Defensive Qi – What's that?

Defensive Qi (vital energy) within your body can become depleted during winter illness. The end of winter is a good time to restore your Defensive Qi and head into spring with your best foot forward. Maintaining good health can be a dance of push and pull. In Chinese herbal medicine a cold or flu is initiated by pathogenic Qi, a force that follows the penetrating cold into the body to spark an illness. Your Defensive Qi  (vital energy) however, is poised ready to resist infection and ‘push back’ to protect you from getting sick.

Turning up the heat

During winter you can help keep pathogenic Qi at bay by ensuring your internal warmth is strong; wearing your winter woollies, enjoying hearty warm winter foods and incorporating herbs and spices that fan your internal furnace and support healthy circulation such as ginger and black pepper.

Time to rebuild

Defensive Qi can become depleted during a winter illness, increasing susceptibility to repeat infections and exhaustion. Strong Defensive Qi however, increases your resistance to getting a cold, and restores your reserves after a cold to enhance your recovery, so you are ready to respond to a potential future illness. The end of winter is a good time to restore your Defensive Qi, and here’s how…

Herbs to replenish Defensive Qi

Chinese herbs, known as ‘immune restoratives’ can help replenish Defensive Qi. They are also known to help restore a healthy immune system and assist recovery from colds, flu, and minor infection. The ‘immune restorative’ herbs in Fusion® Health Astra 8 Immune Tonic support healthy immune system recovery during convalescence and restore depleted white blood cells after an infection;

• Astragalus membranaceus
• Codonopsis pilosula
• Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi)
• Eleutherococcus senticosus (Siberian Ginseng)
• Atractylodes macrocephala
• Ligustrum lucidum
• Schisandra chinensis
• Glycyrrhiza uralensis (Licorice)

Mr Vitamins recommends

Fusion Health® Astra 8™ Immune Tonic (now extra strength!). Find out more about Fusion Health® Astra 8™ Immune Tonic here As always, whatever questions or concerns you have about your health this winter, all you have to do is drop by Mr Vitamins and ‘Ask a Naturopath’.