Nutrition with Chinese Medicine
Do you suffer from unwanted weight gain/or weight loss? Do you experience heart burn, bloating, abdominal pain or have bowel issues? If so, Chinese Medicine can provide relief.
According to Chinese Medical philosophy, there is no distinct difference between food and medicine. Eating the food you need to achieve a balanced digestive system can be the only medicine you need to help create and maintain wellness. Chinese nutritional recommendations for an optimal diet are very different than the recommendations a Western nutritionist will typically provide. Chinese Medicine’s nutritional guidelines are individually centered and tailored to treat a patients symptoms.
Chinese Medicine looks to the outside environment to explain digestive issues. For example, the weather outside can be dry, hot, damp, cold or windy. The extremes of any of these conditions can make it difficult to sustain life efficiently. This is a metaphor for the imbalances inside your body. According to Traditional Chinese Medical theory, your body is a microcosm of the outside environment. A Chinese Medical diagnosis is therefore developed according to the principles of dry, hot, damp, cold and wind.
The energetics of food is best explained as how the food you eat makes you feel. For example, the herb mint commonly is thought of as cooling. That is why we often add mint to dishes in the summer. Peppers in contrast, have a warming effect on your body. Think of the impact of a spicy meal on your body. An excess of cold foods can slow your metabolism and create ‘dampness’. This is why Chinese Medical philosophy directs us away from things like ice water, smoothies and too many raw salads. Symptoms like weight gain, diarrhea, a lack of energy, sore joints, feeling puffy, bloating, fluid retention, stomach pains or coldness in the hands or feet could mean you are taking in too many cold foods. In contrast, eating hot foods in overabundance can cause digestion symptoms as well. Symptoms like thirst, feeling hot, burning sensations with bowel movements, anxiety, red eyes, dark yellow urine, ulcers in the mouth, cold sores, constipation, headaches, heartburn and vivid dreams could mean you are eating too many foods that are hot in nature.
Chinese Medical nutrition philosophy takes into account the flavor profile of foods and the organs they impact:
As the weather changes seasonally, so do our body’s systems and balance. Eating according to the seasons is important. This goes beyond eating fruits and vegetables that are in season, but following the five element examples of foods that can help bring you into balance. Eating foods that have the following tastes in the season they correspond to help the organs to function effectively in that time of year.
To put it all together:
In the winter, when the weather is cold outside, it is important to eat warming foods like kidney beans, use spices like ginger and cinnamon, and add a little more salt than you would the rest of the year. In the summer, when the weather is hot outside, it is important to eat cooling foods like mint, watermelon, beets and bitter foods.
Food can either assist or hinder your daily efforts of maintaining a balanced lifestyle and diet. Find Your Balance can help you to better health by working with you to develop a meal plan that fits your lifestyle.
According to Chinese Medical philosophy, there is no distinct difference between food and medicine. Eating the food you need to achieve a balanced digestive system can be the only medicine you need to help create and maintain wellness. Chinese nutritional recommendations for an optimal diet are very different than the recommendations a Western nutritionist will typically provide. Chinese Medicine’s nutritional guidelines are individually centered and tailored to treat a patients symptoms.
Chinese Medicine looks to the outside environment to explain digestive issues. For example, the weather outside can be dry, hot, damp, cold or windy. The extremes of any of these conditions can make it difficult to sustain life efficiently. This is a metaphor for the imbalances inside your body. According to Traditional Chinese Medical theory, your body is a microcosm of the outside environment. A Chinese Medical diagnosis is therefore developed according to the principles of dry, hot, damp, cold and wind.
The energetics of food is best explained as how the food you eat makes you feel. For example, the herb mint commonly is thought of as cooling. That is why we often add mint to dishes in the summer. Peppers in contrast, have a warming effect on your body. Think of the impact of a spicy meal on your body. An excess of cold foods can slow your metabolism and create ‘dampness’. This is why Chinese Medical philosophy directs us away from things like ice water, smoothies and too many raw salads. Symptoms like weight gain, diarrhea, a lack of energy, sore joints, feeling puffy, bloating, fluid retention, stomach pains or coldness in the hands or feet could mean you are taking in too many cold foods. In contrast, eating hot foods in overabundance can cause digestion symptoms as well. Symptoms like thirst, feeling hot, burning sensations with bowel movements, anxiety, red eyes, dark yellow urine, ulcers in the mouth, cold sores, constipation, headaches, heartburn and vivid dreams could mean you are eating too many foods that are hot in nature.
Chinese Medical nutrition philosophy takes into account the flavor profile of foods and the organs they impact:
- Salty: Kidneys, Bladder
- Sour: Liver, Gall Bladder
- Bitter: Heart, Small Intestine
- Spicy: Lungs, Large Intestine
- Sweet: Spleen, Stomach
As the weather changes seasonally, so do our body’s systems and balance. Eating according to the seasons is important. This goes beyond eating fruits and vegetables that are in season, but following the five element examples of foods that can help bring you into balance. Eating foods that have the following tastes in the season they correspond to help the organs to function effectively in that time of year.
- Winter: salty
- Spring: sour
- Summer: bitter
- Late Summer (August/September): sweet
- Fall: spicy
To put it all together:
In the winter, when the weather is cold outside, it is important to eat warming foods like kidney beans, use spices like ginger and cinnamon, and add a little more salt than you would the rest of the year. In the summer, when the weather is hot outside, it is important to eat cooling foods like mint, watermelon, beets and bitter foods.
Food can either assist or hinder your daily efforts of maintaining a balanced lifestyle and diet. Find Your Balance can help you to better health by working with you to develop a meal plan that fits your lifestyle.
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