Not Everyone Needs Turmeric: Why “One-Size-Fits-All” Wellness Can Sometimes Make Us Feel Worse
By Lulu Ge, the founder and CEO of Elix, the first modern wellness platform to combine Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with clinical research to support whole-body health.
About a decade ago, I first fell for the turmeric trend. You know the one: golden lattes glowing on Instagram and promises of anti-inflammatory magic in every spoonful. At the time, I was navigating hormonal imbalances, fatigue, and digestive issues, and like so many others, I was searching for something (anything) that could help me feel better.
But a few weeks into my daily turmeric ritual, I noticed everything was off: I felt more irritable. My mood swung unpredictably. I struggled to sleep, my digestion stalled, and I found myself stuck in loops of overthinking and rumination. Instead of relief, I felt worse—physically, emotionally, energetically.
It wasn’t until about a year later, when I returned to my roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, that I understood what was happening.
I grew up in a Chinese household where healing was 'food as thy medicine' and prescribed not in pills, but in seasonal soups, medicinal teas, and concentrated herbal formulas tailored to how you were feeling and what your body needed that day.
My grandfather ran a hospital in Hunan, China. Growing up, he and my grandmother taught us that true health comes from metabolizing the right nourishment coupled with activity and rest, not Band-Aid quick fixes. They always talked about how every decision you make in your day-to-day and especially the foods you consume could either bring you into balance or push you further out of it.
TCM has been practiced for over 5,000 years for a reason: it works because it’s personal and preventative. Every intervention from acupuncture to herbal medicine to food therapy is based on something called pattern diagnosis, which means looking at the unique combination of physical symptoms, emotional tendencies, environment, and daily habits that shape your wellbeing. That’s why, in TCM, superfoods aren’t simply recommended in isolation, because without understanding your overall pattern, even the healthiest ingredient might not be right for you. Turmeric, for example, is a powerful herb. In the West, it’s often promoted for its anti-inflammatory benefits, but in Chinese medicine, its role is more nuanced: it is a warming herb that moves Qi and blood, and promotes healthy circulation
That can be incredibly helpful for someone dealing with what’s seen as cold and stagnation in the body. But for someone who’s already energetically warm, experiencing emotional stress, insomnia, irritability, or dryness, it can tip the body further out of balance.
One of the first signs that turmeric wasn’t right for me was right there on my tongue. In TCM, the tongue is a mirror of your internal state, and mine had a bright red tip—a classic sign of excess internal heat. It’s a pattern I’ve seen in so many of us living modern, overstimulated lives. Unless we’re trained to read those signs, it’s easy to miss them and keep adding fuel to the fire.
What I thought was a healing ritual of drinking turmeric shots and lattes was actually exacerbating my pattern of imbalance—liver Qi stagnation with internal heat. In simple terms, that’s stress and tension stuck in the body (like friction creating heat).
The warming nature of turmeric was intensifying my mood swings, disturbing my sleep, and creating the kind of anxious, restless energy that left me feeling ungrounded and even more disconnected from my body.
That experience—and so many others where I was only offered one-size-fits-all quick fixes, from birth control to medications that masked symptoms without addressing the root cause—ultimately led me to create the platform Elix. I was exhausted from endlessly trying this or that, hoping something would finally be the answer to my multitude of symptoms. I knew there had to be another way, one that honored the whole person and understood how everything was connected. I wanted to create something that would allow people to discover their unique pattern of imbalance, and receive 1:1 virtual consultations and customized herbal formulas to support sustainable healing.
Through Elix’s online health assessment and team of licensed Doctors of Chinese Medicine, we provide an East-meets-West approach to identify root causes along with tailored recommendations for diet, lifestyle, and acupressure, so that each person receives care as unique as they are.
In a first-of-its-kind, IRB-approved clinical study, Elix found that 90 percent of participants experienced improvements in PMS and menstrual symptoms after just three months of taking their personalized herbal formula. From cramps and mood swings to fatigue, bloating, and cycle irregularity, the majority of participants saw significant relief across 15 different symptoms (without relying on hormonal birth control or painkillers). These results affirm what TCM has always known: the right remedy, for the right person, at the right time, can change everything.
If your tongue is red or you’re noticing signs of internal heat (like irritability, trouble sleeping, or a racing mind) consider reaching for cooling or energetically neutral alternatives that help restore balance gently, without overstimulating your system.
Instead of turmeric, try:
Chrysanthemum tea to soothe the liver and calm internal heat
Mint or spearmint to support digestion and clear excess warmth
Pears, watermelon, or cucumber, which are hydrating and naturally cooling
Or, if you’re craving a nightly ritual to calm a ruminating mind and ease into rest, I often turn to a blend like Elix’s Bloom + Balance Tea or a Yin-nourishing formula like Yin Time—Traditional Chinese Medicine herbal support, made to regulate emotions and replenish the body’s reserves.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about cutting out turmeric or chasing the next trend. It’s about tuning in and listening to what your body is telling you, and making choices that feel right to you. Those small, intentional choices can make a big difference. Wellness doesn’t start with what someone else swears by. It starts with paying attention—to your energy, your emotions, your tongue, your cycles.
Trends will come and go. But understanding yourself, your constitution and your needs—that’s as timeless as the heart of Traditional Chinese Medicine.