Migraine Cookbook
偏頭疼食譜
Voilà! I’ve just published the ebook titled “Tame Migraine the Delicious Way“. I wrote the manuscript quite a while ago and only in the past couple years had the time to take pictures for the featured recipes. During this time, many new studies and researches have been done on migraines, but a full understanding of this disorder still eludes us. In “Tame Migraine the Delicious Way” I summarize my experience and what I have learned about this disease. An important point is that certain groups of food trigger migraines, and eliminating those foods from your diet will help prevent the onset of a migraine attack. How to make tasty dishes without calling on bacon, sausages, milk and cheese? The answer can be found in the over one hundred recipes included in this ebook, which show you how to make dishes of food that you as well as the other members of your family can enjoy. You can find this book at amazon.com and various other digital stores and read it on these devices: iPad, Kindle, Nook, Kobo and Tolino. In case you do not have any of these devices, you could still read the ebook on your PC. If you would like to know how to make a delicious Egg Flower Soup, or 蛋花汤 (dànhuātāng), you are welcome to read my blog at https://tamemigraine.wordpress.com.
The migraine disorder exhibits itself in a variety of symptoms in various parts of the body. The most prominent symptom is a throbbing, pounding headache that usually occurs on one side of the head. This is why in Chinese it is called 偏头疼 (piān tóuténg).
偏 (piān) means inclined or deviated to one side. Therefore, having a biased mind is called 偏心 (piānxīn). If the teacher favors a certain student, the other students are sure to sense it and complain amongst themselves:
老師偏心; 這不公平.
Lǎoshī piānxīn; zhè bùgōngping.
The teacher shows favoritism; it’s not fair.
The two most commonly used words for pain and aches in Chiese are 疼 (téng) and 痛 (tòng). Often these characters are combined into one word: 疼痛 (téngtòng pain, ache, soreness).
Pain can occur in different parts of your body. So, 牙痛 (yátòng) is a toothache. 头疼 (tóuténg) or 头痛 (tóutòng) is having a headache, and 脚痛 (jiǎo tòng) ) means the foot hurts. And 头痛医头, 脚痛医脚. (Tóutòngyītóujiǎotòngyījiǎo.) means to treat the symptoms but not the illness, i.e. not getting to the root cause of a problem.
Same as with English, 头疼 (tóuténg) and 头痛 (tóutòng) can also refer to a figurative headache.
這真是一件令人头痛的事.
Zhè zhēnshì yī jiàn lìngrén tóutòng de shì.
This is truly a bothersome matter.
If you have a health problem with your heart, and you feel pain in the chest, you would say, “我心脏痛. (Wǒ xīnzàng tòng.” or “我胸口疼. (Wǒ xiōngkǒu téng.)”
On the other hand, if you love a child dearly, if you feel discressed, or if you feel sorry for someone, you would use the word 心疼 (xīnténg). For example,
她最心疼她的大女儿.
Tā zuì xīnténg tā de dà nǚ’ér.
She loves her oldest daughter the most.
Another way to say it is:
她最疼愛她的大女儿.
Tā zuì téng’ai tā de dà nǚ’ér.
She loves her oldest daughter the most.
他的儿子不愿继承他的事业; 他万分心疼.
Tā de érzi bù yuàn jìchéng tā de shìyè; tā wànfēn xīnténg.
His son is unwilling to carry on his enterprise; he is extremely distressed.
In this sense, 心疼 (xīnténg) is equivalent to 痛苦 (tòngkǔ to feel pain or agony).
他忘掉了以往痛苦的日子.
Tā wàngdiào le yǐwǎng tòngkǔ de rìzi.
He forgot those painful days in the past.
他陷入无限的痛苦之中.
Tā xiànrù wúxiàn de tòngkǔ zhī zhòng.
He fell into a pit of infinite suffering.
悲痛 (bēitòng) means grief, grieved, sorrow or sorrowful.
忍痛 (rěntóng) means to endure pain. Figuratively it meas to do something very reluctantly.
The word 痛 (tòng) also serves as the abbreviation for 痛快 (tòngkuài), which means straightforward, to one’s heart’s content or to one’s great satisfaction. Therefore, 痛斥 (tòngchì) means to chide bitterly, and 痛哭 (tòngkū) is to wail or cry one’s heart out. In these cases, 痛 (tòng) is not directly associated with pain.
我們到了台北之後, 要痛快地吃一頓.
Wǒmén dàole Táiběi zhīhòu, yào tòngkuài de chī yī dùn.
When we get to Taipei, we are determined to have a hearty feast.
As for “pain” in the sense of “effort”, the Chinese word is 努力 (nǔlì), and not 痛 (tòng). This is how you would say “No pain, no gain” in Chinese:
一分耕耘一分收获.
Yī fēn gēngyún yī fēn shōuhuò.
耕耘 (gēngyún) is to cultivate the field by ploughing and weeding. 收获 (shōuhuò) is to gather in the crop. Therefore, one is expected to harvest or profit in proportion to the effort one has put in.
Learn Chinese Weekly 
Recent Comments