Chinese medicine and the significance which it endows to food quite often provide effective remedies to certain bodily diseases. A very good example is the popular use of green bean soup in treating acne.
While green beans are known to be an excellent source of vitamins, dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium and iron – all beneficial to the skin – this is not how Chinese doctors put it: they believe that too much "heat" causes acne and what green beans do is to help eliminate toxins and "heat" from the body. Another very interesting effect of green beans has remained largely unknown among Westerners: Chinese women with delayed menstrual periods, hence also suffering from some of the worst premenstrual syndromes (including those irritating flare-ups), have found out that their periods usually arrive not long after they have consumed green bean soup (no more than a few days). During the menstrual period, however, consumption of green beans is not encouraged, as the food is too “cool,” or its “cooling” effect too strong, that it easily leads to dizziness when women are already losing a lot of blood. Other “cool” foods used to eliminate toxins and heat, but which do not have as strong an effect on regulating the menstrual period, include watermelon and chrysanthemum tea.
Most Western doctors tend to believe that acne is not very much related to the food, and nutritionists claim that the caffeine contained in chocolates is simply too little to make the skin deteriorate . The case of chocolates thus becomes very controversial, and some actually attribute the relation of chocolate to acne as a matter of correlation, not causality, as people tend to crave chocolates when they feel stressed, and it is under the stressful condition that skin problems get worse. Chinese doctors, on the other hand, attributes the problem to the milk powder contained in chocolates, as anything milky makes the skin prone to acne. Indeed, they use the word “fat” (break-out) to describe the way in which milk causes acne and other allergies.
Western and Chinese medicines should not be deemed as completely different in this respect: while Western doctors do not think that acne has a strong relation to the food we eat, the fat contained in milk is generally believed to worsen acne. Taking into account the other disastrous impacts caused by too much animal fat in the body, the popular and long-held belief that milk is good for health almost becomes a myth. How do we reap the beauty benefits of drinking milk, without consuming a large amount of fat? The solution is to take vitamins and minerals essential to healthy skin. Among the numerous skin supplements, zinc is effective in healing damaged skin tissues, while Vitamin B6 helps to regulate hormones and menstrual periods, and in some cases, reduces menstrual discharge.
