Nutrition Health

Nutrition in Chinese Medicine

Nutrition and dietary therapy as practiced today have evolved in part from essential aspects of Chinese Medicine. Practitioners have long referenced the correlation between the quality of what you eat and health outcomes with the old adage: ‘you are what you eat’.

Long before the development of acupuncture and herbal medicine, foods were essential for treating disease and supporting immunity. Plenty of foods have long been associated with longevity, and certain other foods with warding off illness. Now, new evidence-based research has been confirming these associations.

Many factors contribute to the sophistication of nutritional therapy, however. Knowing what you should eat to help you recover from a specific illness or disease requires a deep understanding of these factors. Successful strategies will help keep you healthy, so disease never has a chance to develop.

Healing with Whole Foods

Modern society seems to have lost the important consideration and value of a diet rich in whole foods. Consequently, you might find it difficult to acquire fresh organic fruits and vegetables conveniently.

We live in a culture where those who consume refined, processed foods may find them overloaded with salt, sugar, and poor quality, refined oils that overwhelm the average consumer’s metabolism. Greasy, fried, fatty foods seem to be the norm rather than the exception in today’s fast paced lifestyle.

Because your brain is hardwired to seek salty, sweet, fatty foods, you may find it difficult to resist their temptation. As a result, you may feel like you have few alternatives for healthy eating, let alone proper guidance. In this environment, the importance of finding and using only high quality unrefined ingredients cannot be overstated.

Foods Enhance Digestion

Cooking your foods, if only for a short time, facilitates digestion by breaking down proteins. Our health relies upon cooking our food to assist with the ripening and rotting process.

Typically, steaming is best for most foods. Raw foods, though helpful in certain cases, may be too cold for some and might lead to indigestion.
The tastes and temperatures of the foods we eat influence how they affect our body. The temperature of foods influences the overall balance of yin and yang while their tastes influence which channels and organs may be affected. The key to proper nutritional health is balance, but without a detailed understanding of tastes and temperatures, these methods may escape your attention.

Temperatures of foods range from cold to cool, neutral, and warm to hot. Cooling foods benefit a yang condition, and warming foods support a yin condition. Sour tastes influence the liver, and sweet tastes influence the stomach, for example.

Let Food be Thy Medicine – Hippocrates

Food therapy in Chinese Medicine reveals a complex system of therapeutic strategies. By considering how and what you eat, we can uncover possible clues to your signs and symptoms of illness.

Learning how foods can help keep us in balance opens the door to establishing a proper healthy lifestyle. Proper living fosters healthy nutritional habits, which in turn pave the most efficient way to stay healthy and fight off disease for many years to come. The Chinese weren’t the only ones to think this way. The famous quote from ancient Greek philosopher Hippocrates echoes the Western emphasis on food as medicine as well.

The Chinese weren’t the only ones to think this way. The famous quote from ancient Greek philosopher Hippocrates echoes the Western emphasis on food as medicine also.

Gain Health through the Food You Eat

Through my training in evidence-based approaches to nutrition, background in Chinese Medicine, and practical experience of healing with whole foods, I can help you learn to select and prepare the foods that lead to better health.

By making better food choices consistently, you can develop habits that will help you to avoid consuming overly processed foods. Learning to eat healthily may seem easier than in reality, but you don’t have to do it alone. Let me help you.

Contact me today! (310) 902-7222