Lecture by Qu Limin on Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Care

It is one of the popular Chinese medicine science contents with the widest audience in China. Its core value is to help ordinary people break the "obscure filter" about Chinese medicine. However, some of the views are academically controversial. When ordinary people listen to it for reference, they can just focus on the universal content of "lifestyle adjustment". When it comes to disease treatment and the use of folk remedies, be sure to consult a regular Chinese medicine practitioner first, and do not listen to any bias.

The first time I came across her lectures was in 2013. When I came home from the winter vacation and just walked in, I heard her voice coming from the DVD player in the living room. My mother was sitting on a pony picking rapeseed, with a notebook spread out next to her, densely written. When she looked up and saw me, the first thing she said was, "Does your textbook say you eat radishes in winter and ginger in summer?" Teacher Qu said you should eat more radishes in winter, but I think you are wrong." I had just studied Chinese medicine for half a year at the time, and I debated with her for ten minutes. Looking back now, I found it quite interesting - this was probably the most powerful part of her lectures: she could bring the "Huangdi Neijing", which is only taught in the classroom of Chinese medicine schools, to the living room of ordinary people, so that the aunts who choose the dishes can listen to it and are willing to follow it.

Qu Limin himself is a teacher at the School of Basic Medicine of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The contents he talks about are basically Chinese medicine classics such as "The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic" and "Treatise on Febrile Diseases". They are not made up out of thin air. She is best at translating abstract Chinese medicine theories into vernacular, for example, "Long looking hurts the blood." She does not say, "The liver opens the eyes, stores blood, and long looking depletes the liver blood." She gives the example of an office worker: If you stare at the computer for 8 hours a day, your eyes will be dry, you will feel dizzy, and your hair will fall out after work. After listening to this kind of content, I can implement it. Many aunts around me used to stay up until twelve o'clock every day to play mahjong. After listening to her talk about "when a person lies down, the blood returns to the liver, and not sleeping before eleven o'clock will damage the liver." She really changed her schedule and persisted for more than half a year. Her previous headaches were much better. These are real benefits.

However, there are always different opinions about her lectures in the industry. Many Chinese medicine colleagues around me who are doing clinical work sometimes complain that some of her views are too absolute and even deviate from clinical reality. For example, she said before that "all gynecological problems are essentially emotional problems", which is too biased - for example, polycystic ovary syndrome has multiple genetic and metabolic triggers, and uterine cold may also be related to congenital constitution and wearing navel-baring clothes all year round. It cannot be entirely attributed to emotions. Two years ago, I met an elder sister in the outpatient clinic. After listening to her talk about how raw potato juice can cure stomach problems, she drank it for three weeks. She originally had erosive gastritis. The raw starch in the raw potatoes was not gelatinized, which directly irritated the gastric mucosa, and the acid reflux problem doubled. Some people felt that her later lectures extended too much, such as talking about family relationships and parent-child interactions, which went beyond the scope of popular science in traditional Chinese medicine and leaned more towards life philosophy. This is why many people think she is "unprofessional".

I now do science popularization for patients, and sometimes I use her example, such as saying to a young man who likes to drink ice water, "Think about it, when you pour ice Coke into a hot pot that has just been dried, does it make a sizzling sound and white smoke comes out?" Your stomach is like a hot pot. If you pour ice on it every day, the pot will crack over time, not to mention your stomach." It is more effective than what I have said ten times, "cold and cold damage the spleen and yang". But every time I finish speaking, I always add: It does not mean that everyone must not touch ice. If you are born with a high internal heat, it is okay to take a sip of ice when you are sweating profusely in the summer. Don’t just drink ice drinks as water every day. There is no need to overdo it.

In fact, for ordinary people, there is really no need to worry about whether Qu Limin's lectures are all correct. Just think of it as an introductory science window. There is no harm in following the universal content about work, rest, diet, and emotional regulation, such as eating until half full, not staying up late, getting angry less, and walking more. But if you encounter any folk remedies she talks about that can cure any disease, or that you have to take what you have for your body type, especially if it can replace antihypertensive drugs or antihyperglycemic drugs, you must raise a question mark and ask a regular Chinese medicine practitioner first. What is suitable for others may not be suitable for you. If you really have a problem, don't rely on lectures to cure it.

When I came home a while ago, I saw that my mother had dug out the notebook from back then, and there were a lot of question marks on it. She said that she was smarter now, and when she saw something she was not sure about, she would take a picture of it and ask if she could try it. Two days ago, she told me, "Don't tell me, Teacher Qu's idea of ​​eating seven to half full is really useful. I've eaten less at dinner in the past six months, and my blood fat has dropped by 0.2." You see, popular science is not meant to give standard answers. It can help ordinary people develop some good living habits. Even if they don’t listen in vain, the rest of the professional stuff can be left to professionals.