Food Therapy In Chinese Medicine

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, once said: "Let food
be your medicine, and your medicine be your food." Food
therapy is the foundation of Chinese medicine.

For thousands of years, Chinese medicine has focused on
food cures.

One of the major differences between Chinese medicine and
Western medicine with regard to food therapy is that the
former uses diet to prevent and cure illness, while the
latter seldom uses foods for symptomatic treatment of
disease, other than using diet exclusively for treating
obesity problems.

Another major difference is that Chinese medicine takes
into consideration not just the nutrients of foods, such as
carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, but also
the flavors, the energies, and the movements of foods in
relation to different body organs.

In Chinese medicine, foods have five flavors: bitter,
pungent, salty, sour, and sweet. Flavors in foods don't
just give you the taste: they have an impact on your
internal organs.

Foods with bitter taste, such as bitter melon (Chinese
vegetable), lettuce, and radish, affect your heart and
small intestine. Such foods reduce your body heat and dry
your body fluids. This explains why herbs used to treat
fever and diarrhea always taste bitter because of their
"drying" effect.

Foods, such as chive, clove, coriander, ginger, parsley and
peppermint, have a pungent flavor, which acts on your lungs
and large intestine. Foods with pungent flavor induce
perspiration and promote energy circulation.

Foods with salty flavor, such as salt, kelp, and seaweed,
affect your kidneys and bladder. Salty foods can soften
hardness, and therefore they are ideal for treating
symptoms involving the hardening of muscles.

Foods, which are sour in taste, such as mango, lemon, pear,
and plum, affect your liver and gall bladder. Such foods
obstruct movements, and are therefore ideal for treating
diarrhea and controlling excessive sweating.

Foods with a sweet flavor are sugar, banana, beef,
chestnut, and watermelon, and they affect your stomach and
spleen. These foods slow down acute symptoms and neutralize
the toxic effects from other foods. In Western medicine,
sweet foods make you gain weight because they are often
loaded with "empty calories." From the perspective of
Chinese medicine, sweet foods affect your stomach and
spleen, weakening your digestive functions, and therefore
making you eat more and gain more.

It should be noted that some foods have more than one
flavor, and this is not uncommon. Beef is sweet, while pork
is both salty and sweet.

According to Chinese medicine, foods are also considered
for their energies because they generate heat or cold; that
is to say, they give sensation of heat or cold to the human
body. For example, if you drink a glass of cold water, you
body feels cold; but that sensation is only temporary,
while the sensations from foods are more lasting.

The foods, whether they are hot or cold, have a more
lasting sensation on your body. Foods have five energies:
hot, cold, warm, cool, and neutral. Tea, for example, gives
cold energy, even if it is hot tea. Pepper provides hot
energy, even if it is chilled. Chicken gives warm energy,
and corn has neutral energy, that is, neither hot or cold.
Accordingly, if your arthritis pain is more acute and
severe in cold winter days, then you should take more foods
that provide hot or warm energy to reduce the cold in your
joints.

Furthermore, foods have four movements: the outward
movement that induces perspiration and reduces pain; the
inward movement that eases bowel movements and abdominal
pain; the upward movement that relieves diarrhea; and the
downward movement that stops vomiting or asthma.

Chinese medicine is based on balance and harmony, in which
food therapy plays a pivotal role through its flavors,
energies and movements. For thousands of years, the Chinese
have used food science for food cures.

----------------------------------------------------
For more information on how to be healthy the Oriental way,
go to Stephen Lau's websites: The Seven Pillars of Wisdom;
and Are You Healthy?
(http://www.healthylivinghealthylifestyle.com). Stephen Lau
is a writer and researcher with websites on longevity,
eating disorders, mental depression, Chinese natural
healing and Zen health.

EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=65700