out completely as I thought that Japanese people take so much soy sauce but live to a ripe old age. My condition did not improve. I continued to fall sick once every three months, having really bad throat infections, flu, fever and body aches.

Looking back, I wished that I had followed my TCM doctor's instructions. I don't know how she did it, but she was spot-on in her diagnosis - identifying wheat and gluten as the cause of my symptoms. The problem was the language barrier and my poor understanding of what foods contained wheat. She may have mentioned the term ‘gluten’ in Mandarin, but I may not have caught it, and she probably decided to just say something simpler like 'mian fen' so that I could understand her better.

Based on this experience, I believe that TCM has a lot to offer when it comes to health matters. Unlike Western medicine where drugs are used to treat symptoms, TCM delves into the root cause and focuses on rebalancing the body. I also believe that food pyramids published by world governments need to be relooked at, as wholegrains and wholewheat not only 'shreds' our gut lining, they are also high in glycemix index (GI).