Spleen Health and Function: 60 Ways to Support a Healthy Spleen
Your beautiful, useful, little spleen is a vital organ found under the ribcage, in the upper left part of your abdomen. According to Western Medicine, your spleen is the largest organ in the lymphatic system, making spleen health crucial. It is sister to your tonsils, adenoids, and thymus. Helpful to your digestion and immune system, your spleen is like a youth hostel for the different aspects of your blood.
Your lymphatic system is a compilation of tissues and organs that rid your body of waste, toxins, and other non-beneficial materials. Your “lymph” is a powerful fluid that contains white blood cells, the little warriors that fight infections. According to Western Medicine, the spleen keeps your bodily fluids in balance, yet it is possible to live without it. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers similar ideas, yet expands upon these premises.
There are many similarities between the attributes of Western Medicine and TCM perspectives. Rather than distill each as a separate pathway to spleen vitality, I’ve combined most of their similarities and offer suggestions on dietary and behavioral changes in support of your spleen’s health.
In all things related to your health, seek forward-thinking doctors, D.O.s, and naturopathic practitioners to advance your health and well-being.
What Is the Spleen’s Function?
As a filter for blood, and a hunter of harmful bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms, the spleen is vital to your health and immune system. While the spleen stores platelets (thrombocyte) and white blood cells, it also recycles your old and tired red blood cells. TCM dives a little deeper into the value and functions of the spleen, thereby giving us a broader, more specific, and more relatable picture.
How to Strengthen Your Spleen?
In TCM, your spleen does not have the same definition that you’ll find in Western medicine, although both schools of thought appear to be more aligned than opposed. If we extrapolate from both methodologies, the spleen seems to be at least a vital partner to the stomach, and does the following:
Location of the spleen
- Digests information and environmental stimulus
- Assists in the digestion of food and converting it to energy
- Controls the blood
- Controls the muscles and the four limbs
- Influences transformation and transportation
- Connects with the lips and mouth
- Associates with enthusiasm, sadness, and worry
- Participates in digestive processes
- Houses the spirit and intellect
- Influences emotions
- Affects our minds and houses our thinking processes
- Controls our increasing energy (Qi)
- Provides warmth and vitality
In a society overloaded with messages and stimuli, our spleens tend to suffer. But through right-action, we can nurture our spleens into abundant health.
The spleen is akin to the Earth element and loves Summer through early Fall. Its Ayurvedic dosha is Kapha, which tends to be slow, conscious, thoughtful, careful, and grounded. When we allow ourselves to adopt some of these Kapha attributes during the Summer and Fall, we feed, heal, and nurture our spleens. To increase enthusiasm and positivity, consider researching Pitta Aggravated diets.
Sadly, given how overworked our minds, bodies, and lives are, most spleens are not always in balance. In TCM, the condition is called, “Spleen Qi Deficiency,” and it’s characterized by sadness, loose stools, fatigue, confusion, feelings of being overwhelmed, decreased vitality, weakened immunity, poor digestion, and feelings of defeat.
But wait, there’s more! You can protect your spleen’s health with just a few simple changes in diet and behavior. You’ll find 60 total ways to support your spleen within this article. Try these on for size:
- Avoid cold drinks and ice in your beverages
- Honor and express your emotions, especially sadness
- Be mindful about your schedule and related stressors
- Be careful when taking on new projects
- Chew your food slowly and thoroughly
- Eat warm, veggie-abundant soups and broths
- Take breaks
- Pause activities and thinking often
- Try acupuncture and acupressure
- Laugh to open the heart, and release tension and toxins
- Pray to inspire hopefulness and positivity
- Meditate to reduce worry, anxiety, or overthinking
- Seek ways to “get over yourself” and reduce negative attitudes
- Fake happiness until you embody aspects of happiness
- Cuddle your loved-ones often
Foods That Support Your Spleen
Whether coming from Western Medicine or TCM, everybody seems to agree: Eating five small meals per day is healthier than eating three large meals, and adding spleen-friendly foods to your diet can turn your spleen into a heroic warrior.
Spleen aficionados suggest these foods for improving your spleen’s health:
- Winter squash, carrot, rutabaga, parsnip, turnip, sweet potato, yam, pumpkin
- Legumes like garbanzo beans, kidney beans, adzuki beans, lentils, black beans, and peas
- Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds
- Seaweed and kelp
- Green tea, jasmine tea, raspberry leaf tea, chai tea
- Walnuts, chestnuts, pine nuts, pistachios
- Aloe vera gel and juice
- Grapes
- Pomegranates
- Ginger, pepper, cardamom, onions, garlic, cinnamon, clove, fennel, rosemary, sage, turmeric, thyme, horseradish, cayenne, and nutmeg
- Instead of heavy sweets, try these less aggressive sweeteners to your diet: cooked fruits, rice syrup, barley malt, molasses, and stewed cherries
- Add a little protein to every meal
- Add a little bit of organic beef or bison to your weekly diet
Foods to Avoid Consuming for a Healthy Spleen
While many of these removal suggestions are helpful to your overall health, it is particularly beneficial for your spleen to limit:
- Cold, raw, and frozen foods
- Ice in your drinks
- Dairy
- Wheat
- Processed foods and refined flour
- Refined sugar
- Coffee
- Alcohol
- Peanuts and products like peanut butter
- Cucumber
- Winter melon
- Grapefruit
- Lettuce
- Bananas
- Avocados
Depiction of the lymphatic system
How Do You Check Your Spleen?
Your doctor and your Ayurvedic and TCM practitioners will check to see if your spleen is enlarged during your next physical exam. By gently pressing on your upper left abdomen, your practitioner can learn a lot about your spleen. Your doctor might also suggest imaging and blood tests to help identify the causes of your enlarged or inflamed spleen.
Ayurvedic practitioners will check the pulse of the spleen, along with the pulses of other vital and symbiotic organs. As one of Earth’s oldest medical sciences, including Ayurvedic methodologies, can provide a wealth of information. The more informed we are, the better decisions we’ll make, especially when trying to improve our physical health and emotional well-being.
Each of Western, Chinese, and Ayurvedic disciplines will help you nurture your spleen back to a blissful state.
Causes of Weak Spleen and Problematic Symptoms
According to Western science, many conditions can cause an enlarged spleen. These include a variety of infections, Parasites, Anemia, Leukemia, Hepatitis, Jaundice, Malaria, Liver disease, and some Cancers. Some of the symptoms of a weak spleen might include:
- Pain in the upper left abdomen
- Pain or discomfort in the left shoulder
- Feeling full without eating
- Fatigue
- Frequent infections
- Bloating and gas
- Weak limbs
- Little desire to speak
- Prolonged headache
- Dizziness
- Tired eyes
Spleen Herbs and Supplements
The company Standard Process has several products that help the immune system. They also sell excellent products directed at the spleen, most notably, “Spleen Desiccated.” These types of products are finding their ways into western medical research and are showing encouraging outcomes when compared to pharmaceuticals and other types of supplements. Consider researching bovine and porcine concentrated, desiccated spleen extracts to improve the health of your spleen.
Other supplements include products directed at the adrenals, thymus, Qi, and reducing stress. Consider that when the liver is overburdened, the spleen is under excess pressure to perform. You’ll find that liver supplements and trace minerals might also be beneficial to your spleen.
Traditional Chinese Medicine tells us that the following herbs can be helpful to your spleen:
- Astragalus (黄芪)
- Ginseng (人参)
- Codonopsis (丹参)
- Chinese Yam (Huai Shan)
- White Atractylodes ( 白术)
- Licorice (甘草)
Naturopathic doctors might also encourage you to incorporate herbs such as Dandelion, New Jersey Tea, Barberry, and Iris into your health strategy.
While every instance of a weak spleen might require an individual regiment, the Ayurvedic supplements that might support your spleen, include:
- Ashwagandha
- Turmeric
- Holy Basil
- Gotu Kola
- Shilajit
- Brahmi
- Trikatu
- Triphala
- Sandalwood
- Cordyceps
- Cloves Bud
- Amla Fruit
Each of us has a unique set of emotions, environmental influences, and karmic attributes that filter through our spirits and physical bodies. When seeking improvements to our health and well-being, it’s beneficial to do lots of research and invite the counsel of medical, healing, and spiritual professionals.
While TCM, Western Medicine, and Ayurvedic Medicine each offer unique perspectives, the best solution is the one that works for you. Research each of the pathways outlined here to find the solution that brings you the most vitality and vibrancy. You might find that a combination of these methodologies to be your most successful pathway to an empowered spleen and abundant health.
About the Author
Naturopathic Medicine: The Therapeutic Order
Naturopathic doctors seek to heal the whole being. Rather than medical doctors who look at symptoms (pathology) and treat and prescribe the problem to force healing to occur, naturopathic medicine seeks to find natural balances to bring the body back to wholeness with gentle support.
The most basic tenant of naturopathic medicine is that healing is available within.
When we pay attention to our bodies and shift our way of life to support these most natural functions, the body will heal itself. The Earth around us is in harmony and we can use the elements – air, sun, food and herbs – to gain internal symbiosis. Contemplating the totality of the being, psychology and spirit may also play a part. Invasive treatments are the last resort and every effort is offered to support the internal wellness of the human system.
Principles of Naturopathic Medicine
Every ounce as valuable as medical doctors, Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) adhere to a strict code which differentiates them greatly from their pharmaceutical and surgery-seeking counterparts:
- Do no harm
- Treat the whole person
- Prevent disease
- Doctor as teacher
- Support the body
- Treat the cause
Beyond this alternative view of illness and disease is wellness. Health is the perfect state and every effort must be made to bring people back to their optimum alignment. The restoration of health is the goal, not treating symptoms alone.
If we can look at the symptoms – see what the disruption is to health and address those imbalances – we are empowered to restore well-being. Terminal and chronic conditions appear only when this disruption of ideal wellness is prolonged.
A client of mine once had liver cancer. Her prognosis was bleak but she was unwilling to give up alcohol to save her life. From a medical perspective, chemo and radiation were the only way to go. A naturopathic doctor instead may look at the underlying emotions which created this devotion to her addiction. Of course, the patient must be willing to seek help and be ready to address the changes necessary. Free will is key and doctors, no matter what their leanings, cannot save those who do not make their own well-being a priority. For my client, her comfort was more important than fighting for a life that had been filled with strife. Rather than impose our own fears, we can instead provide a space of respectful loving confidence in her decision and ease the end of life process.
The Therapeutic Order
The Therapeutic Order provides guidelines for NDs to make decisions to treat patients that are in alignment with the philosophical considerations of this natural model of care. It represents a hierarchy of elevation to treat in the least invasive and most supportive ways and avoid excessive procedures.
Remove Obstacles to Health
The first consideration is the optimum health of the patient. What are the circumstances or behaviors that are obstructing health and happiness? If we remove the obstacles to health, the body will restore on its own. Such inquires as nutrition, sleep, stress, spiritual practices and time in nature are the first step. When we can sustain happiness in a patient, they are well on their way to health.
Stimulate Life Force Energy
Life force energy is crucial to well-being. Prana must flow to enliven the organism and stimulate the energy centers which sustain life. After prolonged periods of dis-ease, the energy becomes stuck.
Many ancient practices understand the necessity for flowing prana and have sophisticated systems to address stimulation of the life force. These include acupuncture, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, yoga and spiritual endeavors like journaling, prayer and mediation. Any combination of these modalities may be offered to support the return to wellness.
Strengthen the Weakened Systems
While doctors may start treatment at this stage, this is where the body can begin to reveal that which is deeply compromised. NDs instead witness the affects of lesser modalities and the body illuminates where true support is needed. By addressing what is unable to restore itself, vitamins, minerals, fish oils, probiotics and holistic treatments may offer significant benefit.
This is often a desperate space for patients and it is where they begin to seek drastic intervention for the prolonged discomfort. By building upon life force energy and honoring what is working, suggestions are offered to strengthen the true depletion.
Correct Structural Integrity
As the issues at the organic and glandular system are soothed, it is the spinal and muscular system which require attention. Proper alignment brings the body into balance and can be achieved through massage, exercise, chiropractic care and stretching.
A compromised spine will block the flow of prana and affects every system in the body. Spinal Health is a cornerstone of yogic practices and fundamental to support the harmonious integrity of the soul in physical form.
Natural Substances to Control Symptoms
When required, vitamins and minerals may be the next step to restore wellness. Cautious efforts are considered and natural remedies are employed, as to not overtax the recuperating body system.
Use Pharmaceuticals to Control Symptoms
When the foundations of the Therapeutic Order stall, it might be beneficial to consider pharmaceuticals. Note: not all NDs may prescribe and each law varies by state.
Patients will often need to be referred to a medical doctor who can treat them with access to chemical remedies. In many cases, an ND can work with the medical doctor to ensure all aspects of care are being honored.
Use High Force Interventions
At this last stage, all other avenues to natural care have been exhausted and invasive interventions may provide the only relief. Terminal conditions and severe chronic pain are most common when this drastic step is the best outcome.
This resort recognizes the body cannot be wholly restored unless something is removed– surgery, lasers or chemo– to kill off the affliction in the sincere hopes that with its removal, wellness can be discovered. Patients can be supported naturopathically as they undergo these treatments and its continuance will contribute to prolonged wellness and self-care.
It is heartening to remember ways to empower our own health and to seek alternatives to the reliance on the current medical model.
Naturopathic doctors are in place to bring us back to these places of well-being with gentle support to heal ourselves. It is up to us to take the steps toward self-love that creates a resonance within for this healing to occur. There is no quick fix or magic pill, as all challenges are those which encourage our Ascension.
