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Tongue Diagnosis and The Right Supplements
I always look at my clients tongues. It says much about their digestion and overall health. For this post I want to talk about one of the more common supplement mistakes I see people make, and how to avoid it with some simple tongue analysis.
Tongue with excess pitta in stomach
Look at the tongue in image above. Does it look normal, or do you see signs of poor health?
The first thing I notice is the tip. It is a much darker red than the rest of tongue. To keep things simple, the middle of the tongue relates to the stomach and back lower digestive system. The dark red color shows the girl likely has heat in her stomach.
I often use concepts from Ayurveda medicine for tongue diagnosis. Red area or spots on the tongue typically show pitta. This is excessive heat or activity. So we can already see that there is a pitta imbalance and location in the stomach.
For some people, pitta may show as redness all over the tongue. Other case may have red spots, which can point to infection or inflamed tissue.
Since this is from a child, the disturbance is not yet too bad. It is just showing on the front part of the tongue. At this point, dietary changes may be all she needs to correct the problem.
The back of her tongue seems to have some red spots. This can be inflammation in the kidneys, bladder or intestines. Notice the grey coating on the latter back of tongue. This typically points to congestion in the lower GI system.
So we can see just based on this tongue analysis the girl has a pitta imbalance, effecting probably the stomach and stagnation in the lower GI system.
Ayurvedic tongue diagnosis - more specific than "leaky gut"
Natural experts in the west often refer to toxins in the gut, which can get absorbed and cause symptoms as “leaky gut.” This is actually not a new concept at all. In Ayurvedic medicine they have a term called ama. This is toxins from undigested food that sits in the gut, leaks into the body, and causes illness.
This is really the same concept as “leaky gut syndrome.” We can say the girl has toxins in her gut, or ama. It doesn’t matter.
One advantage that ayurveda dose have, is typing individuals according to constitution instead of just telling everyone to do the same thing.
From a Western “leaky gut” perspective either oregano oil, or a concentrated garlic supplement to kill the bad guys like Candida, that feed off of toxins (ama) makes sense. As far as supplements for the digestive system, oregano oil is probably the most common self prescribed supplement I see people using after probiotics.
This model is not as holistic as people like to think. Treating “leaky gut,” is not treating the whole person.
People with excessive heat in their digestive systems, as can be seen in their bright red tongues do not benefit from fistfuls of hot, caustic herbs. It may kill off some Candida, but in the long run it does not correct the environment that allowed those bad guys to grow. Seeing hot, pitta types consuming excessive amounts of hot, burning herbs for their digestive issues is one of the most common supplement mistakes I see people make.
Using tongue analysis and some basic concepts from Ayurveda we can shift from treating leaky gut, to treating the person. Dietary changes and herbs that correct the pitta imbalance will go a lot further to restore health than a one size fits all leaky gut protocol.
Tongue diagnosis shows constitutional differences
This above photo shows two tongues side by side.
The tongue on the left is damp and enlarged. In ayurveda terms this is kapha.
The right one is covered with red dots, showing heat and inflammation. A crack in developing down the middle, which is dryness. In Ayurveda terms we see pitta (heat, inflammation) and vata (dryness) on the tongue. In this we can see how tongue diagnosis helps guide natural treatment towards the whole person.
These two women may look the same. However, constitutionally they are different. Foods or herbs that work well for one of them, may not be that good for the other.