Always Cold or Always Hot? Yin Deficiency or Yang Deficiency? Doctor Luo Dalun on Identifying Your Body Constitution

Opening: after the pandemic, why are so many bodies suddenly failing?

Dear friends, good morning. Today we continue our conversation about health. These days everyone has come to realize that health truly matters — Doctor Luo Dalun says that simply reading the news every day is startling: people keep passing away, including famous singers who once performed at the Spring Festival Gala — one, said to be foreign-based, returned to his own country and was gone. Incidents like this are happening constantly.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Including me — to this day I am still adjusting the rhythm of my life. This year I even started dreaming again — this year is special. I decided to slow down, quiet my mind, sense the state of my body and my surroundings, and adjust slowly — ease the work pace and do things carefully, one by one. Why? Because after the pandemic, the whole of human society and the whole of the human body took a “nuclear strike” — a serious blow. Who dares to say their body has not changed at all since the pandemic? Very few people could say that — most of us have changed in some way: some have noticeably worse memory, feel sleepy for no reason, have much less stamina, get breathless just walking, and all kinds of old ailments have resurfaced; the fatigue is unmistakable. So we need to see this clearly: slow down, don’t push yourself the way you used to. As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood — if you get your body right now, there is still time to work steadily; if you don’t, it will be too late for everything.

So what should we do next? Traditional Chinese medicine really does have an advantage here — it can help you recover, help you adjust, and it is exceptionally good at that. But there is one precondition for adjusting your body: you must first know the state of your own constitution.

Why must you learn to identify your constitution before taking any tonic?

Last time we talked about moxibustion — moxa is a wonderful method for strengthening the body, and during the pandemic its smoke could even drive away stale, turbid qi. But moxibustion is not for everyone to use directly: people with insufficient body fluids must replenish their fluids first before moxa; people with qi deficiency should top up their qi first — then moxa works far better. Otherwise you may actually harm the body.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: And the same logic applies to everything else. Look at all the things I recommend to you: ginseng, ginseng honey slices, huang qi (astragalus), gou qi zi (goji berries), huai yam, Yu Ling Gao (Jade Spirit Paste)… these tonic foods that are both medicine and food — how do you tell them apart? Can you just pick one up and eat it? No. The same rule applies — first understand your own constitution. Let me sort it out for you: are you yang deficient? Yin deficient? Is your liver fire strong? Is there a lot of phlegm-dampness? Are your fluids sufficient? You need to know roughly where you stand. Some people say: the more we learn about Chinese medicine, the more confused we get — it all seems vague and ambiguous. Actually, even when you see a Chinese medicine doctor, he or she may not always be perfectly clear-cut — sometimes there is only a tendency, not an obvious pattern, and that is something you have to explore gradually yourself. Overall, let me break this down for you.

What does yang deficiency look like? — cold all over, which is different from “local blockage”

The hallmark of yang deficiency that everyone knows is fear of cold. But be careful: not everyone who fears cold is yang deficient — people with blood deficiency also fear cold, because their blood does not circulate well. So how do you tell yang-deficiency cold apart?

In a yang-deficient person you can clearly see that the vital state of the body is low, the fire is insufficient: the complexion is pale, and in severe cases slightly dark, with dark spots and “water spots”; the body is cold to the touch — hands, arms, legs, feet and abdomen are all cool.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Let me use an analogy. Chinese medicine speaks of the unity of heaven and man; compare the body to nature: a stream gurgles along, and if the whole stream has little water, then it is low everywhere. But sometimes that is not the case — a rock is blocking the channel, so the water above piles up higher and higher, while below the rock there is little water. In that case you cannot conclude the whole stream is low, because the water trapped above is actually quite high. So “deficiency” and “blockage” are not the same thing: yang deficiency means cold all over, cool everywhere; a person with blockage has stagnant heat trapped inside — warm belly, cool arms and legs. Such a person gets irritated by sunshine — the moment the sun comes out they feel intensely uncomfortable, because the heat is trapped inside and cannot get out. Some people are cold inside but hot outside; others have hot feet, legs and arms but a cold belly. So when you see someone sleeping with their feet sticking out from under the blanket, it is not necessarily internal heat — sometimes it is blockage.

A yang-deficient person, by contrast — the whole body is cool; sunshine feels good, extra layers of clothing feel good, hot drinks feel good, hot food feels good; the moment they eat something cold they get loud diarrhea, and as soon as the belly gets chilled they feel cold pain at once and then run to the toilet. That is yang deficiency — remember this.

What does yin deficiency look like? — red tongue and fast pulse are the two most important signals

Many people today cannot recognize yin deficiency. Should a yin-deficient person blindly take tonics? No. For example, someone hears that ginseng honey slices are good (they are even linked to a Nobel Prize), so they start eating them — and it goes wrong: they get “hot,” uncomfortable. Why? Ginseng is warm in nature. Yu Ling Gao nourishes the blood, but it is slightly warm too; a yin-deficient person with heat cannot take it — it can even add fuel to the fire.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Yin deficiency is mainly judged by the tongue and the pulse. First, the tongue is red — sometimes a thin coating covers it, but the tongue body itself is red; sometimes the tongue is pointed and crimson, with no coating in places — that is classic. In daily life, if you say “I have heat inside,” well — when you are sick with an external-contraction illness, that is a transient blaze of evil heat. But if your daily life is normal, why would your tongue be so red? Apart from food stagnation and heat-dampness in the intestines, it is very often yin deficiency. Second, the pulse beats fast — you never see a yin-deficient person with a slow pulse. The pulse is thin, but beats quickly — “thin and rapid.” Sit quietly, take your pulse, and if it beats above 95 times a minute, tapping away — that is fast; calm and forceful is normal. Red tongue plus thin-and-rapid pulse — you should put a question mark: is this yin deficiency?

What else does yin deficiency show? Dry mouth and thirst, easily dry eyes — when yin is deficient, internal heat is generated; when the yin substance is insufficient, what arises is deficient fire. Yin includes fluids and blood — it leans toward that kind of liquid material foundation. When yin is depleted, the person is like a machine running dry — it emits fire: eyes feel dry and hot, and closing the eyes feels hot; mouth is dry, wanting cold drinks and cold food; appetite is actually strong, always wanting to eat more (xiao gu shan ji — “digesting grain readily and always hungry”); stools tend to be dry and bound, urine tends to be yellow; bone-steaming tidal fever — the heat seems to steam outward from inside, sometimes at fixed times, a slight fever developing every afternoon; hot palms and soles — this is written in every textbook, you must learn to recognize it. In summer heat, the palms and soles feel severely hot; but a yin-deficient person’s hands and feet are also cold in winter — because the liquid materials like fluids are insufficient, circulation is not smooth, and when the outside turns cold the body turns cold with it. Then once the weather warms up, you touch the palm and think — why is it so hot?

What to do about yin deficiency? — the Liu Wei Di Huang Wan “family”

Once you have identified yin deficiency, how do you regulate it? Nourish yin. There are a great many yin-deficient people — after the pandemic, especially many.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Can a yin-deficient person use moxibustion? You must know your constitution before you decide. Most people say yin-deficient people cannot do moxa — I asked Master Fan Changwei (Director Fan), and he said you can, the technique is just different. But that needs a teacher’s guidance; my advice is that without a teacher you should not moxa yourself randomly — if you hurt your yin afterwards, that is much worse. What do yin-deficient people use? Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill) — you can take it, no problem. The yin of the liver and kidney is the foundation; generally Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is enough. If the problem leans toward the lungs, use Mai Wei Di Huang Wan (Ophiopogon and Schisandra Rehmannia Pill); if you need to nourish blood, use Gui Shao Di Huang Wan (Angelica and Peony Rehmannia Pill); if there is heat and fire in the lower burner, you can use Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan (Anemarrhena and Phellodendron Rehmannia Pill) — you see, this whole family of Di Huang pills, each with its own emphasis, corresponds to different organs, and we have nourishing-yin options for all of them. Eye and orifice problems (dry, irritated eyes) also have their own members of the Di Huang Wan family. For heart-yin insufficiency with restlessness, there is the Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan (Heavenly King Heart-Soothing Pill) approach — we have covered all kinds of formulas. What about spleen-yin insufficiency? There is no ready-made formula; the whole learning of spleen yin has been largely lost — as I often say, to nourish spleen yin use huai yam, lotus seed meat, coix seed and euryale seed, with a bit of raw rehmannia, glehnia root and ophiopogon, plus a little shi hu (Dendrobium) — that is the spleen-yin-nourishing approach.

Here is a particularly classic case to share with you — Gong Tingxian treating the Princess of Lu: the princess’s belly was swollen severely — a drum-distension illness. By the rules you would strengthen the spleen, expel dampness and promote urination, and Gong Tingxian used the Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang (Tonify the Middle and Augment Qi Decoction) approach. But he was worried about harming yin, because this patient also had liver-yin insufficiency. What did he do? Every morning as soon as she woke, she first took Liu Wei Di Huang Wan to top up yin — because the morning is when the kidney channel is in command; during the morning she took Bu Zhong Yi Qi Wan; at noon? Things like Ba Zhen Fen (Eight-Treasure Powder) — yam and lotus seeds ground into powder and made into pastries; in the afternoon and evening, the Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang decoction again. You see, the timing of this medication was deliberate: first replenish kidney yin in the morning, then slowly tonify qi and strengthen the spleen during the day — each period of the day doing its own job.

Diet and taboos for yin deficiency: lotus root soup, duck soup, white fungus — and shi hu ultrafine powder

For yin-deficient people there are a few rules for daily care: don’t eat spicy food, don’t stay up late — sleep whenever you can; stop calculating and scheming, which drains the heart spirit and damages heart yin.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: For food therapy, you can make soups yourself. Raw rehmannia and cooked rehmannia stewed with pork ribs — I introduced this before; search and you will find it; there is a “sheng shu di dun long gu” (raw and cooked rehmannia with ribs) recipe on the public account — this nourishes yin. Get some shi hu — shi hu should be ground into powder; if you decoct it, it takes half a day and comes out sticky, but powdered it is excellent. I had my students make ultrafine powder — when I get the chance I’ll have some shi hu ultrafine powder made: add boiling water and it instantly turns into a smooth paste, and drinking it nourishes yin very effectively. The ancients called shi hu the “immortal herb” (Tie Pi Feng Dou). Where is its immortality? Right here in nourishing yin — the effect is outstanding. And lotus root — Wang Mengying talked about this: cut old lotus root and stew it until it is soft and thoroughly cooked; that soup is absolutely wonderful for nourishing spleen yin. Duck stewed in soup is also tasty; pork is fine with little seasoning; eat less beef and mutton; white fungus (tremella) is fine to eat. Conversely — if your tongue is red and you still soak astragalus in water every day, won’t you flare up? For a yin-deficient person, warming yang is “pouring oil on fire.” So yin deficiency absolutely must be identified and adjusted.

Insufficient body fluids: is that the same as yin deficiency?

After yin deficiency, there is also insufficient body fluids (jin ye) — quite a lot of people today have insufficient fluids, especially after the pandemic.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Insufficient fluids are related to yin deficiency but not identical. Fluids are part of yin; when fluids are insufficient you may show some yin-deficiency signs, but without the same degree of heat — yin deficiency overall is deficient heat, whereas a person with insufficient fluids sometimes does not feel that hot. What are the characteristics of insufficient fluids? Dryness everywhere: dry mouth, dry throat — some people spend all day moistening their throat with water; dry eyes; thirst that wants water, yet the water is not actually converted — fluids must go through transformation; merely drinking water does not work, and the dryness remains. The sinews easily develop problems: the joints and bone-connection areas are prone to trouble; easy cramping and twitching — fluids cannot nourish the sinews; muscles jump, some spot twitching on and off like a bug jumping across; eyelid twitches, facial muscle twitches. And people with insufficient fluids have scanty, yellow urine. If such a person uses moxibustion, that is disastrous — you must first replenish the fluids; even warm qi-tonics are wrong — one dose and you flare up, dry and uncomfortable.

How do you replenish fluids? One approach is sour-sweet generating yin (suan gan hua yin) — sour plum drink, wu mei (smoked plum) drink, you can have some. Medicines that replenish fluids: shi hu powder is a great one — nourishing yin and replenishing fluids usually go together. And e jiao (ass-hide glue) — it nourishes blood and replenishes fluids; it is moistening. What is e jiao especially good for? The heart — for a heart whose muscle beats erratically, tapping out of rhythm, and for skipped heartbeats. E jiao made into powder dissolves the moment you add water (in ancient times it had to be made into blocks for storage; in fact the most convenient form is powder) — you can get some and drink it. Once the fluids are gradually replenished, then do moxibustion, and only then will the channels be unobstructed — when fluids are sufficient the channels open, and when the channels open evil qi can be expelled and the garbage carried out. This is a major issue after the pandemic.

Blood stasis constitution: especially common after the pandemic

There is one more constitution you should learn to recognize: blood stasis (yu xue). After the pandemic there is a great deal of blood stasis — very, very much.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I always tell everyone: get some hawthorn berry (shan zha) and drink a bit of hawthorn juice — hawthorn helps resolve stasis. Eat some black fungus (mu er) now and then — black fungus also resolves stasis; the fungus I recommend has been carefully selected, tastes wonderful, and you can eat it like meat — better than meat. San qi powder (Panax notoginseng) — if you are getting on in years, taking it consistently will certainly benefit you — it both invigorates blood and stops bleeding: if there is bleeding it stops it, if there is blockage it opens it; you can take it long-term. And dang gui (angelica) foot soaks: boil a few slices of dang gui in water and soak your feet — it nourishes blood and frees the channels. I have also talked about Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang (Blood House Stasis-Expelling Decoction) and Tongxinluo capsules, which help with all kinds of blood stasis — if you have stasis in the head, the brain or the heart, you must resolve it through these methods. So you need to know your own constitution.

Closing: before adjusting your body, first “know yourself”

Let me summarize with one line: everyone must learn to recognize the state of their own body. Once you have identified it clearly, you can use any method to regulate it, and you will always know what you are doing.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Every method — whether a Chinese medicine formula, food therapy, a patent medicine, or any other approach — should only be applied when you know roughly the state of your own body. To recommend something blindly, in a muddle, would be absolutely unacceptable. So now we must settle our spirit and slow down the pace to adjust our bodies. We have talked for nearly thirty minutes today, so let’s stop here — today we covered yang deficiency, yin deficiency, insufficient body fluids and blood stasis; there are also heavy phlegm-dampness and constrained liver qi, which we will take up next time. Dear friends, this is the topic for the coming days. Thank you for listening, and see you next time!

Based on Doctor Luo Dalun’s health lecture. Identifying your constitution is the first lesson before tonics, moxibustion and food therapy — yang deficiency fears cold and feels cold all over, yin deficiency shows a red tongue with a thin rapid pulse, insufficient fluids bring dryness everywhere, and blood stasis must be resolved by moving it out.