Food As Medicine
In Traditional Chinese Medicine one of the most important aspects is using food as medicine. To help understand why food is so important to your health, I will break down what the energetics of food means, the theories behind the energetics, and how they are used.
What is the energetics of food? The most basic answer is that the energetics of food is the Chinese thought that you can and should use food as medicine. Within Chinese Medicine there is not a one-treatment fits all, every person is different and thus every treatment is different. The same goes for food—there is not one diet that works universally.
Chinese Medicine and energetics are about creating and maintaining the balance of Qi—the vital essence found in all things—within your body to achieve optimal wellness. Sickness and disease is thought to be created by imbalances of Qi within body and treatment for these illnesses is to rebalance your Qi. This is done through acupuncture, herbal remedies, tui-na, cupping, and most importantly diet. You can also use these treatments to maintain your balance of Qi, but using food is by far the easiest method in which to do this.
While Chinese Medicine looks at nutritional values of foods, such as calories or carbohydrate content, it focuses mainly on the other dimensions or energetics (warming vs cooling, yin & yang, etc.). Each person has their own constitution and thus each person must eat according to what their body needs. For example, I myself tend to be yin, damp, and hot. Therefore, I usually try to avoid eating too many hot or damp foods; I can handle them in moderation, but if I overindulge them, I get an imbalance or excess of heat in my body. Chinese Medicine and energetics does not follow a set protocol for what to eat—there is no magic food flow chart—they work by differentiating between multiple factors to find the ideal diet.
Yin & Yang
Everyone has seen or heard of this symbol at some time in their life. In the last few decades, the Yin-Yang symbol has been used in the main stream as more of an ornament or a trend. People are using it with only the basic knowledge of what it represents. Today we are going to go beyond the trend, we are going to look at what yin and yang means and how they correlate to the Energetics of Food.
“Yin and yang are the law of Heaven and Earth, the outline of everything, the parents of change, the origin of birth and destruction, and the house of shen ming (God or higher consciousness, the spirit, Tao), when curing sicknesses we should base our point of view on the roots (Yin and Yang)”. -Neijing
Chinese Medicine and energetics are based off balance— within the body, mind and spirit— it is the unity of all things and the way of the universe. From this unity yin and yang emerge, a representation of the continual change seen throughout the universe. Yin and Yang are both seen in opposition as well as interdependency. The world is continually changing— a cyclical motion that never ends, there is no beginning or end. Cause and effect are not separate but one perpetually turns into the other. The classic dilemma of what came first, the chicken or the egg, is not a dilemma within Chinese thought—the egg and the chicken are dependent of each other in the process of creation— both must exist for either to exist. The chicken makes the egg (yang generating yin) and the chicken grows out of the egg (yin producing yang). Other examples of this philosophy are that day does not cause night, birth does not cause death, and summer does not create winter.
Yin and yang also describes the human process—youth is yang and older years are yin. When we breath in —expanding our chests— we are in the yang phase of respiration, when we breath out —emptying the lungs— we are in the yin phase. Our whole body continuously fills and empties: lungs, stomach, intestines, hearts, and minds. The materials that make up the body are yin and they are used for the transformation of yang. Food is yin, which is then transformed by metabolic activity, yang. Sperm (yang) joins and transforms the egg (yin), creating new life through merging and interacting.
The body’s organs are also split into yin and yang. The dense Yin Organs are the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney; they perform the function of assimilation and storage. The Yang Organs are the Gallbladder, Small Intestine, Stomach, Large Intestine, and Bladder; they perform the functions of digestion and elimination. In Chinese Medicine, these are the only organs used to diagnose illness, as they are linked to your Meridian Channels and Qi. In terms of psyche, yang is willfulness, desire, and assertiveness; yin is acceptance, responsiveness, repose, and responsibility.
However, yin and yang are always fluctuating and there are no absolutes—the Heart is a yin organ and the propulsion of blood and fluids through its contractions is yang. This is the definition of yang within the yin. Any aspect of yin and yang can further be divided into yin and yang. In the symbol for yin and yang, this concept can be seen in the small circle of white within the black half and the small circle of black within the white half.
The roots of disease and illness can be seen as imbalances within the body of yin and yang. Yin responds to yang’s stimulus and yang is supported by the solidarity of yin. When one of these is off balanced—by either having an excess or deficiency—Qi, body, blood, or organs are also effected. Illnesses that are characterized by weakness, slowness, coldness, and under activity are yin. Illnesses characterized by strength, forceful movements, heat, and overactivity are yang. A deficiency in one creates an excess in the other. Yin cannot exist if there is an extreme abundance of yang. This extreme difference can take a profound transformation into shock, or worse, a complete division of yin and yang—death.
By becoming aware of the changes in our lives between yin and yang, we become attentive to our personal patterns and the order of the changes within our bodies, minds and spirits. Our bodies are in an unfaltering cycle of yin and yang, a constant state of merging and transforming, and it is important to become aware of these fluctuations. Awareness will help you find balance to allow you to move fluidly between yin and yang.
5 Flavors
One of the most important aspects of energetics is the flavor of foods. Flavors are assigned to designate and reflect the properties of food, not just taste. There are also many foods that have more than one flavor associated to it and occasionally food is assigned a certain flavor property that might not correspond to the actual taste.
Once again yin and yang are at the forefront of designating properties. Two of the flavors—pungent and sweet—are yang, as they tend to be warming and direct energy outward and higher in the body. The other three flavors—sour, bitter, and salty—are yin, as they are cooling and conduct energy lower and inward. Also, each flavor “enters” (are closely associated with) specific internal organs.
The diet of a healthy person contains a variety of flavors that are balanced with the sweet-bland flavor predominating. The sweet and bland flavor and their associated earth element are considered the most central aspect of the body and its nourishment. Meaning that each day the sweet flavor—grains, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and fruit—should be accompanied by small amounts of bitter, salty, pungent, and sour foods. The balance of which flavors are needed for a healthy diet do change based on your unique constitution and which season you are in. Once an individual has reached their constitutional balance, it is easy to then work towards seasonal attunement.
Quantity of food is also important in maintaining balance. While a flavor may be beneficial to an organ, consuming too much of said flavor has the opposite effect and can actually make an illness worse. This is most often seen with the sweet flavor, as this flavor is a favorite and can be found everywhere. Consuming too much sweetness can weaken the stomach’s ability of absorption, increase mucus accumulation, and create blood sugar imbalances. As with anything, moderation is key!
5 Properties
When talking about the 5 properties of food, we are really taking about the energetic temperature of food. At a basic level, it is breaking foods into categories of hot and cold. When differentiating we break these categories down even further with foods that are extremely warming being considered hot and food that are only slighting warming as warm. Foods that are extremely cooling are considered cold and food that are only slighting cooling as cool. There is also the middle ground property, neutral, in which foods are neither too warm or cold. Thus we have our 5 properties— hot, warm, neutral, cool, and cold.
Warming and cooling corresponds to yin and yang—where heat is yang and cold is yin. When eating cooling foods, energy and fluids are directed inward and lower so the exterior and upper portions of the body cool first. When eating warming foods, energy and fluids (especially blood) move up and out to the surface of the body. Some foods have an obvious temperature, such as jalapeños being hot and ice cream being cold.
Another great example of yin with the yang in this case is that foods can have opposing properties. For example, Siberian Ginseng (Xi Yang Sheng) can both lower high blood pressure and raise low blood pressure. This can happen because food can be altered in the cooking process, ultimately transforming the yin into the yang. The warming and cooling properties of food depend on multiple factors:
Slow growing plants such as carrot and cabbage are more warming than those that grow quickly.
Fertilization, which stimulates plants to grow quicker, creates a more cooling food.
Raw food is more cooling than cooked food.
Foods eaten cold are more cooling.
Foods that are colored blue, green or purple are more cooling than the colors red, orange, and yellow. Example: a green apple is more cooling than a red apple.
Cooking methods requiring more cooking time, higher temperature, or higher pressure are generally more warming. Deep frying is more warming than steaming food and heatless methods of preservation or preparation, like fermenting, marinating or sprouting are cooling.
If possible do not microwave or overcook your food. Microwaving food can damage the molecular integrity and diminish the Qi. If you must microwave your food, the best method is to put your microwave at a lower power and cook it in small increments of time until warm. In general, cooking your food moderately (whether in a microwave or on the stove) is the best and most efficient method for your body, as overcooking or eating too much raw foods can be overstimulating.
Once an understanding of one’s personal constitution of cold or warm is reached it is easy to create a diet specific to keeping the balance of yin and yang in the body. If one is not clearly of a cold or warm constitution, then a diet balanced in both properties is best.
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