Deepest Health Podcast 16 – Why bulk Chinese herbs?

on 10/29/2011 by Eric Grey in Podcast

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do you really need to use bulk chinese herbs? One of my great passions is to practice Chinese herbalism as close as possible to the way it was practiced when the great texts of our medicine were compiled. I may not always practice that way, and I’m not so arrogant to think it’s the only way, but for now it is my dearest wish and something that brings me (and my patients) great satisfaction.

Because of this passion, I have always been keenly interested in the way individual herbs are prepared and the way those individual herbs are then offered to patients. One facet of that interest revolves around the difference between prescribing bulk herbs versus prescribing granules.

Tim Rudowsky of Green Tea Apothecary (at Cookmyherbs.com) shares my passion and has turned it into a business! In this month’s podcast, we dig into the issue and have a good deal of fun along the way. This podcast also features a new musical intro by one of my favorite new electronic music artists, Oleg Mokhov.

Show notes

1. Green Tea Apothecary : www.cookmyherbs.com
2. Tim’s great Classical Chinese herbalism manual is for sale online click here to view more details
3. Slate and Shell PDX, blog of a NCNM student and friend who made Wumei Wan
4. Nuherbs.com – herbal company Tim mentions as testing for pathogenic organisms
5. Book by Eric Brand, of Legendary Herbs, that Tim mentions. A Clinician’s Guide to Using Granule Extracts

If you like the Deepest Health podcast, and hope I will do more, would you do me a favor and rate this in the iTunes store? Just click this link, then click on “open this podcast in iTunes) and near the bottom of the page you will see the place to add your rating. Thank you!

About Eric Grey

Hi - I'm the founder of Deepest Health. When I'm not writing here, you can find me reaching out to the Chinese Medicine community across the web and in my own backyard. I currently teach Chinese herbs at my alma mater, the National College of Natural Medicine. Additionally, I'm the founder of Watershed Community Wellness, a thriving local clinic in Southeast Portland in Oregon. No matter where I'm working, you'll find my focus on the Classical approach to Chinese medicine laced throughout everything I do.

View all posts by Eric Grey - Website: http://deepesthealth.com

Bex Groebner says:

10/29/2011

Nice podcast!
As for making Wumei Wan as a san instead of a tang: Given my conclusions after finishing those pills, I really think that would miss the general idea. It was approximately 1/2 cup of herbs (plus plums) to almost 12 cups of rice. I think that the rice acts as a sticky gelatinous mess, holding the herbs into place in the gut like a time-release capsule. For dealing with roundworms or improperly balanced gut flora, I think a huge part of those pills has to do with the time release, sticky nature of how they are made. For a regular honey pill – in which the powder is mixed with honey and not rice, there is something else going on, but for Wumei Wan, in particular, we should think about this.

Tim Rudowsky says:

11/01/2011

No question, a pill is different from a powder–especially the type you’re referring to as Wumei Wan. Like you and Eric, I have a hard time compromising on processing when it means also compromising on the integrity and possible efficacy of the medicine. I just haven’t found a way to make them, to-order, in the traditional way, so Eric is suggesting that rather than just use granules, we compromise by using powders (which are at least raw). That’s such a difficult formula to understand. In the SHL it’s used to kill roundworms, but according to SHL pathology it treats Jueyin reversal. According to Arnaud’s Lantern article on Wumei Wan, it can treat anything from seizures to muscle spasms to hypertension. If Wumei Wan indeed treats such pathology, I wonder if using it as a powder would work at all, or if preserving the pill preparation is important here as well. You implied it first: until we understand the formula inside and out, obey the original preparation instructions.

Brandon says:

11/22/2011

and don’t forget the multiple spontaneous nocturnal orgasms. i believe that was referenced in that article as well. that one is hard to forget. jueyin not closing? great podcast!

Erin says:

11/29/2011

Great podcast! Thanks for all your hard work in this Tim!

Timothy Nelson says:

03/14/2013

So much fun to hear the herbal banter. Thanks for the Wu Mei San you made for me recently, I shipped some to Kansas City and USPS rolled it up into a Wan for me!

Eric Grey says:

03/14/2013

Haha – go USPS! Hopefully, Tim will see that comment…

Show notes

If you like the Deepest Health podcast, and hope I will do more, would you do me a favor and rate this in the iTunes store? Just click this link, then click on “open this podcast in iTunes) and near the bottom of the page you will see the place to add your rating. Thank you!

About Eric Grey

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