Part 6: The Kidney-Bladder Dominant Types: When Summer Weakens You

This question reveals a key insight from Eight-Constitution Medicine (ECM): some constitutions naturally require more warmth to maintain health, even during hot weather.

Kidney and Bladder Dominant Types

In ECM, two constitutional types exhibit naturally strong kidney-bladder systems:

Renotonia: kidneys and bladder are proportionally strong
Vesicotonia: bladder and kidneys are proportionally strong

While having strong elimination and filtration organs might seem advantageous, these types have naturally weaker stomach and pancreas systems which can be easily disturbed by cold foods, cold drinks, and excessive cold in the environment. This creates the harmful 'over-imbalance' we discussed in Part 2.

Common Traits

• Calm with few mistakes, cool-headed, excelling in tasks requiring sensitivity and meticulousness
• Gentle, quiet, often good listeners with emotional steadiness
• Naturally sweat very little when healthy—but sweat easily when weakened
• Frequently feel worse in summer, better during cooler months
• Experience bloating, discomfort or fatigue after cold drink and raw foods
• May have cold hands and feet despite normal body temperature

When Renotonias and Vesicotonias consume cold foods and drinks or engage in activities that cause excessive sweating, what others experience as refreshing can trigger digestive distress, fatigue, and systemic imbalance. The body is sending important signals about constitutional needs.

Foods and Habits That Can Harm

Examples that weaken the already fragile digestive system:

• Pork, oyster, shellfish
• barley, red beans
• Banana, cranberries, raspberries, persimmon, pineapple
• Raw vegetables, cold dishes
• Cold drinks, iced coffee, cold smoothies

Beneficial Foods and Habits

Examples that help warm and strengthen the digestive system while supporting energy balance:

• Chicken, duck and poultry, lamb, goat
• Rice, brown rice, corn, beans, nuts, tofu
• Warming spices: ginger, cinnamon, chili, turmeric, black pepper
• Potato, sweet potato, taro, green vegetables, spinach, avocado, tomato
• Apples, oranges, citrus fruits, mango, peach, plum, grape

Lifestyle Tips

• Avoid overeating—small, frequent warm meals are best
• In hot weather, keep your environment cool but your body warm inside
• Stay away from ice and extremely cold foods, even in summer
• Avoid excessive sweating inducing activities (sauna, intense cardio exercises) and engage in moderate exercise

Conditions to Watch For

• Cardiovascular disease, cold extremities, poor circulation, dermatitis
• Chronic indigestion, constipation, loose stool, low appetite, weak digestion
• Chronic fatigue, especially after eating or in hot weather
• Neurotic disorders, depression, dysautonomia

The conventional wisdom that cooling foods and cold drinks are universally refreshing and beneficial in hot weather doesn't apply to everyone. For example, the popular smoothies and iced drinks in summer can be particularly detrimental to these types.

For kidney-bladder dominant constitutions, warming foods and protecting the digestive system from cold can function as medicine, while seemingly refreshing cold foods and drinks may trigger both digestive distress and systemic imbalance.

For more details, please visit the official Eight-Constitution Medicine website here:
Renotonia Constitution
Vesicotonia Constitution

Disclaimer
The above descriptions reflect general tendencies for the constitutional types and do not represent absolute or fixed characteristics.