Due to faulty diet, over-taxation, too much thinking and worry, and too little exercise, many Westerners suffer from spleen vacuity. Because the spleen is in charge of the movement and transformation of water fluids in the body, spleen vacuity is commonly complicated by dampness. If dampness lingers and endures, it may further congeal into phlegm. Since yang is nothing other than an accumulation of qi, spleen qi vacuity may also include an element of vacuity cold as well as dampness. When the spleen becomes vacuous and weak, the stomach does not always follow suit, and especially not in Westerners.
Westerners eat a diet that is high in fats and oils.
Fats and oils create dampness, but they also engender heat. In addition, Westerners consume a lot of chilled, iced, and frozen foods and drinks. The cold nature of these foods damages the spleen, tending to make the spleen cold and damp, but the ingestion of cold, chilled, iced, and frozen foods often paradoxically results in the stomach becoming hot. They first become flushed red. It is only much later when freezing cold leads to the pallor preceding and accompanying frostbite.