Healthy Eating Through the Lens of Chinese Medicine

With so many healthy diet theories flying around these days, it can be hard to know what is actually good for our bodies. Here's a completely different view of food - one that's been established for thousands of years.

Living in a world where countless healthy diet theories and fad diets are flying around, it's hard to know what is really good for our bodies. Butter is bad, butter is good; diet coke is good, diet coke is bad; raw food is bad, raw food is good.

Our views on healthy food change all the time, often depending on the newest clinical research findings. We know all about fat, carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins, but no matter how advanced our knowledge on food is, there are always studies that introduce something new and diet theories that get debunked.

What do our bodies really need? That's a question to which we could never seem to find an answer.

ANCIENT WISDOM THAT NEVER CHANGES

The Chinese have their own answer to healthy eating, with concepts strongly related to traditional Chinese medicine. They are probably the most hard-core supporters of the saying “You are what you eat”. Following are some of the basic principles that we in Chinese Medicine adhere to and recommend for all of our patients.

1. Food is medicine, medicine is food

In contrast with western medicine, the role of food and medicine in traditional Chinese medicine overlap. For example, a water melon is food, but it can also have a medicinal effect in hot weather because of its hydrating properties.

The ancient clans of China, dating back to 2200 BC, started to discover the different medical values of herbs while they were still hunting and gathering. Some foods relieved their illness, some caused death. Over time, and in conjunction with the growth of Chinese philosophy, medical theories were developed.

However, there are also some foods that are considered more "medicine" than "food," for example, ginseng. When it comes to this "medicine," a person should consult a practitioner, since eating it could make your body worse. Why? Foods have different natures, and all of us have different bodies that interact differently with different foods.

2. The four natures of food

In traditional Chinese medicine, food is divided into five natures: cold, cool, neutral, warm and hot. The nature of food is not determined by their actual temperature, but rather by what effects they have on a person's body after consumption. When a person continually eats one type of food, it creates an imbalance in their body, and affects their immune system. Thus, one of the keys in Chinese medicine is to keep our body "neutral."

Foods that are warm and hot bring heat to our bodies -- e.g. beef, coffee, ginger, hot chilies and fried foods -- while cold and cool foods cool down our bodies-- think of salad, cheese, green tea, and beer. Neutral foods are foods like oil, rice, pork and most kinds of fishes.

A person who has too much heat in their body usually feels hot, sweats all the time, is irritable, has a red tongue, and could suffer headaches, insomnia, anxiety or be constipated. People who have too much cold in their bodies appear pale, have cold hands and feet, might feel weak, or have bad blood circulation. When this happens, it is advised to stop eating that kind of food.

3. It's more than just a taste

Similarly in the western world, the Chinese divide tastes into five different kinds: sour, bitter, sweet, spicy and salty. But for the Chinese, these are more than just senses. In traditional Chinese medicine, each bite of food sends the nutrition to corresponding organs: sour food enters liver and helps stop sweating, eases coughing; salt enters the kidneys, and can drain, purge and soften masses; bitter food enters the heart and the small intestine and helps cool heat and dry any dampness; spicy food enters the lungs and large intestine and helps stimulate appetite; sweet food enters the stomach and spleen and helps lubricate the body. Thus, it is important to have each flavour within the diet.

Does that mean to be healthy we just eat just neutral food in all flavours? Not necessarily. Food choices are affected by your body's construction, the season and the place where you live. The condition of the body could also be affected by age and sex. In other words, Chinese medical practitioners adapt their recommendations to different conditions.

4. One size does not fit all

Just like we all have different personalities, we also all have different body constitutions. And just like you cannot communicate with all people in the same way, we also cannot feed our bodies with the same food in the same way.

What is a "constitution"? Currently, one of the most popular divisions is nine types of bodies.

A person with a lot of "dampness and phlegm" in their body tends to be overweight, might sweat a lot and might have an oily face. These people are usually more mild-tempered.

However, a person with a lot of "dampness and heat" is usually short-tempered and often presents with an oily and acne face. Both of these people need different food to take away their dampness, which means sweets, which "lubricate" the body, might worsen the situation.

Each type of food, depending on its nature, might improve or worsen the situation. There is no substance which is good for everybody. Many consider ginger to be healthy, but when you are already a very dry person and you have so much heat in your body, the more ginger tea you drink, the drier you get.

5. Eat according to season

The season and time of year is another factor when it comes to food choices. For instance, spring is a time of allergies which means we need food that can take away the dampness in our body, such as corn, white beans and onion.

Summer is hot, so we need food to cool us down, such as watermelon and cucumber. Autumn is dry, which means we need food to "lubricate" us, such as snow peas and honey. Winter is cold, so we need food which warms up the body, such as beef or spices.

In the globalised world, one can easily buy foods that are not in season. But traditional Chinese practices dictate that it might not be the best way to feed ourselves, since seasonal foods bring us the nutrition that we need in that particular season.

6. Climate also matters

The climate of a place can also affect our food choices. For example, the Sichuan province in China is a province where the climate is very wet and cold. So, Sichuan people love to eat spicy food since spicy food makes us sweat and thus removes the dampness in our body. However if people from subtropical areas like Brisbane eat too much spicy food, the body will be too hot, which will cause problems.

7. Finding the golden mean

At the end of the day, what is considered to be healthy and what should be avoided?

In traditional Chinese medicine, every food is nutritious, and as long as a healthy person doesn't eat too much of any one food, nothing is unhealthy. Chinese philosophers tell us always to take the "golden means"; never take extremes. In traditional Chinese medicine, it's also important not to eat too much (only up to seventy-percent of your capacity), and have food that is in a moderate temperature, so as to avoid overstraining the digestive organs.

After all, it's all about balance. It means a balanced diet, where foods are consumed in appropriate combinations according to their natures and flavours, and serves to supplement the essence that the human body needs.