When heavy weather finds its way onto your plate
Body heavy and chilly after a day of wind or rain, a muddled head, appetite gone, a cluttered belly, sticky mouth, digestion that drags after rushed or overly copious meals… In TCM, these signs may be associated with a twofold situation: Wind-Cold gripping the surface of the body, and Dampness settling in the centre together with Food stagnation. The Spleen, which according to tradition dislikes Dampness, then transforms what it receives less well, and the Qi of the centre becomes blocked.
Wu Shi Cha Ke Li is a modern preparation from the Chinese pharmacopoeia: ke li (颗粒) means granules. It shares seven herbs with Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Wan, the great formula for Dampness that encumbers the centre, including patchouli, magnolia bark and perilla. It adds Wind herbs and herbs that help digestion, to take care of both the surface and the centre.
Opening the surface, lightening the centre
The fifteen herbs fall into three families. The pungent herbs (perilla, saposhnikovia, Dahurian angelica, Sichuan lovage, bupleurum) disperse Wind at the surface; the aromatic herbs (patchouli, atractylodes, magnolia bark, tangerine peel) transform Dampness; hawthorn, malt and bitter orange help the Stomach move down what is stagnating. Forsythia, cooler, tempers the whole, and platycodon and licorice harmonise.
Expels Wind: Perilla and saposhnikovia, with Dahurian angelica and Sichuan lovage, which rise towards the head, disperse the Wind-Cold gripping the surface of the body.
Helps transform Dampness: Patchouli, aromatic, awakens the Spleen; atractylodes dries Dampness and magnolia bark carries it downwards with the Qi.
Harmonises the Stomach: Magnolia bark and bitter orange, the two most generously dosed herbs, make Stomach Qi descend and dispel the feeling of fullness.
Promotes lightness and digestive comfort: Hawthorn and roasted malt help “melt down” meals that weigh heavy, while tangerine peel sets the centre moving again.
