Chinese Medicine and Nutrition
A fundamental part of promoting and maintaining health within Chinese medicine is eating the right foods in the right way.
This is known as yangsheng - literally ‘nourishing life’
Every type of food has an energetic quality - for example ginger is warming, as are fennel, leeks, onions, reishi and oyster mushrooms, black beans, tempeh, cardamon, cumin, nutmeg, oregano, rosemary, thyme, turmeric, walnuts and coconuts (this is just a small collection).
N.B. warming is significantly different to heating foods, which should be used moderately. It’s a boring platitude, but health really is about balance. So, both hot/heating and cold/cooling foods should consumed wisely, and only when the body’s constitution, health patterns and environment indicate these.
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Many foods can address particular patterns or issues. Treatment of a wide range of health conditions can be enhanced by eating particular foods plentifully.
For example, barley and mung beans very effectively address the pattern of ‘damp’ (a Chinese medical concept). Damp presents in many diverse ways including chronic catarrh, fluid retention in soft tissue, cysts, various skin conditions, feeling tired in a heavy, lethargic way, and very commonly, brain fog. A very good simple recipe for eating these is the Ayurvedic dish kitchari. Very tasty and more satisfying than you might think.
Beetroot, kidney beans, black beans, aduki beans, dates, green vegetables, reishi and shiitake mushrooms all nourish blood.
Books
This page is intended to be an introduction and inspiration for a much wider subject. More in-depth information regarding the energetics of different foods, and health patterns treated can be found in the books below. You should also take advice from your practitioner regarding your Chinese medical diagnosis so you can choose the right foods to nourish your health.
‘Helping Ourselves: A guide to Traditional Chinese food energetics' by Deverick Leggett. Meridian Press. £9.95 (very clear information regarding the energetics - warming, cooling etc - and the health patterns treated).‘Nutritional healing with Chinese Medicine’ by Ellen Goldsmith with Maya Klein. Robert rose Inc. £16-20 (as above, though not so immediately accessible. Also includes 175 recipes suitable for each season).‘Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition’ by Paul Pitchford. North Atlantic Books. ~£19 (very detailed - 652 pages)Finally, there are some general principles that should always be followed:
the majority of your food should be cooked and warm/hot
eat slowly and mindfully
breakfast is an important meal
don’t eat late at night
These may seem very common sense and unimportant, but there is strong theoretical reasoning behind these simple ideas. Practitioners find that when patients adhere to even the simplest of changes in what and how they eat, significant changes are seen in their health.
Good health is much more straightforward than we make it very often.