Time to start looking at food in a different way? Our Acupuncturist Katy Muncey has this to say:
Food, like everything in the universe (according to Chinese philosophy) has an energetic quality to it. I don’t mean the energetic value of the food in the Western sense (i.e. how many calories it contains), but the nature of its qi – is it Yin or Yang? what organs does it nourish or aggravate? what do cravings for that food tell us about the state of the elements in our bodies? what action does it have on the substances of the body? is it hot or cold?
But hot and cold are a little misleading. In fact there are five temperatures – hot, warm, neutral, cool and cold. As you’d expect chilli is hot. But also peppers are warm, lentils are neutral, broccoli is cool and grapefruits are cold. There are some obvious correlations between spice and heat but others that you might not so easily guess. The energetic temperature of food doesn’t relate to the temperature that we eat the food (although to some extent cooking does warm up energetically cold food) but what impact it has on your body when you eat it.
So what kind of foods does this mean we should be eating?
As with all things acupuncture it really depends on your individual make up! Chinese dietary therapy is based on the concept of rebalance so if you are an energetically cool person (those of us that like to cuddle a hot water bottle!) I would advise you to eat more warming foods. If you had a lot of heat, (always opening the windows, even on a freezing cold day!), I’d suggest you eat more cooling foods.
It also depends on the time of year. It makes sense (apart from the environmental impact of buying seasonal foods) to eat salads in the summer and hot stews in the winter.
But it also helps to think about the energetic nature of our stomachs to understand that as a general rule our bodies do prefer foods that are warming. Our stomachs are warm places that need to stay warm to efficiently digest the food we eat. If we put something very cold in there it takes extra energy to warm that food up before it can be properly digested. This wastes valuable qi! And if there is an existing imbalance or weakness in your digestive system it can be difficult for your body to take nourishment from these foods and as a result your digestive system becomes further weakened.
When I was a student we used to laugh about the number of times we were told to encourage people to eat more ‘porridge, soups and stews’. But several years later I still find myself asking patients to swap their cheese sandwich for a bowl of soup at lunchtime. Your stomach will appreciate the nourishment to be gained from those warming meals!
Food can heal us, it can harm us. Used in conjunction with acupuncture, Chinese diet therapy can really set you on the path to good health and also gives you the knowledge to maintain your health beyond your treatment so that you can actively preserve your own well-being.
There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says “he who takes medicine and neglects to diet wastes the skill of his doctors”. Wise words!
For more information or to make an appointment call BHT on 01273 692628.