Feeling Heavy, Damp, Poor Appetite, Teeth Marks on the Sides of Your Tongue? Doctor Luo Dalun Explains How Guangdong People Get Rid of Dampness Without Eating Spicy Food — Using Chen Pi, Fo Shou, and Xiang Yuan

Patient search terms: feeling heavy and damp / what to eat for dampness / teeth marks on the sides of the tongue / why spicy food improves appetite / benefits of chen pi (aged tangerine peel) / how to eat Buddha’s hand citron

Corresponding medical names: dampness trapping the spleen · spleen and stomach deficiency · phlegm-dampness obstructing the interior · liver qi constraint · qi stagnation

Opening: how did Sichuan food conquer the whole country?

Have you noticed that in recent years something very interesting has happened to Chinese food culture — it seems that Sichuan cuisine has conquered the entire country. People used to say that Shanghainese love sweet flavors, but go to Shanghai today and the Sichuan restaurants are still packed; head to the northeast and the same thing happens — Sichuan restaurants have lines every day. No other regional cuisine has ever spread quite like this.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Why? There is a reason — modern people carry an especially heavy burden of dampness (shi qi). And why is dampness so heavy? Because the dampness in the entire atmosphere is heavy. In the past there was much less smog; now smog is quite heavy. What is this smog? It is countless tiny particles of pollution combined with water vapor that cannot disperse — so dampness must be a major carrier inside smog, and dampness is heavy all over the country.

Humans and nature “resonate”: when the sky is damp, people are damp

If the atmosphere is heavy with dampness, what does that have to do with the human body? Chinese medicine holds that human beings are part of nature.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: When the environment is damp, dampness in the human body also increases — because people resonate with nature. So nowadays, when you look at many people’s tongues, the coating is either thin and spread evenly over the whole surface, or thick and greasy — and on the edges there are almost always teeth marks. What do teeth marks mean? The person has qi deficiency and heavy dampness. Put those two conditions together, and dampness easily accumulates in the body.

Dampness traps the spleen and stomach: mention spicy hot pot and the mouth waters

When dampness is in the body, which organ does it love to trap most? The spleen and stomach.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: When dampness traps the spleen and stomach, people feel they have no appetite. When it’s time to eat, what do you want? Nothing really — you can’t think of anything. But the moment someone mentions Sichuan food — let’s get some spicy hot pot — what happens? Your mouth starts to water instantly. Why? Because spicy food can rouse the qi of the spleen and stomach, making you feel your appetite return. That is exactly why, in this environment, Sichuan food has conquered the country.

And has Shanghai cuisine conquered the country? No. Why not? When you have no appetite, sweet food sounds heavy — just thinking about it makes your stomach feel bloated. But think of Sichuan food, and you get energized — that’s the whole story.

Almost every damp region eats spicy food — except one place

Doctor Luo says there’s a particularly interesting pattern: almost every damp region in China eats spicy, numbing, chili-heavy food.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Let me give examples. Jiangxi food is spicy — even the clay-pot soups are very spicy; Hunan is spicy — because Hunan is damp, so it’s spicy; Hubei’s damp regions are also very spicy; Guangxi has heavy natural dampness, so Guangxi food is spicy too; Sichuan goes without saying — it’s cold, dark and humid, so it’s spicy. There is only one place that is special — Guangdong (and to some extent Fujian). Guangdong has very heavy dampness, yet Cantonese people hardly eat spicy food at all — Cantonese cuisine basically has no chili in it. Why is that? This question once puzzled me completely.

Cantonese people aren’t afraid of dampness — and they live long lives

To solve this mystery, Doctor Luo deliberately observed Cantonese life on business trips to Guangdong.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Why don’t Cantonese people eat spicy food? And they live very well, right? Cantonese people are long-lived — many, many elderly people are lean and thin, and they live a long time. So why don’t Cantonese people eat chili? How is it that they aren’t afraid of dampness? I kept observing, and gradually I discovered the secret.

That secret is the Cantonese people’s four treasures for dispelling dampness.

Treasure number one: slow-cooked soup — winter melon, bitter melon, and yi mi go in

The first dampness-dispelling treasure of Guangdong is soup.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Cantonese people love slow-cooked soup (lao huo tang). When they make soup in summer, they often put in winter melon, bitter melon (liang gua), and yi mi (Job’s tears / coix seed) — what do these soups do? They all have the effect of dispelling dampness.

A bowl of soup — dampness relief built right into daily life.

Treasure number two: chen pi — the Xinhui aged tangerine peel, the best in all of China

There is another especially important ingredient in Cantonese cooking — chen pi (aged tangerine peel).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I noticed that Cantonese people always put chen pi in their slow-cooked soups — I saw it when studying their recipes. Later I looked into it and found that Guangdong really does produce the best chen pi in all of China — where? In Xinhui, Guangdong. Xinhui chen pi is the best in the country. And it’s not like the orange peel we imagine, where you peel it and dry it in the sun and you’re done — no. It has to go through aging (chen hua). Aging is a slow process of air-drying and fermentation; after aging, the surface of the peel slowly turns black, and the fragrance becomes extremely intense.

How should chen pi be used? Doctor Luo specifically asked Cantonese people:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I once asked Cantonese friends: how many years until this chen pi is usable? They said three years — they don’t even use three-year-old peel for that purpose… well, actually three-year-old peel goes into slow-cooked soup; five-year-old peel goes into soup too. What they generally drink is five years and up — some is aged around ten years. That kind of peel they drink as tea: take a few slices, put them in hot water, and drink that water all day; when making soup they also add a few slices, so Cantonese dishes often carry a few slices of chen pi. What does chen pi do? Chen pi resolves phlegm, regulates qi, and dispels dampness — it moves qi and removes dampness. Cantonese people even drop two slices of chen pi into their tea — and the tea becomes one that moves qi and removes dampness. This is a very special Cantonese custom.

Treasure number three: xiang yuan — the citrus fruit that soothes the liver and moves qi

Besides chen pi, Cantonese people also love one more thing — xiang yuan (citron).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What is xiang yuan? It is a kind of citrus fruit. What they call chen pi is made from what we call mandarin orange — they also call it gan (mandarin); but xiang yuan is truly a citrus fruit of its own. What does it do? It regulates qi, resolves phlegm, and stops vomiting, and it also moves qi — it has the effect of moving qi and soothing the liver (shu gan). In Chinese medicine, when treating liver qi constraint (gan qi bu shu), we sometimes add xiang yuan to the prescription. In Guangdong they also make it into something for steeping in tea, which likewise moves qi, resolves phlegm and dispels dampness.

Treasure number four: fo shou gan — curving and twisting, like the hand of a Buddha

Among the citrons there is one famous variety — fo shou gan (Buddha’s hand citron).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Xiang yuan has a variety called fo shou gan — Buddha’s hand. Cantonese people love it especially. When it grows, it curves and twists in a way that resembles a Buddha’s hand — hence the name. What does Buddha’s hand do? It too moves qi, resolves phlegm, stops vomiting, and dispels dampness. In some parts of Guangdong, like Chaoshan, they make Buddha’s hand into a food — candied as a preserved snack.

Why did the Chaoshan people think of making candied Buddha’s hand? There is a legend behind it.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I asked them: how did you come up with this? There’s a story. Long ago, when the great Tang dynasty scholar Han Yu came to the Chaoshan region — demoted and sent to Chaozhou as an official — he saw that the local dampness was very heavy, and worried that the common people would easily fall ill. What could dispel dampness? Things that move qi can remove dampness. So he used this Buddha’s hand to teach the people to make a food; once made, it could move qi and dispel dampness — and so it has been passed down locally ever since. Though personally, I don’t think it was necessarily Han Yu’s invention — I think the common people invented it. The people noticed: what food is good for this region? They found that after drinking water steeped with xiang yuan and chen pi, they felt comfortable — the full, stuffy, bloated sensation was gone — and so people invented this method.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: So you see, with Buddha’s hand — when we Chinese medicine doctors write prescriptions for regulating liver qi constraint, qi stagnation, or heavy dampness, we often add fo shou. And Cantonese people use chen pi, fo shou, and xiang yuan — these things that move qi, regulate qi, resolve phlegm and remove dampness. This is a truly wonderful method.

Winter can have chili — but what about summer?

So is eating spicy food in other regions right or wrong? Doctor Luo says it depends on the season.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In other regions, when winter brings heavy cold-dampness, eating these spicy, numbing foods is no problem at all. But now Sichuan and Hunan people also eat them in summer, right? A moderate amount is fine — but eat too much, and what happens? It generates heat. Cantonese people are very clever: in summer they don’t eat chili. Instead they use these methods — regulating qi, resolving phlegm, dispelling dampness — and even combine them with something cooling, like bitter melon. So I really do think this Cantonese way of preserving health is worth learning from.

The finishing touch: in summer, dispelling dampness relies on moving qi and regulating the triple burner

Finally, Doctor Luo sums up the general principle of dispelling dampness.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In winter we can eat spicy, numbing food — a bit of chili warms the body and drives out cold-dampness. In summer, a moderate amount is fine, but what matters more for dispelling dampness in summer is moving qi, regulating qi, and harmonizing the triple burner (san jiao) so that water-dampness transforms away. That is why Cantonese people use the peels of citrus fruits — chen pi, fo shou, xiang yuan — to move qi, resolve phlegm, regulate qi and transform dampness. I think Cantonese people are very wise, and we have a lot to learn from them. So when you have the chance, put a slice of chen pi in your soup — it’s harmless. And the Buddha’s hand: if you can find candied Buddha’s hand snacks from Guangdong, buy a little and try it. I think these are all excellent ways to dispel dampness.

Closing: hidden inside food culture is the mystery of humans and nature

At the end of the lecture, Doctor Luo brings the topic back to everyday life.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Food culture across the regions is rich and varied — there is a great deal of wisdom and reasoning hidden in it. If we ponder it bit by bit, we can understand more of the mysteries between humans and nature. Well, that’s all for today. Next time we’ll continue with more health topics. Thank you, everyone, and see you next time!

Every region nurtures its own people — the Cantonese have built “dispelling dampness” into every meal with one pot of soup, a few slices of chen pi, and a segment of Buddha’s hand. That may well be the smartest way humans have ever found to live with nature.

(Compiled from Doctor Luo Dalun’s lecture series.)