How does TCM read tongue coating and regulate the body?

1. Thick white tongue coating

Principles of conditioning: Eat less cold food, eat in moderation, and keep exercising

Symptoms: When the six evils such as wind-cold, rheumatism, cold-dampness, etc. are still on the surface and have not yet spread to the inside, and the disease is relatively mild and the Qi of the internal organs is not damaged, a thin white coating will be seen on the tongue.

If the tongue coating turns white and thick, it means that there is a problem with the body and the phlegm and dampness are severe, so you should pay attention.

A white tongue coating indicates that there is cold in the body. Whether you have eaten cold food or caught a cold, the tongue coating will turn white. Most people nowadays have white tongue coating because they eat fruits and vegetables from the refrigerator and drink cold drinks often. In addition, in daily life, a fat tongue and thick white tongue coating are often seen in patients with obesity, abnormal spleen and stomach function, leading to edema, and excessive phlegm and dampness. Thick, white, greasy tongue coating is also common in patients with hyperlipidemia, arteriosclerosis, and hypertension.

2. Thick yellow-white tongue coating

Principles of conditioning: light diet to invigorate the stomach and digest food

Symptoms: If there is a thick layer of yellow-white dirt on the tongue, the tongue coating is thick and sticky and difficult to scrape off, there is a sour and smelly smell in the mouth, and at the same time, the appetite is poor and the stool is dry.

This situation is most likely caused by overeating, or eating too much greasy food, poor spleen and stomach digestion function or disorder. Common people call it food accumulation.

3. Black tongue coating

Treatment principles: Actively treat the disease and follow the doctor's advice

Symptoms: Extreme heat or cold can cause a black tongue coating, except, of course, for stained tongue. In daily life, if you take certain medicines or foods, the tongue coating will often change color, but these are not pathological coatings. Generally speaking, the color of dyed tongue coating is brighter and shallow, while diseased tongue coating is not easy to fade. This can be used to distinguish them. Never mistake normal tongue coating for diseased tongue coating and cause a false alarm.

Black tongue is often closely related to disease. Clinically, this tongue pattern is often seen in patients with chronic asthmatic bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, gastric cancer, chronic renal failure, etc. People with black tongue coating should pay attention to the treatment of their diseases in order to recover as soon as possible.

Many diseases can cause black tongue coating, so when treating black tongue coating, you must follow the doctor's advice and treat it according to the condition.

4. The tongue coating peels off or there is no tongue coating

Conditioning principle: replenish qi and blood to enhance immunity

Symptoms: When the tongue coating falls off completely or partially during the course of the disease, it is called peeling. If the tongue coating falls off completely, making the tongue surface as smooth as a mirror, it is called "smooth peeling tongue" or "mirror tongue". If the tongue coating does not peel off completely, the peeled area is smooth and has no coating, while the remaining areas have patches of tongue coating with obvious boundaries, it is called "flowery peeling".

Peeling tongue coating indicates insufficient stomach qi, depletion of stomach yin or deficiency of both qi and blood, which is a manifestation of general weakness.

Patients without tongue coating should have a light diet and avoid overeating or eating raw, cold, hot or difficult to digest foods. Eat more vegetables and fruits that can strengthen the spleen and stomach, such as yam, coix seed, etc., and take medicines such as Jianpi Pills and Shengmai San. Exercise to enhance the body's immune function.