Balancing Energetic Foods in Chinese Medicine
In Western dietary practices, we often evaluate food based on its nutritional content, such as protein, fat, and calorie count. However, Chinese medicine adopts a different perspective, viewing food in terms of its energetic properties and their impact on the body. Foods are categorized as heating, cooling, drying, or damp, and maintaining a balance among these energies is crucial for health and disease prevention. This article will delve into the energy of foods in Chinese medicine, discussing foods that heat and cool the body, as well as those that cause dryness and dampness. We will also explore why it’s essential to balance these energetic food properties and provide recommendations on what to eat and avoid.
Heating and Cooling Foods
Certain foods and beverages generate heat in the body, while others have a cooling effect.
Heating foods and drinks include onion, garlic, ginger, pepper, pungent spices like chili, cayenne, coriander, cumin, and turmeric, tomatoes, mangoes, oranges, coffee, energy drinks, oily foods, and red meat.
On the other hand, cooling foods and drinks encompass sweet fruits like banana, watermelon, strawberries, raw foods (including uncooked vegetables), leafy vegetables such as lettuce and kale, cold drinks, iced water, peppermint tea, and bitter herbs like mustard greens, chicory, and dandelion leaves.
Drying and Damp Foods
Some foods can cause the body to become damp (characterized by phlegm, sluggishness, swelling) or dry (indicating a lack of moisture).
Drying foods and drinks include crunchy foods like biscuits, crisps, crackers, carrots, celery, nuts, seeds, starchy grains like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, couscous, beans, lentils, legumes, roasted vegetables, raw food, green tea, and cinnamon.
Damp foods and drinks include dairy, gluten and wheat-containing foods (bread, pasta, pastries), sweet or high-water content fruits and vegetables like watermelon, pineapple, cucumber, sugar, sweeteners, eggs, meat, soy products, slimy foods such as okra and linseeds, excessive mushrooms, and cold drinks.
Balancing the Body’s Energy
Excessive heat in the body can manifest as redness, burning sensations, inflammation, acidity, loose stools, and ‘fiery’ emotions like irritability and anger. Conditions associated with excess heat include cystitis, sinusitis, autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and coeliac disease, high blood pressure, migraines, acid reflux, gastritis, ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease, acne, inflammatory skin diseases, infected wounds, and stress and anger management problems. To balance excess heat, reduce hot foods and drinks, pungent spices, red meat, oily foods, chemical food additives, coffee, and alcohol. Increase intake of salads, raw food, green smoothies, bitter vegetables, and herbs. Regular fasting and detoxification can also help reduce excess heat.
Excess cold can result in a pale complexion, feelings of cold and weakness, muscle spasms, lack of motivation, and emotional withdrawal. Conditions connected to excess cold include poor circulation, weak digestion, low thyroid function, poor memory and concentration, exhaustion, and depression. To balance excess cold, reduce refrigerated and frozen foods, iced drinks, raw and leafy foods. Avoid fasting and detoxification. Increase intake of warming foods like soups, curries, cooked vegetables, and add spicy herbs to food. Only drink warm drinks and engage in vigorous exercise, saunas, and oil massages.
Excessive dryness in the body can lead to weight loss, dry skin and mucous membranes, gas, bloating, and feelings of fear and anxiety. Conditions linked to excess dryness include osteoarthritis, dry skin conditions, wrinkled skin, dry mouth, sinuses, throat, dry cough, gas, bloating, IBS with constipation, gallstones, kidney stones, tremors, anxiety disorders, and insomnia. To balance excess dryness, reduce dry and crunchy foods, avoid green tea and cinnamon, drink more fluids, eat lightly cooked or steamed foods, sweet fruits, root vegetables, nut milks, and slimy foods like okra, chia, and linseeds.
Excessive dampness in the body can cause weight gain, fluid accumulation, watery discharges and mucus, lethargy, lumps and cysts, nausea, and feelings of over-sentimentality. Conditions related to excess damp include obesity, fluid retention, swelling, benign tumors, cysts, candida, PCOS, hay fever, allergies, wet coughs, excess sweating, and fungal diseases. To balance excess damp, reduce dairy, sweet or high-water content fruits and vegetables, sugar, gluten, and refined carbohydrates. Eat drier and crunchier food, limit alcohol, and drink green tea. Add warming and drying spices to food.
In Chinese Medicine, the key to optimum health is to eat foods that balance the energy in your body. Decrease excess heat with cooling foods, and reduce dampness with drying foods. Achieving balance is the best way to prevent disease and mental disharmony.
