Nutrition the Traditional Chinese Medicine Way; Staying True to You

“Food is thy medicine” – Hippocrates

I know, I know, you’ve seen this phrase a million times on your feed, but trust me on this one, it rings true. Traditional Chinese Medicine makes little distinction between food and medicine; they come from the same source, Mother Earth. Ideally, I like to work with a person’s diet and make food recommendations before I dispense herbs. In reality, I do this in tandem for a few reasons.

1. The person has an acute issue which we need to get under control immediately or…

2. Food is very personal and emotional. More on this later…

This is the analogy I give my patients when jumping straight to herbal medicine and ignoring diet, behold, The Vacuum Cleaner. Say we have a rug that all sorts of dirt on it. We bring out the old trusty vac and have a go at the mess. Voila! The rug is spotless. But say more dirt gets tracked in; we just vacuum again. And then a third, time a fourth time; by the fifth time, your vacuum bag is full.

If you are eating foods that are aggravating your issue, there is only so much the herbs can do. You can essentially neutralize their effect. Herbal medicine works best when you’re eating according to your constitution.

Like herbs, foods are neither good, nor bad; it’s about getting the correct ‘dose’ for you.

Never too much or too little, but ensuring the right balance, for the person on that day; a woman whose become pregnant most likely will incorporate certain foods more frequently to help her baby grow

Balance is the rule to cooking – bringing this to a meal is thought to create harmony between mind and body. Eating whole foods and herbs in variety, i.e. colour, flavour, temperature have a place on your plate and a function for your body

Seasonal dishes are a great example of staying in tune and in balance with one’s environment. For example, doing a detox in the springtime, the season of the Liver, is a great way to align oneself to the rhythm of this dynamic energy by eating all the fresh hepatic green shoots that nature offers

Incorporating foods that do not agree with your constitution can be damaging to one’s health.

Someone suffering from insomnia should avoid hot stimulants such as coffee, even though it may help them get through the day.

Remember the 5 Elements (if you have no clue what I’m talking about click here)? There are also 5 Flavours and each one is linked to an Element.

My teacher who hailed from mainland China once remarked, “Chinese Grannies & Grandpas might not know Chinese medicine, but they know what to eat and when”. This concept of ‘Wu Wei’ of the 5 Flavours is so engrained in Chinese culture, people know what to eat for what ails them before reaching for herbs or medicine.

If you recall, the 5 Elements either generate or control one another; the former promotes health where the latter is attempting to correct imbalance. This is the key to how TCM food therapy can promote one’s health. The 5 Elements can be used as a tool to empower people to make better dietary choices

In short, these are Elements and their flavours:

Wood = Sour

Earth = Sweet

Metal = Acrid/Pungent

Water = Salty

Fire = Bitter

In next week’s post, I’ll go into further detail about their flavours and their amazing effects.