The Energetics of Foods According to Traditional Chinese Medicine
General Guidelines For Healthy Eating
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine the ideal diet consists of eating primarily warm, cooked foods, plenty of cooked vegetables, rice, noodles, soups and stews.
Be sure grains are well-cooked and easily digestible. Eat more frequent smaller, easier to digest meals.
Avoid breads and baked goods.
Eat your larger meal toward the middle of the day. Refrain from eating a heavy evening meal.
Drink a teacup of warm water, broth, soup, or herb tea with each meal.
Use seasonings in cooking to help support digestion such as black and white pepper, cardamom, fresh and dried ginger, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, cinnamon and fennel.
Everyone should eat fresh food, freshly prepared with a minimum of chemicals, preservatives and additives. Vegetables should not be overcooked so as to conserve vitamins and enzymes.
Sugar, salt, oi and fat consumption should generally be kept low.
In addition to a healthy diet, it is vitally important to get adequate exercise and rest while keeping a regular daily routine.
Tonifying Foods
Tonifying foods strengthen a bodily substance or function. They are especially helpful for chronic conditions when our system is deficient in some way.
Blood (Xue)
Blood tonics maintain and improve the quality of immediate nourishment available to the body. Blood tonics include:
Aduki bean, apricot, beef, beetroot, bone marrow, chicken egg, cuttlefish, dandelion, dark leafy greens, date, dang gui, fig, grape, kidney bean, liver, longan, oyster, sardine, spinach, sweet rice watercress, nettle, octopus.
Qi
Qi tonics maintain and improve the quality and quantity of available energy in the body. Qi tonics include:
Beef, cherry, chicken, coconut, date, eel, fig, ginseng, goose, grape, ham, herring, lentil, licorice, longan, mackerel, microalgae, molasses, oats, octopus, potato, rabbit, rice, royal jelly, sweet potato, shiitake mushroom, squash, sturgeon, tofu, yam.
Yin
Yin tonics maintain and improve our deepest reserves of subtle nourishment and soothe system. Yin tonics include:
Apple, asparagus, cheese, chicken egg, clam, crab, cuttlefish, duck, duck egg, honey, kidney bean, lemon, malt, mango, milk, oyster, pea, pear, pineapple, pomegranate, pork, rabbit, string bean, tofu, tomato, watermelon, yam.
Yang
Yang tonics maintain and improve our ability to generate warmth and stimulate our system. Yang tonics include:
Basil, cassio fruit, chestnut, chive seed, cinnamon bark, clove, dill seed, fennel seed, fenugreek seed, garlic, ginger (dried), kidney, lamb, lobster, nutmeg, pistachio, raspberry, rosemary, sage, savory, shrimp, star anise, thyme, walnut.
*A Note On Dampness*
Dampness is the over-retention of moisture in the body either as water or as phlegm. It is frequently caused by combinations of over-nutrition, lack of exercise and exposure to damp environments. Some foods will aggravate the tendency towards Dampness and need to be reduced by people with damp conditions. The following foods are especially Damp-forming:
Dairy products (sheep and goat products are less dampening), pork and rich meat, roasted peanuts, concentrated juices especially orange and tomato, wheat, bread, yeast, beer, bananas, sugar and sweeteners, saturated fats.
The Temperatures of Food
The temperature of a food is a measure of its effect on the metabolism after initial digestion. People with cold constitutions or temporary cold conditions need to eat more warming foods and vice-versa. Foods may also be chosen according to season and prevailing weather.
The preparation of food increases or decreases its innate temperature as follows:
Raw, chilled = most cooling Casseroled, baked = warming
Steamed, Poached = cooling Deep-fried = heating
Boiled = neutral Roasted, grilled = most heating
Stir-fried = mildly warming
Regulating foods help remove Stagnation or Excess conditions.
Qi Circualtion
Qi circulation is stimulated by the sweet and pungent flavors. Foods which particularly influence Qi circulation include:
Basil, caraway, cardamom, carrot, cayenne, chive, clove, coriander, dill seed, garlic, marjoram, mustard leaf, orange peel, radish, star anise, tangerine peel, tumaric.
Blood Circulation
Since Qi moves the Blood, Blood circulation is also stimulated by the sweet and pungent flavors. Foods which particularly influence Blood Circulation include:
Amasake, brown sugar, chestnut, crab, chili pepper, chive, hawthorn berry, mustard leaf, onion, peach, scallion, sturgeon, vinegar.
Heat
Hot conditions are improved by cooling foods. In chronic cases cooling foods are used to steadily cool and moisten. In acute cases of pathogenic invasion cool foods are combined with the pungent flavor to drive out the Heat. Effective foods include:
Asparagus, bamboo shoot, banana, chicken egg white, clam, elderflower, grapefruit, lemon, lettuce, millet, mung bean, mung bean sprout, peppermint, potato, salt, tofu, watermelon, wheat.
Cold
Cold conditions are improved by warming foods. In chronic cases warm and sweet/pungent foods are used which warm us steadily. In acute cases of pathogenic invasion warm or hot foods are combined with stronger pungent flavors to drive out the Cold. Effective foods include:
Anchovy, basil, black pepper, cayenne, cherry, chestnut, chicken, coriander seed, dill seed, fennel seed, garlic, ginger, kohlrabi, lamb kidney, leek, mussel, mustard leaf, mutton, nutmeg, onion, peach, pine kernel, rosemary, scallion, shrimp, squash, sweet potato, sweet rice, trout, turnip, vinegar, walnut, wine.
Damp
Dampness results from the body’s failure to burn off or transform moisture. Dampness is treated by avoiding dampening foods, by strengthening the body and by including bitter foods and foods which counteract Dampness. Effective foods include:
Aduki bean, alfalfa, anchovy, barley, celery, corn, daikon, garlic, green tea, horseradish, jasmine tea, job’s tears, kidney bean, kohlrabi, lemon, mackerel, marjoram, mushroom (button), mustard leaf, onion, parsley, pumpkin, radish, rye, scallion, turnip, umeboshi plum.
Water
Water refers to a condition of Dampness where moisture is retained as water as in edema. Water draining foods include:
Aduki bean, alfalfa, anchovy, barley, black soybean, broad bean, celery, clam, fenugreek, frog, grape, job’s tears, kelp, lettuce, mackerel, sardine, seaweed.
Phlegm
Phlegm refers to a condition of Dampness where moisture is retained as Phlegm or Mucus.
Phlegm-resolving foods include:
Almond, apple peel, clam, daikon, garlic, grapefruit, lemon peel, licorice, marjoram, mushroom (button), mustard leaf, mustard seed, olive, onion, orange peel, pear, black and white pepper, peppermint, persimmon, plantain, radish, seaweed, shiitake mushroom, shrimp, tea, thyme, walnut, watercress.
The sweet flavor arises from the Earth element and benefits the Spleen. Sweet foods strengthen, moisten and help to tonify deficiency.
The pungent flavor arises from the Metal element and benefits the Lung. Pungent foods disperse stagnation and promote qi flow.
The salty flavor arises from the Water element and benefits the Kidney. Salty foods moisten, soften and detoxify.
The sour flavor arises form the Wood element and benefits the Liver. Sour foods stimulate absorption and contraction, helping break down fat.
The bitter flavor arises form the Fire element and benefits the Heart. Bitter foods drain and counteract Dampness.
Eating According To Your Qi Patterns
For Liver imbalance patterns: Liver qi stagnation, effulgence of Liver yang, depressive Liver heat, Liver fire harassing above, Liver wind and patterns of Lung yin vacuity and Kidney yin vacuity
Avoid or minimize the following foods or drinks which aggravate the pattern of imbalanced qi in the body:
Alcohol, Coffee, Excessive sour foods, Greasy or oily foods, Hard to digest foods like nuts, Spicy or pungernt foods, Overeating in general, Heavy red meats, Cigarette smoking and recreational drugs.
For patterns of digestive weakness including Spleen qi vacuity, Dampness and Phlegm avoid or minimize the following:
Raw salads, Raw fruits, Raw vegetables, Sugar, Sweets, Cold drinks with meals, Frozen or chilled foods, Oily and greasy foods, Pork, Beef, Buckwheat, Oats, Fruit Juices, Large doses of vitamin C, Overating, Dairy products, Beer, Lettuce, Radishes, Celery, Melons, Strawberries, Pears, Bananas
For Damp Heat patterns, minimize or avoid the following:
Sugar, Sweets, Nuts, Citrus, Spicy foods, Greasy or Fried foods, Alcohol, Pork, Beef
For Damp Heat Candidiasis or Fungal Infections, avoid or minimize the following:
Vinegar, Fermented foods (except miso and yogurt), Any foods with yeast, Yeasted breads, Left-overs, Baked goods, Cheese
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