Today we have Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Doctor Tanya Gee answering some much needed questions on diet and beauty during the holiday season. Learn how you can support your digestion and still enjoy quality family time in our interview with Dr. Gee.

Sara: From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, what can one do to support their digestion during the holiday season?

Dr. Gee: In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we always suggest a few things, one of them is not to drink fluids with your meals because it dilutes the digestive enzymes that your body is trying to produce to break down the foods. So we always suggest to keep that separate.

So, eat your food and then drink later, but not before.

Another thing we suggest is to minimize your cold foods, like raw foods, and cold drinks down to a minimum. We don’t really recommend it for the winter time because we believe that the body has to work really hard to warm up whatever you’re drinking or eating to make it acceptable to the body, because the body is really warm and hot in the middle and in the core, right?

So, it’s a waste of energy, we feel, if you’re going to eat those things and drink those things, especially during the winter when we’re trying so hard to stay warm. 

If we lived in the tropics, where it’s hot all the time, we could drink more colder beverages or raw foods then our bodies will be able to digest it very quickly because we don’t have to work as hard to keep our bodies so hot because our bodies are already warm in that tropical weather. Here, it’s cold, it’s very cold, so our bodies are working really hard.

So, that’s why right now stews, hot foods, cooked foods, hot beverages and teas, those are more important. 

The other thing is chewing. If you really focus on chewing your food, then the body doesn’t have to work so hard to break it down. 

You know what happens at Christmas time? We start drinking before the meal even gets there and then the meal gets there and it’s done in 15 minutes. Whoever is cooking the turkey spent all day to cook it and we finish it off in 15 minutes? I say draw it out. Take your time. Chew thoroughly and enjoy the food.

As far as the sweets are concerned, again, keep it to a minimum. For example, don’t go for the big fist sized piece of pie, have less. The high sugar content is really hard on your pancreas, so we always say consume minimal sugar.

Enjoy the family atmosphere. Be present to the conversation and company. The Buddhists always say: “Be here now.” Enjoy the moment with the family, that’s more important than the food.

Sara: What is it that you love most about Amaterasu products?

Dr. Gee: I’m going to tell you a funny story. The funny story is this, I’ve been using Amaterasu since 2008, when it used to be called Geisha Ink. 

Long story short, I discovered the Ultra Volume Mascara at Beauty Bar and fell in love with it  because it made my Asian lashes more voluminous and long, and I could remove it with just warm water. Also, it didn’t smudge and it was made in Japan - in my mind this meant it HAD to be fantastic. 

So, I used it for all those years and then I tried many times to find the wholesaler to get it and I couldn’t ever find it. If you know me, you know I never want to pay retail for anything.

Cut to, many years later I have a new patient on the table and she tells me she’s a Beauty Line Creator who tells me she has a line of makeup from Japan. 

I said, ‘I use this mascara from Japan’ and I said I love it and I said it’s called Geisha Ink. I go, it’s the best mascara I’ve ever used in my life.

And she goes, that’s my makeup! And I said ‘shut up!’ And she’s like ‘no kidding!’

I never tried the Massive Length Mascara and now I’m in love with it too! I apply the Massive Length first and then I apply the Ultra Volume second. Asian people have shorter eyelashes, so we do crazy things to make them look bigger and I don’t want to use false eyelashes. This mascara gives me amazing long lashes without having to do fake ones! 

Sara: What does empowering beauty everywhere mean to you?

Dr. Gee: You know, besides having beautiful lashes (because that’s a great thing) I’m sure I’m not the only one who says this: beauty comes from your self confidence, and I’m not talking about arrogance. I’m talking about that quiet, gentle self confidence that comes from knowing that A) we are always okay, B) everything’s going to be okay and C) we have the power to get through and be resilient in life, because we have a human spirit. The human spirit is infallible, that’s what I believe in.

So, inner beauty is a radiance that comes from the innermost aspect of your heart. There’s a spiritual term for it, that’s called the inner being that resides in the heart of your hearts. That is your all knowing, your immortal self, that’s connected to divinity, that shines so bright and that radiance flows from the inside out and it beams through your eyes, it beams through the way your speak, it beams through the way you hold yourself.

And, again, that comes from a level of self confidence of knowing. 

So we are a spirit residing in this beautiful, physical temple and we are so connected to divinity, never, never not connected to divinity. This is what gives us true beauty.

We'd like to thank Dr. Gee for taking the time out of her very busy schedule to speak with us. We hope Dr. Gee's suggestions will help and benefit you during the holiday season this year. 

Every woman can be an inspiration to others. The wisdom that each woman owns instead her heart offers the ability to create change around her. Shine bright and will confident with our products such as our best selling 24 hour Liquid Eyeliner, non-smudge Eye Pencils, sweatproof Brow Liners and flake proof Mascaras are here to help women everywhere look her part.  View the best liquid eyeliner on the market. 

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