Acupuncturist
What does your tongue say about you?
How many times have you stuck out your tongue in the mirror and was curious about what was reflected back? I’m sure most of us have curiously looked at our tongue at least once and thought, “Hmm, that’s weird”. However strange it might seem at times, this mighty muscular organ is actually quite essential to daily life. The tongue allows us to properly chew and swallow our food, enables us to experience all the wonderful flavours of the food and drinks that we consume, and maybe most importantly, gives us the gift of speech. With all the varied roles that tongues have, the appearances of our tongues can be just as varied. Tongues are like snowflakes, every one of them is different. The tongue size, body shape, colour, and coating will vary from person to person. You may have noticed that the appearance of your tongue can change day by day.
There are many factors that can change the appearance of one’s tongue.
- The food and drinks you consume, such as consuming coloured drinks or spicy foods may change the colour of your tongue.
- Lifestyle choices that you make can also affect how your tongue will appear.
- Your dental hygiene habits
- Use of illegal or prescription drugs, whether you smoke,
- Your nutritional status
But does the appearance of your tongue have any deeper meaning?
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the tongue is seen and used as a vital window into the body. This window can give us information to the health status of an individual, and is often used as one of the main instruments of diagnostics. When a TCM practitioner is looking at your tongue, what we are looking for are the characteristics of the shape, size, and colour of the tongue body, its movement, and for the presence or absence of a coating. Every one of these traits can relay us information as to the status of your present health condition. In the hopes of keeping things simple and concise, I will attempt to teach you the basic language of your tongue. So the next time you’re looking in the mirror, you might be able to hear what your tongue is trying to tell you.
Size and Shape of Tongue
When looking at the tongue body, I am looking for the size, shape and colour. A large, swollen, or puffy tongue is usually indicating that the body is accumulating too much excess (something we call “dampness”). When you have a tongue manifesting this way, I will have a good look at your diet. A common cause of this type of tongue is a poor diet due to overconsumption of foods that are high in refined sugars, salt, and poor quality fats. One would want to try to bring moderation to their diet and focus on foods such as
- Whole Grains
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Nuts/Seeds
- Beans and Legumes
- Herbs/Spices
- Emphasis on warm temperature food and drinks, preparing and cooking foods, and limiting the consumption of raw/cold foods and beverages
- Resting while eating
Colour of the Tongue
Red
In addition to the size and shape of the body, I am also interested in the colour of the tongue. The ideal tongue colour would be a pinky-red tone. If a tongue is manifesting more of a reddish colour, I would view this as the body having too much heat. This heat is often something you can’t measure with a thermometer or sometimes even feel, it is more of a hot type of energy residing in the body. The heat may be originating from internal and or external sources. Regardless of the source, I would again want to bring moderation to your diet and lifestyle. Below are some tips I recommend you to follow:
- Taking care of your mental health
- Practicing healthy stress management practices
- Limiting or avoiding spicy or hot-natured food and drinks
- Limiting or avoiding alcohol
Pale
On the other end of the spectrum, if a tongue is manifesting with a pale complexion, we often attribute that to a deficiency of good stuff (such as qi and blood). This tongue may also present with a thin or smaller body as well. To counter this deficiency, I would want to take steps to begin to replenish the good. Here are a few steps I would recommend you to take:
- Emphasis on a healthy and balanced, whole-food diet
- Balance between work and play
- Stress management
- Making sleep a priority
- Moderate exercise regimen
- Deep breathing
- Maintaining adequate iron levels
Coating
The presence of a thick coating has a very similar meaning to the presence of a large, swollen or puffy tongue body. There is too much excess being accumulated. One would again have a look at their diet and lifestyle and attempt to bring moderation and balance back to it by:
- A balanced diet composed of whole grains, nuts/seeds, fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, herbs and spices
- Relaxing while eating
- Stress management
- If the tongue coating has a yellow tinge, focusing on cooler foods such as fruits and vegetables and limit warm or hot natured foods such as herbs, spices and meats
- If the tongue coating is white, one may want to incorporate more warming food preparation methods and foods, such as herbs, spices, roasting and sautéing
As we can see there is a lot your tongue is trying to tell you. This has been a very general overview and the recommendations suggested in this article may not be applicable to every case. It is most beneficial to have a trained practitioner analyze your tongue, so the correct message is relayed and the appropriate steps are taken. If you are curious about what your tongue is trying to tell and and what some other steps could be taken to correct your imbalances, please reach out to licensed Acupuncturist or TCM Practitioner.
