Food & health review

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Good diet is the first line of defense for good health in TCM.

 

The concept of a balanced diet in TCM is very different from the concept of

a balanced diet in Western terms. A balanced diet in TCM terms is one that

contains all 5 flavors - sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, and salty. See the

archieves for posts on how flavors are related to the properties of herbs

and foods. For example, spicy-tasting herbs and foods tend to be warming in

nature. (There are exceptions, but tastes do tend to reflect the properties

of herbs and foods.)

 

Foods have properties just like herbs do. For example, some foods will tend

to boost Qi, others are tonic to the Blood, some will direct energy flow

downward, etc.

 

The following information is taken from Chinese Natural Cures by Henry C.

Lu. There are some disagreements about some foods among authorities. For

example, Lu lists almonds as good for dissolving Phlegm, and Wicke lists

almonds as bad for Phlegm. I have known almonds to work both ways, and I

suspect that their action will depend on the type of Phlegm.

 

The following information is not broken down as to organ systems that the

food will tend to target.

 

Foods that are good for increasing Qi: Beef, beef liver, cherries, chicken,

coconut meat, cooked ginkgo (the Chinese use the fruit not the leaf in

cooking), honey, sweet potatoes, white rice, unpolished rice, shiitake

mushrooms, squash, and tofu.

 

Some foods that are considered tonic to the Blood are beef (a food can fit

in more than one category), ehicken eggs, ham, oysters, pork liver, and

spinach.

 

Some of the foods which are tonic to Yin include apples, tofu, bitter gourd,

brown sugar, cantaloupe, chicken eggs, coconut milk, crabs, dates, duck,

duck eggs, figs, honey, milk, lemons, mango, machdarin orange, mussel,

oysters, pears, pineapples, white rice, pomegranates, pork, royal jelly,

saltwater clams, shrimp, spinach, string beans (green beans), sugar cane,

tomatoes, and watermelon.

 

Some of the foods which are tonic to Yang include beef kidney, chestnuts,

chive seeds, cinnamon, cloves deer kidneys, dillseed, fennel roots and

fennel seed, fenugreek seeds (Oriental fenugreek), pistachio nuts,

raspberry, and sword beans.

 

Victoria

 

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