what does your tongue tell you about your health?

23 Sep what does your tongue tell you about your health?

When I lived in a presbytery in Sydney town, a naturopath I was living with, said that the areas of your tongue correspond to various parts of your digestive system.

Map of the tongue

The chinese medicine profession has developed a map of areas of the tongue, which is fascinating. The tip is supposed to relate to the lungs and heart, and the middle relates to your stomach and spleen, the back to your kidneys and urinary tract. The sides relate to your liver.

The naturopath I was originally talking to, said that the tip was the top of your digestive system.

Is your tongue coated?

The interesting thing, is that your tongue is supposed to be slightly coated, but you should be able to see the tongue through this coating. I am glad I read up on this, because the psyllium that I have been taking (1 tbsp before breakfast smoothie, not 3 tbsp as mentioned earlier!) has been having an effect on my tongue.

Diagnosis through looking at the tongue

There is this fascinating Chinese medicine site that allows you to input different variations of the colour and texture of your tongue, and it will tell you what might be happening inside your body.

It is true, that even conventional medical doctors use the tongue as a diagnostic tool, and naturopaths especially. What got me thinking about it was the book on the liver cleansing diet which said that if you had a coated tongue, this might be a result of a sluggish liver.

Tongue without a coating

The thing is though, that your tongue should have some coating, a light moist coating, because if it does not, it could indicate that the appropriate organs are being over taxed inside.

I suspected that psyllium, as it cleans out my lower digestive system is indeed removing some of the crap from the walls of my lower intestine, and it is creating a clearer coating on my tongue. Although I do not have a coating on the tip of my tongue, so I should give up smoking, **of course!! Soon!

Thick coating of the tongue

A very coated tongue could mean that you have a fungal infection like candida, or thrush, or that you are ‘damp’ inside – so says the chinese medicine site.

Fascinating stuff, and not what I expected! I thought that the tongue should not be coated at all.

I know one thing, this psyllium has made me hungry all the time. I am not sure what it is! Ravenous 🙂

How are you? 🙂