In Chinese medicine, the health of the body is thought to come partly from a person’s inborn characteristics, but also relies on the stomach and digestive system—so eating properly and digesting properly is very important.
Eating properly in Chinese medicine means paying attention to the quantity, quality, temperature, and flavor of the food. Guidelines to follow are:
Quantity
Even when a dish is tasty, do not overeat. Wine is fine, but in moderation. You should eat until you are 70-80 percent full. You can imagine your overfull stomach like a laundry machine stuffed with clothes—if there is no room for them turn they don’t get clean. Likewise your stomach cannot move and digest as well when too full.
Quality
Eat less meat and more vegetables; less sugar and more whole fruit. The fiber in vegetables helps movement through the intestines. In Chinese medicine, the spleen function is the power of upward movement and circulation—without which your blood and nutrients wouldn’t be able rise and would pool around your feet. You can imaging the spleen function like the force that pushes water through a fire hose—without the pressure, the water simply would not move up. Sugar, depresses the spleen function decreasing the intestines ability to absorb nutrients and can lead to weight gain.
Temperature
Don’t eat food when it is very hot or cold. Cold food cools body temperature, slowing down the digestion and decreasing circulation. This cooling can cause disease in the circulatory system and contribute to obesity.
Flavors
Food should have a balance of flavors including spicy, sweet, pungent or bitter, sour, and salty, without favoring one flavor over another.
When balance of flavors is right, people will have a sense of satisfaction after eating. When we crave one flavor, it indicates an imbalance—possibly an ailment.
Sophia Zheng worked as a doctor of allopathic medicine for 17 year before becoming certified in acupuncture and herbalism by the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and has practiced Chinese medicine for 25 years.
