TCM Food Therapy

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TCM FOOD THERAPY

 

 

The TCM remedial diet includes looking at lifestyle, getting enough rest,

relaxation, exercise and attitude. The seven emotions and lack of rest can

injure the body just as much as improper foods, The seven emotions are joy,

anger,

grief, worry, melancholy, fright and fear.

 

" In Chinese the digestive system is called the xiao hua xi tong. Xi tong

means system, xiao to disperse, and hua to transform. In Chinese medicine,

digestion equals the dispersion of pure substances to be retained and impure

substances to be excreted after these have undergone transformation. Therefore

the

digestive tract is called the xiao hua dao or pathway of dispersion and

transformation.

 

The stomach is the pot of the middle burner and the spleen is both the fire

under the pot and the distillation mechanism to which this pot is attached.

As the foods ripen and rot, the pure and impure parts become separated. The

spleen sends the purest parts of the foods up to the lung and the purest parts

of the liquids up to the heart. The pure part of the foods or the five flavors

become the basis for the creation of qi. Or vital energy in the lungs. The

pure part of the liquids becomes the basis for the creation of the blood within

the heart. The sending up of the pure part of foods and liquids by the spleen

is called ascension of the clear..

 

The stomach then sends down the impure parts of the food to be further

transformed by the large intestine and the impure parts of the liquids to be

transformed by the small intestine. In Chinese medicine whatever helps the

stomach

create a 100 degree soup is beneficial and anything that does not impedes or

impairs digestion " 1.

 

Spleen provides heat for the transformation and transportation. It doesn't

like dampness. The stomach needs dampness to do its job. If the stomach is dry

it will scorch the soup.

 

The five flavors or characteristics of food are:

 

Salt - attracts water, water follows salt to the tissues where an imbalance

can harden or dehydrate them. Overeating will injure the Kidney.

 

Sour - vinegar, lemon stimulates contraction and absorption moves stagnation.

Overeating injures the Liver.

 

Sweet goes with other flavors, harmonizes guides and moves qi and can reduce

toxicity. Overeating creates dampness in the Spleen.

 

Bitter- draining and drying, moves qi outward. A little is good for the Heart

and Stomach, however no one really ever overeats bitter foods.

 

Pungent - goes up, dispersing upward and outward with perspiration. It is

more yang. Most spices are pungent or acrid and warm or hot and strengthens and

aids digestion in small amounts. 2

 

The energy and temperature of foods have a great internal effect on the organ

system. Foods can be classified as:

hot, warm, neutral, cool, and cold. On the scale of temperature:

 

Hot = Shellfish, Warm = Fish, Neutral = Chicken / Turkey, Cool = Beef and

Cold = Pork.

 

Deficiency should be treated via nourishing and tonifying foods before

excess conditions are treated with cleansing and eliminating foods.

 

Cycling with the seasons. Fall and Winter is the time to store energy. Eat

more root vegetables and tonifying grains and meats. It is a time to build up

the body. The energy moves in and downward especially in cold climates. It is

more Yin. Milder climates may not need to tonify as much. Spring and Summer

is a time for cleansing and detoxing. Like the buds and flowers of plants the

energy moves up and out. It is more Yang. This is a time for taking tonics.

Spicy foods move outward. Surface relieving herbs like ginger and cayenne

pepper are hot and can cool the body with diaphoresis. Seeds and nuts move

inwards. Green foods and green shoots move upward. Warmer foods speed us up.

Cooler foods slow us down.

 

Cooked foods are easier to digest because the breakdown process has already

begun. Smelling and chewing food starts the enzymes and digestive juices

flowing. In TCM it is better to eat 100 degree or room temperature foods. Raw

foods require more spleen energy to digest.

The temperature of food can also be influenced by cooking or preparation

methods. The effects of the various methods are as follows:

Raw - cooling, steamed - cooling/ neutral, boiled - neutral, stewed -

warming, stir-fried - warming, baked - more warming, deep fried - heating,

roasted -

more heating, grilled - more heating, barbecued - most heating.

Longer and slower methods will also produce more warming effects than quicker

methods. 3 White rice is more diuretic, it helps to release the water. Brown

rice holds more water and is more acidic. Foods that have been overcooked or

spoiled, several days old in the refrigerator are called wrecked. In TCM it is

recommended to eat foods within 24 hours of being cooked.

 

Tonic food to help nourish and strengthen spleen. Avoid raw, sweet, rich

foods and over consumption of fluids.

beef cinnamon ham pineapple

caraway seeds corn mullet pistachio nuts

carrots dill seeds perch red & black dates

chestnuts garlic pheasant polished rice

yams string beans white fish fish

royal jelly

 

Foods can fall into more than one category:

 

NOURISH QI walnut vinegar strawberry winter squash shitake mushrooms

Fig chicken liver beef liver aduki beans spearmint ginger

 

BUILD BLOOD sweet potato artichoke mustard greens sweet rice oats coconut

milk butter eel fresh ham sorghum lamb chestnuts brown sugar malt syrup

 

WARMING FOODS sweet rice chicken liver chicken butter fresh ginger black

pepper clove fennel green pepper mutton nutmeg

 

KIDNEY YANG TONIC beef kidney chestnut cinnamon chive seeds dill seeds

fennel seeds fenugreek seeds lobster oxtail pistachios raspberries shrimp star

anise strawberries

add neutral don't add drying foods that's why no chicken or turkey

 

In setting up the TCM diet we should get a sense of the person and what they

will comply with and set up a diet from there. Don't tell a vegetarian they

have to eat kidney unless its kidney beans. Avoid raw foods, eat them lightly

steamed. Avoid greasy foods, cold foods and iced drinks.

 

1. Arisal of the Clear, pgs 9-11

2. Helping Ourselves, Leggett

3. Arisal of the Clear pg 15-16.