The

of Healthy
Eating
Dietary Wisdom
According to
Chinese 1'1edicine
SECOND EDITION Bob Flaws
Published by:
BLUE POPPY PRESS
A Division of Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc.
5441 Western Ave., Suite 2
BOULDER, CO 80301
First Edition, January, 1998
Second Printing, August, 1998
Third Printing, August, 1999
Fourth Printing, July, 200 I
Fifth Printing, July, 2002
Sixth Printing, April, 2004
Seventh Printing, September, 2005
Eighth Printing, February, 2007
Second Edition, August, 2008
ISBN 0-936185-92-9
ISBN 978-0-936185-92-7
COPYRIGHT Blue Poppy Press, 1998
All rights reserved. No p;ut of chis book may be re)roduced, smred in <1 reuieval
system. transcribed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
recording, or any other means, or rranslated into any language w ithout [he pt"ior
v.rritten permission of the publisher.
DISCLAIMER: The information in this. book is given in good faith. However, th
author and rhe pubhshers c;mnot be held responsible for any error or omission. The
publishers wdl not accept liabilines for any mjmies or darnl'lges caused ro the reader
that may resulL from the reader's acring upon or using clte content conwined in rbis
book. The publishers make this informarion available ro English language readers
for rese-arch and scholarly purposes only.
WARNING: When following some of the s elf- ca re techniques given m rhis hook, fa ilure to
follow rhe author's instruction may resuh in side sffec[s or negative reactions. Therefore, ple(lse
be sure ro follow the author's insrrucrions carefully for all self-care rcchniques 3nJ n<oJalities. Formswnce,
wrong or excessive application of moxibusiion may cause redness, inflammation., blistering,
or even possible scarring. If you have any questions about doing rhcse techmques safely and withour
unwamed side effecrs, please see a local professional pracritioner for in:-.rruction.
COMP Designation: Original work using a stand,wd rr<nslarional terminology.
Printed ar Sheridan Books, Ann Arbor, Ml, on recycled paper and sov inks.
Cover design by Eric Brearron and Honora Wolfe
10 9

able of Contents
I A Brief History of Chinese Dietary Therapy
2 The Basics of Good Health According to Chinese Medicine 7
Form & F u n ct i on 7
F i re & Essence 9
L o ngevity, Diet & Lifesty l e 10
Essen ce, Qi, & Spi rit 1 l
3 The Process of Digestion 15
T hree B u r n ers 15
T h e St omach as a Pot 16
The Im pl ications ofTh i s P rocess 17
The Basic Healthy Diet Accord i ng to C h ine se Medicine 25
Let Me Take a Moment to S u m m a rize Th ese Ideas 31
A Sp ecial Note o n Flavors & Sp ices 32
A Retu rn to a M o re Tr ad iti onal Diet 33
4 The Modern Western Diet 35
Alte rnative Health Eating I ndex 36
iii
iv The Tao of Healthy Eating
Not O n e But Sev e ra l Healthy Eating Food Py ra mids 37
Po rti o n I nflation 39
High Fructose Corn Syrup 40
T rans Fatty Acids 42
Textu red Soy Prot e i n 43
Pesticides, P reservatives & C h e m ica l s 44
5 Remedial Dietary Therapy 47
S p l een Vacuity W ith Da mp E nc u mb rance 51
Liv e r Depre ss i on Wit h Si multaneous Sto mach Heat 53
K i d ney Y i n V ac u ity 54
Damp Heat 56
6 Chinese Medical Descriptions of Commonly Eaten Foods 59
7 Recipes 99
Jook R eci pes 100
C h i nese-sty l e Di shes 103
"A m erican-sty l e" Reci pes 108
C h i n ese M e d i c i n a luT eas 113
"

C h i nese M e d i ci nal W i n es 116

8 Special Issues When it Comes to Eating Healthily in
Developed Countries 119
Obes ity 119
Good & Less Good C h i n ese M ed ical Methods Fo r LosingWeight 121
G reen Tea & We ight Loss 122
C h o l esterol 123
Food A l l ergies 125
Can did ias is 128
Coffee 129
N utritional Su pplem ents 131
C h i nese Medi cal Fu n ctions ofV itam i n s 133
C h i nese M ed i cal Fu nctions of M i nerals 135
C h i nese Medical Fun ctions of A m i n o Acids 136
9 Conclusion 139
Index 143
This rs the thrrd rev1sed edition of a book on Chinese dietar-y therapy that began its
life titled Arisal of the Clear: A Simple Guide to Healthy Eating According to Tr-aditional
Chrnese Medicine back in the early 1990s. In 1998, this book was retitled and
expanded to become The Tao of Healthy Eating. Howevet rt has been a full I 0 years
since its last revision. So we thought it could use a brt of sprucing up. Thirty years
after writing my first book on Chinese dietary therapy I still believe that the common
,

sense of the Chinese medical approach to healthy eating makes as mu ch or more

sense as any available m the world tod ay In a time when a new diet seems to be
.

touted by the popular media every few month or so. Chinese d1etary ther apy is

based on 2.500 years of documented, continuous. evolving expenence. Based on my

30 years experience as a clinic1an. I believe that up to 70% of all chl onic noncommunicable
- ,

disease is due to faulty diet and improper l ifestyle and this is not just my belief.
,

In 2002, the World H ealth Organization published a white paper titled "Diet
Nutritron and Chronic Disease which outlined the relationsh1p between faulty dret
and such increasing common diseases as obesity, diabetes. hypertension, heart drsease,
and stroke.1 There is even a strong relationship between faulty dret and cancer:
In the same white paper; the authors state, For populations in developed countries,
1 WHO. '"D1et. Nutrition and Chron1c D1sease." hLtp.//whqlibdoc.who ln1./trstWHO_ TRS_916.pdf .last retneved
I I 17/2008
v
vi T he Tao of Healthy Eati ng
where cancel- rates are high est and account for approximately o ne-quarter of all
deaths some epidemiologists estimate that 30-40% of cancers in men and up to 60%
,

ofcancers in women are attributable to diet.2 Acco rding to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control & Prevention, 80 percent of heart disease and stroke, 80 percent of
type 2 diabetes, and 40 percent of all cancers could be eliminated by simply correcting
diet increasing physical activity, and stopping smoking, with correcting d iet number
.

one on this list.3 Therefore, if one wants to live a long, healthy, enjoyable and pi oductive , -

life, we need to pay attention to what we eat. If this book he lps shine some light
on this subject, then bon appetit and wan sui, good eating and may you live I 0,000
years.
Bob Flaws, L.Ac.. FNAAOM (USA). FRCHM (UK)
Boulder, CO
Feb. 7, 2008
2 lb1d .. http:IIINVVW.mcspotltght.orglmedlalreportslwho_rep.html, last retneved I I 1712008
J'The Gmw1ng Cns1s of Chron1c D1sease in the Unrted States: http./lfightchronlcdisease.orglpdfs/ChronlcDisectse FactSheet.
pdf. las\ retrieved I I 17/2008

A Brief History of
Chinese Dietary Therapy 1
ne of the reasons for learning a bout Chinese medical di etary therapy (yin shi
hi liao fa, t);:1t '!Jt.L) is
.

its l o ng recorded h istory. Chinese dietary t erapy

IS not some pass1ng fad. It 1s a t1me-tested system of theory and pract1ce at
least 2,000 years old. Therefore. before immed iately jumping 1 nto what Ch inese doctors
suggest about healthy eat1ng. I think it is useful to take a brief look at its history.
By no later than 200 BCE (Before the Common Era), one or more unknown medical
scholars compiled what has become the fundamental cannon of Chinese medical theory.
the Huang Dr Net Jmg (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Clossrc). Although this two-volume
compendium 1 mainly deals with yin-yang, five phase, q r-bl ood, and 12 channel
theones and their applications to acupuncture-moxibustion, it also contains a number
of references to the principles of healthy eating. For instance. i n the Su Wen (Plain
Questrons) chapter on the relat1onship betwee n the five viscera and the seasons, 1t is
stated that "Medicinals are used to fight evi ls, [wh i le J grains are used to nourish the
body, and fruits, meats. and vegetables a1d in th i s effort-all [five] fiavors working together
to supplement the qi and esse nce .' '2 This statement impl i es that grains should
' The two "volumes" or books o( the Ner jmg are the Su Wen (Piarn Ques(lor.s) .md the Lrng Shu (Mrroculous Prvoi). ' Lru
jrlrn.Chmese Drewry Theropy. Churchrll Lrvrngstone, Edr'1burgh, 2005. p 16 wrth slrght r etranslatron by Bob Flaws.
The five navors are sweet. acrrd or pungent. salty. birter; and sour.
2 The Tao of Healchy Eacing
be the mainstay of the diet while meats. vegetables. and fruits should be eaten to
complete and support that basis, and most Chinese doctors today would agree w1th
that statement Similarly, in another chapter in the Su Wen (Plain Quesuons) on the five
principles. it reiterates this point of view by saying, "Grains , meats, fruits. and vegetables
must all be eaten to provide nutrrtion."3 In other words, man cannot live by bread
alone. Furi:he1 it was the authors of the Nei Jmg (Inner Classic) or their ultimate sources
who ascribed correspondences between the f1ve navors, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and
meats. the f1ve viscera, and the five phases. Thus even today, most Chinese doctors
believe that sweet foods have a special effect on the spleen, sour foods, especially. af-
feet the liver, salty foods ''go to'' the kidneys, acnd foods espe-
--..... ..,

({Meaioine.Ls are-.used:to cially affect the lungs, and bitter foods have a special effect on
fight e\Zils, [wlWej gt,ins the hea1t. It should also be mentioned that other books found qre used tD
no1:1rish l'he
' in early Han dynasty (circa ISO BCE) tombs also contain di- body, and
__ (r;,Wtst;meq.'ts; -
/cm.a Vgetf;i'b1es' a.itl ir'i: -.::
_ etary recipes for the treatment of disease and the promotion

th:ts ii{ort 'll [rii;'lPflh;. -, of good health. Therefore, the materials on dietar y therapy
v0rs working together to found in the NeJ Jing were not limited to that text alone but ap-
1

St.{pplement the qi and ' pear to be widely disseminated at the time.

esse nee."
By the end of the Han dynasty (220 CE or Common Era). another
pillar of Chinese medical th eory and practrce had come into existence. This
Shang Han Lunijin Kui Yao Lue (Treatise on Damage [Due to] Cold/Essentials of
was the
the Golden Coffer) by Zhang Zhong-jing.The Shang Han Lunijin Kw Yoo Lue is considered
the first classic of Ch1nese medicinal prescriptions. Its several hundred p rescriptions
are still in use today and form the backbone of most practitione r's clinical
repertoire. In this book, Zhang used both medicinal herbs (cao yao. -i'-i) and commonly
eaten foods in combination in many of his formulas. Some of the commonly
eaten foods found in these prescriptions include ginger (both fresh and dned), cinnamon.
jujubes or red dates, licorice. Job's tears barley, malt syrup, malted bean sprouts.
rice (both glutinous and non-glutinous), fermented soybeans, vinegar, honey, alcohol.
mandann oranges (both ripe and unripe) , orange peel. lard, gelatin, egg yolk, lamb.
seaweed, Sichuan pepper. and scallions. To this day, almost 2.000 years late1 there 1s
the saying in Ch inese medicine. "Medicine and food [shar-e J the same source" (Yao shi
3 lbd.p. 16
., The five major v1sCe1a of Ch1nese med1c1ne are the l1ve1. heart, spleen. lungs. and k1dneys wh1ch co::-espond to the
wood. lire. earth. metal. ar'\d water phases 1espeCHvely.
A Brief History of Chinese Dietary Therapy
tong yuan, $[NJ).This me ans that there is no hard and fast line between me dicinal
substan ces and foods and, by extens1on. that every food has its 1mpact on the
health of the body. In addition, Zh ang devoted the last. two chapters of the jm Kw Yoo
Lue (Essentials of rhe Golden Coffer) to specifi c recommendations on d iet ary therapy.
3
The next tvvo historical periods in Chinese were the Three Kingdoms period (220-265
CE) and the Jin dynasty (265-420 CE), and one of the most famous medical texts written
d uring those times was Ge Hong's Zhu Hou Bmg )1 Fang (Formulas [to Keep] Behind
the Elbow for Emergencies). In this book. Ge recorded a number of simple, proven prescnpt
ions, many of which are dietary 1n nature. As a Tao 1st adept. Ge was very interested
in health and longevity techniques, incl ud i ng what to eat and what not to eat in
order to live an especially lo ng time. In another of his books, the Boo Pu Zi Nei Pion
(Boo Pu-zi's lnnerWritmgs), Ge exp lains a l ong list of activities o ne shou ld regulate if
one wants to live to I 00 years.5 As part of this list, he counse ls, "Don't overemphasize
any on the five flavors when eating, for too much sour damages the spleen, too much
b1tter d a mages the lungs, too much acrid damages the liver: too much salt damages the
heart and too much sweet damages the kidneys.'' As we will see in Chapter 3, these
same ki nds of prohibrtions against overeating any of the five flavors are still a foundation
of Chinese medical dietary therapy.
In the Southern and N orthern period (420-589 CE), another Taoist by the name of
Tao Hong-jing compiled his famous Shen Nong Ben Coo Jing (fhe Divine Husbandman's
Materia Medica Cla ssic). Th1s book contains the medlc1nal uses of 365 substancesvegetable.
animal, and mineral-and many of these medicinals are also comm only
eaten fo ods, such as Job's tears barley. jujubes, ch 1cken meat honey, lotus rhizomes,
lotus seeds, sesame seeds, kel p. kombu, pears, carp, red be ans (a.k.a. aduki or azuki
beans), cow's milk., wheat and grapes. Each 1ngredient in this book is described according
to the five fiavo rs and the four natures. The four natures are the four temperatures
of foods .These a1-e cold, cool, wa1 m, and hot. (Of course, there is a ''fifth" nature or

temperature, the neutral wh1ch is ne1ther cool nor warm.) Even today, when a Chinese
doctor talks about the effects of a food on a particular person, he or she will t ake into
account that foods nature or tem perature . In this case, someone who is pathologically
cold will be told to eat more warm and hot foods and to avoid cool and col d foods,
: Ge Hong. Boo Pu Z. Ne1 P1on. translated Dy james R.Warc. appeanng 1n Alchmy. Med1cme and Reilg1on 1n rlle Ch1no o(
AD 320. MIT Press. Cambndge. MA. 1966. p 224. w1th slight ret;-.:mslatton by Bob Fl2.ws
4 The Tao of Healthy Eating
while someone who is too hot will be told to eat more cool and cold foods and avo id
warm and hot food s.
Next we come to the Tang dynasty ( 6 18-907 CE) and the great Sun Si-miao. Sun was
also a Taoist hermrt and healer who lived in what is now Shanxi province in the very
heart of China Similat- to both Ge Hong and Tao Hong-jing above, as a Taoist, Sun
.
was very interested in longevity techntques and this led him to a speCial interest in dietary
therapy for good health and long life. In his mastetwork, Q1an jm Yao Fang (Prescriptions
[VVorth] a Thousand [Pteces of] Gold), Sun categor ized th e dietary properties

and uses of a large assortment of fruits, vegetables, grains, fish, fowl, insects. and other
animals. In addition, in the Preface to the Qian Jm Yao Fang. Sun discusses the importa
nce and prin ciples of dietary therapy to the point that many Chinese doctors cite
Sun as the real fountainhead of contemporary Chinese med1cal dietary therapy. In
fact, if one visits Sun s hermitage today. one can buy several books made up of Sun's
'

precepts on healthy l iv ing, including dietary therapy written in simplified characters

,

which are easy to read by modern Chinese. In the summer of 2006, I visited this hermitage
and purchased several of these booklets. In one titled Yang Sheng Chong Shou
Zi Mi (Secrets of Nourishing L1(e & Longevity), Chapter 3 out of eight chapters is devoted
to Sun's views on and prescriptions for dietar y therapy for those wishing to
live a long and healthy life . In this ch apter. Sun d tscusses balancing the five fi avor s and
well as the principles for regulating the diet i n general. The fact that Sun lived to I 00
years of age suggests he practiced what he preached and it worked well for him.
According to Liu Shi-lin, by the Song dynasty (960- 1 129 CE), it was common practice
to use foods in both the p1eve ntion and treatment of disease 6 Two of the most Important
.

Ping Hw
works of that perio d were the Imperial Medical Department's T01
Ji Ju Fang (lmpenal Groce Formulary of the Tai Ping [Era]) and the Sheng Jr Zong
Min He
Lu (Complete Collectwn for Holy Relief) which was also comp1led under the official auspices
of the imperial government Both of these widely circulated books co ntained
separate chapters on dietar y therapy which include over I 00 different reci pes Also in .

the Song dynasty, Chen Zhi published a book titled Yang Lao Feng Qin Shu (A Book on
Nounshing the Elderly [based on J Filial Piety) T his book deals specifically with geriatric
.

dietary therapy and also includes many specific recipes.

6Liu J;iln, or or. p. 17
A Brief His tory of Chinese Dietary Therapy 5
During the Yuan dynasty ( 1206-1368 CE). interest in d ietary therapy 1n China continued.
Among the number of books on Chinese dietary therapy p ublished dunng this
dynasty, the most famous of all was Hu Si-hui's Ym Sh1 Xu Sht (A Handbook of D1etet1CS)
in I 330. Hu was a Chinese doctor at the imperial court who came from the Muslim
minonty. He pri marily ministered to the imperial family's health via adjusting their diet
Hu put special emp hasis on rationally combining daily foods as well as the addition of
herbal medicinals to foods both for the prevention and treatment of disease. His book
is still in print in Ch1na to th 1s day; it is considered that im po1-tant. It should also be
mentioned that, around this same time, Li Dong-yuan, in his monumentally imp ortant
Pi Wei Lun (Treatise on the Spleen & Stomach) shifted the em phasis in terms of the causation
of chronic diseases from externally contracted pathogens to such internally engendered
causes as emotional stress and faulty diet and lifestyle. This sea-change within
the Chinese medical literature served to only place more emphasis on proper diet
within the world of Chinese medic1ne. Further, it was Li who really stressed the importance
of the "clear, bland diet" which we Will talk about in Chapter 3.
In the Ming dynasty (I 368-1644 CE), Li Shi-zhen described over 500 individual foods
and their medicinal effects in his Ben Coo Gong Mu (Detailed Outline of Materia Medtco).
Other typical works from this period devoted specifically to dieta1-y therapy include
Lu He's Shi Wu Ben Coo (A Materia Medico of Foodstuffs). N 1ngYuan's Sh1 )ian
Ben Coo (Veri(ted Food Mateno Medica).Wu Lu's Shi Pm)1 (A Collection o( Foods &
Drinks), and Gao Lian's Yin Zhuon Fu Sh1 j1on (Notes on the Use of Foods & Dnnks).
Thus we can see that there was both quite an interest 1n and a growing literature on
Chinese dietary therapy by this time.
In the Qing dynasty ( 1616-19 I I CE), the role and practice of di etary therapy w1th1n
the larger realm of Chinese medicine were accepted by essentially all high-class practit1oners
of Chinese medicine. The Q1ng dynasty was a t1me of grovvth in 1he p rofessionalization
of med1cine as well as the development of the scholar-doctor Thus we
see more and more books being published during these centuries on all aspects of
Chinese mediCine and no less dietary therapy. Some of the most 1mportant books on
Chinese dietary therapy from this dynasty incl ude She Li -long's Sh1 Wu Ben Coo HUJ
Zuon (A Compendium o( Foodstuff Materia Medtco). Wang Shi-xiong's SUI X1 Ju Ym Shi
Pu (The Food & Dnnk Reopes of Sui X1-ju). Zhang Mu's Tioo Ji Yin Shi B10n (A Study of
Food & Drink [(ot] Regulating Diseases), and Yuan Mei's SUI Yuan Sh1 Don (Food E/Jxtrs
6 T he Tao of H eal t hy Eati ng
[from] Sui Yuan [Garden]). These books cover the principles of both preventive and remedial
diets and are filled with many recipes for the treatment of d1sease as well as
for daily consumption.
Since the end of the Qing dynasty, every succeeding generation of Chinese doctors
has produced new manuals of Chinese medical dietary therapy. On my shelf, I have at
least a dozen such manuals published in China during the last 30 yea1s, and this is just
a random selection. There are a number of comprehensive textbooks on Chinese
medical dietary therapy as well as many smaller: more specialized books on tea therapy,
medicinal wines and tinctures, medicinal porridges, and even vinegar eggs. There
are also numerous materia medica or "dictionaries" of individ ual
foods which give each food's fiavor(s), nature, organ tropisms,
7 functions, indications, contraindications, and sample
uses or recipes. Therefore. when 1t comes to Chinese dietary
therapy. there is a relatively vast repositor y of time-tested
knowledge.
Further: I would also like to point out that China is a huge
country containing many different ethnic groups (or gene
pools). many different geographic climates and environments,
and many different cultures with their various lifestyles. Thus,
Chinese dietary therapy has been proven to work in a very diverse
group of people from sea level to the heights of the Himalayas,
from the cold tundra of the north to the tropics of Hainan in the south. and
from damp coasts on the China Sea to the deserts of Ch1nese Turkistan. While some
tradrtional diets, such as the lnu1ts' (or Eskimos'), may be too localized in its application
both in terms of physical environment and applicable gene pool. I feel conf1dent that
when modified to fit individual needs, the basic principles of this 2,000-year-old system
of dietary therapy are workable for most people in most places.
701gan trop1sm IS typ1cally referred to as "organ entry" or"channel ngroup1ng" 1n Ch1nese med1c<1l texts Under th1s
head1ng. the vanous v1scera or bowels a food pnmanly "enlcrs" and effects are spec1fied.

Tl1e Basics of Good Health

According to Chinese Medicine
I n the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). the famous Chinese doctor Sun Si-m iao1 said

that when a person is sick. the doctor- should first regulate the patient's diet and
hfestyle. In most cases. these changes alone are enough to effect a cure over time.
Sun Si-miao said that only if changes in diet and lifestyle are not enough should the
doctor administer other interventions. such as internal medici ne and acupuncture. Although
most patients coming for professional Chinese medical treatment today do
need internal medicine and/or acupuncture as well as changes in their diet and
lifestyle to effect a more rapid cure. it is most definitely my experience that without
appropriate changes in diet and lifestye herbs and acupuncture will not achieve their
.

full and lasting effect.

Fo rm & F u nction
Based on my 30 years of clinical practice I believe thet-e are four basic foundations of
.

achieving and maintaining good health. These are d1et. exercise, adequate rest and re-
1 Sun S1-ma10 1S regarded as one of the most teachers on health and longevity wr"J-<n Chinese med1c1ne. He
1mport<>.nt
<>tud1ed with Confuc1an1sts. Buddhists. and Tao1S1S and lived to I 00 yea1s of age In the summe1 of 2006.1 had to opponunrcy
to ViSit h1s hermitage 1n Shanx1 prov1nce ilnd bow to the 1m;;ge of th1s great Ow>ese med1c1al pract111oner
7
8 The Tao of Healthy Eating
laxation, and a good mental attitude. Chinese medical theory is based on the concepts
of yin and yang.2 In terms of medicine, yin means form 01-. substance (xing, H)
and yang means function (yong, ffl ). Thts is similar to the Western medical dichotomy
between form and function. Form and function are interdependent. Substance or
form is both the material, anatomical basis of function and its fuel. Function, on the
other hand, activates and mot1vates form and also repairs. builds, and maintains it
To help make this clearer to my patients, I often say the human organ1sm is like a can dle.
A candle's function is to burn and, therefore, shed light. The fiame of the candle is
dependent on its form. At the same time, the candle's form. its wick and wax. is the
fuel for the candle's function. Similarly, our various activities and consciousness are
dependent upon our form. our physical body. Our functional activities are a product
of consuming and transforming or metaboliz1ng this substance. When we are young.
we produce more substance than we consume and thus we are able to grow, repair.
and keep our- bodies youthful in shape and appearance. However: past a certain age.
due to a decline 1n our bodily organs' efficiency, we no longer produce an excess of
fuel or substance and so we begin to consume our own form. When we have consumed
all of our ytn substance. our organism no longer has sufficient fuel for function
and so it ceases or dies.
In relationship l'o diet.
cise and restJrelaxation
we seen as the yin(yang
.aspepts or a single issue.
Unlike the candle which is endowed with a finite, nonreplenishable
form at the moment of its making, we humans are capable
of taking in new form or substance. We do this by
breathing, eating, and drinking. It is eating and drinking which
provide us with the substance which fuels our day-to-day activities
and which is transformed into our body's material basis.
Therefore, from the point of view of morphology or yin substance,
we most definitely are what we eat, drink, and breathe.
Exercise is a type of functiOn. It IS activity (dong, rJJ. literally "strrnng"). In 1-elationship to
diet exercise is yang to diet's yin. Exercise keeps function performing at peak efficiency.
Y1n and yang are not an)' partrcular ;:h1ngs as such. They a-e the two poles of all poss;ble d1chotomies.Thrs rT'ears that
somethrng rs yin only in r--elation 10 somethrng e:se whrch. 1n terms of that r-elat1onshro, rs yang Determ1n1ng the y1n and
ya.ng of any sr:;<!tlon 1s one of. rf not the m<!rn prob!em-solving methodologies and organrz:!t.onill systems w1lh1n Chrnese
rlcdrcinc
10 The Tao of Healthy Eating
In Chi nese medicine. there ar-e two types of essence. There is xian tian zhi jing
()t;7(.L1D or form er heaven essence wh1 ch is innate at birth. We inherit this former
heaven essence at the moment of conception from our two parents. We are born
with a fln1te amount of this former heaven essence. It is our endowment from our
parents and the universe at large, and 1t is stored in the kidneys. However this former
p
heaven essence is su pl emented by what is cal led hou tian zhi jing (J:Azfi!f) or latter
heaven essence. This latter heaven essence is manufactured out of a combination
of the atr we br-eathe and the food and dr-ink we consume similar to how a candle's
fiame is a combinatron of heat oxygen, and fuel. Nutntive essence derived from food
is transformed into qi (pronounced chee) and blood. Qi empowers function and
blood nourishes form. As we move through each day, our- activities consume both qi
and blood. If, when we go to sleep at n1ght. we have manufactured more qi and blood
than we have used that day. this excess 1s transformed into acqu1red or latter heaven
essenc e . Some of this latter heaven essence is stored in each of the five maJor organs
or viscera (zang, !iff.) of Chi nese medicine-the hear-t, lungs, spleen, I rver: and kidneys.
However the major portion of this ac q
uired essence is stored in the kidneys which
then become the Fort Knox of the body. This is summed up in the Chinese medical
statement of fact "The kidneys stot-e the essence." ( Shen zang jing 1/df ;fi!f. )
Eve ry metaboliC activity, every transformation within the orga nism requ i res both

some life fwe and some essence to act as catalyst and sub str-ate respectively. If there
q n
were no ac u i red essence, we would be JUSt like a ca dle. We would only be born
with so much fuel and that would be used up fairly quickly. But because latter heaven
essence, derived from our d e tt supplements ou r innate former heaven essence
stored in out- ki dneys, this former- heaven essence is capable of lasting a lifetime.
Lo ngevity, D i et & Lifestyl e
Chi nese medical theory bel1eves that the human org anism is built to live I 00 years. According
to the first chapter of the Nei Jing (Inner Classic), the "Bible" of Chinese medicine,
5 most people have enough essence to last five-score year-s. Barring accidental
death or infectious disease, we are designed to last I 00 years as long as former heaven
essence 1s not s quandered by excessive consumption and as long as latter heaven or
'' The Ncr Jmg was complred by" vanety of authors some trme rn the WarTrng States per-rod (476-221 BCE) It contarns
the fundamental lheoncs that <lre still the bedmck o( contemporar-y Chrnese medrcrne. It rs drvided into two
sectrons the Su Wen (Simple Questions) arid the Lmg Shu (Miraculous PiVot).
The Basics of Good Health According to Chinese Medicine 9
H owever. in Chinese medicine, exercise and rest/relaxation Uing, 1) are seen as the
yin/yang aspects of a single issue. I f we are too active , i.e. , hyperiunctional , we consume
too much fuel or substance. Therefore. rest and relaxation are the flip side of the coin
of activity. Because the fundamental view of Chinese med icine on health and disease IS
based on the Doctrine of the M ean (zhang yang, cp ffl),3 functio nal activities should be
moderate--not too much and not too little. If there is too little exet cise , form or material

substance is not adequately consumed and transformed and starts to accumulate

and gum up the works in the form of phlegm, dampness, turbidity, and blood stasis.
If there is too little rest, hyperactivity. be that p hysical. mental, or emotional, consumes
too much substance and overheats the organ ism leading to burnout ( qi and yin vacutty).
1 This means that d i et on the one hand must be balanced by adeq uate activity and
rest/relaxation on the other
F i re & E ssence
The use of a cand le as an analogy is actual ly quite accu rate ac cordi ng to Ch inese
medical theory. Life 1s seen in Chi nese med ici n e as a senes o f warm transform ations
(wen hua, t1fu ft). Living qi (sh eng qi, 1:/=( ) or energy in the body is yang and yang is
i nherently warm. The root yang of the enti1e body is called the ming men zhi hua
(ifiJ fl '.k) or t h e l ife-gate fire.This life-gate fi re is ulti mately responstble for al l activittes
and transformations i n the body. We l ive o n ly as long as th is fi re of the l i fe -gate
b u rns within us and we are stone -cold dead when 1t burns out irrevocably.
Th is life-gate fi re is associated with or has its material basis i n the Chinese medical
tdea of the kidneys. In Chinese m e d ic i n e , the kidneys (shen. 1) are the fundamental ,
fi rst organ . They are cal l ed the xian tian zhi ben ( 5t Z. *) or former heaven root.
This means they are the pren atal foundation of the organ ism, both its form and fu nct
i o n . The original source of function 1 s the life-gate fre or original qi described above .
Whereas the most essential matenal basis or p u re substance is referred to as the
essence (jing, t) or kidney essence ( shen jing, 1 :t1!{).
lThe Doclnne of the Mean r s the cornerstone o f Confuc1an1sm It basrcally teaches moderatron r n a l l th 1 ngs both the
he,llth and wel l-berng of the 1nd 1v1dual and the communrty at large .Therefore, With i n Chrnese med1cine. health rs the
main te'iance of balance and moderalron in the bodymind's physiological activities. and disease rs conversely c; state
of something w1thrn the bodymind berng er ther- too much (reple le. shi. J) or wo little (vacuous, xu, .1$.). ' Qr and yrn v acur ty rs one of the
profession a l ly identified drsease states or patterns rn Chnese medrcrne It I S characterized
by fr..ugue and lack of both men tal and physical vrgOI' on Lhe one hand <Jnd restlessness. scanty sleep. mental
dgrtatron, Mld possrble n:cu rTenl hot feelrngs on the other.
The Bas ics of Good H ealth According co Chinese Medicine
acquired essence is manufactu r-ed and stored to bolster and slow the use of former
heaven essence . Since latter heaven essence is manufactured from the food and drink
we ingest, it is no wonde1 that Ch1nese medical theory places such great importance

on proper d 1et and promot1ng good digestion. Likewise , si nce acquired essence is
stored in the kidneys at n tght when we sleep, it is no wonder why proper rest and
sleep are important as well.
Here agatn I fi n d an analogy helpfu l . Former heaven essence is l i ke a patrimony o1
trus1. fund we i n herit at birth. Latte1- heaven essence is l i ke money which we save i n
the bank. I t is that part o f our dai ly economy above and beyond o u r operating exI
I
penses. When we store it as acquired essence , it an d our former
heaven essence together become our body's capital . It 1s
said 1n alchemy that it takes gold to make gold and that the
more gold one has, the more one can make . When ap pl1ed to
our- i nner alchemy. our original gold IS our essence , both former
and latter heaven . When these two essences are ful l and
Former heaven E}SSen.ce is
fi.ke a patrimony or trust
_ fund .we inher:it a l .ffirth.
LGitter heaven-essen'Ce is
like mencw wh ich we
abu ndant organ fu nct1on is strong. metabol1sm is efficient and
we generate a profit each day. Therefore , it takes essence to
make essence and the more essence we have, the more we
can make . When we age. however; instead of l ivi ng on ou1 interest,
we run a n egative daily balance and are forced to d i p
'
save in the ban!?. It is
that part of our dally
economy ab.eve and be-,
yondour operat ing;ex-
; pensks.'. "' ',. -:

i nto our capital. Eventua l ly, we consume al l our ca p1tal and we go bankrupt or die.
E ssence, Q i , & S p i rit
It is said i n Chinese medicine that essence (material basis) becom es qi (. funct1onal
activ1ty)6 and when qi accumu lates it becomes shen (t) or spi rit. Spirit i n Ch inese
medicine refe rs to the q accumulated in our hea1t which the n manifests as our conscio
usness and our mental/emotional activities. Excessive th inking or excessive emo tional
ity (i. e . . mental-emotional activity) consume great stores of qi and, therefore .
essence. That is why the fourth basic fou n dation of goo d heal th is a healthy menta l
attitude . What is meant by a good attitude i n Ch inese medicine is spel led out fairly
" The concept of qr denes easy definrtion While r t rs ofi:en r-eferTed to as energy by Westerners and many modern
Ch rnese , tradrtronal ly. rl .s defrned CJS the "finest mil terral subance" ' rn the world In any case. qr has frve functrons
wrthrn the human body and the5e are to warm. defend. move. tri\rdorm, and conlarn. ln general. rn C h r nese medrc,
ne, qr always descnbes functron.
1 2 The Tao of H e a l chy Eaci ng
exactly. When the seven affects-joy, anger, gnef. melancholy, thinking, fear. and
fright-are appropriate to their sti muli, these are natural subjective experiences and
their experience is the purpose of life. Nonetheless. their experience does consume
essence. Essence without spirit or mental activity is meaningless i n human terms just
as a candle which does not shed l1ght is also useless. The consum ption of essence
through ou r conscious experience is what is called in Chinese medicine our spirit
brill iance (shen min g. 111 13}1 ). Ming ( fl}] ) means brill1ance or l1ght. Thus essence's u ltimate
purpose is to be transformed into the light of consciousness.
However. just as physical activity or stirring may be excessive, so may mental-emotional
stirring. Therefore , in Chinese medicine, it IS very important that we each get
enough physical rest and mental relaxation and that we not let our mi nds and emotions
run away with us. Otherw1se , we burn through our q i and its ultimate fuel, our
essence, too quickly. When that happens, we age prematurcly, heal more slowly, and
are also prone to disease-causing malfunctions within and invasion by disease-causing
entities from without. Thus 1t is said in Chinese medicine,
[Keep] a constant, regular lifestyle
[And] suitable amounts of work and rest.
As well as ,
Be hap py with a light, open view;
Guard against being seized by sudden changes in emotion.
I opened this chapter 1nvoking the wisdom of the great Ch1nese doctor Sun Si- m 1 ao.
In the Qing dynasty ( 1 644- 1 9 1 I CE). Sun Xi-miao said:
To live long, people should take care not to worr y too much. not to get
too angry, not to get too sad, not to get frightened, not to do too much,
not to talk too much. and not to laugh too much. One should not have
too many desires nor face numerous upsetting conditions. All these are
harmful to the health.
Conversely, this Dr: Sun went on to say:
One who knows how to conserve one's life is one who th inks less. worries
less, has fe wer desires, is less active, talks less, I S less upset has less joy
The Basics of Good Health Accord ing to Chinese Medicine 1 3
[here meaning less exc1tement] and l ess anger. and does l ess wrong.
These 1 2 Jesses are the key to conservi ng one's life .
I n oth er words, we need to c u ltivate a broad . open m i nd with a happy mood and
avoid all unn ecessary worri es and stress.
We must remember that we all get old and we a l l d i e . We all experience pai n as
we l l as pleasu re . These are i nev1table. When we fai l to recognize the natural ness of
this condition and rather take 1t as a personal affront or attack, we run afLer pleasure
and its means i n order to avoid suffering at a l l cost. Paradoxically, th is ceaseless ru nn
ing towards pleasure and running away from pain con sumes essence and causes
the very d isease , suffe ri ng and death we seek to avo i d . It is transcende nce of th is ratrace
wh 1ch the wt sdom of the East posits as a good , healthy mental attitude.
Because of the i ntet-- relationships between esse nce, q i , an d spi rit it is easy to see why
diet exercise , rest, and the development of a good. healthy attttude are so important
to achieving and maintaining good h ealth. This book focuses on dietat-y thetapy. That
does not mean that diet is more important than the other three: i n truth , I wo u ld say
that the chro n 1 c , non-infectious d iseases of this time are due to a lack of wisdom in a l l
fou r o f these crucial areas. Although co ntem porary Western diet h a s shown some
signs of i m p rovi ng i n recent years, it is bas ical ly out of ba lance. I n additi on we all tend
,

to be too sedentary and, at the same tt me too mental ly and

,

emoti onally stressed.

It is r-elatively simple to say that one should get enough exe rcise
and rest. I n fact, we are co nstantly bom barded in the med ia by
one simple fix or another from a run ning shoe manufacturet a
health club chain or a drug company: a simple fix that real ly
doesn't fix anythi ng but often pushes too far one way or the
other: And although Buddhists. Dao1sts and Confuc ianists have
filled libraries on how to achieve a true me ntal balance. th i s ts
not easi ly conveyed or the i ntent of th is book. Diet on the other
hand, although seemingly o pen to a great deal of difference of
opinion and confusion, 1s somethi ng that the Chi nese have written
about sim ply and c l early for centuries. I bel ieve that these
anc ient time-tested teach1 ngs on diet found in Chinese medictne
]Jiet, although seemingly
opln to a greah1eal of .

di(fef(mce of. 0pini<f>n andconfusion,

is something
thdt the Chinese have
writtn about simply and
. dearly [or centu.ries . .J li

vih.a t thesTttert,
time:.testea teG.chi.ngs on
diet found in Gn inese
m_epic;irie ca.n prDv.ide,
simple, clear:, mmmonsense
guidel-ines to a
healthy diet. -ii
1 4 The Tao o f H ealthy Eating
can provid e , sim ple, clear: commonsense guidelines to a healthy d i et. It is my hope that
thi s summary of all those writ1ngs wi l l greatly benefit the q uality of l i fe of everyone who
reads this book.

I n Chi nese , the digestive system i s cal led the xiao hua xi tong. The words xi tong
C*'O simply mean system , but the words xiao O"M) and hua ( 1.t) are more pregnant
with meani ng. Xiao means to disperse and hua means to tra nsform. I n Chinese
med ici ne digestion equals the dispe1As1on o f pure substan ces to be retai ned and
,

impure substances to be excreted after these have undergo ne transformation. Therefore

, the dige stive tract i s cal led the xiao hua dao u 1-t-Jl!) or pathway of dispersion
and transformation. I n Chi nese med ici ne, we mostly desc ribe the proce ss o f digesti on
in terms of the functions of the Ch inese spleen and stomach. Once one understands
the functions of the spleen (pi, M!) and stomach (wei, tl}) acco rding to Chi nese medical
theory, Chi nese dietary theory becomes ve1Ay clea( and logical .
T h ree B u rn e rs (san jiao, -:::: )
The spleen and stomach are a yi n-yang pair. The sto mach is one of the s ix bowels (liu
fu , ;\Mi) and is relatively yang. The s p l een is on e of the five v1 scera (wu zang, lLJJJ:t)
and is re latively yin.The stom ach's function is to receive food and l iq uids and to ' 'decom
pose and cook" these. In Chinese medicine, the sto mach is likened to a pot on a
stove . As ment1 oned i n the p revious chapter; all physiologi cal transformations i n Chi-
IS
1 6 The Tao of Healthy Eating
nese med rcine are warm transform ations. The trunk of the body is seen as three alchemrcal
retorts cal led jiao () or burners. There is an upper burner contai n ing the
heart and l ungs. a m iddle burner conta i n i ng the sp leen and stomach, and a lower
burn er conta1ning the kidneys, i ntesti nes, l 1ver. and reproductive organs.
The Sto m ach as a Pot
The stomach is the pot of the middle burner and the spleen is both the fire under this
pot and the distil lation mechanism to which this pot is attached Just as a mash mt.tens
and npens in a pot, so foods and liquids decompose and are cooked withrn the
stomach. 1 In Chi nese medical terms, this means that as foods and l iquids decompose
The stomach is the pot of
the m.tdtile burner an'El
the spleen is both the fire
. J.:mder:,thi5 pot and the ,.
. dis'tilldtion r:neehantsm tO"
which this pot iS attached.
and are cooked, the pure o r clear (qing, flO and impure or- turbid
(zhuo, 1.9!) parts of these foods and liquids are separated It is
then the spleen's function to disti ll or drive upward the purest
parts of foods and liquids, the so-called fi nest essence of liquids
and foods (qing wei zhi yin shi. fr!YrfZ.tJ;:"@t). sen d i ng the pure
part of foods up to the lungs and the pure part of liqu ids up to
the heart. The pure part of foods, called the five ovors (wu wei,
Il!W.)becomes the basis for the creation of qi within the lungs. The pure part of liquids
becomes the basis for the creation of blood within the heart. The sending up of the pure
part of the foods and liquids by the spleen is called the upbearing of the clear (sheng qing,
:3tr) and is the Chinese medical spleen's main function.2
The stom ach then sends down the impure or turbid part of foods to be further transformed
by the large intestine, and the impure parts of l iquids to be further transformed
by the smal l intestine. In Chinese medicine , the large intestine's function is i.o reabsorb the
pure part of the impure foods or soiids.Thrs becomes the postnatal or latter heaven fuel
for kidney yang or the life-gate re.The smal l intestine's function is to reabsorb the pure
part of the impure parts of l iquids.This is transfonned into the body's thick liqurds (ye, $&:).
' In Ch1ncse. the word for decompose IS fu (ff) wh1ch l l te1c.lly means t o rot o r putrify. The word shu ( .) means to
cook ttnd also to ripen Therefore. some E ngi1sh language texts on Chinese mediCine talk aboul me stomach's "rattening
<nd ,-1 pen 1ng." However: such a LrJnsla110n obscures the s1mile of the stomach be1ng l ikened to a fermentation
tun or va1.
2 The Ch1nese medical COf'Cept of the organs IS qute different i 1 most cases fr-om tf)e biomedical concept of the
same Engl 1sh name. Therefore. the Ch1 nese medical spleen sh ou ld not be seen as 1den lJcal to the spl een we a l l
learned ;bout 1n h 1gh school bio logy. For a rnore complete d i scuss1on of these differences and lhew medical implications.
see Ted Kaptchu k's The Web Thm Has No Weaver
The Process of Digestion
such as cerebrosp1 nal and intra-articular fluids, and nourishes postnatal kidney yi n. The
large 1 ntestine conducts the 1m pure of the impure solids down and out of the body as
feces. The small Intestine conducts the impure of the impure liquids to the bladder from
whence they are excreted as unne.Th is sending down of the impure part of foods and
liquids in 1tiated by the stomach is cal led the down bearing of the turbid Giang zhuo, p:P,).
17
So we can see that tn Chinese med 1cine. digestton is spoken of as the separation of the
clear and turb1d.This separation is dependent upon the qi hua ( ft) or q i-transforma
tton of the m tddle burner ot- spleen-stomach and upon the spleen qt s ability to move or
'

transport foods and fluids. H ence, Chinese spleen function is summed up in the two
words yun (.IE. movement) and h ua (1t . tt-ansformation). Since movement implies dispersion.
the concept of movement and tt-ansformation is simply an oldet: more trad rtional
way of describi ng the digesttve system's dispersion and transformation.
The analogy of the cook1ng pot introduced above is very important It IS said in Chinese
that the stomach has an aversion to dryness (wei e zoo, ). In other words, stomach
function is dependent upon the creation of a mash ot- soup 1n rts cauldron or pot It is also
said in Chinese that the spleen fears dampness (pi e shi. JW }1). Since spleen function ts
likened to a fire under a pot d istilling the essence from the mash held in the stomach, it is
easy to understand that too much water or dampness can douse or damage this fire.
Using this analogy. it is both s1mple and cruoal to understand that according to Chinese
medicine, the d tgeve process consists of first creating a I 00 F soup in the stomach,3 remembering
that body temperature is 98.6 o F. Whatever facilrtates the creation of such a
I ooo soup in the stomach benefrts digestion and whatever impedes or impairs the creation
.

of a I 00 soup in the stomach impedes or impairs digestion. This is basically tt-ue even from
a Westem medical perspective. Most of the insights and principles of Chinese dietary theory
and therapy are logical extensions of th1s commonsense and irrefutable truth.
The I m p l i cati o n s of T h i s P rocess
C o o ked vs. u n cooked foods
First of all, Chinese med ical teach1ngs suggest that most people, most of the time ,
sho u l d mostly eat cooked food. Cooki ng is pred igestion on the outside of the body to
1 8 The Tao of Heal thy Eating
make food more easi ly digestible on the i nside. By cooking foods in a pot on the outside
of the body. one can initiate and faci l1tate the omach's decom position and cooking
1n its pot on the 1 nside of the body. Chi lled (!eng. r4>) and uncooked (sheng. 1:. )
foods req u i re much more energy to transform them into warm soup within the pot of
the stomach. Si nce it takes energy or qi to create this warmth and transfonnati on, the
net profrt from this transformatio n 1s less. On the other hand, if one eats cooked foods
at room temperature at least or warm at best, less spleen qi is spent in the process of
digestion.Th1s means that the net profit of digestion, i.e., qi or energy, is greater
As you may have already thought the idea that eati ng cooked food is m o re n utriti ous
than uncooked food n ies in the face of some current scho ols ofWestern nutritional
belief. Because enzymes and vitamins are destroyed by cooki ng, some people th1 n k 1t
is health ier to eat mostly raw, u n cooked foods. This makes appare nt sense on ly as
long as one confuses gross i ncome with net profit. When l aboratory scientists measu
re the relative amounts of cooked and raw foods, they are not taki ng into accou nt
these nutrients' post-digestive absorption. H owever. h ere let's be clear that what we
a re tal king about cooking is pnmarily grai ns, beans, and m eats. In Chi nese med icine .
we thi n k that vegetabl es should o n ly be l ightly cooked and fruits may be eaten uncooked
if desi red. More specifics about cooking will be d i scussed later
h:et's say th6t a ra carrot has I 00 units of a certQin vitamih or nutrient and tHo a
m&k&d ccJr:rot o( the same size hes onl.y 8(!) uflits 0( that same nl:1trrerJt. At first glancse,
it appeQJrs tnCJt eatimg the mw carrot is he0/thier sinc::e one would, theorett<!@l/y, get
mGJr:e of that nuttient that WQ}1. How eve no GJOe absorbs I 00%- of any availa/5>/e,nutr:ient
in a givefl (oed. B-eGause vitamins qnd enzymes of a eGJrrot GJre largely locked
the
ir hC!Jrd-to-drgest celltJiose packe'ts, wh-em cme eats this ww carrot: they mar actwa/ly
0nly abse>ro 59% of the available nutrient. The rest is excreted in the feces. Bl:lt wflen
@ne eat$ the GGJGk.ed carrot, be&ause th'e woking h&s <Jire61GJ.Y begufl tne i.Bnzokeown .o[
the t:Iel.fo/ose walls, &ne mQ.y osorb 6S% G( the evailaole nutrient. In this case, even
thcwgh the cooked cmrrot had less af this n&tri'e{l)t to egin with, met Gbsorcption is
greate 7:he D@dy.;'s eGAemy runs 0n ne Rot gross n1.:1trient value. It is as &imf2/e as
thGt. f6]f course, we 6Jr:e talking abo.ut light cooking, and r:Jot reducing ever}Ctbing to a{::)
ovet;cbf0ked, li[e/ess mush.]
Th is is why soups and stews are so nou rishing.These are the foods we feed infants and
those who are recu perati ng from ill ness. The more a food is like I 00 soup, the easier it
The Process of Diges(ion 1 9
is for the body to digest and absorb rts nutrients. The spleen and stomach expend less qi,
and, therefore, the net gain i n qi is greater. This is also why chewing food thor-oughly befo
re swal lowi ng is so i m portant.The more one chews, the more the food is macerated
and mixed with l iquids, in other words, the more it begins to look like soup or stew.
C h i l l ed & cold foods & l i q u id s
As a corol lary o f this, i f we drink o r eat chilled, cold, or frozen foods o r dnnk iced liq uids
wi th our meals, we are only impeding the warm transformation of digestion. Cold obviously
negates heat, and water puts out iire.This does not mean that such food and liqu ids are
never digested, but it does mean that often they are not digested well. In Chinese medicine.
if the spleen and stomach fai l to adequately transport and transform foods and liqui ds, a
sludge tends to accumu late just as it might in an incom pletely combusting automobile engine.
udge i s cal led stagn ant food (shi zhi, -etw) and dampness and turb1dity (shi zhuo,
This sl
1 ?!E) in Chinese medicine. And what of the Western habit of having a cold drink wrth our
meal? On the one hand, the coldness of chilled drinks damages the spleen, making it vacuous
and weak; on the other hand, the stomach becomes hot and hyperactive trying to deal
with this cold malerial it suddenly finds itself having to decompose and cook.
As much as the previous paragraph may make it sou nd that way, please note that Chinese
medicine is not saying that no one should ever eat or d rink chilled, cold, iced, or frozen
drinks or foods. In general. Chinese medicine does not speak in such universal terms.
Everything in Chinese medicine depends on the individual's constitution and environment
Some people are bom with very exuberant yang qi. Such peo ple can eat and drink more
chilled and frozen things and get away with it. Othet-s have weaker spleens and :itomachs
wh1ch are more easily damaged by eating and drinking chilled and frozen foods and liquids.
So one's te nd ency to such damage is highly ind iv1dual and no one size frts all.4
Dampn ess & p h l egm
And what happens next? If the sol id portions of food a re jam-packed i nto the sto mach
or their d ige sti on is i m paired by cold and c h i l led fo ods and l iquid s or if too many
hard-to-digest foods are eate n , stagnant food may accumulate i n the sto mach . The
sto m ach tn es all the harder to burn these off and becomes l ike a car stuck in over-
.; Chnese medrcme Cllways seeks to restore balance or mocieratron to rn divrdual pat1ents at specrc moments rn llme.
Therefore, there are few rf any absolutes rn Chr nese medr crne.
20 The Tao of H eal thy Eating
drive . It beco mes hotter in an attempt to burn off the acc u m u lation.This often results
in the stomach becom1ng chron ically overheated. Th is, in turn, causes the sto mach to
register hunge r which. in Chinese med ici n e , i s a sensation of the stomach's heat and
emptiness. This h u n ger results in eati ng more and more and a v1cious cycle is created.
Overeati ng begets stagnant food which begets stomach heat wh1ch re inforces
overeati ng. Does this sound familiar? It i s a sad desc1iption of to day's Western d i et.
A simi lar problem affects the spleen. If the l iq uid po rtions of food and d ri n k jam the
transporting and transform i ng fun ct1ons of the s p l een. what is cal led the qi mechanism
or qi ji ("=L:fJl) in Ch inese, th ese may accumulate as dampness (shi. z& } This plethora of
water fl u ids inhibits the spleen qi's warm transfo rm i ng fu nction in the sam e way that
water i n hi b1ts ot douses fi re. Over time. this accumulated dampness may m ix with
stagnant food and congeal i nto ph legm (tan, :lf<) which fur-ther gums up the entire syste
m and retards the flow of q and blood th roughout the body.
As I said above , one person's dige st1on burns hotter than a nother's. Those w ith a r-obust
constitution and strong l i fe-gate fire tend to have a st1ong d i ge stion.These people
can often eat more i n general and more ch i l led, frozen , ha rd -to-d igest foods
without seeming problems. Likewise, everyo ne's metabo l ism run s at diffe rent
temperatures
throughout the year. During the summer when it is hot outside, we general ly
can eat coo l e r foods and should drink more ch 1 l le d l i q u ids. H oweve1 even then, we
sh ould remem ber- that everything that goes down our gu l l et must be turn ed into I ooa
soup before it can be d igested and assi milated.
Many Westerners ore shoked to thinK. that cola and frozen faods are inheremtF; unhealthy
since they hove &ecome such GJ ubiquit0us p0rt of our contemporary diet.
However; chilled, GJid. ond .frozen foods and liqLJids are a relatively recent. pheaGme- ..

r.JOD. 7heyqre deY?:ndenCi.JpQn-Ifrige:otion im 'tf]e maf-

erploccefrigfif'GiEion.Gluring ---
t;ranspott6tion, .and refrigeratien Ia the home. Such mas access, .to re[rjgerotio/1 is -

lc.r.gely a post-WorM War II occurrence. rHot mean hot, in temperate zones. pople
hove only hod wiaespreod access to su'h food& end drimks for less than 70 years.

5eve{i)ty }Zews is not eve0 blink en 1:h htJmo lfevolutJonory SGJ1e.

Post-d igestive temperature
Let me point out that 1n Chi nese medicine an i mportant disti n ction is made between
The Process of Digestion 2 1
th e cold physical te mperatu re of a food or drink and a food or d rink's po st-d igestive
te mperature. Post-digestive te mpe rature re fers to a p articu lar fo od or dri nk's net effect
on the body's thermostat. Some fo ods, even when cooked, are phys1olog1 cal ly cool
and tend to l ower the body's temperature either systemica l ly or in a certain organ or
part. Chi n ese med icine categonzes every fo od as either cold. coo l . level (1.e. , balanced
or neutral) , warm, or hot. This i s cal l ed the food's nature (xing, 'ti). Most foods are
cool, level, or warm and, in gen eral , we should mostly eat leve l and warm fo ods since
our body itself is warm. Life is warm. During the winter or in coldet- cl imes, it is important
to eat warm er fo ods, but du ring the summer we can and should eat coo ler foods.
H owever, th is mostly refe rs to the post-d igestive tem peratu re of a food.
The table on the next page shows the post-digestion tem peratures o r n ature s o f a
number of com monly eaten foods and sp ices. You can see that most foo d s fall into
the warm , neutral, and cool categories: far fewer are either hot or cold.
D am p e n i n g food s
N ot o n ly do foods have an inherent post-di gestive temperature , but diffe rent foods
also tend to generate more or less body fluids. Therefore , 1 n Chinese med i cin e all
fo ods can be desui bed according to how damp th ey are , me an i ng dam pe n ing to the
human system. Because the h uman body is damp (we are, after all, 55-60% wate r),
most fo ods are somewhat damp an d that is healt hy. However, some fo ods at--e excessively
dampe n i ng and, si nce it is the spleen which com bats dam pn ess, excessively
damp foods ten d to interfere wit h the sp lee n's fu nction of moving an d transforming.
An appropriate amou nt of dam pness is constde red yi n in that it nouri sh es our sub22
The Tao of H ealchy Eacing
Hot Warm Neutral Cool Cold
Dried ginger Chtcken Ch;cken egg Whole wheat Seaweed
Cayenne pcppe1 Butter Mrlk Barley Kelp
Jalapeno pepper Shrimp Pork Millet Watermelon
Black pepper Ham Beef M u ng bean Banana
Whrte pepper Lamb White rice Soybean Tea
Sweet basil Glutinous rice Rye Tofu Salt
Soybean 011 Walnut Duck Swiss chard Clam
Cottonseed oil Sunflower seed Stnng beans Sesame oil Crab
Dill seed Corn Pear
Fennel seed Peas Lemon
Coconut Peanuts Alfalfa sprouts
Peach Frgs Button mushrooms
Cherry Prneap ple Sp1nach
Winter squash Buckwheat
Leek
Onion
stance. Let's look at how th is i s explained by the Ch inese Five Phase Theory (wu xing
xue shuo, 11. 1r i). Dampness rs a ssociated with the earth phase Fert i le earth is
.

damp. The fiavor of earth accor-d i ng to Ch ine se five phase co rrespondence theory i s
sweet. Thus, b y extens1 on, th e sweet fiavor i s bel t eved t o b e inhere ntly dampen ing
and a l so nutritive . I n Chi nese med ical term s, the sweet flavor supplements the qi (o u r
vital force) a n d blood ( o u r bodrly fi u ids).
When you look at a Chrnese med ical description of various foods, you are struck by
the fact that almost al l foods are somewhat sweet. Thi s makes sense si nce we eat to
su pplement our qi and blood. Al l grai ns most vegetables, and most meats eaten by humans
,

are sweet no matter what ot her of the five fiavors they may also be. This sweetness
in th e overwhelming majority of foods we h umans regularly eat becomes evident
the more one chews a food. For exampl e . tho rough ly chew a slice of wh ol e grain bread
or a mouthful of rice and notice how sweetness fioods yo ur mouth.
As I said above . a mod icum of sweet ness supplements the body s qi and blood. It 1s
'

The Process of Digestion 23

this fiavor which gathers in the splee n and provides the spleen with its qi. H owever,
excessive sweetness has j u st the o pposite effect on the spleen I n stead of ener-gizing
.

the spleen, 1t overwhelms and weakens it. Th i s is based o n the Ch i nese idea that yang
when extreme transforms into yin and vice verso. When the spleen becomes weak, it
c raves sweetness since that 1s the flavor which strengthen s it when con sumed in
moderate amou nts. However. 1f th i s c ravi ng is indu lged with concentrated sweets
such as sugar. th is on ly fur-ther weakens the spleen and harm s d igestion Thus, another
.

pathological eating cycle 1 s forged in many people. But please note that Chinese medici
n e doe s not typical ly speak i n absolutes; whether a sweet food is good or bad fo r a
particular person depends on that person s particular needs and weaknesses, as well
'

as on the quant1ti es of sweets eaten.

Let's go back to our discussion of dam pness fo r a mome nt. The sweet flavor engend
ers dam pness and the sweete r a food is the more dampen i ng it is. Accord ing to
Chi nese medicine, thi s tendency is worsened when the sweet flavor i s com bined with
sour. Therefore , Cht nese med l c 1 ne identi fies a numbe r of especially dampening foods.
These include such sweet and so u r foods as c itrus fru its and jui ce s and tomatoes,
such concentrated sweets as sugar, molasses, and honey, and als o high ly nutritious
foods such as wheat. dai l y products. nuts, oils, and fats.
-

H ighly nutritious foods have more flavor (wei, !W) than q i . I n this co ntext. qi means
the l ight ai ry aromatic and yang part of a food, whereas we1. l iterally meani ng taste ,
. .

re fers to a food's heavier. more substantial, more nouri sh 1ng. yi n aspects. All foods are
a comb i nati on of q1 and weJ. H e re aga i n we see Ch i nese medicine's emphasis on balance.
H ighly nut1-it1ous foods such a dai ry products, meats, nuts, eggs. oils, and fats are
,

strongly capabl e o{ supplementing the body's yin fl u ids and substances. h owever; in
excess they ge nerate a supe rabundance of body nuids wh ich become path o l ogic
dam pness. Although th i s may appear to be a parad ox, it has to do with healthy yin i n
excess becom i n g evi l or pathological yin or dam p n ess phlegm a n d turbidity.
.

It i s also easy to see that certain combinations are even worse than their individual
constituents. Ice cream is a d i etary d isaster: It is too sweet too creamy, and too cold.
Ice cream i s an extremely dampen ing food. Pizza is a com bi nati on of tomato sauce ,

cheese, and wheat All of these foods tend to be dam pen i ng and this effect is made
even worse if greasy add iti ons such as pepperoni and sausage , are added. The ubiqui24
.

The Tao of Healthy Eating

shoula bear {n tous tomato sauce ofWestern cooking bears a few m ore
. . . we _

mind that we would net words: since it is the condensed nutntive substances of many
tomatoes, 1t can be especially dampening.
In the same way. d rinking fruit j uices can be very dampeni ng.
Fru it and vegetabl e JUices are another relatively modern add i t
i o n t o t h e human d i et. Prior to t h e advent of refrigeration
,

j uices wo uld tu rn i nto wine or vi n egar within days. Therefore ,

when they were avai lable i n trad itional soc1 eties. they were an
i nfreq uent treat. Now we have endless access to tropical fru its
and J Uices than ks to refrige1 ati on and i nterstate and inteicontinenta

l transportatio n . Howeve1 we should bea r in m i nd that

we wou l d not eat 4-6 oranges in a si ngle sitti ng nor eve1y day.
Yet, when we dri nk a glass of orange, tom ato, apple o r carrot ju i ce, that is exactly
what we are d o i ng; we are d rinking the nutntive essence of not one but a large
q uantity of fruits or vegetables. Th 1s ove r n utntio n typica l ly resu lts in the formation o f
pathogen 1 c dampness and ph legm.
Meats. because they are so nutritious, or supplement q i and blood so much. also tend
to be damp in the same way. The fatter and i-icher a meat is, the more it tends to
generate dampness within the body. Amongst the common domestic mammalian
meats. pork is the dampest with beef coming in second. Therefore, it i s 1m po rtant not
to eat too much meat and especially not greasy. fatty meats. Most people do fi ne o n
two ounces of meat 3-4 times per wee k.
On the other hand. eati ng only poultry and fish is not such a good idea e1ther. As Chin
ese med icine is q uick to point o ut, everything in this world has its good and bad
points. Pou ltry and fish tend to be less dampening and phlegmatic. it IS true. but
chicken. turkey, and shel lfish tend to be hot. If you eat only these meats. you run the
risk of becoming overheated. I have seen this happen t1 m e and again in c l i nical pract1ce .
From a Western scientific point of view, we can also say that eati ng too much fi sh may
result 1n mercury accumulation and toxicity and overeat1ng commercial chicken may
result 1n too much estrogen and exposure to salmonella food-poison1ng. Chinese
med icine sees human beings as omnivores and suggests that each of us should eat
widely and d iversely on the food cha1n.
The Process of D igestion
Buckwheat
The B asic Healthy D iet Accord i n g to C h i nese Med i c i n e
Now that we have an u ndersta nd ing of the concepts, let's take a look at t h e bas ic
princi ples of a healthy d iet accord i ng to Chin ese medicine .
I . Carefu l harm o n i zation of the five fl avo rs-bringing h armony to o u r
food choices.
25
just as foods can have any of the five natures or temperatu res, fo od can also have any
of five flavors-sweet, sour: ac1id, bitte1 and salty M any foods have two o r more inhere
nt flavors. Fo r instance , many fru its are sweet and sou1 such as apples and oranges.
Coffee is sweet and bitte1 wh i l e , tea is b1tter and sweet. whi l e wine is sweet,
bitter; and acri d. The table o n the next page shows fo ods exempl ifymg the five flavo rs
wh en they occur singly in a particular food .
2. C l ear, l i ght, s u itable foo d
Clear; light, suitabl e food describes a diet which 1s ma1 n ly vegetarian. It i s primarily comprised
of grains, beans, vegetabl es, and fru its. Based on this injunction, one should eat
only very smal l and infrequent quantities of meat greasy. fatty foods, and alcohol . Li
Dong-yuan of the Yuan dynasty ( 1 280- 1 368 C E), in his Pi Wei Lun (Treatise on the Spleen
& Stomach), says that spicy, hot foods inju re and damage the original q i . Li Chan of the
Mi ng dynasty ( 1 368- 1 644 CE). in Y1 Xue Ru Men (Entenng the Gate of the Study of Medicine),
says that one sho u ld also avo 1d fried, roasted. toasted, fermented, pickled in soy
sauce , or hot-natured foods since these d1-y the blood. Ge Hong of the Eastern jin dynasty
(265-420 CE) said that a clear. light di et no u rishes the stomach and eating less i n
general relieves t h e Intesti nes.
26 The Tao of H ealthy Eating

Sweet Sour Acrid B i tter S alty \

White rice Lemon Ch1cken egg Rye Seaweed
Glutinous rice Mtlk Alfalfa sprouts Kelp
Wheat Pork Crab
Barley Beef M ussel
Shrimp White nee Ham
M ilk Rye Salt
Butter Duck
Chicken egg String beans
Chicken Com
Beef Peas
Lam b Peanuts
Stnng beans Figs
Corn P1 neapple
Peas Soybeans
Tofu
Peanuts
Walnut
Figs
Cabbage
Carrot
3. G uard i n g agai n st foo d c ravings & ad d i ctions
Balance and moderation as we've already noted, provide the foundation for a balanced
.

diet Chapter 63 of the Ling Shu (Mraculous Pivot) says that only a diet comprised of al l
five flavors-sweet, bitter. acrid sou t and salty--can keep the bones straight the sinews
supple, the qi and blood flowt ng, the pores closed and the functioning of the five major
,

organs or viscera coordinated and balanced harmoniously. Conversely, persistent addiction

to a certain flavo r wi ll lead to its accumulation within the body and. over the course
of time. will result in loss of balance of the viscera and bowels.
We see this same caution in other Chinese medical texts. Chapter 3 of the Su Wen
(Simple QuestJ'ons) says that too much sour causes l iver qt repletion (fu l lness) with consequent
spleen qi exhaustio n. Too much salt taxes the qi of the large bones and wither-s
The Process of Digestion 2 7
the fl esh i n addition to repressing h eart qi.Too much sweet causes the heart q i to be
ful l and stuffy. the facial color blackish, and the kidney qi not balanced.Too much bitter
causes the spleen qi to lose its moisture and the stomach qi to become too broad or
distended. And too much acrid or p ungent causes the si news to be slack and the vessels
stopped up wh ile the essence spirit Oing shen. $it$) or psyche suffers disaster.
In addition, gua rding agar nst partial ities i n food also means balancing foods of both
hot and cold natures. As you rem ember. beyond the five fiavors, each food has its
ow n nature, its i n herent tem peratu re and that temperatu re 's effect on the h u man
body. Too m uch hot food damages the original q i
and body fluids or yin. Too much
cold food damages the spleen and stomach q i and damages th e d igestive ability.
4. Select food s u i tabl e to treat the speci fi c person
This princi p l e refe rs to the fact that e ach person has an inhere nt or const1tut1onal
predi sposition. Different schoo ls with i n C h inese medicrne have h istorical ly used different
systems for defining var-ious constitutional types, but here are th e most com mon:
The first is the wood-fire per-son. characterized by mesomo1-p hic to ectomorphic body
types w1th med ium to thin bui lds, tight possibly stringy, angular, strong-wi l led and someti
mes aggressive and/or nervous. Modern Chinese med icin e suggests that wood-fire
types should eat more moiste n i ng foods, such as fruits and vegetables, mrllet. beans,
and eggs. On the other hand, they should avoid hot foods such as beef and lamb.
Phlegm-damp peop l e tend to be overwe ight or endomorp h ic .Thei r fiesh i s typ i cally
ato n ic . Accordi ng to Chinese medical theory, accumulation of ph legm and damp ness
is pri marily d u e to weak sp lee n and stomach fu nctio n .Therefore , phl egm-damp p eople
shou ld eat more light eas1 ly digestible food such as cooked vegetables, along with
bland tasting foods wh ich seep dampness from the body by promoting uri nation.
They should avoid foods wh ich tend to generate increased body fl uids, th i ngs such as
greasy, fatty foods. m i l k and m i lk products.
Ym vacuity (deficient) persons are most often people who have entered m iddle age.
In add ition, ectomorph i c or very th in, nervous people may be constitutionally yin vacuous
from bi rth . It is said in Chi nese , nian si shi, yin zi ban ($ [9 + , )j 13 ) .This
means that by 40 years of age , the yi n q i is automati cal ly (red uced by) half, since the
process of life itself is the con sum ption and transformation of y1n substance by yang
28 The Tao o f H ealthy Eating
activity and function. People with a yi n vacu ity con stitution, whether from birth or
due to agi ng. should eat l i ght foods which nourish the yi n by being easy to digest and
thus bei ng eas i ly transformed i nto qi and blood If there is abundant q i and blood
then, wh ile we sleep, that surplus I S tl-ansformed into yin essence. Such light. easy to
digest but nonetheless y1 n nourish i ng foods incl u d e fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, and
bean products l ike tofu .
Yang vacwty (deficient) persons mostly refer to the tru ly elderly. As we enter the last
decades of l ife . the l ife-gate fi re begi ns to decline, metabolism slows and body
warmth decreases. It i s also possi ble for a person to be born with insufficient yang.
People who are yang vacuous should eat more acrid, warm foods, such as fish, fowl ,
beef. lamb, gi nger and pepper They should be carefu l , o n th e other hand, to avoi d
cold, raw or uncooked foods, cold drinks, and m o st fruits.
5. Set ti m e , set am ou nt-When and how m u ch s ho u l d we eat?
D ri n k & eat accord i n g to time
In contrast to the daily real ity of our stressful Western culture, practitioners of Ch inese
medicine bel ieve that eating at regular: fixed t1mes each day is best.The human body functions
according to ci rcadian rhythms which are ,-epeated daily; therefore, it is said that
having meals at fixed times can keep the body free from suffering. Bas1cal ly. we should eat
like a pn nce at breakfast, eat like a merchant at lu nch, and eat like a pauper at dinner. I n
other words, o u r meals should become smaller as the day progresses and that we should
not eat too soon before bed.The elderly. because their digestive function is not as strong
as it once was, should eat l ight, easi ly digested meals more often throughout the day.
H owever: there is a caveat even though we are advised to eat at fixed times each
day. we s hould not eat if we are emot1onally u pset. If a person
eats when u pset, because the ascent and descent of qi is d isordered
at that tim e , the pure wi ll not be separated from the
turbid and food stagnation rs apt to occur It is better to eat
. later than usual after o n e has calmed down rather than ea ti ng
on schedule when one is upset.
Avoid b e i n g starved or satiated but eat a su itable amount
We all have experienced both of these extremes. We don't have--or don 't make--the
The Process of D igesti o n 29
time to eat a proper meal but grab something on the run or, wh en we finally do get
someth ing to eat. we overdo it Each extreme is unhealthy. Failure to eat when h ungry
or to drink when thi 1sty results 1 n exhaustion of the source of qi and blood. On the
other hand. excess food injures the spleen and stomach 1mpairing d1gestion. Chinese
medicine describes five results from overeating. These i nclude too freq uent defecation,
too freq uent urination, disturbed sleep, obesity, and 1 nd igest1on.Throughout history.
most Ch inese medical ptactitioners have suggested that a person should stop eating
when you are 70% fuii .This al lows room for good and thorough digestion to take place .
6. P roper balan ce i n cooking
Proper balance in cooki ng is recommended for three reasons. Fi rstly, i t ensu res the
preservation of essential nutrients. Secondly, it makes food more appetizing. Because q 1
and blood are created out o f the fi nest essence o f food and drink and the good health
of the individual is dependent upon abundant qi and blood, Chinese medicine sees
maintenance of a healthy appetite as a primary concern. Cooking foods general ly releases
their navor and aroma, thus stimulating the ap petite .Thwdly, cooking makes foods
more easi ly d igestible and it also benefits and protects the spl een and stomach.
Proper cooking of main foods
C h i nese med ici n e gives us many specific and helpful gu idel i nes about the proper
cooki ng of our foods.
Zhu shi (3:: 1t) l rterally means ' 'rul i ng foods, but more loosely it means the main or
stap le foods of our d iet rice and grai ns. In the Chi nese med ical classics, fo od is often
refe rred to as shui gu (lJ( ). water and grai n " , which underlines the importance of
grai ns to a healthy human d i et. Equal ly important is the correct preparati on of these
grai ns, which 1 ncl udes: not throwi ng away their washi ng water. not ove rcooking them
and not m i l l ing them too fi ne ly, thus losing thei r outer bran and n utnents. I nteresting,
isn't it. that the more enl ighte ned tenets of contemporary Weste rn thought are now
reach ing these same concl usions.
Once agai n. however, Chinese medicine carefully po1 nts out the exceptions to the rul e .
R1ce and grains intended for babies, the elderly, or the infirm a n d chronical ly i ll should
be cooked longer and then macerated for easier digestion and absorption. For those
who are i nfirm or have poor digestion. cooking grains with extra water for a longer
30 T h e Tao of H eal thy Eating
time, turni ng them i nto a gruel or congee cal led shui fan (7J( t&) or water rice in Chinese.
is especially beneficial. There are numerous Chi n ese med icinal reci pes using such
gruel as their bas1s, and I have i ncl uded some of them in this book
As we have seen, Chinese medicine says that digestion is primarily the function of the
spleen and stomach.The stomach is seen as a pot on a burner. The spleen provides the
heat which distills and transforms the food and liq uids in this pot into qi, blood, and useful
body fi uids. Digestion accord ing to Chinese medicine Is seen as a process of cooking
and disti l lation. Cooki ng, mi l l ing, and macerating on the outside of the body makes i ntel-nal
digestion and abso1Aption al l the easier: However; there is a balance between overcooking
and mil ling and thus losi ng useful nutrients. and cooking and mil ling sufficiently to
enable proper assimilation and absotpt1on.This balance does not remai n the same i n al l
persons at al l times.Therefore , Ch inese medical practitioner-s careful ly advise each patient
individual ly how much to cook and mill their foods. If a food has lots of nutrients
locked in a hard-to-digest form. it is better to lose some of those nutrients through
cooking and m illing if what rema1ns becomes more easi ly assi milated by our body.
not be dis.cardd unnec::
essarily. :Here .again, the
' iss.iie ts; to coqk tfrem
enough to be digestible
but not so m uc;h as to
elestroy their flavor or
Proper cooking of vegetables
Vegetables should also not be ovetTooked.They should be
eaten fresh and their ski ns should not be discarded unnecessari
ly. Here again, the issue is to cook them enough to be digesti ble
but not so much as to destroy then- fiavor or nutt-itive val ue.
7. Balan c i n g food i n th e fou r seas o n s
One of the strong poi nts of Ch1nese medical theory is its insistence
that true health can only be achieved when the internal
nutritive val1:1e. micro cosm is in harmonious balance with the external macrocosm.
Thus Ch1 nese medical practitioners have lo ng taught
that a person must use diffe1Aent acupuncture po ints, different h erbs, and d1fferent
foods d uring the different seasons in order for th e pa1At t he ind ivid ual. to remai n in
balance with the who le. the external cosmos.
Let's look at some specific examples. During the sp ri ng, it is advised that we eat more
sweet than so u r food so as to nourish the spleen. This 1s based on five phase theo ry. In
addition, w e should not overeat.Th 1 s i s based on the fact that t h e live1A is associated
The Process of Digestion 3 1
wfth spri ng and rules the free and u nobstructed coursi ng and discharge of the qi and
blood. If we overeat. this blocks the free flow of qi and thus can harm the l iver. caus1 ng
what Chi nese doctors call the pattern of livet depress1on q i stagnation.
I n the summer; the heart is replete and the ki dneys are vacuous (or relatvely empty) .
Therefore, we should eat light easi ly d igestible food and shun greasy, tough. hard-todigest
,
food which might aggtavate f1re and heat wit h i n the body Rather; eat nutritious
fruits and vegetables In the heat of the day you can partake of drinks that are by na
.

tu re cold, such as mung bean soup, but should not overdnnk chil led l i q u ids wh ich can
easi ly damage the spleen and stomach and damage the kidneys.
In the fal l , we should continue avoidi ng overdrinking cold drinks and eating too many uncooked,
chilled foods. Because t0e weather is hot and dry during this season (from early
August to early November) , we may feel thirsty and parched: however; indulging and assuaging
this thi rst with chilled d1inks and frozen treats only damages the spleen and
stomach yang qi.
Winter is a time of storage and repair. This is a time when supplementing, high ly nutritious
food can and should be taken. Such supplementi ng foods according to Chinese dietary
therapy are beef, lamb, ch icken, and d uck In addition, Chinese medical practitioners
have traditional ly felt that dri nki ng a little wine or alcohol during the winte1 is beneficial.
Let M e Take a M om ent to S u m m ar i ze Th ese I d eas
The tradrtional wisdom of Chi nese dietary theory tel l s us that most humans should
mostly eat vegetables and grai ns, supplemented with smal l amounts of everything else.
We shou ld mostly eat cooked and warm food wh ich is n ot too sweet not too greasy
or oily. and not too damp. In add rtton, we should eat moderately and chew well. Drinking
a teacup of warm water or a warm beverage with meals facilitates the formation
of that I 00 soup we are hoping to attain; conversely, it's best to avo id those chi l led,
cold, and frozen dri nks and foods that too often accompany a Western meal .
Amongst the grains, rice holds an especially healthy place. Because it promotes urination, it
tends to leech off excessive dampness. Other grains, in comparison. tend to produce dampness
as a byprodud of their being so nutritious.This ability of nee to help eliminate dampness
through urination becomes more 1mportant the mo1--e other dampening foods one eats.
32 The Tao of Healthy Eating
In gen e1 a1. I wou ld em phasize that most Amen cans do not eat e nough vegetables. It is

easy to l oad up on breads, grai ns. and cer-eals but not as easy to eat plenty of freshly
cooked vegetabl es. Grai ns, like meat and dai ry p roducts, are h igh ly nutritious but
heavy and relatively more d ifficult to digest. If overeaten they can cause accumu lation
of dampness and phlegm. I n As1a. Daoists and Buddhists i nte rested 1 n longevity emphasized
vegetables over grai ns and even m odern Chinese books on gel-iatrics co unsel
that more vegetabl es should be eaten. Th 1 s i s good advice for u s here i n the West.
A S pe c ial N ote on F l avors & S p i ces
As I said at the begi nni ng of th 1s chapter: the p u rest part of foods are the five fiavors.
These are sweet salty, bitte r. pu ngent, and sour: Chinese medicine al so recogn izes a
sixth fiavor called bland. Each of the five flavors corresponds to one of the five phases
and, therefore , te nds to accu m u l ate and have an i no,-dinate effect on on e of the five
vi scera (or major organs of Ch i nese m ed icine). Just as overeati ng sweet inj ures the
spleen, overeating salt i njures the kidney. overeati ng sour i nj ures the liver: and ove reating
spicy foods i nJures the l ungs. I know of no one who overeats bitter food. A litLle
bitter fiavor is good fo r the heart and stomac h . I n general. although most food is
sweet one should eat a modicum of a l l the other flavo rs. Overeati ng any one flavor
wi l l tend to cause an i mbalance i n the organs and tissues associated with that fiavor
according to five phase correspondence.
Most sp1ces are pungent or acrid and warm to hot These spices a1d d igestion when
eaten i n moderate am ounts. As d i scussed above , the digestive process is l ike an alchemical
disti llation . The m iddle burner f1re of the spleen and stomach cooks and d isti
l l s foods and l iq uids d rivi ng off thei r pu rest parts. To have good digestion means to
have a healthy digestive fi re . Moder-ate use of acrid or pu ngent warm spices aids digestion
by stre ngthening t h e m idd le burner fi re .
That is w h y traditional cultu res found t h e use of pepper: cardamom, ci nnamon. gi nger.
nutmeg, mace . and cloves so sal utary. These spices contain a high proporti on of q i to
wei or flavor and so h el p yang qi transform and d i st! l l yi n substa nce . dampness. and
fi uids. On the other hand, when eaten to excess, such spices can cause over-heati ng of
the stomach and dr-y1ng out of stomach fluids, and reme m ber. the stomach does not
like to be dry. Therefore, a moderate use of such spices is good for the spleen but
the ir overuse is bad for the stomach and l ungs.
The Process of Digestion 33
A Return to a M o re Trad itional D i et
What this all adds up to is a di et very stmilar to the Pritiktn dtet or Macrobiotics. Both
these dietary regimes suggest that the bulk of one's diet be composed of complex carbo
hydrates and vegetables and that one get pl enty of fiber and less animal protet ns, relined
sugars, oils, and fats. Th is is very much the traditional diet of a l l people living in tem perate
climates the world round. This is also very much l i ke what our great grandpar ents ate.

One hu ndred years ago, most people o n ly ate meat once ot- twtce a week. Mostly
they ate grai n s an d vegetables. Because they did not h ave refrigeration, th ey ate
mostly what was 1n season and what cou ld be stored i n root cel lars and th rough
pickling, salttng, and d rying. One hundred years ago. sugar- was too expensive for most
people to afford more than a t1ny bit per year Likewise, o i l s and fats were relatively
p recious commodities and were not eaten i n large quantities. Those oils which were
avai lable were pressed from flax, hemp, sesame see ds. or were derived fro m fish oil.
lard , and butter. They were not the h eavi ly hydrogenated tropical oils which are so
frequently used i n commet CJ a l food preparation today

It was also a well -known fact of life I 00 years ago that rich people who ate too well and
exercised too little were more prone to chronic health problems
than those who lived a more Spar-tan and r igomus life. If you
-

look at the car-toons of the 1 8th and 1 9th centuries. you wil l frequently
sees the overweight nobleman wfth the enlarged and
gouty toe. Likewi se , the Chinese med ical classics contain numerous
stories of doctors tt-eating rich patients by getti ng them to do
some physical work and to eat simpler, less rich food. Getuntologists
today have noted the fact that those ethnic groups who tend
to produce a large proportion of centenarians such as the Gem:..
,

gians, the H unzakuts, and certain peoples 1n the Peruvian Andes.

al l eat a low animal pt otein low fat, high fiber diet.
.

Gero'ntologists teday
have noted the fact that
those ethnic groups who
tend-t.Q prodyqe a lm.ge
propo/:tibn 0f centenarians.
such as the Gear-
gians, the H1:1nzakuts,
and certain peoples in
the PerU\rian Andes, all
r;at 'Q lQ.'. fli=(tfue.l f2rotein;
loJ,;V rt; high fi:O.er: diet.
'
If you fo l l ow the above Chinese dietary gu idel i nes, you wil l eat nutrittously and wel l. You
w1 ll be sup plemented by the food you eat and not unduly harmed by it. Such a moderate
, commonsense diet is one of the four foundations of good health. Thi s diet is more
or less appropriate for most people liv1ng in a tem perate cltmate. Pattents sufferi ng from
specific diseases may require various ind ividual ized modifications of the a bove outli ned
3 4 T h e Tao o f H ea l t hy Eati ng
1-egime. H owever; because , whether in sickness 01- health , the process of digestion is essentially
the same, th is is a healthy diet for the majority of people. In Chapter 5, I wi l l
discuss specific modifications for some o f the most common groups o f food i mba la nce
1n devel oped countries as deso-ibed by Ch1nese medicine .Yet even these modifications
are based on this same commonsense approach to food and eating .

The Moder11 Western Diet 4

T he modern Western diet 1 wh 1 ch we take so much for granted is mostly a
product of post-World War I I advan ces i n technology and transportation.
U ntil after World War I I. mass refrigeration and Interstate transportation did
not al low fo r everyon e t o b u y a half gal lon of fresh orange j uice anytime o f the year
-
at an affordable price nor Lo keep a half gal lon of 1ce cream (or now frozen yogu rt)
in th eir home freezer. I n ad d ition. special inte rest advertising has fostered e rroneous
ideas abo ut the healthfu lness of many of these " new" foods. We have been so bombarded
by TV comm erc i als exto l l i ng the health fu l benefits of orange j u 1 ce that we sel d
o m remember that these are pa l tisan propagan da bought a n d paid fo 1- by
-

commeiTial growers who depend u pon the sale of thei r product to turn a profit.
The modern Western d i et i s a rel atively recent aberration in the histo ry of human
diet It is an experiment wh1ch has large ly ru n its course as more and more people as
1 Wha1 I arro calling the modern Western d1et 1n fact has become t!ie d 1et of much of the developed world Therefore.
strictly speaking. h: 1s wmng to call th1s phenomena,') the modeM Westem d:et. However. because Chmese
themselves cont1nuc.lly 1alk arod write about Chinese meo1cine as opposed to Western, 1.e . b1omed1cine. l have deC
ided t o retain th 1 s nam e . I tru<>t read'2rs outs1de the We stern world will excuse th1s eth nocentnsm.
35
3 6 T h e Tao of Hea lthy Eating
we ll as governmental agencies come to the conclusion that so much of what we take
for granted these days as
- a norma l d iet is real ly n o t healthy. J u st as we are now r-eal izing
as a soci ety that smokrng is bad for the health. l1kewise we are al so now com tng
to realize that too much sugar, fats. oils, and an 1mal p rote1n are a l so not good fo r the
health nor conducive to l ongevity .

This diet that all too many l iving in develo ped countries around the wo rld have
adopted leads to bei ng overweight at the same time as undernourished, and the connection
between be i ng overweight card iovascular disease (hypertension hypercholes ,

terol emia coronary artery disease, per ipheral vascul ar d 1sease macular degeneration
- , ,

kidney disease) , cerebrovascu lar disease (stroke) . and diabetes with increased morbidity
and mortality 1s. at this pot nt beyo nd debate According to former U.S. Surgeon General
.

Dav1d Satcher, obesity counts for 300,000 premature deaths per year.2 Especial ly
during the last 20 yeat-s. there has been a dramatic increase in obesity i n the U.S. to the
point that, in 2006, only four states had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%.Twentytwo
states had a prevalence equal or greater than 25%, and two of these states (M ississippi
and West Vi rginia) had a prevalence of obesity equal to 01- greater than 30%.3 I n
2005 , approximately I 1 9 mil lion Americans, or 64. 5%, of adult Americans are eithetoverweight
or obese .4 Wh i le it is true that changes i n exercise and physical activity play
a part in th is trend to o besity and overweight faulty d i et is a major cul pr-it
,

Alte rnative H ealth E ating I n d ex

The fact that the modern diet in indust.Jial ized nations is basically unhealthy has been confirmed
by a r-ecently published multi-decade study involving over I 00,000 participants.
Harvard researchers (spearheaded by Walter Willetts) set out to develop an Alternative
Healthy Eating Index (AH EI) based on scientific evidence.The results of this study were
published in 2002 and have deftnitely challenged the accepted WISdom of the U.S. Depar-tment
of Agricultural (USDA) on what constft:utes a healthy d iet. This ground-breaking
study looked at the diets of more than I 00,000 men and women enrol led in two other
major studies, the Health Professionals Follow up Study and the Nurses Hearth Study. The
- '

subjects chosen for the Harvard study filled out questionnaires that allowed the re -

2 U.S.Obestty At an All-ttme H igh. http://heaiihiink mcw.edu/antcle/ I 03 I 002 1 8J.html, last t-etrieved 1 12 1 /2008
1 U.S. Obes1ty Trends 1 9 85-2006. 11ttp./ /vvww.cdc.gov/nccdphp/ dn pal obest t ylttend/ m<1ps/ I as1 t-etneved I /2 1 /2008
" O best ty Rates Rtse Thmughout the U S-. http://IM"'W.medtcalnewstoday.com/;=u-t.tclesn9 64 5 php. lac;t retneved
1 /2 1 12008
T h e M odern Western Diet 3 7
searchers to plot what kinds o f foods they were eating. The researchers came u p with
their AHEI by looking at dietary pattems and eating behaviors that, according to the findings
of earlier studtes. were assoCiated with lower rates of chronic disease. Unl ike the
USDA Healthy Eating Index (HE!). the AHEI emphastzes the q ualrty of food choices such ,

as white meat over red meat. whole grains over refined grains, oils high in unsaturated fat.
such as many vegetable oils, over ones with saturated fat: and multivitamin use.
In the Harvard study, men whose diets most c losely matched the AHEI were fou nd
to have lowered their overa l l ri sk of m ajor chto n i c disease by 20%, and women by
I I %, compared with those whose diets least closely fol lowed these gu idel ines. In fact,
the researchers found that men and women who fol l owed the AH EI lowered their
risk of cardiovascular disease by 39% and 28%. r-espectively.
Her-e are some of the high points of the diet that the resear-chers found to be associated
with low rates of d isease . The AHEI suggests eating:
Four ti mes as much fish and pou ltr-y as red meat.
Five servings of vegetables datly.
Fou r servings of fruit dai ly.
One dai ly serving of nuts. or vegetable protein l i ke soy.
More polyunsaturated fats (mostly found in vegeta ble sout-ces) than saturated
fats (mostly fou n d in ani mal sou rces) .
1 5 grams of ftber from gratn sources. l i ke cereal ot whole-wheat bread, e ach
day.
For women: Y2 to I Y2 alco ho l ic d ri n ks a day.
For men: I 1'2 to 2 Y2 alco h o l ic dri n ks a day.5
The study did not establish daily amounts for all food groups, and it did not look at exercise.
Not O n e B u t Seve ral H eal thy E ati ng Food Pyramids
If one looks at the above AHEI recommendations, one wi l l see a d t et vety s i m i lar to
the basic healthy Chinese diet discussed in the p revtous chapter except for the relatively
large quantity of dai ry products. It is wel l known that many Asians lack the en-
> Reshap1'1g the Food Pyr<1m1d. hnp.//www--nediCinene t.com/scn pt/m;m/an.?.so?aruclekcy:::: S20 1 9. last re1rieved
1 12 1 12008
38
The Tradi tional f-Je olthy
As ian Die t. Pyr amid
Owly Beverage
f1oeommcndabon.s.
6 GtaS!.aS o( Warer ot 7ea
Monthly
Weekly
Daily
T he T r-adirional !lca lthy
Jv\.editerranean Diet Pyramid
Dlllly B<:Mlrage
Roeommenda\1ons:
a 01"""" cl Wa:or
Weekly
The Tao of Healthy Eati ng
Th e Tra d i ti o n a l H e a l t h y
Lati n American Diet Pyramid
Dally Beverage
Reccmmendahons.
6GofWOier WEEKLY
DAILY
The Trad i t i o nal H ealthy
Vegetar ian D iet Pyramid
Dally Beverage
RocommendatJons:.
G Gia oi W.l!Or
Alool\cl "'
rneden"J.!icn
WEEKLY
DAILY
=,

--r
0 2C?:l
Daily Physical Activity
OI:Nr.l'j1-P1et..-v<.t:GI1
A
& F::o:r.:hr...1 Trul www..oldwp:.v,g

Jointly with the Harvard School of Public Health and other institutions, Oldways p u bl ished these "healthy
eating pyramids;' a sec of dietary guides based on the global dietary traditions most closely associated
with good health. 2000 Oldways Preservation & Exchange TrusL 6
!Th New Amen can Fooo Pyr21nid. http://whytilcs.org/ 1 79(ood_pyrilmd/2.hvnl. la5l retneved 1 /2 1 n008
The Mod ern Western Diet 39
zymes to digest m i lk products adequately. Therefore , some people have cal led the
guideltnes o f the AH E I c u ltu rally biased. To meet these obj ections, severa l di ffe rent
food pyramids have been deve l oped based on the tradittonal diets of van ous ethnic
groups and popu lar lifestyle choices (v1z. vegetari antsm) . See figure on prev1ous page.
These several food pyramids h ighl ight somet h t ng which Chi nese med i c i n e has
stressed for over a th o u sand years-d iffe rent people wtth d ifferent body types l iving
in different c l i mates e ngaging i n differe nt lifestyl es should e at d i ffe rent dtets. No ones ize -

fits al l diet is good for everyone. N everthele ss. what is clear is that the overwhelming
-

majority of people should not eat so many cal ories per day, so much sugar
and sweets, so many refined carbohydrates, or too much oil and fat. On the p l us sid e ,
they s h o u l d definttely eat more fruits and vegetables. Due t o excessive consumption
ofcalorie-rich food in developed countri es al ong with eating less foods h igh in phyto
as vegetables and fruits, o u r modern diet has led to a veritable epidemic
n utne nts, such
of o besity at the same ti me as u ndern o uri shment. Accord ing to the American
H eart Association (AHA) 2006 Diet and Li restyle Recommendati ons:
 . . You may be eating plenty of food, but your body may not.be getting the nu_
-tr:i.ents it needs to be .halthy. Nutrient-rich foods ave vita.rilins, m ine r-als .
. ,

-
-
ber and other nutrients but are lower i n cal ories. To &et tlie nutrients you
need , choose foods like vegetables. fruits, whol e-grain pt-oducts and fat-free
or low-fat dai ry prod ucts most often?
Portion I nfl ati o n
Not on ly are people in developi ng cou ntries eati ng t h e wro ng foods but we are eati ng
si mply too much. The t e latively recent increase in porti on sizes in the U.S. 1s popularly

cal l ed "portion i n flation." This distortion in portion sizes be gan as a fast- food phenomenon.
I n order to attract more customers. fast food outlets i ncreased the ir portion
sizes so that customers would th i n k they were getti ng more for their money. However.
during the past 20 years, meal s at home have grown just as inflated says Barry Popkin,
a n utriti on pro fessor at the University of North Carol ina at Chapel Ht l l.8 Th is i ncrease
in portion s1ze is not j u st an urban myth. Research published in the American Journal
' NulnentRich.com on lhe 2006 AHA Drel and L1festyle Recommendatrons.
http://\N\vw.nutrr entnch.com/blog/1cat=8. last retneved I /2 1 /2008
40 The Tao of H ealthy Eating
of Public Health in 2002 showed that cooked pasta, muffins, steaks. and bagels exceeded
U S DA s tandards by 480%, 333%, 224%, and 1 95%, respectively. wh i le the
largest excess over USDA standards (700%) occurred in the cookie category.The authors
of this study state that, "Our data i n d icate that the s1zes of cuiTent matkelplace
foods almost u n iversal ly exceed the sizes of those offered i n the past."9 In fact, Ameri-
In fqct Americans on
average are eating approximately
200 more
c(i'l{)iie' s:pr-qay than.
they ato'"a:uring the
1 970s. This has led us to
cans on average are eati ng approximately 200 mo re calories
per day than they d id du n ng the 1 970s. Th is has led us to become
''a supersized society with no sense of sane satiation." 1 0
A su rvey conducted at Cornell U niversity i n 200 I found that
whe n young adu lts are se rved larger portions of food, they are
more likely to ove reat. Th is research su pports a prevtous study
become "a srJpersized so- by New Yo rk U niversity pro fessors that p roved that expandi ng
ctety with no sense of portion s1ze is an important factor in America's growing obesity
problem . Students who con sumed the largest i ncrease in portion
sane satiation."
size fro m the previous week- 1 50o/o--ate an average of
27 3 more cal ories pet- person. 1 1 Therefore , as Chi nese doctors have lo ng advised. it is
extreme ly i mportant fo r good health and lo ng l ife not lo ovet-eat.
H i gh F ru ctose Corn Syru p
High fructose corn syrup (H FCS) is produ ced by processing corn starch to yield gl ucose
, and then processi ng the glucose to produce a h igh percentage of frudose.The
p rocess fo r maki n g H FCS out of corn was devel oped i n the 1 970s. S ince then. the
use of H FCS has grown rapidly from less than 3 m i l l ion short tons i n 1 9 80 to almost
8 mi l l 1on short ton s i n 1 9 9 5 . Du ring the late 1 990s, use of sugar actual ly decl ined as it
was ecl ipsed by H FCS.Today Ame1icans consume more H FCS than sugar. 1 2 Today
H FCS is used to sweeten jams, condiments l ike ketchu p, and soft dri nks. It is a l so a favorite
ingred ient in many so-cal led health foods. Consu mers may th ink that becau se it
contains fructose-which they associate with fruit wh ich is a natu ral food-that it 1s
g Portton lnnatton cnd2.ngers Dtets D urrng Thank.sgtvng.
http://vv".vw.ardmorene com/S1orles/ I 1 2504/new_l I 25040003.shtml, lnst retneved I /2 1 /2008
Young. L!sa R. & Mestle. M;lrlon.The ContnbL.Itron of Expandtng Por-tion Sizes to the U.S Obesrty Eptdem tc,

hup://64.233. 1 67. 1 04/searchlq:::cache 7 f7660EZ2yYj:\IWIW foodpo l t l tcs.com/pdf!thco'>expporpdf+ ponion+ stze+%

2B+obesity&h l == en&ct =clnk&cd:::3&gl:::us. laS1 retneved I /2 1 /2008
10 Inflation. http://vvww.947theglobe.com/pages/ 1 4 657 1 5. php!. last retneved I /2 1 /2008
1 Study Finds Portron Srze Conelates to Obesity Rdtes.
http./ /rned ra..vvv.rw.bcherghts.com/medra/ storage/paper I 4 4/ ncws/200'1 I I 0/2 I /N ews/Su rvey.Fin ds.Por"lton .Srze . Correla
tes To.Obe srty Rotes-775 3 39.shtml, last retneved I /2 1 /2008
The M odern Western D i et 4 1
healthier than sugar A team of investigators at the USDA. led by Dr. Meira Field, has
d iscovered that this just is not so. H igh fructose corn syrup contains more fructose
than sugar and this fructose is more i mmed iately available because it is not bound up
in sucrose. "The med ical p rofessi on thi nks fructose is better for drabeti cs than sugar,"
says Dr. Fi eld, " But every cell i n the body can metabol ize glucose. However, al l fructose
must be metabol rzed i n the l iver. The l ivers of the rats on the high fructose diet
looked l i ke the l ive rs of alcohol ics, plugged with fat and ci rrhotrc ." 1 3
Almost all nutritionists finger h igh fructose corn syrup consumption as a major cul prit
in the nation's obesity crisis. Loading high fructose corn syrup i nto increasingly larger
portions of soda and processed food has packed more calori es into us. But some
health experts argue that the issue is b1gger than mere calories. The theory goes l i ke
this: The body p mcesses the fructose in h igh fructose corn syrup d iffel'ently than it
does o ld-fash ioned cane or beet sugar which, in turn, alters the way metabolic-regulati
ng hormones fu nction. It also fo rces the liver to kick more fat out i nto the bloodstream.
The end result is that our bodies are essentially tncked into wanti ng to eat
more and at the same time, we ar-e stori ng more fat. Unlike other types of carbohyd
rates made up of glucose, fructose does not stimulate the pancreas to produce insul
in. Peter Havel, a nLJtrftion researcher at U.C . Davi s who studies the metabol ic
effects of fructose , has also shown that fructose fails to increase the production of leptin,
a hormone produced by the body's fat cel ls. Both i nsulin and leptr n act as signals to
the brain to turn down the appetite and control body weight And in another metabol
ic twist, Havel s research shows that fructose does not appear to suppress the production
'

of ghrel in, a hormone that i ncreases h unger and appetite . 1 1

' 'One of the issues is the ease with wh rch you can consume this stuff.' ' says Carol Porter.
director of nutrition and food services at U.C . San Francisco. " It's not that fructose itself
is so bad. but they put it in so much food that you consume so much of it without
knowing it.' ' A si ngle 1 2-ounce can of soda has as much as 1 3 teaspoons of sugar in the
form of h igh fructose corn syrup. And because the amount of soda we drink has more
'2 Fornstal. Lmda Joyce. The M u rky Wodd of Hrgh fructose Com Sugar:
httpJ/vMfW westonapnce .org/moThedrnda!com syrup.html, last retrieved I (2 1 /2008
1 3 /bid.
14 Severson, Krm. Sugar-coated.We're Drowning rn Hrgh Fructose Com Syrup. Do the Rrsks Go Beyond o ur Waistline?
h ttp:/ /wW'N srgale comcgibrn/artrcle.cgil r =I c hrorl rcle/a r-chrve/200\/0 2/ I 8/F DGS2 4 VKMH I .DT I. , l(lst retneved
1 /2 1 /2008
42 The Tao of Healthy Eating
than doubled since 1 970 to about 56 gallons pet person a year; so has the amount of
h 1gh fructose com syru p we take in. In 200 I , we consu med almost 63 pou nds of it, according
to the U.S. Department of Agriculture . 1 s Thus it is i mportant to read l1sts of ingredients
and reduce (even drastical ly) the amount of H FCS you are eati ng. As john
Yudkin, M.D., Ph.D., professor emerrtus at Queen El'tzabeth College , London, and an expert
in the health effects of sugar; succi nctly states, " People should avo id it"
Trans Fatty Acid s
Yet anothe r group of substances that has crept i nto o u r modern diet are trans fatty
acids a.k.a. trans fat. Ther-e are four ki nds of fats: mo nou n saturated fat. polyunsaturated
,

fat saturated fat and trans fat. Monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat
are the so-cal l ed good fats. Whi le it is gen eral ly accepted that consumpt1on of satur-a
ted fat such as found i n an t mal produ cts should be kept low, espec1al ly for ad u lts
, ,

trans fat are even worse fo r the h uman system , far worse than saturated fat.
Partial hyd rogenatio n is an i nd ustr ial process used to make a perfectly good o i l , such

as soybean o i l , i nto a perfectly bad oi l . Th e process is used to make an oi l more sol id;
prov1de Io nge, shelf-li fe in baked pr oducts: provi de lo nger fry life for cooking oi l s,
- - -

and provide a certain kind of textu re o r "mouth-feei." The big problem is that partially
hyd rogenated o i l is laden with lethal trans fat.
Trans fats cause sign1ficant and serious lowering of h igh den stty l i pids (H DL. the
" good c holesterol) and a significant and serious i ncrease in low de nsity l i p
" 1 ds (LDL,
the "bad ' ' choleste rol) . It can make the ar teries more rigid and cause major c l oggi ng

of arteries. It can also cause i nsul i n resistance , thus causi ng o r co ntri buti ng to type 2
diabetes. It can also ca use or contti bute to o the r seri ous health proble ms. 1 6 Accor-di
ng to M ary G. En ig, Ph . D. , a nutritionist wi dely known for her research on the nutri ti
onal aspects of fats and o i ls, trans fatty acids may also partici pate 1n the
deve l opment of cancer and the depression of the immune system. 1 7
Based on research showi ng the deleterious effects of ingest1 ng trans fats. on June 7,
2007, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) , a regiona l arm of the United
Nations World Health Organization (WHO), called fot the elimination o f industnal
' 5 ib1d.
Trans Fat, h ltp.//vvVI\N.ban transfats.com/abourtransfat.htmt. last
' " About r-elneved I /2 1 12.008
The Modern Western Diet 43
trans fats fro m food suppl1es throughout the Americas in order to prevent heart attacks.
Citing 'concl usive evidence" that consuming trans fats increases the risk of heart disease
'

and possibly the risk of sudden cal-d iac death and diabetes, nutl-rtion an d publ ic health
expe1-ts convened by PAH O sa1 d re duci ng such co nsumption by just 2-4% of total calones

would prevent an estimated 30,000-225,000 heart attacks in Latin America and the
Caribbean. 1 8 I n their report, the PAHO task force suggested several measures to speed
up the process of eliminati ng trans fats from food 1n the Americas, including elim 1nating
industrial trans fat from food supplies and promoting unsaturated fats as an altemat1ve . lt
also recommended that governments consider mandatory labeling of trans fat content
in foods and that public health advocates work with industry to speed the phasing out
,

of trans fats and to promote healthier oils and fats in foods. Therefore ,I also h1 ghly recommend
cutting down or. bette1 yet el i minating trans fats from yo ur diet.
Textured Soy Prote i n
Altho ugh there has been a great deal o f enthusiasm for soy a s
a health fo od i n recent years, the re i s a big d ifferen ce be tween
soybean sprouts, m1so, tofu, and tempeh and textured
soy prote in. For yea1s, th e soy protein left ove r fro m soy-oil
extraction went to animal s and poultry. Now that food sci entists
have disc overed i nexpe nsive ways to im prove o r disguise
the color, fiavor, "bite," and mouth-feel of soy prote in-based
'' "

products, soy I S being aggre ss ively marketed as a "people

feed Although the newer ref1 n 1 ng techniques yield blande r,
."

purer soy protei n s than the " b eany.' ' hard-to-cover-up fiavors
of the past the main reason that soy foo d s now taste and
look bette!- is the lavish use of unh ealthy add it1 ves suc h as
sugar and other sweete ners, salt artifici a l fiavori ngs. col ors.
,

_ Although th e newer re-

. fining techniques yleld

blander, purer soy proteins

than the ''beany, "
. hard-to-cover-up (lq vor.s
.of: the past, the maiQ re!:J-'
that sby feoas no.JN:.; ;-.
.:son
taste and look better is
the lavish use of
r:m hea lthy additives such
a sugar and other
.Svleeteners, salt, artificia l..
flavorings, colors, and
monosodium glutamate
(MSG) .
and monosodiu m glutamate (MSG). So now soy l urks i n nearly 60% of the foods
sol d in supermarkets and natural food sto res. Much of this is "hi dden" 1 n products
where it wo uldn't ordinarily be expected, suc h as fast-food burgers and Bum ble bee
can ned tu na. Soy is also a key ingredie nt in ersatz products with names like Soysage,
7 Passwater. Rtchatd A, Health Risks rrorn Processed Foods and Tta ns Fats. http.//WvVW.healthy.net/asp/templates/lnlet
view asp?ld= 1 62, last l'ettieved I /2 1 12008
e "UN Health Agency calls fo1 Trans F<t-lree Amencas." http://WvVW.un org/apps/news/
story.asp?News1 D = 2282 3&Ct=food&Ct- l , last retneved, 1 /2 1 /2008
44 The Tao of Healthy Eating
Not Dogs , Faki n Baki n, , and To fu Rel la, which have been named after and made to
look l i ke the fam i l i a r meat and d iary products they are i ntended to re place . 1 9
Howevet it i s not at al l clear that eatt ng all this soy, especially i n the form o f textured soy
protei n is actual ly healthy There is nothi ng natural about th ese modern soy protein products.
Textured soy protei n, for examp le , is made by forci ng defatted soy flou r through a
machine cal led an extruder- under con ditions of such extreme heat and pressure that
the very 5tructure of the soy pmtein is changed. Sctenti sts who have stud ied the use of
soy protein in animal feeds over the years have discovered a number of components in
soy that cause poor growth, digestive distress. and other health problems. Whi le pr-oponents
of textured soy prote in say that these potent tally un healthy proteins are elimi nated
by cooki ng and processing, they ar-e not all elimtnated. ln addrtion, soy is one of the top
erght al lerge ns that cause im med iate hypersensttlvtty r-eactions such as coughing, sneezing,
runny nose, hives, diarrhea, difficulty swal lowing, and anaphylactiC shock Delayed allergic
responses are even more common and occur anywhere from several hours to several
days after the food is eaten.These have been li nked to sleep disturbances, bedwetti ng.
sinus and ear infections. crankiness, joint patnt. chronic fatigu e, gastro intestinal woes. and
other mysterious sympto ms. Soy allergies are on the rise for three reasons: the growing
use of soy i nfant formul a (now 20-25% of the formula market) . the i ncrease in soy-contai
ning foods in grocery stores, and the possib il ity of the greate1- allergenicity of genetically
modified soybeans .20 Hence I believe that health -conscious consumers should al so
ltmit their intake of textured soy protei n. According to Daniel M. Sheehan, forme rly se nior
toxi cologist wrth the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research, the i nclusion
of so much textured soy protein i n the modem Western diet amounts to what he has
called a "lat-ge, uncontrolled and basi ca lly unmonrtored human experiment."2 1
Pesti cid es, Prese rvatives & C h e m i cals
In the past, Ch inese medicine said nothi ng about pesticides, preservatives, and chemical
additives because these thi ngs were not known until rel attvely recently However, poisoni
ng is a Chinese med ical cause of disease li sted tn the bu nei bu wai yin ( IJ;J /GY ftl )
category of neither intern al nor external etiolog1es. Al l the evidence suggests that eat1 ng
19 Danrel. Kaayla T.. Whole Soy Story: The Dark Srde of America's Favor-Ite Health Food.
http.//www.quantum balancrng.com/news/sof,..S20dangers.htm. last n'lrieved I /2 1 /2008
20 1bid. .
' ' lbtd
The Modern Western Diet 45
food which is contaminated by pestrcides, preservatrves, and chemical dyes and addrtives is
also not good fot long-term health and wel l bei ng. There are more than I ,055 active ingredients
registered as pestiodes, which ar-e for-mulated into thousands of pesticide prod
ucts that are avai lable in the marketplace.22 Research has shown that pesticides can
disrupt the endocrine system (i.e., one's hormones) as well as cause cancer.23 In addrt:ron.
cetiain combinattons of pesticides have been shown to cause Parkinson's disease .24 Whi le
food preservatives are necessary in commercrally processed and packaged food, they can
have a number of documented adverse effects on human health. The following rs a hst of
commonly used rood preservatives and the health concerns associated wrt:h them.
Aspartame: A chemical in artrficial sweeteners, asparta me is known to be poisonous
even i n modest amounts. It can cause brain damage , bl indness, rnfiammation of
the pancreas and heart muscles.
Cal c i u m pro p i o n ate: Claims exist of a l i n k between the food preservative, calcium
propionate , and behavroral problems in chi ldren.
Carbamate: There are measurabl e detrimental effects on the nervous, i mmune and
endocri ne (hormone) systems.
F D &C gre en no.3 fast green: This is known to cause bladder tumors.
Food colori ng: Colorings can cause ana phylactic shock i n sensitive indivrd uals.
G entian vi olet Cl basic violet no. 3 : This can cause contact dermatitis.
Hyd rolyzed p: Fatty acids contarn higher parameters for heart disease. Known to
cause ce l iac d isease (also known as cel iac sprue or gl uten-sensitive enteropathy) a
ch ronic disease in wh rch malabsorption of nutr-ients is caused by a characteristic les
ion of the small rntestine mucosa.
Monosod i u m gl utamate ( M S G ) : Some people report symptoms such as dizzin
Assess1ng Hearth R1sks from PestiCides. http://INWW.epa.gov/oppOOOO I /facts heetslnsk2ssess.htm , last ret.rieved
1 /2 1 12008
)J Pest1c1 des I mpact on Human Health, h ttp://www. pmClc.neVhuman1mp.htm. IJl retneved I /2 1 /2008
2' Pest1c1des 1n D1sease. http.//www.pmac.net/pest_dls. html. last retneved l /2 1 /2008
46 The Tao of Healthy Eating
ness, fiushi ng, nau sea and a feel ing of tightness or press u re i n the upper part of the
body after eat1ng food conta i n i ng MSG.
Pecti n: Large quantities may cause temporary fi atu l ence or i ntestinal disco mfort.
Potassi u m b ro m ate: Large quantitie s can cause nausea, vomiting, d iarrhea, p a 1 n .
Sodium a l u m i n u m s i l i cate: Th 1s 1 s known t o cause placental problem s i n p regnancy
and h as been l i n ked to Alzhei mer's.
S o rb ito l : This can cause gastric dist urba nce.
S u lfites: The symptom most rep orted is difficu lty breathi ng. Oth er problems range
from stomachache to h ives to anaphylactic shock.
Thiam i n e : Adverse effects in h igh doses are headache , irntabi l ity. rap id pulse, tt'e mb!
ing and weakness . 25
Therefore, it is advi sable to eat food whi ch is as fre e fro m these contaminants and
ad ditives as poss ible: that means organi c p roduce and gra1ns and o1-gan1cally grown
meat. Happi ly, organ ica l ly grown grains, fruits. and vegetables a re Jncleasi ngly m ore
common and avai lable along with " free- range ' ' eggs.
What this a l l means Is that the overly processed and adu lterated foods that ma ke up
such a large part of the diet in developed countries are a recipe for i l l health .There
sim ply is no substitute for fresh ly bought and prepared foods. O n e s 1 mply cannot pri mari
ly eat comm erc ially processed restaurant, and fast foods and re main h ea lthy and
,

wel l over th e long h a u l . With health care costs ri sing at astrono mical rates 1n part due
to the pandem ic i n nonmfectious chronic d iseases associ ate d with fau lty diet, I bel i eve
those who value thew and their family's health. must return to more cleaner, more organic
so urces of food a more trad itional diet and more trad iti onal methods of food
preparation in the home.
2 Chen,V1ncent Information on Food Add1t1vesand Preservatives, hrtp:!/www nutncraze corn/Art1cle_about __
ln(ormatlon-on-iood-d dditiVe-and-preservalves-a-2"10 3.html. lilsl ret:--1eved I /2 1 /2008

P revi ously we have seen what Ch1 nese doclol-s have believed is the basis of the

healthy human diet for the majo l-ity of people living 1n a temperate environment
H owever. when a person becomes actively diseased, th 1s diet is comm
o n ly altered in order to re medial ly treat that disease. In this case, there are three
b asic princi p les of Chi nese d1 etary the rapy for the remedial treatment of d1sease
wh ich has a l ready arisen.
I . Treatm ent s h o u l d p r i m ari ly be based on pattern d i sc ri m i n ation (bian
zheng lun zhi, !fiiE$'S)
The first of these pri nci ples is to se lect foods which correspond to the patient's pattern
(zheng, iiE ).The hall mark of contem po t-ary, professional Ch inese medicine as a
style is that it primarily bases its treatm ent on the person s presenting pattern (s) '

rather than on their disease. 1 A disease (bing, ) is usual ly defi ned by a relative ly
1 Wf-Jen I reler to Chr'lese medrcrne (zhong yi. ' 1 ' 1'-.). 1 a m speakrng of the ndtronal standard o f care (SOC) for proiessronally
practrced Ch rnese medrcrne rn the People's Repubhc of Chrna (PRC) today Whrle Uere ,11e many rdrosyncratrc
family. regronal, and natrona! styles of Onenl1l medicrne (dong yi. }JI{I ) as wel l as Western schools of so -cJI Ied Onerrral
medicrne, l 'am 1<1lking about that style of Chrnese medrc rne whrch has become the na1ronal standard Jn Chrna and
whrch forn1s the basrs of the currrculum of study at all pmvrncral and maJor metropo lrLan colleges and unrversr"l1es of
Chinese Medrcrne tn the PRC. Fa: instance IVlacrobJotrcs cs part of generic Or-rental medrctne, bul rl rs not standard professronal
Cnrnese medrcrne. Stmrla.,ly. Engl1sh F1ve Element Acupuncture may be based on cen.atn p;wLS of Chr nese medrcal
theory bul lt rs denrtely not mndard pmfessroncl Ch rnese med1C>'1e
47
48 The Tao of Healthy Eati ng
small group of si gns and sym ptoms.2 For instance , you cannot be diagn osed as having
a headache if you do not have any p a 1 n in your head H owever; different people may
all be d i agnosed as suffering fiom headache, but those diffe rent people may each suffer
from a different type and severity of pain in different locat1 ons oi thei r head . Further;
they may be fat or thin. male or female, old or young, and have any num ber of
other; unique, ind tvidualized complai nts. A Chinese med icine pattem ts the entire constellation
of all a perso n's signs and symptoms and not j ust those that add up to their
disease diagnosis.
Thus, it is said in Chinese medicine:
Different diseases. same treatment;
Same disease, different treatments.
(Yi bing, tong zhi M !q] tf; Tong bing, yi zhi :JW :ff0)
This means that if two patients both suffer from the same disease bvt exhibrt different
patterns of overall signs and symptoms, they will receive different Chinese medici ne
treatments; while two pattents w1th d ifferent disease diagnoses may receive the same
treatment if their Chinese medicine pattern is the same. Therefore, we can say that tleatment
in Chinese medicine is aimed at remedying patterns and not diseases. In Chinese
medicine, disease is seen as an imbalance.This Imbalance may be between the va rious
types of qi in the body, between the viscera and bowels, or between the various types of
body fluids. The name of every Chinese medici ne pattern is a description of how that
person is out of balance. If a person is described as exhtbiting a spleen qi vacu ity weakness,
this means that their spleen is not fun ctioning up to par: The treatment principles
necessary to cor rect that imbalance and restore the person to health are to fortify the
spleen and supplement or boost the qi. ln this case , the Chinese doctor knows that anything
wh ich accomplishes these two goals will be good for the patient but anything
which damages the spleen or weakens the qi further will make them worse .
In terms of remedial Chi nese dietary therapy. this means that foods are selected on
the basi s of whether they help or h i nder the restoration of the patient's overal l pattern
to a state of balance or h ealth. Those which promote a movement back to balance
should be eaten and th ose which aggravate the person's i m balance sh ould be
Technically. these are called tne disease's pathognomoniC stgns and symptoms
Rem edial Dietary Therapy 49
avoided. Th u s the Nei Jing (Inner Classic), the premier class1c of Chinese med icine says.
if there is heat cool it if there 1s co ld, warm 1t; ,r there is dryness. moisten it: if there is
dam p ness, d ry it if there i s vacuity, supplem ent it: and i f there is repletion (i.e . . excess
or fu l l ness), dra 1 n it. Based on th is saying, if one has a hot patter-n. one should eat cool
or cold, heat-clearing foods. But 1f one has a cold pattern. one sho uld eat so me warm
or hot warmi ng foods.
2. No matte r what, protect and prom ote the spleen and stomach
Even though the bas ic meth odo logy of treatment of Chinese medicine is to administer
an "eq ual opposite" st1 mulus to bri ng the person back to balance , no matte r what
the di sease or ill ness, the process of digestion remai ns the sam e. Therefore . the overa
l l requirements for diet also re main the same. Because of the interreationsh ips between
the vari ous v1 sce ra and bowels, qi and blood, blood and body fluids. and yi n
and yang, and because of the pivotal n ature of the middle burner or splee n and
stomach m the creation and functioning of all of these , adherence to a basic clear.
bland. splee n-fort i fying diet benefrts esse nt1al ly all conditions.
I n other wol-ds, one must always be carefu l when treating any disease with Chi nese
dietary therapy. Although cold foods are good fo r a hot disease pattern , one should
not eat too many co ld and cool ing fo ods. I f one does, rather than cu ring the hot disease
pattern , one may only complicate their co ndt1on by damagi ng therr spleen and
stomach, the so urce of creation of the healthy or- nghteo us qi wh 1ch fights disease.
If we have a hot pattern . we ce r-tai n ly do not want to eat any hot foods, but we also
need to be carefu l not to eat too many cold and cooling ones. A few carefu lly selected
cold foods wh 1ch are known to effectively tr-ea t the disease at hand in an oth erwise
l eve l or neutral to sl ightly wa rm diet are usually ' 'what the doctor ordered."
The refore, 1t is ve ry important to understa nd that pri nciple
numbe1- two mod ifies and mod erates principle number one No matter what the diswh
en it comes to re medial Chi nese dietary therapy. No matter
what the disease , we must protect the sp leen and stomach.
This is the key to maintaining health and to treati ng disease. I
can't emphas1ze this too much.
5 0 T h e Tao o f Heal thy Eating
3. Avo i d p ro h i bited fo ods
I n Ch inese d ietary the rapy, there are ce rtai n foods which are p rohi bited or contrai
n dicated for certa1 n conditions. For instance, sl i ppe ry, "glos sy' ' foods, such as honey
and spi nach are contrai nd icated i n c ase s of s l i pp ery, s l iding conditions like diarrhe a
and spermatorrhea. There is al so a who l e class of foods wh ich are called fa wu (?tW)
in Chine se. The word fa ('& ) means to emit or effuse. Wu (f!D) means a mate rial or
su bstance. Therefore, fa wu foods are those which te nd to em it or effuse the yang
(i. e . , hot. active) q i . In the case of most red -col ored skin ashes (which are due to
heat), ya ng q i is al ready erro neou s ly located and congested i n the exterior of the
body. H ence , 1f one th en eats a fa wu food, this wil l o n ly add more yang qi to this heat
already co ngeste d in the exten or or su rface of the body and thus make the sk1n ras h
wo rse. Therefore , fa wu foo ds are proh i bited fo r p eople w h o have various types of
red ski n ra shes, such as h ives, eczema, psoriasis, and n eu rodermatiti s.
What are some fa wu foods? Ch icken, shri mp, lobste r. cl ams, musse ls. a nd peanuts are
some of the most i mportant and common ly eaten ones. These a re foods wh1ch ar-e
typica l ly hot in natu re and supplement live1-kidney yang. Or they are foods which are
warm and also d ampening and. th us, aggravate dam p heat. In any case , one should
avoid such fa wu foods if they have a h ot ski n rash . Interestingly. such fa wu foo ds are
those which Western medicine considers partic ularly allergenic.
One should also avoid certain foods when taking certain Ch inese herbal medicinals. For in stance
, 1t IS prohibited to dri n k green or black tea or eat radishes when taking Radix
Panacis Ginseng ( Ren Shen) or to eat fish and crab when taking Herba Schizon epetae
Tenuifoliae Oingjie). Likewise. eatJng pork is prohibft:ed when taking Rhtzoma Copt1di s
(Huang uan). Radix Platycodi U1e Geng), and/or Fructus Mume (Wu Me1) . Additionally, rt: is
prohibrted to eat sour foods when suffering from a liver disease, bitter foods when suffering
from a lung disease, salty foods when suffering from erther a heart o,- kidney disease, and
sweet and sou r foods when suffering from a spl ee n and stomach disease . H owever: here
we are talking about the Chinese organs of these names, not their biomedical counterparts.
As the l ay reade r can see , Chi nese di etary therapy can get pretty tech n i cal and comp
licated pretty q u ickly.Therefore , it i s always best to check specific remed i a l di etary
reco mmendations with a professi onal practitto n er of Ch i nese medi cine. N onetheless.
there are some genet-al reco mmendations that can be made regard ing the ap pro pri -
Remedial Dietary Therapy
ate Ch 1nese d i etary th erapy for some of the most commonly encountered patterns
of i mbalance. These are spleen vacu ity wtth dampness or damp encumbrance, l1ver
depresst on with stomach heat. kidney yin vacu ity, an d damp heat.
Spleen Vac uity with Damp E n c u m b rance
51
The spleen may becom e vacuous or weak due to ove rfatigu e, exces sive worry. or
ove teati ng sweets and ch i l led, unc oo ked fo o d s and dri nks. When the s p leen becomes
weak, 1ts functi ons of movi ng and transforming the products of digestio n may become
i m pai red. Typi cal ly, this resufts in fi u ids accu mulati ng in the s pleen which are
then refened to as patho logic or evil dampness. Once th is evi l dampness has accumulated
in the sp lee n, it further im pairs spl een yang o r d igestive fire and a vicio us circle
fo rms.T he spleen is too weak to disti l l and evaporate or move and transform th is
dam p ness away and th is d am pness kee ps the spl een from recu perating its stre ngth or
qi.Th i s is a commonly encountered p roblem in clinical practice . Often spleen weakness
and dampness begin in infancy with i nappropnately schedu led feedi ng and poor
c h o i ce s in foods fo1 the i mmatu re newborn. Spleen weakness and dam pn ess a re especially
p reval ent amongst Westerners. Thi s is beca use of our current lack of wisdom
regard i ng the feeding of newbo rn s and infants , our sweet tooth, our overconsump
tion of fats and oils, our use of wheat as our staple grain (which tends to be damp
and cool), our fondness fo r raw. cold, and damp foods in ge neral , too much th i nki ng
and worrying. and too little physical exe rc1 se . All these factors
contri bute to the prevalence of spleen weakness and damp ness
i n the West.
Because of the pivotal and abso l utely crucial imp ortance of
spl een and stomach or m idd l e burner function to the health
and well-bei ng of the entwe organ 1 sm, such spleen weakness
an d dampness may cause or complicate in numerable diseases.
If one has been diagnosed by a professional practitioner of Chinese
medici ne as having a weak a nd/or damp spleen, one sho uld
avoid concentrated sweets su ch as sugar; honey, molasses, and
maple syrup. AH:hough some sweets are warm, such as barley malt, and, therefore, not as
delete rious to the sp lee n as, say, white sugar wh ich 1s cool, sti ll any concentrated sugar
can ove1whel m the splee n and generate excessive fluids and dampn ess.
5 2 The Tao o f Healthy Eating

One should also minim ize their consumption of chilled (/eng, i7) food s This means
.

foods and d rinks which are chi lled or frozen. If a foo d 0 1 d ri n k has been stored in the
refrigerator it should be heated up to at least room te mperature before bei ng consumed
. Person's suffering fro m spleen weakness and dampness should especially not
eat such chi lled foods with other foods which would o nly impair their digestio n and absorption.
Cold foods also mean energetically cool and cold-natured foods. Fo r instance ,
lettuce, celery, cucumbers, watermelon, mung beans, buckwheat, seaweed, mango , m i l let.
pears, persimmon, sptnach, tomatoes, and wheat are all cool or cold in nature or po stdigestive
temperature, and over-consu mption of these foods can chi l l or damage the
middle burner or spleen yang. If these foods are eaten raw (sheng, ) or chilled, this
further worse ns the i r coo l i ng effect. Thus Chi nese doctors often counsel our patrents
not to consume too many sheng /eng (u ncooked and chil l ed) foods and dnnks.
One should also avotd eati ng dampening foods and dri nki ng too many liquids with meals.
Dampening foods 1ncl ude milk and dairy products, crtrus fruits and juices, pi neapple juice.
tomatoes, sugar and sweets, and fatty, greasy. oily foods. Some persons suffering from
spleen dampness may experience constant thi rst and may crave l 1q uids. However; this
seeming paradox is important to understand. Since fiuids are not being transported fro m
the middle burner to the rest of the body in order to moi sten and nourish them. these
parts of the body may experience thi rst or dryness. Yet th e more one drinks and noods
the spleen with fu rther dampness, the worse and more deeply entr-enched this condition
becomes. Patients with this diagnosis need to consume l ess liqurds and especial ly not
with meals. At first, thei r thirst and craving for fiuids will 1ncrease , but, as the body becomes
star-ved fo r fl uids, the spleen wi l l be forced to give up those that are ' 'water-log .
. .p eople 1-vith spleen
weakness ana dampness
shollld eat a_ lot Q.t
cobed vegetables; -
, oe-/ed rice sm'all
amou)?t:S of relatively dry
animal protein, such as
chicken, turRey, ami
white (ts}j, CJ.nd a mo_d
icum of pre.{erabl
cooked fiutts ..
gi ng" it. Typically. the body's wisdom recognizes what must be
done and where to get the l 1quids it needs wrthin 2-3 days.
What al l thrs means from the positive point of view is that people
with spleen weakness and d ampn ess should eat a lot of
cooked vegetables, cooked rice, smal l am ounts of relatively dry
an imal protein, such as ch icken, turkey. and wh1te fish , and a
modicum of preferably cooked fru1ts. In add ition, they should
use a moderate amount of d rying and warming, spleen -strength ening
spices and seasonings, such as cardamom , black pepper.
ginge r (both dry and fresh ) , cin namon, and nutmeg. They should
Rem edial Dietary Therapy 5 3
eat foods which are light and easy t o digest. They should eat soups and stews. And they
should chew theirA food thoroughly. In addition, their practitioners may suggest taki ng digestrve
enzymes with meals to su pplement their spleen and stomach.
Liver Dep ressi on with S i mu ltaneous Stomac h Heat
This is anoth er extremely common pattern of imbalance in the West. Liver d epression
means stagnation of the q1 due to the liver's being jam med up and not freely
flowing.This is mostly due to emotional stress. what in C h i n ese is ca l l ed internal injury
due to the seven passions. The Chi nese l ive r is in charge of spreading the qi and
maintai ning its fre e flow or patency. Any ki nd of emotr onal stress can cause stagnation
of l iver qi but especially ange rA and frustration or a feeling of berng stuck, trapped, o r
h e l d back. Although l iver depression and qi stagnation are primarily due to
mental/emotio nal causes, they are com p l icated by certar n d i etary factors. The free
flow of spleen and stomach qi is dependent in part on the free flow of l ive r- qi. If o n e
overeats a n d develops food stagnation 1 n t h e sto mach and i ntesti nes, th is wi l l impede
the fl-ee flow o f spleen-sto mach qi which wil l, in turn, negatively affect liver q i .
Therefor-e, those with liver q i stagnatron should b e careful not to overeat o r stuff themselves
ful l of heavy. hard-to-digest foods. In other words. one should not eat a l ot of
nuts. nut butters, bread and meat. When the liver becomes stuck. it also becomes ful l o f
q1. Since qi is warm. liver stagnat1on often becomes hot as well.T h i s i s called transformative
heat (hua re, 1-t P.) or depressive heat (yu re, 'AI f!.).Therefore . it is also imporiant
not to eat too many hot-natu r-ed foods if one's liver tends to be stuck or stagnant. Th is
includes hot spicy, pungent and acnd foods. Often people with liver depression and
bindi ng crave such spicy. acrid. warm and hot foods since they are qi stimulants and, at
l east temporari ly. reso lve the feeling of depression and binding. However, if the l iver i s
not only stuck but hot. such hot spicy foods wi l l cause this heat to fiare up even more ,
thus complicati ng this scenario. Rather, rt i s better t o increase one's exercise , go to fu nny
movies, practice daily deep ,-elaxation, and attempt to solve those problems in one's life
that make one fee l stuck and frustrated.
Because the l iver and the stomach both get their warmth fr-om the l ife-gate fire . if
one of these becomes ove rheated, the other also typica l ly becomes inflamed. This
means that l iver depression-depressive heat are often cou p l ed with a hot stomach as
well . Because the l 1ver and gal lbladder are a yin-yang pai r, rf the live I - becomes stuck
54 T h e Tao o f H ea l thy Eating
and overheated, the gall bladder can l i kewise become u n healthily hot. And a l l this may
be compou nded by a damp , weak spleen. In such cases, it i s i mportant to avoi d al coh
o l , coffee, greasy, 0 1 ly fo ods, and fatty meats. Although one may have an excessive appetite
and crave chi lled foods and d rinks, one needs to exercise some care . If one is
tru ly excess and has a robust spleen but a hot l iver and stomach, one's Chi n ese medicine
practitioner may advise eating some cold foods, such as raw l ettuce, celery, spinach.
tofu, soybean sprouts, mung bean sprou ts, radishes, coriand er; etc. However, that does
not mean that these should be overeaten.The middle burner is sti l l the middle bumer.
One sho uld eat even more fresh ly cooked vegetables. and especially dark, leafy greens.
but one should not go overboard eating all co ld, raw foods.
Accord i ng to the Nei )tng (Inner Classic), in cases of l iver disease, one should fi rst treat
the spleen since, according to five phase theo ry th e spleen wil l next be affected if it
,

isn't al ready. A stro ng. healthy spleen can do a great deal to keep a fu ll, hot liver 1 n
ch eck. Therefore , on e should fo llow t h e ge neral gu ideli nes fo r supplementi ng a n d disi nhi
bitlng the spleen i n combi nation with a mod icum of cool and cold foods and medicinals
which speci fical ly enter or gather in the l iver; gal l b ladder; and sto mach.
Ofte n peo ple with a chro nically ful l and stagnant liver will want to know about the do's
and don 'ts of di et in great detai l. They will gravrt:ate towards lists and stringent and exact
guideli nes d etailing every aspect of what they put in thew mouths. This tenden cy is a
sympto m of th is imbalance . Perso n 's with this complaint should recognize this and t1y
to relax more . Ultimately, liver depression and qi stagnatio n are emotional issues wh1ch
need to be ad dressed pnmanly on that level . If o ne with such an imbalance becomes
ftxated on diet they miss the po int of their diagnosis, for in the end, the key piece o f advice
to such pe1sons is to kick back and rel ax.
K i d n ey Yin Vacu ity
Life in the deve loped/developing world is extremely fast-paced.We are flooded with sti m uli,
are constantly on the go, and we tend to burn our candles from both ends. Due to
sex, drugs, and rock n' roll," many of us have prodigally bumt through our yin substance
and essence . Since the Chinese kidneys are the repository of true or tighteous yin and
essence, this leads to their weakness and insufficiency. In Chi nese medicine, the aging
process is exactly equivalent to the weakeni ng and decline of the kidneys. We can say we
are as old as our kidneys are. As one ages, one inevitably co nsumes yin Th us one becomes .

Remedial Dietary Therapy 5 5

dry and wri nkled, stooped and bent, one s hair goes gray or falls out, one's teeth fall, one's
'

vision and h earing become dim, one's sexual capauty declines, and o ne's mental brilliance
begins to fade. Chinese medicine attributes all this to kJdney weakness and vacuity.
1\s we have seen, the splee n and omach get the source of thei1- heat from kidney yang orthe
l ife-gate fire . Conver-sely, the essential substances and nutnents digested by the spleen
and stomach are transformed into y1n essence which then shore up and bolste1- the ki dneys.
In addition, the Nei j1ng (Inner Classic) says that the yang ming (IB )) o r stomach and
intestinal function begins to decl ine at around 35, before the kidneys begin thei1- decline.
One of the reasons why many Westerners are prematurely yin
empty is that our diet is typically so unsup portive of the spleen
and stomach. and the main way to supplement kidney yin dietarily
is through strengthening and disinhibrting the spleen. If the spleen is
strong and capable of u pbearing the clear and downbearing the
turbid an excess of qi and blood is made each day which is converted
,

into essence to be stored in the kidneys when we sleep.

Therefore, people with kidney yin vacuity empti ness should, once
again, eat the basic m1ddle bumer benefitting diet described above .

In add ition, such patients can and sh ould eat a bit more meat
and an imal proteins than others. Most of the foods which Chi
one of the reasons :why
many vVesterners ate
prematurely Jin empty is
J!J.atGur diet is .typically
s:Q unsuppottiv(:; of the
- -pleen and stomaqn, and
the main way to supple-

: ment kidrtey yin dietarily

, i through slrengthen ing

-apd disinhil5iting. fJif6

splee-n.
-
nese dietary t heo ry identifies as d i rectly supplementi ng kidney yin are ani mal meats
and organs. Th is is because we are tal ki ng about yin s ubstance which i n the human is
one's organs, meat, an d fi esh. An imal meats and organ s are made from the same molecules
and constituents a s our own body. ou1- own substance . Th erefore, such ani mal
foods are the most d i re ct way to get the building blocks and constrtu ents of this yin
essence.
Chinese eat all sorts of fi sh and game that most Westel-ners do no(3 Sea sl u gs jellyfish, ,

abalone mussels, c l a ms. testicles. kidneys, hearts. l ive rs. bra i ns. al l sorts of eggs. tu rtles,
,

and all th e other fl eshy exotica of Chi nese cu isi ne are , fro m a Ch inese med ical
point of view, eaten beca use they ar-e ki dney yin and essence supplements. Howeve1
Chine se do ctors also say that these foo d s shou ld not be overeaten. Because they are
' T rbe:a ns. who a re not
ethnrcally Chmese. joke about the Chinese eating every four-footed thing under the sun except the
table.
56 The Ta o of Healthy Eating
sonutri tious (i.e. , have so much we1 or "fiavor" as c o m pare d to qi), t hey are also
d a mp en i ng. greasy, and hard-to -digest
Aga i n. the 1ssue 1s a mod1cum or moderate amount of these-m o re perh a p s than someone
who is not yin empty but not so much as to complicate one's condrtion w1th a lot of
ph legm and dampness. AH:ho ugh lay readers may find rt: hard at first to understand how a
person could be yi n vacuo us and also da mp and phl egmatic (though both are yin, one is
r igh teou s and the o the r is pat holog ic) . many WesterneiS are just that It is not uncommon
in clin ical practice to fin d persons who are d am p. phlegmatic. and obese "on the
outside" who are pa rc hed and dry on th e inside. From a Chinese medical po int of view,
th e words "inside" an d ' 'outside" are not exactly correct, but hopefully one gets the general
pictu re . For these p eo ple . sticking to th e basic spleen-stomach d i et outlined above is
their best possi ble course of act1on.They should depend upon the connection between
the middle burner and the ki dneys and the fa ct that hea lthy digestion wi ll automatically
result in shori ng up depleted yin.This was Li Dong-yuan's a pproac h to treating yin vacuity.
and Li Dong-yuan was one of the fo ur great masters of in ter nal medicine of the Jin-Yu an
dynasties (I 280- 1 368 CE) , the re naissance of Chinese med ic rne .
Tfuerqhre persons with
ktiJney yin van.tity and
insufficiency should
av0id sugar:s c;md s,w.eets,
alcohol, coffe e, c:J.m;i ather
strmu.Jan ts an.d the xc
- 'Si\'fe 1:.1se of dl)" acrtd, and
Hra rm-hot spices.
Therefore, persons wrth kidney yin vac u 1ty and in su ffic i ency
should avo idsugars and sweets. alco hol, coffee. and oth er strmulants
and the excessive use of d ry. acrid, and war-m-hot sp ices.
Rather such a pe rson should eat plent y of wan"n, easy-to-digest
so ups and stews, lots of c ooked vegetables and grai ns. and a bit
more animal prote i n than someone else might As long as a person
does not suffer fr om da mpness and phlegm comp licati ng
their vacuity and insufficiency, one can eat relative ly more wheat
and oats wh ich tend to have a mo 1ste n i n g, nurd-engenden ng, and cal m i ng e ff ect.
Damp Heat
The fo urth pattern of im bal anc e wh ich I see most often in clinrcal pract1ce are vari ous
types of damp heat. Most often, the dam pness is due to fau lt y spleen-stomach fu nction.
Due to faul ty diet, worry. and ove rfat i gue , the spleen fa ils to move and transform liquids
as itshoul d. These , being turbid and heavy. have a ten de ncy to seep downwards and
co llect in the lower part of the b ody. This dampness impedes the flow of qi wherever [t
collects. Th e qi backs up behind the puddled and pooled dampness and, because qi is
Remedial Dietary Th era py 57
inherently warm, the area becomes overheated. Th i s heat then becomes tied u p or
bound with the dampness and becomes what 1s called in Chinese medicine damp heat.
Techn 1cally. this heat may be either 1-eplete (shi . fu l l ) . depressive , or vacuity (xu ,$,
em pty) heat, but, once it joins with dam pness, it is damp heat nonetheless. Dam p
heat may man1fest as problems w1th the liver-gall bladder or various infiammatory
conditions of the intestines, bladder. and reproduct1ve organs. It can also cause various
dermatological or skin d iseases. Once damp heat gets established in the lower part of
the body, it can be difficult to rid. This is due to dam pness heaviness and turbidity.
'

Ch inese medicine says dampness i s recalcitr-ant to treatment. I n addition, a certain

amount of damp heat typica l ly accu m u l ates as one ages.
Srnce dampness mostly has its source 1 n the middle bu rner: once again a commonsense .
middle bumer, spl een-stomach benefitting diet IS 1mportant to con-ed the generation
of dampness at its source . Even if the heat i n damp heat is vacuity heat such an approach
wi ll sti l l benefit the situation. In addition. pet-sons with damp heat in the lower
burner or lower hal f of their body shoul d eat somewhat more cooling, d 1uretic foods.
These include Ch inese barley or Job's tears. wate rmelon and other summer melons.
watercress celery. carrots. cranberries and cucumbers. However; except for the melons
. ,

and cranberries, these should all be eaten l ightly cooked. Because

nee is mildly di uretic, it should be the staple grain fo r
those suffering from damp heat in the lower burner. Sweets,
chocolate, nuts, ice cream, frozen yogurt, alcohol, greasy. oily, and
fatty foods should be avoided. Chinese d ietary theory holds that
oils and alcohol are especially productive of dampness and heat
In my experience as a teache1 relatively "young" or new students
of Chi nese medicine tend to be fasc inated by al l the exotica.
There a1e any num ber of Ch inese dietary books written
in Chi nese that give Chi nese recipes for vanous health conditions,
and it can be fun eating day-lily fiower because Chi nese
med 1cine says these are good for sorrow or tu rtle and saspar r

,afte-r mm:e than s.o

. yeaps studyir:tg, eating,

and prescrfblng: Chtnese

[oods accordmg 1:0 Chi,

nese cltetary theory and

. therapy, I h.ave come to

the cendtsfc:m. t't.lat most

I people m0 beSt if (/:ley
stic1?. to what I ltave
called a basi mid'elle
burner, splee ;benefitting
diet . . .
i l l a soup for damp heat and l iver-kidney vacuity emptiness. But after more than 30
years studying. eating. and presc ribi ng Chinese foods accord ing to Chinese dietary theory
and therapy, I have come to the concl usion that most people do best if they stick
to what I have cal led a basic m1ddle burner. spleen-benefitting diet: warm food cooked
58 The Tao o f H ealthy Eating
fresh and eaten warm , lots of fresh vegetables lots of grai ns, some beans, a little ani mal
,

protei n of all sorts and varieties, a moderate consumption of fru1ts. seeds, and nuts, not
much concentrated sweets, oils, or fats and . pl enty of fi be r. Professional pr-actitioners o rother
readers i ntereste d i n the techn ical Chi nese med rcine d escri ptions of specific
foods wi l l find these in the rear of this book. H owever, let me reiterate one more time,
I beli eve it i s more important to understand the basic wrsdom of Ch inese dietary theory
than get lost in a sea of tec hni cal details and Orienta l exotica.

Medical Descriptions 6
of Commonly Eaten Foods
B e l ow are the Ch1nese medical descriptions of more than I 50 com mo nly eaten

fo ods. These descri p ions are all taken from hin ese so u
.

rc es. Howeve1 th y .

are al so al l fo ods wh1ch are fo und and eaTen 1n th e We51.They are fo und 1n elthe,-
grocery sto res, health fo od stores, Asian sp e c ia lty fo od shops, or, in a few instances,
in you r backyard . The categories of Information unde r each food are navor;
nature or temperature, cha n nel ente ri ng, fu ncti ons or ac tions, and indicati ons.
In Chinese med i c1 n e there are s1x fl avors: sweet salty. sour; acri d bitter a nd bland. The
,

fiavors of each fo od are based on d t rect sensory experience , and many if not m o st
fo ods are combinattons of more than a single Aavor: Of th es e six navo rs five co tTe
,

spond with five p h ase theory and each e nte rs one of the five matn viscera of Ch inese
" "

medicine. Sweet enters the sp leen. Sour enters the liver. Bitter ente rs the heart
Acrid enters the lungs . And salty enters the ki dn ey s . In small amou nts. th es e fiavors
bene fit these viscet-a but, in large amounts. they actually damage them. In addition, each
of the six fiavors te nd s to have certai n effects on the body. The sweet flavor boosts the
qi and enge nders fluids. The bttte r fiavo r tends to astringe and dry as we ll as lead the
qi downward. T he sour fiavor also ast r i nges and con st rai n s The acnd fi avor leads the qi
.

upwa rd and outw ard and te nds to also be drytng, while the salty flavor lead s the qi
downward and soften s hardness.The bl a nd flavor also leads downw ard and pro motes
59
60 The Ta o of Heal thy Eating
urination.Therefore, by kn owing the flavor of a fo od, we can know a lot about the viscera
it may enter and the effects it may have on the body.
Li kewise, herbs and fo ods can have five natures or te mperat ures: co ld, coo l. leve l (i.e.,
balanced or ne utral ) , warm, a nd hot T h ese natures, also someti mes referred to as a
fo od's qi. descri be the effect of the fo od on the b ody's te mperat ure. In oth er words.
wa rm and hot fo ods te nd to he at the body up. while cool and cold fo ods tend to
cool the body down. These descri ptio ns are m o re theoretical than a fo od's fiavo r, and
so are open to more differences of opinion in the Chinese medical lite ratu re . It is not
uncom mon to find one author who says a fo od is level. wh ile another says it is cool
or warm. Happily, such differences of opi nion are usually never so great as to be complet
e ly opp osite o ne authority saying a fo od is hot wh ile a n other sayrng it's cold.
-

These temperatures have been wo rked out by Chi nese medi cal thinkers based on
the conditions a give n fo od benefits and wheth er Chi nese medicine defines those
conditions as hot or col d. In other words. a fo od is usua lly considered co ld if all the
diseases or p att ern s it treats are hot.
Cha nnel-entri es describe wh ich viscus o r bowe l a fo od exerts its most pronounced
influences on. Alth ough th e Ch inese words are gui jing (V32), "c hannel gath ering ,"

these infiuences are not on the ch an nels per se but rather on the organ s.Thi s information
is eve n more theoretical than a fo od's nature. lt is a relative ly late addition to
Chinese me dical theory (begi nning in the 12th century) and was definit el y arrived at
by wo rk1 ng backwards fro m th e cond i t i on s a fo od treats to the main viscer-a and
bowels associated with th at condition. Because of the many differences of opinion
a bout these channel-entries, many Chinese dietary manuals leave out this info rmation
altogether, and, in a ny case , the reader should take it "with a grai n of salt.''
Fu nctions refe r to the acti ons of a food on the body stat ed in terms of Chinese medical
the ory These fu ncti ons describe how a fo od exerts the healing Influences on the
.

body that it does. In other wo rds. if a fo od is sa i d to d e a r heat and eli mrnate dampness
and this is then fo llowe d by t h e fact that it is used to treat cholecystiti s, then we
know that it s pec ifical ly treats damp heat in the gal lbladder and that 1t restores balance
and health to th e body by getting rid of path ological heat and somehow eliminati
ng too much dampness. In Ch i nese medical texts, these fu ncti ons are also
.
referred to as treatment pri nciples when they are used in te rms of treattng dlsease. In
that case, such tre atme nt pri n ciples are the b ridge or link which allows one to go
Chi nese Med ical Descriptions of Com m o n ly Eaten Foods 6 1
from th e C h i n ese m edical pattern d iscnm i natio n to the choice of remedies. For instance .

ch ol ecystitis may also be du e t o liver depressi on and blood stasis. In that case ,
w e sti l l need a food o r med i o na l wh1ch treats cho lecystitis. but n ow we need one
which courses the liver and rectines the q i . quickens the blood and transfo rms stasis.
Therefo re, these functions (and treatment pri nci ples) are extremely important to the
proper practi ce of professional Ch inese medic1 ne .
l nd 1 cations refer to the symptoms. cond1tions, or di seases a fo od is known to treat
based on rea l - l ife , clinical expenence . I n theory. a certai n food with a certai n nature ,
fiavor; and functions should be able to treat th i s or that d isease ,

but i n fact, it may not. Therefore , the Ch inese med ical descri ption
of each food is a co mbination of fi nely honed theory and
centuries of d i rect observati on.These two, theo ry and practice ,

are the two wi ngs of the b i rd of medici ne . As Al bert Ei nstei n

once said , Theory without practice is stenle, but practice without
'

theory is b l i n d ." W1th both these wings worki ng in coordinatio

n the bird of med ici ne can fiy to heaven!
,

There fore , t h e reader shou ld take care not to grab at only a part of any fo od's Chi nese
medical descnption.You have to take the whole description 1nto account and then think
a bout i t a b ft . F o r instance, sugar is said t o be sweet and boosts t h e qi. However. i t also
engenders fiuids. Wh ile we may al l think more qi or energy is good. eating too much
sugar wi ll actual ly generate too much dampness in the body. Likewise, we may find a
food that is listed for a disease we h ave and think that we should eat a lot of rt. However.
if its nature flavor; and functions do n ot match our individual Chinese medical pattern
, ,

th i s food is not goi ng to do us much good and may actually do us harm.

Not every food we Westerners eat is found on this list. One of the outcomes of
Columbus's discovery of the New World was a huge explosion in the n u m bers of variettes
" "

of foods. Ch i nese docto rs have not had the time or opportun ity to work out the
Chinese medical descriptions of these. Fot instance the reader wil l fi nd peanuts,
of all .

pine nuts, and almonds on th e list below,

but there is no Ch tnese medical descri ptions
of cash ews and Brazil nuts. In th is case , we know that al l u nsalted nuts are primanly
sweet and all contai n lots of oii .This means that all nuts are highly nutntious and contain
a lot of wei or fiavor In small amounts. they supplement vacuity and moisten dryness .

But overeaten or eaten by a person with spleen vacuity weakness, they may engender
62 T h e Tao o f H ea l rhy Eating
dampness and phlegm . Si milarly we can know somethi ng about nectarines by com parIng
,

them wtth peaches and plums. Both are at least partial ly sweet and both engender
nuids.Therefore, people with spleen dampness probably should take care when it
comes to nectarines. In other words even Lhough a food may be m issing from th1s I 1st,
.

we should be able to work out at least some of its Ch i nese medical description if we
think about si mi lar foods 1n its class and their Chi nese medical descriptions.
Abal one
Natu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l ente ri ng: Sweet salty, and level : enters the l iver and kidney
ch an n els.
Functions & i n d i ca ti o n s : En n ch es yi n and clears heat, fi l l s the essence and brightens
the eyes; treats dry co ugh, vaginal d ischarge , vaginal bl eed i ng urinary ,

strangu ty, 1 and cataracts.

Ad u ki b ean
N atu re, fl avo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet sou1 and level; enters the heart and
small Intesti ne channels.
F u n ctions & i n d i cati o n s : Cleat s heat and disinh 1bits u tt nation, quicke ns the blood

and transforms stasis, drai ns ftre and resolves toxi ns; treats edema, leg qi, inh i bited
u rination, sores, h emorrhoidal bleeding, and m i ld jaundtce .
Agar
Natu re , flavo r & c h an n e l ente r i n g: Sweet and cold: enters the lung and l arge i n testine
chan nels.
Functio n s & i n d i catio ns: Clea rs heat i n the l ungs and u pper burner; treats cough
and hemorrhoids.
Alcohol
Natu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Bitter, sweet acrid, warm, and toxic; enters the
heatt liver l ung and stomach c hannels.
.

F u n ctions & i n d icatio ns: Frees the now o f the blood vesse ls and disperses cold q1,
arouses the spleen and warms the stomach; treats wi nd cold impedi ment2 pain,
contracture a n d s pasm of t h e sinews and vessels. c hest i mpedi ment a n d chilly pai n
in the heart and abdo men.
' Strangury refers to d;ficull. p<llniu! unnat1on and mostly co1-responds to a unnary tract 1nfect1on.
Chi nese Medical Descriptions of Com monly Eaten Foods
Alfalfa s p routs
Nature, flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Bitter and cool ; enters the spleen, stomach,
and large i ntestine cha.nnels.
63
Functions & ind ications: Dries dampness, clears heat from the spleen and stomach
, frees urination and defecation, expel s stones; treats uri nary sto nes and edema
and heat accumulation consti pation.
Almond
Natu re, fl avor & chan nel en tering: Sweet and leve l ; enters the l ung and large i ntestine
channels.
Fu nctions & indications: Moistens the lungs levels panting, and frees the flow of the
,

stool; treats vacuity taxation coughing and pant1 ng and i ntesti nal dryness constipation.
A n is e
Natu re , flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Acnd, sweet and warm ; enters the spleen, kidney,
and l iver channels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Warms yan g and moves the qi: treats constipation, diffic
u l t urination, abdom1 nal distention, mounti ng3 pai n , a n d low back pain .
Apple
Natu re , fl avor & chan n e l ente ri ng: Sweet and cool: enters t h e lung, stomach. and
large intesti ne chan nels.
Functio ns & i n d i cations: Engenders fiu ids and moistens the lungs, eliminates vexation
and re so lves summerheat. opens the sto mach an d aro uses from alcohol.
Apricot
Natu re, flav o r & channel ente ring: Sweet sour: and l evel: ente 1 s the spleen. stomach,
-

l u ng, and large I ntesti ne ch an nels.

Functi ons & i n d i cati ons: Moistens th e lungs, leveis panti ng, engenders fluids and
1elieves thi rst; treats dry throat dry cou gh thi rst. and fluid dryness constipation.
.

' lmpedrment refers m a '-YP or blockage Mostly t:his term refers to rheumatic jo1r.t pa1n. However. rr can a!so r-efer
to chest pa1n.
) Mount1no 1efers to oroblems 1n the stdes of the lower <bdomen and ;nau1nal reg1ons 1n both men and women.

Howeve ;,these day, th1s 1um 1s mo5tly used 1n re lal1onsh1p to 1ngu1nal oh ernias
64 The Tao of Healthy Eating
Asparagu s
Nature, fl avor & c h a n n el enteri ng: Sweet, bitter, and col d: enters the l u ng, spleen ,
and ki dney channels.
Fu ncti ons & i n d i cations: Clears heat and e l imtnates dampness. moiste ns dryness and
clears the lungs: treats hemoptysis,4 enduring cough, wasting thirst and constipation.
Bam boo s hoots
Natu re , flavor & chan n e l entering: Sweet and cold: enters the large i ntestine, lung,
and 5tomach channels.
Fu nctions . & ind ications: Clears heat and transforms phlegm, harmonizes the center
and moiste n s the i ntesti nes: treats phlegm heat conge5tion and exuberance,
fo od distention, non-easy defecation, and non-em i ssion of measles rash.
Banana
Natu re, flavor & chan ne l entering: Sweet and coo l: e nters the l ung and large i ntestine
chan nels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cati ons: Cl ears heat moistens the Intestines, and resolves toxi ns;
treats h eat diseases, vexatious thirst, and hemorrhoidal bleedi ng.
Ba rl ey
Natu re , fl avor & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet salty, and slightly cold: enters th e spl een,
sto mach, and gal lbladder channels.
Functi ons & i n d ications: Cl ears heat and e l i m i n ates dam pness, boosts the q i and
regulates the center. coo l s the bl ood and transforms accumulations, strengthens
th e for-ce (i.e., physical strength) and nourishes the blood , fortifies the spl een and
disinhi bits urinati on: treats indi gesti on , diarrh ea, edema, and jaundice .
Basil
N ature, flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Acrid and warm : enters the l u ng, spleen, stomach,
and large intestine chan nels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Rectifies the qi and blood. scatters cold, d ispels w1 nd and
eliminates dampness, and resolves toxins: treats exte rnal pattern headache, ab dominal
distention and pain, menstrual rrregularfties, di arrhea, and bu rpi ng and belchi ng .

' Hemoptys1s means cough1ng blood f-om the respiratory ll-act.

Chi nese Medical Descripcions of Commo nly Earen Foods 6 5
Beef
N atu re , flavor & chan nel ente r i ng: Sweet and l evel : enters the sp leen l ive r: krdney, ,

stomach, and l arge rntestine channels.

Functi ons & i n d i cati o ns: Supplements the qi and bl ood, enri ch es yin and engenders
fl u i ds, strengthens the sinews and bo nes; treats emaciati on and cachexia ,

edema wasti ng thirst yi n vacu1ty l ow back and knee pai n and weakness.
,

Beet
Natu re, fl avo r & ch an n e l entering: Sweet and leve l or cooli ng; enters the h eart
and liver channels.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d i cati o n s : No urishes and qui ckens the bloo d , supplements the
heart and clears the l iver; moistens the i ntesti nes: treats me nstrual i rregularities,
blood vac uity. and fl urd d ryness co nsti pati on.
B l ack fu ngus (a.k.a. tree ears)
Nature, flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Sweet and level: enters th e sto mach and large
i ntesti n e chan nels.
Fu ncti ons & i n dicatio ns: Co ols and quickens th e blood and stops bleed ing: tr-eats
blood stas is after external i nJ ury and ch ildbirth, bleedi ng hemorrh oids, and vaginal
bl eeding.
B l ack p e p p e r
Natu re , flavo r & ch an n e l e n teri ng: Acrid a n d hot; enters the stomach a n d large
i ntesti ne c hanne ls.
F u n ctio ns & i n dicat i o n s : Warms the center and desce nds the qi, di spers es ph legm
and resolves toxi ns: treats co ld p h l egm, food acc umulation, epigastric ch i lly pai n,
h iccu p. vo mit1 ng of clear water dran-hea. and c h i l l y dysentery.
B o k choy
N atu re, flavo r & chan n e l ente ri ng: Sweet and slightly cold or coo l : e nters the l u ng ,

sto mach, and bl adder channe l s .

Functions& i n dications: Clears heat an d disinhibits urination: treats lu ng-stomach heat
restlessness, thi rst and cough as wel l as difficu lt urination due to heat in the bladder.
,

66 The Ta o of Healthy Eating

Brocco li
Natu re, flavor & chan nel entering: Sweet slightly bitter, and cool: enters the
spleen, sto mach. and bladder channels.
Fu nctions & indications: Cl e a rs heat and disinhibits urination, brightens th e eyes and
resolves su mmerheat: treats red, pai nful eyes, difficult urinat ion and vexatious heat. 5
,

Buckwheat
Natu re, flavo r & chan nel entering: Sweet and cool : e nte t s the spleen, stomac h ,

and large intestine chann e ls .

Fu nctions & indications: Ope ns the stomac h and loosens the intesti nes, descends
the qi and dispe1ses accu mulatio ns: treats intestine and sto mach ac cu m ulation and
stagnation, chronic diarrh ea, dysentery proh ibiti ng eating, we l ling and fiat abscesses
on the upper back. suofulas,6 and sc aldi ng burn s.
Burdock ro ot
Nature, flavor & channel entering: Acri d bitter. and slightly cold: enters the liver
,

a n d stomach channels.
Funct ions & indications: Cl ears heat and resolves to xins, com bats c an ce r; treats
various sorts of malign and toxic sores.
Cabbage
Natu re , flavo r & chan nel entering: Sweet. sl ightly b1tter; and cool; enters the
splee n, sto mach, and large intestine c hanne l s.
Functions & indications: Clears the blood and fo rtifies t he stomach, disi nhibrts the
intestines and fre es the fiow of the stool. e limi n ates vexation within th e chest, and
1esolves alcoholic th i rst: treats consti pati on in the e ld erly and in wo men.
Cantal oupe (honeydew, muskmelon, etc .)
Natu re , flavor & channel entering: Sweet aromatic, and cool: ente rs the l u ng,
heart, large intestine. small 1ntestine, and bladder cha n n els.
Functions & indications: Clears heat, moistens the lungs, and disinhibits uri nati on:
treats fe ve r with th irst, re ddish, scanty uri nation. d ry cough. and fiuid d ryn e ss constipation.
5 Vexa t1ous heat l"cfers to :o hot. dry. annoy1ng se nsat1on in the chest 1n front of the heart
" Scr-ofula 1n Chinese med1cine rY'eans swol!en glands or lymphadenopathy 1n Westem mediCine.
Ch inese Medical Descri ptions of Commonly Eaten Foods 67
C arambola (a. k.a. star fru it)
N atu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sou1 sweet and leve l : enters the spleen, stomach,
.

l u ng, large i ntestine and bladder chan nels.

,

Fu ncti o n s & i ndications: Enge nd ers fl u1ds and sto ps cough, dow n bears u pward
counterfl ow and harm on izes the stomach; treats sore throat, sores in the mouth,
wind heat tooth ache an d c ough hiccup nausea, and ind igesti on, red, scanty pai nfu l
, , ,

uri nati on, hematuria,7 urti cana,8 a n d p1 uritus 9 - .

C araway seed
N at u re , flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sl ightly ao-id and warm; enters the l iver, kidney.
and stomach chan nels.
Functio n s & i n d i cations: Moves the qi and opens the stomac h , coul-ses the liver
and warms the kid neys: treats ind igestion, abdom1nal di stention, nausea, h icc up ,

scanty appetite vomiti ng, mou nti ng pai n and co ld menstrual pai n
, , .

C ard amon
N atu re , flavor & chan n e l enteri ng: Ac nd, aromatic. and warm; ente rs th e spleen
and stomach ch annel s .

Functio ns & i n d icatio n s: Transfo rms dam pn ess and stops vo mit1 ng, rectifi es the qi
and harmo n i zes the stomach, qu iets the fetus: tre ats nausea, vomiti ng, i n digesti o n ,
abdom1 nal d i ste ntion and pai n , l o s s o f appetite d i arrhea , nau sea du ri ng pregn ancy,
,

and threate ned mi scarri age .

Carrot
N atu re, fl avor & chan n e l entering: Sweet, acrid, and level or slightly warm ; enters
th e l ung and spleen channel s.
Functions & i n d icati o n s : Forti fies the spleen and transforms stagnation; treats ind ige
stion, endu ring dysentery, and co ugh .

Catfish
Nat u re, flavo r & cha n n e l enteri ng: Sweet and neutral: ente rs the spl een and
stomac h channels.
7 Hematuna means blood 1n the unne.
9 Urt1caria means hives.
9 Ptumus means 1tch1ng
6 8 The Tao of H ealthy Eating
Fu ncti o n s & i n d i cati ons: Fortifies the spl een and s uppleme nts the q i , frees th e
fiow of l actation and disinhi bits uri nation: treats scanty lactati on and edema.
C au l i fl owe r
Natu re, fl avo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet, slightly bitter. and sl ight ly wa rm; enters
th e sp leen and omach channels.
Fu n c ti o n s & i n d icati o n s : Fortifies th e spleen , scatters cold. and stops pai n: treats
i n digestio n.
Caye nne pepper
Natu re , flavo r & ch anne l entering : Acrid and hot; enters the spleen and stomach
channels.
Functio ns & indications: Dispels cold and fo rtifies the stomach, quickens the blood
and moves the qi; treats Indigestion, loss of appetite, and wind damp cold impediment.
C el ery
Natu re, fl avo r & chan nel enteri ng: Sweet. bitter, and cool; enters the sto mach and
l 1 ver channels.
Functions & i n d i cati o n s : Levels the liver and cl ears heat, dispel s wi nd and disinh
i bits dampness: treats high blood pressure , dizziness and verti go, headache , red
face and red eyes, bloody dysentery. and wel l1 ng abscesses and swel l i ngs.
C h e rry
N ature, flavo r & ch a n n e l ente ring: Sweet, aromatic, and wa rm; enters the spleen ,
stomach, lung. heart and kid ney chan nels.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d i cati ons: Supple ments th e qi. nounshes the blood. and engen ders
fi u ids, q u 1 ckens the blood and tran sforms stasis, dispels w1nd dampness; treats wi nd
h eat dryn ess sore throat, qi and blood vacu ity weakness, wind damp imped iment
in the lower h alf of the body, and numbness and paralysis.
C hestnut
N at u re , flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet and warm: ente rs the spleen. sto mach,
and kid ney c hannels.
Functions & i n dications: Nouri shes the stomach and fo rtifies the spleen, supplements
the kidneys and strengthens the si news, qu ickens the blood and stops bleedChinese
Med ical Descriptions of Commonly Eaten Foods 69
ing; treats spleen -stomach vacu rty weakness. nausea, diarrhea, constitutio nal vacurty
low back soreness and lower leg weakn ess, epistaxis. 1 0 hematemesis. 1 1 hemafecia. 1 2
metal wounds, contusions caus1ng swel ling and pai n, scrofu l as, and swell ing toxins.
C h i c ken
N ature , fl avor & chan ne l entering: Sweet and warm: enters the spleen . sto mach,
and kidney chan nels.
Functions & i nd ications: Su pp l ements the qi and blood . warms the i nternal. and
invigorates the kidneys; treats po or appetite . diarrhea, e dema, frequent uri n ation,
vagi n al bleeding an d discharge , scanty lactation, and fatigue.
C h i c ken egg
N ature, flavo r & channel entering: Sweet and level: enters the five viscera and
stomach.
the blood and enriches yi n , brighten s the eyes
Fu nctio n s & i n d ications: Nourishes
and moistens dryn ess; treats dry co ugh, dry, sore throat hoarse vo ice. bl urTed v ision,
and various blood vac uity-yi n insufficiency conditi ons.
C h i ve
N atu re , flavor & chan nel e nte ri ng: Acrid and warm : enters the l iver; kidney, and
sto mach channels.
Fu nctions & i n d ications:Rectifies the q i and blood . scatters cold and harmon izes
th e stomach: treats blood stas1 s due to traumati c i nj u ry, indigestion, abd omi nal distention
, scanty appetite. nausea, and vom iting due to stomach cold.
C i n namon
Nature, flavo r & channel en te ri ng: Acnd, sweet. and hot enters the kidney, sp lee n ,
and bladde1- cha n nels.
Fu n ctio n s & i n d ications: Supplements the source yang, warms the spleen and
stomach, e l imi nates accu mulation and ch i l l , and frees the fl ow of the blood vessels:
treats li
fe-gate fi re debil 1ty, ch i l l ed l 1 m bs , a faint p ulse. collapse of yang. vacuity desertio
n , abdomi nal pai n , d iarrhea, co l d mou nting, low back and knee chi ll y pai n ,
c Ep1stax1s means nosebleed
' ' Hernc:ternes1s means vom1L1ng blood.
1 1 Hemafeci2. means bloody stools or ,ectetl bleed1 ng.
70 The Tao of Healthy Eating
blocked menstruatio n , concretions and conglomerations, 13 weeping yin fi at abscesses,
and heat above but co ld be low due to u pward noati ng of vacuous yang.
C l am
Natu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Salty, sweet and cold; enters the spleen and
stomach, l iver and kidney channels.
Functio n s & i n d ications: Frees the flow of the water passageways, transfor-ms
phlegm and softens hardness, supplements the liver and kidneys; treats edema, profuse
ph legm , gorter. lymphadenopathy, vagi nal discharge . dry cough and night sweats , .

C l ove
N atu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Acrid and warm; enter-s the kidney, spleen. and
stomach channels.
F u n cti ons & i n d ications: Warms the center and downbears u pwardly counterflowi
-

ng qi, warms the kidneys and i nvigorates yang; treats stomach cold vom1t1 ng,
hiccup, abdo minal pai n and diarrhea, clear, chi l ly vagi nal discharge , cold uterus i nferti
l ity, and yang vacuity i m potence .

C ocoa (as in choco l ate)

Natu re , flavor & channel ente ri ng: Sweet and neutral; no channel entry l isted.
Functi o n s & i n d i cati o ns : Strengthens and invigorates. disi n h ibits un nati on: no I ndications
give n.
Coconut
N at u re, flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Sweet and wann; enters the spleen stomach, .

and large i ntesti ne chan nels.

F u n ctions & i n d i cati o n s : Engenders n u ids, di sinhi bits uri nation, and expels worms;
treats vexatious thi rst, wastrng thi rst, severe dehyd ratr on after bleedi ng or severe
diarrhea, ed ema, and tapeworm and fasciolopsiasis. 1 4
' 3 Concretionsand conglomerations refer to palpable lumps 1n the abcomer.
" FasCiolopsiaSIS me<Jns lnfectiOil by a type or trematode WO I 'r'll. It is .1 parasitiC condltro r .
Chinese Medical Descriptions of Commonly Eaten Fo ods
Coffe e
Natu re , flavo r & channel entering: Bitt er, ac ri d and wa rm; enters the lung, live r,
ki dney. and st omach channels.
71
Functions & indications: M ove s the qi and quickens the blood. res o l ve s the exterior
and dis1nh1bits u ri nati on ; treats chronic bronch1t1s, em physema, cor pulmonale, 5
and hangover fro m alcohol.
Coriander
Nature, flavo r & channel ente ring: Acrid an d wa1m: e nte r s the lung and splee n
channels.
Fu nctions & i ndicati ons: Em its sw e at and out-thrusts rashes. dis perses fo od and
descends the qi: treats measles which are not easi ly out-thrust and fo od ac cumulation
and stagnat1o n.
Corn
Nature, flavor & ch an n e l entering: Sweet and level: enters the heart lung, spleen,
liver, st omach, gal lbladder. and bladder channels.
Functions & i n dicati ons : Boosts the lu ngs and settles the heart, reg u l ates the cente
r an d opens the stomach, disinhibits u ri nat ion and the ga llbladdet-: treats diffi cu lt
urination, gallstones, ja u n d i ce hepatitis, and hypertension.
,

Corn oil
Natu re, flavor & c h annel entering: Sweet and neutral; no c h anne l ent1y given.
F u n cti ons & indicati ons: D isin h i bits urination and lowers (blood) pressure; treats
the same conditions as co m Itself.
Crab
Natu re, flavor & channel enteri ng: Salty and cold; ente1s th e liver and sto mach
chann els.
Functions & indications: Clears heat, scatters the blood. and promotes the union
of broken bones: tre at s det1iment damage to the s1news and bones. scabies. and
scalding burns (when applied externally).
'5 Cor pulrnonole IS heart-lung d1 sease .
74 The Tao of H ealthy Eating
G arl i c
Nature, fl avo r & c h a n n e l entering: Acnd and warm: enters the splee n , sto mach.
and l ung channels.
F u ncti o n s & i n d i cati o n s :Moves stagnant qi. warms the spleen and stomach d i sperses ,

concretions and accumulations, resolves toxi ns and kills wo rms; treats food
,

and dri n k accumulatio n and stagnati on. epigastric chilly pai n , water swel l ing d i stention, ,

and fu l l ness. d iarrhea, dysentery. malana-l1ke d iseases, whooping co ugh.

welling and nat abscesses, and swelling tox1ns.
G i n ger (d ry)
N atu re , flavor & chan n e l entering: Acri d a n d hot enters the spl een stomach, and ,

lung c hann els.

F u n cti ons & i n d icati o n s : Warms the cen ter and d ispels cold. 1-eturns yang and
frees The flow of the vessels: tt-eats heart and abdom inal chi l ly p a i n , vom 1t1 ng an d
diarrhea, chi lled l i mbs, a faint pulse cold rheum panti ng and cough ing, wind cold
,

damp i m pedim ent ya ng vacuity vom iting and epi staxis, and prec1pitation of blood.
G i n ger ( u n c o o ked)
Natu re, flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Acrid and sl ightly warm : enters the spleen.
stomach, and lung chan n e l s.
Functions & i n d i cati o n s : Resolves the exterior and scatters cold, sto ps vo m1ting
and transforms phlegm ; treats wind cold com mon cold, vomiting phlegm fiu1ds.
and cough with profuse p h l egm .
Goji berry (a.k.a. H imalyan goj i ,Ti betan goj i , wolfberry) 1 7
N atu re , flavo r & chan n e l e nte ri ng: Sweet a n d neutra l : enters the l ive1 l ung, and
k1dney channels.
F u nctions & i n d i cati o n s : Enriches kid ney and l ung yi n , n o u n sh es l ive r blood, m ildly
supplements kid ney yang. fosters the essence and brightens the eyes; treats low
back and knee soreness and weakness, I mpotence, spe rmatorrhea, 1 8 d izzi ness,
blurred vision, diminished visual acu ity. consumptive cough, and diabetes mellitus.
17Th1s 1 s Fructus Lyc11 (Gou Q1 Zi) 1n Chrnese herbal medrc1'1e.
'" Spemla.tor-rhea referc; to rnvoluntaty loss of semen. mostly d u n ng sleep.
Chinese Medical Descriptions of Commonly Eaten Foods 75
Goose
Natu re , flavo r & chan n e l entering: Sweet and neutral; enters the spleen and l ung
chann els.
F u n ctions & i n d i cations: Boosts the qi, supplements va cu ity, nounshes the stomac
h , and re lieves thirst treats emaciation. fati gue, loss of appetite , th irst. and shortness
of breath.
G rape
N atu re , fl avo r & cha n n e l entering: Sweet, sour: and level; enters the lung, spleen.
and kidney channels.
Functions & i ndications: Su pplements the qi and blood, strengthens the s1 news and
bones, dlsi nhi bits urination: treats qi and blood vacuity weakness, lung vacuity cough,
heart pal pitations. night sweats, wind dam p impediment pain strangury conditions,,

and edema.
G rapefru it
N atu re , flavo r & chan n e l ente r i ng: Sweet sou1 and cold: enters the lu ng, spleen,
and omach channels.
Functions & indications: Rectifies the qi and downbears counterflow, engenders fluids
and transforms phlegm: treats dry cough with phlegm, indigestion , burping and
belch ing. mouth watenng duri ng pt-egnancy, and the 111 effects of alcohol intoxication.
G rapefruit peel
N atu re, flavo r & chan n e l e nteri ng: Acrid, sweet, bitte1 and wat-m: enters the
spleen. kidney, and bladder cha nnels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Recti'fles the q i and downbears cou nterflow, eliminates
dam p ness and transforms phlegm: tl-eats nausea and vom iting. abdom inal disten tio
n and pai n . indigestion and diarrhea in ch i ldren.
G reen bean (a.k.a. stri n g bean)
N atu re, flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet and level: enters the spleen and k1dney
chan nels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Su p plements the spleen and kidneys: treats diarrhea,
vom iting, wasting thirst. white vagi nal discharge . sem 1nal emission . and polyuria. 1 9
1'' Poiyuna means abnormal frequent. numemus unnanon
76 T h e Tao o f Healthy Eating
G uava
Natu re. flavor & chan ne l enteri ng: Sweet astnngent. and warm; enters the lu ng.
spleen, large i ntesti n e , and stomach channe ls .

Fun ctions & i n d icati ons: Su ppl ements the spleen and enge nders fi uids, secures,
astringes stops d i arrhea: treats wasti ng thirst, ped iatnc diarrhea. an d hoal-se th roat
,

Haze l n u t
N atu re , flavor & chan ne l ente ri ng: Sweet ar-omatic, s l i my. and level: enters the
splee n and stomach channels .

F u n ctions & i n d ications: Fortifies the splee n and opens the stomach. supple ments
the q1 and blood, brighte ns the eyes: treats qi and blood vacuity weakness, emaciation,
malnutrition. chronic di a rrhea and pediatric d 1arrhea.
,

H o n ey
Natu re, flavo r & chan nel enteri ng: Sweet, gl ossy, and leve l: enters t he lung, spleen.
and large i ntesti ne channels.
Fu nctions & i n d ications: Suppl ements the ce nter and mo1stens dryness. re l axe s
tension and reso lves toxi ns; treats l u ng dryne ss cough . i ntestinal d ryness co n stipation.
stomach duct20 ach1ng and pain, run ny nose, mouth sores and scal ding burns .

(whe n appl i ed external ly) .

J as m i n e
N atu re, flavo r & cha n n e l enteri ng: Acri d and sl 1ghtly warm; enters t h e sp leen and
stomach chan nel s .

Functions & ind ications: Elimi nates dampness and harmonizes the center: rectifi es
the q i and resolves depressi on; treats damp obstruction of the rn1ddle bu rn er with
chest and sto mach d u ct distention and ful l ness. loss of appetite , d iarrhea and abdomi ,

nal pain.
J ob's tears barley
N ature. flavo r & ch anne l enteri ng: Sweet, bl and and slightly cold; enters the
,

spleen l u ng, and kidney chan nels.

.

I e . epgastnc or upper abdom:nal

Chinese Medical Descripcions of Commonly Eate n Foods 77
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Fortifies the spleen and stopsdiarrhea disinhi b its u ri nation ,

and s eeps dam p n ess, c l ears heat and expe ls pus, di s pels wi n d dampness ,

clears and el i m i nates damp heat treats va r ious uri na ry difficulti es, edema , l eg q i , diarrhea,

pu ru l ent sores and l u ng o r 1 ntest1nal abscesses, wind dam p im ped iment,

and various damp conditi ons of the intest1 nes and ski n .
Kelp
Natu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l e nte ri ng: Salty a n d cold : enters t h e kid ney liver, l u ng. and ,

stomach channels.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d i catio ns: Softens hard ness and t1ansforms phlegm , dis1nh i bits
water a nd drains heat treats scro fulas, concretions and conglomerations, water
swelling. and foot qi.
Kiwi fruit
Nature, flavo r & chan n e l entering: Sour; sweet and cool: enters the spl een and
stomach channels .

Functions & i nd i cations: Clears heat and engenders A u ids, fo rtifies the sple en and
stops diarrhea; treats fever with d ry, pa i nful throat bu rn ing he at 1n th e epigastrium
with vomiti ng jaundice due to damp heat red, pai nful u ri nation, ind igestion, loss of
,

appetite , and d ia rrh ea d u e to spleen vacu ity.

Ku m q u at
N at u re, flavor & channel enteri ng: Acrid. sweet s l 1ghtly , sour, and warm: enters the
liver, spleen, and stomach chan nels.
F u n ctions & ind ications: Rectifies the qi and harmon izes the sto mach dt"ies dampness
,
and transforms ph legm: treats abdominal distention and pa1n. nausea and indigestion,
mounti ng pa1n and cough w1th th1n,
, c lear phl egm.
Lam b (& goat)
N atu re , flavo r & chan n e l e nte ring: Sweet and warm: enters the spleen and kidn ey
channels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Boosts the qi and s u ppleme nts vacu ity, warms the center
and bel ow: treats vacuity taxat1 on emaciation and cachexia.2 1 low bac k and knee
1 C.ac:hexrd rneans wastrng ad emacr2.tron a s rn cnd-s1.2.ge cancer. AIDS. ilnd diabete> :nellrtus
78 T h e Tao o f Healthy Eati ng
soreness and weakn ess, postpartum vacu ity ch i l l , abdominal pai n, cold mounting,
and ce ntral vacuity hiccup.
Lemon
Nature, flavo r & chan n e l entering: Sour: astri ngent and wa rm: enters the lu ng,
spleen, an d stom ach channels.
Functions & i n d i cations: Transforms ph legm and stops cough, engen de rs fluids
and supple ments the spleen; treats vexatious thi rst dry, pai nfu l th roat. i ndigestion,
and c ough with profuse phlegm.
Lettuce
Natu re , flavor & chan n e l ente r i ng: Bitter: swe et and cool: enters the stomach and
.

large intesti ne channels.

Functi ons & i n d i cations: Clears heat. d i s i n h i b tts u n nation, and pro motes l actation:
treats di fficult unnati o n , h e m atu ria, and scanty lactation .
L i tc h i
Natu re, flavor & chan nel enteri ng: Sweet. sl ightly sour. a n d warm: e nters t h e l iver
spleen, a nd sto mach channels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Engen ders fl u i ds and boosts the blood, recti fi es the qi
and stops parn; treats vexatious thirst, q and blood vacu ity weakness, spleen vacuity
diarrhea, and stomach pain.
Longan
N atu re, flavor & chan nel entering: Sweet an d warm : enters the heart and sple en
cha nn els.
F u n ct i o n s & i n d i cations: No uri shes the heart and supplements the spleen; treats
insomn1a, heart pal p itations. i mpai red memo ry, restlessn ess, blurred visi on and ,

d izziness due to qi and blood dual vacurty

Loq uat
Natu re . fl avo r & channel entering: Sweet or sweet and sour and coo l; enters the
lung, s pleen, and sto mach channels.
Fu nct ions & indications: Cle a rs heat m o i stens the lu ngs , sto p s th irst. and downbears
the qi: treats dry. so re throat, vexatious th irst, and dry co ugh.

Chinese Medical Descri ptions of Commonly Eaten Foods

Lot u s root
Natu re, fl avo r & chan ne l ente ri ng: Sweet and cold: enters the heart, spleen , and
stomach chan nels.
F u n ctions & i n d i cati o ns: Cl ears heat cools the blood , a nd scatters stasis: treats
vexatious th irst due to heat d isease, epistaxis, h ematemes1s, and h eat strangury.
lotu s seed
N atu re , flavor & cha n n e l entering: Sweet, astt-i ngent, a nd leve l ; enters the heart
ki dney, and spleen channe ls .

79
F u n ctions & i n d icat i o n s : Su pplements the splee n and stops diarrhea, supplements
the ktd neys and secu t-es the essence , nourishes the heart and quiets the spirit;
treats l oss of appetite cht-o n tc d iarrhea, premature ejaculation, seminal e mission,
.

heart pal pitations i nsomn1a. and restlessness.

,

Malt syrup
Natu re , fl avor & c h a n n e l e nte ri ng: Sweet and warm ; enters the spleen, stomach,
and lung channels.
Functions & i n d i cati o n s : Supplements the middle burner. relaxes spasms, moistens
the l u ngs, stops cough. and reso lves toxi ns; treats loss of appetite fattgu e , and abdom
,

inal pai n d ry cough , sore throat, shortness of breath , poison i ng due to intake
,

or excessive use of aco n ite (a.k.a. wo lfbane or monkshood).

Mango
N atu re, flavo r & c ha n n e l e nteri ng: Sweet sour. and cool; enters the l u ng spleen,,

and stomach channels .

F u n ctio n s & i n d i cati o n s : Rectifies th e qi and downbec1rs cou nterilow. fortifies the
spleen and boosts th e stomach; treats cough, panti ng and wheezing vo miti ng and . ,

i nd igestion .

M arjo ram
Nature, fl avor & ch a n n e l e n teri ng: Acrid and cool : enters the lung, spleen, and
stomach channel s .

F u nctions & i n dications: Resolves the exterior and clears summerheat, disinhibft.s unnation
and opens the stomach: tt-eats summerheat water swell ing, and lack of appetJte
and bad breath due to food accumulation.
80 The Tao of H ealthy Eating
M i l k ( h u m an)
Natu re , flavo r & channel enteri ng: Sweet salty. and l eve l: e nters the five vi scera
and stomach channels.
Functions & indications: Su pplements the blood and fills h umors, fosters the
essence and engenders muscle (i. e., flesh) , transforms q i and q uiets the spi rit, boosts
intel l igence . grows the si news and bones. disi nhibits the joi nts, strength ens the
stomach and nouri shes the spl een, s hat-pens the hearing and brightens the eyes.
M i l k (cow)
N at u re, flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Sweet and leve l; enters the heart, lung, and
sto mach chan nels.
Fun ctio n s & i n d i cati o n s : Su pplements vacuity detri ment boosts t he lungs and
stomac h, e ngende rs fl uids and m o i stens the i ntesti nes: treats vacu ity weakness
and taxati on detn ment, hicc u p, d i ap hragmatic occlusion, wasting th i rst an d fl uid
dryness consti pati on.
M i l k (goat)
Natu re , flavo r & chan n e l e nteri ng: Sweet and warm; enters the lu ng, kid ney, and
stomach channels.
ste ns, an d s u p p l ements vacu ity, s u p p lements
F u n ctions & i n d icati o n s : Warms, moi
the lung and kid n ey q i , harmon izes the small intest i ne , boosts the essence
qi: treats vacu ity taxati on emaciation and weakness. wasti ng thi rst. hiccu p, burping,
and mouth sores.
M i l l et
N atu re , flavo r & channel e nte ri ng: Sweet. salty, and cool: enters the kidney. sp leen
and stomach channe l s.
Fu nctions & i n d ications: Harmo nizes the stomach and boosts the kid neys, el i m inates
heat and resolves toxi ns; treats spleen -stomach vacu ity heat, stomach qi
co u nte rilow vom iti ng, wasti ng thi rst and dia1-rhea.
M o l asses
N atu re , flavor & chan ne l entering: Sweet and wa rm : ente rs the lu ng. spl ee n , and
sto mach channels.
Functions & i n d ications: Fo rtifies th e spleen and boosts the qi. moistens the lungs
C h i n ese M ed i cal Descriptions of Commonly Eaten Foods 8 1
and engenders flu ids; tt eats abdom i nal d1stenti on and pai n asso c tated
with spleen
qi vacuity and d ry cough with l u ng yin vacutty.
Mulberry
N atu re, flavor & c h a n n e l entering: Sweet. or sou r and sweet, cool; enters the
l u ng, spleen, liver: and k1d ney channe ls.
F u n ctio n s & i n d i cati o n s : S upplements vacuity and stops cough, dis1nhi bits u ri nati
on, disperses swe l l i ng su pplements the ki d neys a nd brightens the eyes. nou rishes
,

the blood and s upplements the l iver: treats bl urred vision and n ight bl i n d ness due
to liver kidney d ual vacuity, d izzi ness, tinnitus prematu re greyi ng of hai r, and wasting
- ,

thi rst.
M ung bean
Nature, flavo r & c h a n n e l ent e ri ng: Sweet and cool: enters the heart and stomach
channels.
Functions & i n dicati ons: Clears heat and resolves toxi ns, disperses s u mmerheat and
disinhi bits water: treats summeteat heat, vexatious thirst, water swe l l ing, d iarrhea
and dysentery, ci nnabar toxins, wel ling abscesses and swe ll ings, and medicinal toxicity.
M u s h ro o m (wh ite b utton)
N at u re , flavo r & ch a n n e l entering: Sweet and cool: enters t h e intestines. stomach .

and l ung chann el s .

Fu nctions & i n dications: Opens the stomach, rectifies the qi, transforms p h l egm, quiets
the spirit, resolves toxins, out- thrusts rashes, and stops vomiting and diarrhea;
treats the latter stages of heat diseases, bod ily fatigue and qi weakness. dry mouth
with no eating cough with phlegm, chest and diaph tagmatic oppressi on and fu l l ness,
,

vomiti ng and d iarrhea and ped iatric measles rash which i s not easily out-thrust.
,

M u ssel
Natu re , flavo r & chan n e l ente ri n g: Salty and warm: enters the liver and k1d ney
channels.
F u n ctio n s & i n d i catio ns: Su ppl e ments the kidneys and 1nv1go rates yang, nouri shes
the l iver and strength ens the si news moiste ns dryness and fi l ls the essence: treats
,

dizz1 ness and vertigo n ight sweats, impotence . low back pai n, vaginal bleeding, and
,

abnormal vagi nal d i schatge d u e to l ive r-ktd ney dual vacu 1ty.
82 The Tao o f Healthy Eati ng
M ustard green
N ature, flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Acrid and warm : enters the l ung and stomach
channels.
F u n cti ons & i n d i cati o n s : Warms and resolves the exterior, transforms phlegm and
scatters co ld, recti fies the qi and blood, and warms the center: treats cold phlegm.
cough an d panti ng with p rofuse . wh ite ph legm , and c hest oppression.
N u tm eg
Natu re, flavo r & c h a n n e l ente r i ng: Acrid and warm; enters the l a rge i ntestine ,
spl een, and stomach chan ne l s.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Secures the Intestines and stops diarrhea, warms the
center and m oves the qi: treats endu ring, hard-to-treat diarrhea o r cockcrow diarrhea
due to spleen-k1dney vacu 1ty. abdom 1 nal d istention and pain, and vomiti ng
due to spleen-sto mach vacu rty.
Oats
N ature, flavor & chan n e l e n teri ng: Sweet and l eve l; enters the spleen, sto mach,
l ung, and large intesti ne channel s.
F u n cti ons & i n d i cati o n s : Fortifies the spleen, boosts the qi, a nd moiste n s dryness;
treats spontaneous persp iration due to vacu ity and fluid d ryness of the 1 ntest1nes.
O l ive
N atu re, flavo r & channel entering: Sweet sour, astn nge nt, and leve l : enters the
lung and stomach channels.
F u n ctions & i n d i cati o n s : Astri nges and sec u res. e nge nd ers nu1ds and moistens the
lungs; treats d ry, so re throat d ry cough, hemoptysis, end u n ng diarrhea and d yse ntery.
and hangover due to alcohol.
O n ion
N atu re, flavor & channel enteri ng: Acnd and watm : ente rs the lung, spleen, l ive1
and large intestine channels.
F u n ct i o n s & i n d icatio ns : Warms the i nternal and scatters col d , resolves th e exterior
and dispels wi nd. moves the qi and quickens the blood; treats wi nd col d co mmon
cold, diarrhea, and worms.
Chinese Medical Descriptions of Commonly Eaten Foods
O range
Natu re , fl avor & chan n e l entering: Sweet, sour, and cool; entet-s the l u ng and
stomach channels.
83
F u ncti ons & i n d i cati o n s : O pens th e stomach and rectifi es the qi, stops thi rst and
moistens the l u ngs; treats chest and d iaphragmatic bound qi, cou nterflow vom iting
and scanty eating, stomach yi n i nsufficiency dry th 1rst with i n the mouth, lung heat
,

cough, and excessive dri n ki ng of alcohol.

O range peel
N ature , flavor & chan ne l e ntering: Sour; bitter; aromatic, and warm; enters the
l ung, spl een, and stomach channe ls.
Fu n cti o ns & i n d icati o n s : Rectif1es the qi and moves the spleen, hat-monizes the
ce nter and loosens the diaphragm , dries dampness and transfo rms phlegm; treats
i ndigestion , abdom i nal d i stention and pain, hiccup, burping and belchi ng, nausea
and vom iting, ph legm damp cough , chest oppress1on, profuse phlegm, damp turbidity
obstructi ng the ce nter. and lack of appet1te.
Oyster
N atu re , fl avor & c h an nel enteri ng: Salty, sweet, and level; enters the liver and ki dney
channels.
F u n ctio n s & i n d i cations: Supplements the l 1ver and kidneys: treats Insomnia, restl
essness, and ag1tatio n .
Oyster m u sh room
Natu re , flavor & chan nel ente r i ng: Sweet and slightly wat-m: enters the spleen,
sto mac h , and l iver chan nels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Supplements the spleen, e l iminates dampness and relieves
,

spasms; treats loss of appetite and dam p I mped iment.

Papaya
N atu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l ente ri ng: Sweet cold, and level: enters the spleen and
sto mach channels.
Fu n cti o n s & i n d i cati o n s : Fort1fies the spleen and stomach , c lears summerheat and
resolves thi rst; treats fever w1th vexatio us th i rst, persiste nt cough, scanty lactation,
and i ndigestion.
84 The Tao of Healthy Eating
Pea
Natu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l ente r i ng: Sweet and l evel : enters the heat-t. spleen,
stomach, and large i ntestine channels.
F u nctions & i n d i cations: Fortifies the spleen and disinhi b1ts unnation, moistens the
intestines and frees the fiow of the stool; treats indigestion due to sp leen-stomach
vacu ity weakness, edema. and fiuid dryness constipatio n .
Peach
N atu re, flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet sou r. and warm : enters the i ntesti ne
and stomach channels.
F u ncti o n s & i n d icati ons: Engendel s fiuids and moistens the intesti nes, quickens
-

the blood and disperses accu m u l ations.

Pean ut
N ature , fl avo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Sweet and level: ente rs the sple en and l u ng
channels.
F u n ctio n s & i n d icat i o n s : M oistens the l ungs, harmonizes th e stomach, and stops
bleedi ng; treats d ry cough, nausea, foot q i , and scanty lactation .
Pear
N atu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l e n te ri ng: Sweet. slightly sou r, and cool: enters the l u ng
and stomach channels.
Functio ns & i nd i catio n s : Enge n der-s fi ui ds and mo1stens dryness. clears heat and
transforms phlegm: treats heat d i sease dam agi ng fi u ids, vexatious thi rst, wasti ng
th irst heat cough, p h legm heat. fright man ia, diaphragmati c occlusi on, and constipation.
Peppermint
N a tu re , fl avo r & c h an n e l e n te ri ng: Acri d a n d coo l ; enters t h e l u ng a n d l ive r
chan nels.
F u n ctio n s & i n d icati o n s : Cl ears heat and resolves the exterior. c l ears the head
and eyes and disinhi bits the throat, out-thrusts rashes, cou rses the liver and rectifies
the qi; treats wi nd heat common cold with fever, headach e . c o ugh sore throat,
,

red eyes, the early stage of measles, abdomi nal and n b-side distention and pain. i rntabil
ity, and premenstrual breast and abdom inal diste ntion and pain.
Chinese M edical Descri p tions of Commonly Eaten Foods
Pe rsimmo n
N atu re , flavor & c h an n e l ente r i ng: Sweet astnngent and cold: e nters t h e l ung,
spleen, and stomach channels.
85
Functions & i n d icatio ns: Moistens the lungs. engenders fluids, and forti fi es the
spleen; treats epigastric heat and pain, cough ing and wheezi ng, diarrhea and dysentery,
bleed ing hemorrhoids, h igh blood pressure. sores in the mouth , d ry, pai nfu l
th roat, and 1ncessant hiccups.
Pi neap p l e
N atu re, flavor & c h an n e l e nte r i n g: Sweet sl ightly astri ngent and level: enters the
spleen a nd stomach chann els.
Fu n cti ons & i n d ications: Supplements the spleen. engenders fluids, and d 1spels wind
dampness; treats indigestion, vomiting, abd omi nal distention, l ow blood pressure, lack
of strength in the hands and feet vacuity fever with thirst, and difficulty u ri nating.
P i ne nut
Natu re, flavo r & c h a n n e l entering: Sweet and warm; enters the l iver, l u ng, and
large i ntestine chan nel s.
Fu nctions & i n d i cati ons: Nourishes fl uids, exti ngu ishes wi nd, and m o1stens the
l ungs and large intestine: treats wi nd i mped iment dizzi ness, d ry cough, hematemesis,
and constipation.
Plu m
Natu re, flavo r & c h a n n e l e ntering: Bitter. sou 1 astri ngent, and coo l ; e nters the
s p l een, sto mac h , and bladder channels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cati ons: Clears heat disi n h ibits uri nat1on , and p romotes d 1gestion;
treats i ndigestion , bleed ing gums. gingivitis, ch ronic inflammation of the th r-oat. and
sores on the tongue and in the mouth.
Pom egran ate
N atu re , fl avo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet, sour: astri ngent and coo l ; enters the
lung, spleen , an d stomach chan ne l s.
Fu nctions & i n di cati ons: Clears heat. moistens the l u ngs, and stops cough; treats
d ry, sore th l-oat hoarse vo ice, end u ri ng cough, diarrhea and dysentery, and dam p
heat ski n l es io ns.
86 The Tao of H ealthy Eating
Po melo
N atu re , flavo r & channel ente ri ng: Sweet sou r; and coo l: enters the lung. spleen,
and stomach chan nels.
Fun ctions & i n d i cati ons: Fo rtifies the spl ee n, transforms ph legm, stops cough , and
resolves alcohol toxins; treats cough with profuse ph legm, nausea, vom rting, and i n d
igestion. hangover from alcohol . wind damp i mped iment a n d swe l l i ng due t o fal l s
a n d knocks.
Po rk
N atu re, flavor & chan n e l ente r i ng : Sweet salty, and level; enters the splee n , stomach,
and kidney channels.
F u n cti o n s & i n d i cat i o n s : Su pplements the ki dneys and nourishes the blood, e n riches
yi n and moistens dryness; treats heat d i sease damaging nuids, wasting thi rst.
kidney vacuity constitutional weakness, postpartum blood vacu 1ty, dry cough, and
fiuid dryn ess co nstipation.
Potato
Natu re, fl avor & chan n e l enteri ng: Sweet a nd l eve l or sl ightly cold; enters the
spleen and stomach channels.
F u n ct i o n s & i n d i catio ns: S upp l eme nts the spl een and boosts the qi (when eaten
cooked) , clears heat and resolves toxi n s (when the j u 1 ce IS drun k or appl ied exte rnal
ly) ; treats acute h epatitis, breast a bscesses, la ryngitis, tonsi l l itis, mum ps, and
stomach and d uodenal u l cers.
P u m pki n (& other wi nter sq u as h )
N ature, fl avor & chan ne l e nte r i ng: Sweet a n d wa rm ; enters the spl een and sto mach
chan ne ls.
F u n ctions & i n d ications: S u p plements the center and boosts the qi, disperses inflammation
and stops pain , resolves toxins and kil ls worms.
Pu mpkin seed
N ature , flavo r & c h an n el enteri ng: Sweet and warm; e nters the spleen , stomach
and large i ntesti ne channels.
Functions & i n d i cati o ns: Kil l s wotms, moistens the 1 ntestines a nd frees the flow of
the stool ; treats parasites, bl eed ing hemorrho ids, and scanty lactation .
Chi nese M edical Descri ptions of Commonly Eaten Foods 8 7
P u rslane
Nat u re , fl avor & channel enteri ng: Sour a n d cold; enters the lar-ge intesti n e , l iver,
and spleen channels.
F u n ctions & i n dicati o n s :C l ears heat and resolves toxi ns. scatters the blood and
d isperses swelling: treats heat dysentery with pus and blood, heat strangu ry,
bloody strangury. abnormal vagi nal dischar-ge , and wel li ng abscesses and swe l lings,
mal ign sores. cinnabar- toxin s,22 and scr-ofu las (whe n appl i ed exte ma l ly).
Rad is h
N ature, flavor & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Ac rid, sweet, and coo l ; enters the l ung and
stomach chann els.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d icati o n s : Di sperses accumu latrons and stagnation, transforms
phlegm and clears heat descends the qi, broadens the cente r: and r-eso lves toxi ns:
treats food accumulation, distention and ful l ness. phlegm cough, hematemesis,
epistaxis, wasti ng th i rst, dysente ry. a nd m igrai ne h eadache.
Raspberry
N ature, fl avo r & cha n ne l e n teri ng: So ur: sweet and warm; enters the l i ver and
kid ney channels.
Functions & indications: Nourishes the liver and enriches the kidneys. secures and astr-
inges; treats liver-kidney yin vacurty, seminal em1ss1on. and frequent numerous urinatron.
Red date (or j u j ub e)
N ature, flavor & c h a n n e l e nteri ng: Sweet and level; ente r-s the spl een and stomac
h channels.
F u n ctio n s & i n d icati o n s : Sup plements the spleen and boosts th e q i . nou rishes the
blood and qu iets the spirit; treats q i and blood vacu ity weakness with fatigue ,
shortness of breath , scanty appetite , and loose stools, and i rritabi l ity and restlessness
due to visceral agitation .
Rice (no n-gl uti n ou s)
N ature, flavo r & c ha n n e l enteri ng: Sweet and level; enters the spleen and stomach
channels.
n C i n nabar tox1ns refer to sudden. local tzed. redclen 1ng of the skin w h 1 c h usua l l y affects the face anci lower legs and IS most
common 1n ch1ld 1en and the elderly Th1s condrU on usually occu1s 1n the sp11ng and summer
8 8 T h e Tao o f Healthy Eacing
Fu nctions & i n d icati o n s : Supplements the center and boosts th e q i , forttfles the
spleen and harmon izes the stomach; e l i mi nates vexatious thi rst. stops d iarrhea and
dysentery .

Rice (gl utino us)

N ature, flavo r & chan n el entering: Sweet and warm ; enters the l u ng, spleen , and
stomach channels.
Fu nctions & i n d icati o n s : Su p plements the l ungs and fortifi es the spleen; stops dianh ea
and spontaneous perspi ration.
Rose
Natu re , flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Acrid, sweet and sl tghtly warm : e nters the spleen
and l iver channels.
Fu nct i o n s & i n d icati ons: Eliminates dam pness and harm on izes the center; rectifies t h e
q i a n d resolves d epression quickens the blood and dispels stasis: treats damp i mpediment.
,

stomach duct d istenti on and fu l lness nausea and vomiti ng, abdominal pain and
,

dtarrhea. i rregu lar menstruation of various types .

Ros e mary
N atu re , flavor & c h a n n e l e n te r i ng: Acrid and warm : enters the l u ng and stomach
channels.
Functio ns & i n d i catio n s : Resolves the exterior and scatters cold, moves the qi and
opens the stomach; treats w1nd co ld common cold, headach e, abdom inal pai n , indigestion,
and menstrual pain.
Russian o l ive
N atu re, flavo r & chan n e l ente ri ng: Sweet or sou r and sweet, and level; enters th e
l ung, liver; spleen, kidney, a nd stomach channe ls .

F u n ctions & i n d icatio ns: Su pplements the sp leen and stomach, noun shes the l iver and
moistens the lungs; treats ind igestion abdominal distention and pain, ped i atric dtarrh ea ,
,

sem i nal em ission, profuse menstruation, bl u rred vi sion, i mpaired memory, inso m n ia,
cough with scanty or no phlegm and menopausal dryness complai nts.
.

Saffron
Natu re , flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Sweet and level or warm; enters the heart and
liver channels.
Ch i n ese Medical Descri ptions of Commonly Eaten Foods 89
Functio ns & i n d i cati o n s : Quickens the blood, transfo rms stasis, and stops pai n;
treats blood asis patte rns of blocked menstruatio n (i. e., amenorrh ea) , painful
menstru ation. po stpartum dizziness, concretions and conglomerations. heart and
chest pai n, and i nJuri es due to fa lls and kn ocks.
Salt
Natu re , fl avor & chan nel enteri ng: Sa lty and cold; ente rs the sto mach. kidney,
large i ntesti n e . and sma l l i ntestine channels.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d i cati ons: I nduces vo m rting and disperses ph l egm (wh en used as
an emetic) . co ols the blood and clears fr re reso lves toxrns; treats food co l l ected i n
,

t h e upper vente r. heart a n d abdominal distention and pain, phl egm accumulated i n
th e c hest non-free flow o f urin ation a n d de fec ation bleeding gums, sore throat.
. ,

toothache, eye scr-een, sores a nd toxi ns due to snake and i n sect bite.
,

Sca l l ion
Nature , fl avo r & channel ente ri ng: Acrid and warm; enters the l u ng and sto mach
channels.
Fu ncti o n s & i n dicati o ns: Em its the exterior. frees the flow of yang, and resolves
toxi ns: treats cold damage with fever and c hil ls and headache yi n cold abdominal
.

pai n, wo rm accu mulation obstructing i nter-nal ly, non-free flow of u rinatio n and defe cation,
dysentery and we lling abscesses and swe l l ings (wh en applied externally) .
.

Sesame (black or yel l ow)

Natu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet and level; enters the l iver and ki dney
channels.
Functions & i n d i catio ns: Su pplements the ! 'rver and kidneys, morstens the five vrsc
e ra: treats liver-kidney ins uffiCie ncy, vac u rty wi nd dizzrness and vertigo, wi nd i m pedim
ent. paralysis, large i ntestin e d ry br ndi ng premature whiten ing of the hai r,
,

and scanty
lactation in wo men.
S h ark
Nature, flavo r & channel ente ring: Sweet. salty, and level; enters the five vi s ce ra
and stomach chann els.
Functio ns & indications: Boosts the qi. supp le ments vac u ity and opens the
,

stomach.
9 0 The Tao o f H ealchy Eating
S h e p h e rd's p u rse
Natu re , flavo r & ch an nel enteri ng: Sweet and level ; enters the l1ver: heart. l u ng,
and spleen chan nels.
F u n ction s & i n d i cati ons: Ha rmonizes the sp l een, d i s1 n h i bits water. stops bleed i ng,
and brightens the eyes; treats dysentery water swel l i ng. strangury conditions, hemate
,

mesis, eptstaxis, hemafecia, profuse menstruati on, flood ing and leaki ng, and
t'ed. swo ll e n , painful eyes.
S h iitake m u s h room
N ature , flavor & chan n e l en tering: Sweet and neutral ; ente rs the sp lee n an d
stomach channels.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d icati ons: Fortifies the spleen and suppl em ents the qi; treats
sp leen-stomach vacu1ty weakness with lack of appet1te. fatigue, shortn ess of
breath and frequent u n natto n
,

Shri m p
Nature, flavo r & c h a n n e l en teri ng: Sweet a n d wa rm : entet s t h e l iver a n d kid n ey
-

channels.
F u nctions & i n d i c ations: Nourishes th e liver and i nvigorates the kidneys; treats
impotence and scanty lactati on .

S i c h uan pepper
Nature, flavor & cha n n e l en tering: Ac rid , hot, and sli ghtly toxic; e nters the kidney,
spleen and stomach channels.
,

Functi o n s & i n d ications: Warms the centet- and scatters cold, ki l ls worms and
stops pain: treats chilly pam in the a bdomen, vomtti ng and d1 arrnea, and abdom i n a l
pain du e t o worms.
Sorghum
Natu re, flavo r & channel enteri ng: Sweet and warm; enters the spleen and stomach
chan n el s.
F u n cti o n s & i n d icati ons: Warms th e center and fo rl:iftes the spleen, seeps dampness
and stops dysentery; treats splee n vacu ity with d amp encumbrance , Indigestion,
da mp heat preopitating dysentery, and i n h ibited uri nation.
Chinese Medical Descriptions of Commonly Eaten Foods
S oybean (black)
N ature, fl avo r & c h a n n e l en tering: Sweet and level: enters the sp leen and large
i ntestine chan nels.
91
F u n ct i o n s & i n d i cati o n s : Quickens the blood and di si n h i bits water, d ispels wind
and resolves toxi ns: treats water swe l l i ng, distention and fullness, wind toxi ns, foot
qi, jau nd ice, edema, wind I mpedi ment, sinew contraction, postpartum wi nd
tetany.23 welling abscesses and swe l l i ngs, and sore tox1 ns.
Soybean (yel low)
Nature, flavor & chann el enteri ng: Sweet and leve l : enters the spleen and large
I ntesti ne chan nels.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d i cations: Fot-tifies the spleen and loosens the intestines. moistens
dryness a nd dispe t ses water; treats gon accumulation diarrhea and dysente ry. abdominal
-

distention, emac1ation, toxemia duri ng pregnancy, sores and welling abscesses,

swell ing toxi ns, and bleeding due to external inju ry.
Soybean o i l
Natu re , flavo r & c h a n n el ente ri ng: Ac rid, sweet, and hot; no c hannel entry listed.
Fu ncti o ns & i n d i cati ons: Moistens and l ubricates m oi stens the i ntesti nes, ki lls
,

worms: treats i ntesti nal obstruction due to e ither adhesions or worms.

Soybean sprout
Nature, flavo r & channel enteri ng: Sweet and cool ; enters the spleen, stomach,
and large intest1ne channels.
Fu nctions & i n d i cations: Clears heat and dis1nhibits u ri nation, harmonizes the
stomach and disperses accum u l ations: treats food stagnation, heat 1n the stomach,
edema. and damp heat impediment.
Soy sauce (& m i so)
N atu re, flavor & c h a n n e l ente ri ng: Salty a nd cold; enters the stomach, spleen and ,

kidney channels.
23Tetany means spasms and convulsions
92 The Tao o f H ealthy Eating
Fu nctio n s & i n d i catio n s : E l i m i nates heat and resolves toxins; treats bee and
wasp sti ngs, scalds and burns (when ap p l i ed extern ally). and vexation and fu l lness
i n heat d iseases.
Spearm i nt
Natu re , fl avor & chan n e l enteri ng: Acrid and warm : e nters the l ung, liver. and
stomach chan nels.
Functi ons & i nd i cati o n s : Reso lves the exterior and scatters cold, moves the q1
and stops pain: treats i ndigestion, abdom1 n al pai n w1 nd c o l d common c o l d ,
.

headache , and menstrual pai n.

Spi nach
Natu re , flavo r & c h an n el ente ri ng: Sweet and c o o l ; enters the large i ntestine and
stomach channels.
Functio ns & i nd icatio ns: Nou rishes the blood and stops bleedi ng astri nges yin ,

and moistens d ryn ess; treats epistaxi s hemafeci a, freq uent dri nki ng due to wasti ng
,

thirst. and constipation.

Squas h (su m m e r, i n c l u d i n g c u c u m b e r)
N at u re , flavo r & c h a n n e l e n tering: Sweet and cold; enters the spleen, stomach,
a n d large i ntestine chann els.
Fu ncti o n s & i n d i cati o n s : Clears heat and d 1 s i n h ibits water; resolves toxins and d isperses
infiammation, sto ps thi rst and quiets agitation: treats d ifficulty urinating.
edema, summerheat i rritabil ity, and o ral th irst
. .

S q u i d (i.e., cal amari)

Natu re , flavo r & c h an n el e nte ri ng: Salty. sweet and level: enters the l iver and kid -
n e y channels.
F u n ctions & i n d i cations: Nourishes the liver and enriches the kidneys; treats blood
vacuity, vagina l bleeding and d ischarge, and blocked menstruation (i.e., amenorrhea) .
Strawberry
N ature, flavo r & c h a n n e l enteri ng: Sweet sour; and cool ; enters the l ung, spleen,
live r. kidn ey and stomach channels.
,

Chinese Medical D escriptions of Commonly Eate n Foods 93

Functi o n s & i n d icati o n s : M oi5te ns the l u ngs and engen de rs fluids suppl ements
,

and nouri shes the l iver and ki dneys. a5tringes and secu res: treats dry cough with
no or sca nty ph legm . sore, swol len throat, lack of a ppetite and ind igesti on, frequent
n u m e rous u ri n ation, hangover fro m al cohol, dizzi ness, and vacu ity weakness
after endunng d isease.
S u gar (brown)
Nature, flavo r & chan n e l enteri ng: Sweei. and warm; enters the liver, sp lee n , and
stomach chan nels.
F u n cti ons & ind icatio n s : Supplements the spleen and boo5ts the qi, qui ckens the
bl ood and transforms stas 1 s: treats abdom i n al patn,dyse nte ry, and lower abdomi nal
pain due to i nsufftcient or non-p recipitation of the lochta21 after chi ldbtrth.
S u gar (w h i te)
N atu re , flavo r & chan n e l ente ring: Sweet and level; enters the l u ng and sp leen
channe ls.
F u n ctions & i n d i cations: Supplements the cente1- and boo5ts the qi, harmo nizes
the cente r and moistens the l u ngs: treats l u ng d ryness. lung vacutty, wind cold, taxation
and fatigue, cough ing and pantt ng, ped iatric ma laria- l i ke d 1 sease. mouth sores.
and wind fire toothache .
S u nflower seed
N atu re , flavo r & c h a n n e l e n teri ng: Sweet and l evel ; channel entry not yet establ
ished.
F u n cti ons & i n d icati o n s : S u p p lem ents the spleen and moi ste n s the i ntestines .

stops dysentery and d is pe rse s we l l mg a bscesses; treats i ntesti nal dryn ess constipatton,
d ysentery with pus and b l ood. and wel l i n g abs cesses and swelli ngs th at
have not yet broke n .

Sweet po tato
N atu re , fl avor & chan nel enteri ng: Sweet and l evel or cool; enters the spleen and
stomach channels.
The loch1. 1S the dilute bloody d1scharge from the vagrnal
-: tract after b1rih.
96 The Ta o of Healthy Eating
leg weakness, 1mpotence , seminal emission, fr equent, nu merous uri nation, sto ne
strangury, and la rge intesti ne dryness and bindi ng.
Water ch estn ut
Natu re , flavo r & chan nel en teri ng: Sweet, bland, an d cool: enters th e lung, spleen,
sto mach, large intesti ne, and bladder channels.

Functi ons & ind ications: Clears heat and t1a nsforms p g , e ed hle
disnhibits urination, lowers blood pressure; treats lung heat with st icky, difficult-
m ng n ers fi uids and

expectorate
to

h m,
p fe ver
leg dry, painful throat with thi rst. wast1ng thirst, re d, scanty,

painful nd e eyes, uri nati on, jau ic , red, painful

measles, dysentery with blood in the

hemorrhoids, and
sto os. bleeding

hypertension.
Wa tercress

Natu re , flavor &

and bladde r channels.
channel entering: Acrid, bitter, and cool; enters the lung. stom ach ,
Functio ns & indications: Cl ears heat and

the dis
sto ps thirst, mo1stens lungs and inh

throat
ibits urination: treats vexatious thirst, restlessness
and cough w1th ye llow phle gm.
and irritability, dry, sore

Watermelon

the and
Natu re , flavo r & ch annel entering: Sweet an d co ld: enters heart, stomach,

b d d er h nne s .
la c a l

re solves
Functi ons & indications: Clears heat and summerheat,

el1minates vexati
on and i s sto ps thi rst. d1s1nh bit unnati on: treats sum merheat heat. vexat1o us

heat ex e
th1 rst. i n i ti n
urination, oral sores, and
uberanc damagi ng fiuids, h bi o of

imped 1ment.26
th roat

Watermelon seed
Natu re, flavor & channel ente ring: Sweet and cold; no channel entry listed.

Functions & indications: Clears the lungs and moiste ns the e i n i nt st e

s, harmonizes

the center and sto ps thi rst treats epistaxis and rectal bleeding, ch

p
ronic co ugh , hy

e rte s n. e i s, n io n phr ti and hepatitiS.

1.1> Tf'.roat 1mpeci1ment
means sore thr-odl as well s
the fe el1ng of someth1ng
stuck 1n the thr-oa t.
Chinese M e d i cal
Descriptions of Commonly
Eaten Food
Wh eat
97

Natu re , flavo r & channel

enteri ng: Sweet and cool:
enters the heart spleen and
k n channels.
id ey

r he the heart and

Functions & indications: N o u is s

boosts th e kidn eliminates e y s,

heat and sto ps t st treats hir ; viscera l

agitatio n, vexatious heat st wa i

n thi rst, diarrhea

g
 welling abscesses w e
and dysentety, and s llin

gs e n
, and bleeding due to e xt r al

InJU ry.
White fu ngus

Sw et
Natu re , fl avo r and e l
& chan nel enteri ng: e , blan d , gl ossy. l ve : e nters

the l ung
and stomach channels.
Fu nctions e n
& i n d i cations: Ennches yrn, moistens th lungs, and enge ders fiur ds:

treats insomn ra. cough, and d ry

yrn vacu ity-fl u id dryness conditi ons in ge neral.

Wu mei (a. k.a. m u m e or Chi nese p reserve d plum) 27

Natu re , flavo r & chan ne l

enteri ng: Sour and wa rm:
enters the la rge i ntestine . l
iver
lu ng, and spleen chan nels.
th un nd
Fun ctio n s th e
& i n d i c ati o n s : Secures el g qi a stops cough . sec ures

i te n stines

r o l th i rst, wo
and stops drarrhea, enge nders fl u i ds and es ves kills

rms stops and

b leed ing; treats n qi g u lu g vacuity cou h end
, ri

and en r thi rst. i n cl

ng d i arrhea dys te y,

ai
ud ing w om t n from wo
st ng th rr-st abdom i n al pain a n d v i i g

rms intestinal dysbiosis,

and

and hemafecr a le g due and uterine b e d in

to qi
Yogurt
vacu ity.

so ur.
Natu re, flavo r l u ng, l
& chan n el enteri ng: Sweet and warm : enters the

r.
iv e

sto mach, and l a r--ge i

ntestine hann s c el .

Fu nctionst l n a d l arg i ntesti

& ind icati o n s : Moistens he u gs n e

ne, elimr nates vexa tron

and r cough and

reso lves th irst: treats d y fluid d ryness

on
constipati .

27 IS (Wu A1ei)
Th1s Fruc:us Mume 1n Ch1nee herbal med1c 1ne.
I n this c a ter you will find a
h p

num be1A of rep rese ntative

C nese health food
hi

reCi pes.These av been h e taken

from th ree othe r Blue Po

ppy Press books-Chi nese

Book o(Jook, and C m s

Medicinal Teas. The h e eM
edJcmol Wines & Elrxirs-as

we l va r ou Chi nese books

l as i s

on d i etary therapy. I n sel

cti n th ese rec i pes, ve
e g J ha

tned to focus on those that

Western ers wo uld actual ly
eat the i ngr-ed ients of
and

wh ich th ey wo uld have 1-

elatively easy access. In
contrast, many of the reci pes
one
finds i n Ch inese dietary
manuals are s1 m y not to pl the

taste of most Westemers or

the ir i ngred ients are not
avai l able outsid e As China. an

exam ple of some of the k1nds

of reci es non-Chi nese may

p

find not to thew taste even if

they co uld I ngredient get the s

, fol l ow1ng 15 a l i st of
the

recipe recom mended fo r

names a

at a website
nti-aging

on Chinese d ieta ry th erapy.

I t r names speak for
think hei

themselves.
Fried s h redde d beef with d
o u b l e cel ery sea cucu m b &

er
Prawn bal l s sca l l o ps i n &

Lo ng C h i n g tea
Bors ch with gla s sy pe rc h l
et Canto n ese s tyle
Stea med a l l igato r wit h
black beans p l u m sau ce &

Fri ed s h ri m p with angled

lo ofah
Fish head soup w ith h erbs
F ried and poached wh ite
bait
99
1 00
Braised sea c u c u mbe r with tea leaves
M o n key h ead m u s h room soup

Ye l l ow c roacke r with
Plum-flavored cuttl efish
Chiuchow p res erved mu stard

Fresh wate r snake with black beans & barley in sou p 1

The Tao of H ealchy Eating

 the
If you do enjoy some of the rec ipes bel ow, you may want
above three books.
t o c heck out more in

o
I al s but
strongly encourage readers to cook typical Western meals using th e theory

fo od descriptions of
and d i
Let me be absol utely clear: One does not
Chi nese me 1 c ne .

It the
hove to eat Chinese food to make use of Chinese dietary therapy. is si mply

match ing

o d eats to r nti
of the natures and functi ons of f o s one one's personal ly p ese

e
ng patt rn

a e i t r t r y That
(s) that makes m al Ch inese d e a y he ap

being i ho sa d, I pe readers wil l

of i do
b e creative and adventurous i n their use the materi als 1 n this boo k. Wh le I

eat i
sometimes e Ch n ese foods, I also love Italian. French, japane s , Korean,Thai, I ndian,

as r food o r
Vietnamese . and American foods J Ust much . It i s not whe ea

rc e ipe comes

fro m , p i are im rt nt
but the r- nciples it embodies that po a .

)ook Recipes

name d water rice

Jook is the Cantonese fo r water; calle

(shui d r Basic fan, Jl<. *) in Man a in. al

ly. rt: mea ns a dilute rice po r . s
ndge Th i e form of
is a very h althy eating

re
since it is al a dy

to on puts
I 00 F soup.Thus it is easy digest. Depending what else one in

the porridge
one can a
for cooking
an r make jook for any pattern of y condition. In gene al, the recipe

is to
JOOk t ri ( r a use 8- 1 0 parts water o one part ce o other grai n) nd

then to cook th e

over
grain slowlyfoul r
overseas Ch1nese
ia a period of hou s or more . ln Ch n and in many

c m u rti there are ci

o m n es. s pe al

restaurants specialize
particular;jook makes
which in jook. ln

a great breakfast since ft can be slow-cooked in a crackpot overnight while you sleep.
Orange peel jo ok

e
Functio n s : Eliminates dampness and transfo rms phl
I nd ications: Phlegm damp conditions
gm

An t1-ag1ng Rec1pes.
1

http://www.foodno com/ I

(Ofoodno /me u/efood- I

chantung/efood-rec,pe-ct-
antiaging.html,
 2/ 1 /2008
last retneved
Recipes 1 0 1

o an e ee 1 2 grams. t or
I ngredi ents: Dried r g p l , whi e

e. 50 grams
brown ric

cook peel 30
M ethod of p reparati o n & ad m i n istration: First the ora nge for

be
m i nutes in a suita v ange l amount of water and then remove the dregs sa ing the or

peel o the h tea.

warm or hot.
"tea." Then c ok nee in t is Eat 1 -2 ti mes pe1 day

Ad u ki bean & ric e jo ok

Functi ons: Seeps d a s mpne s and disinhibtts uri nation

I n d i cati ons: Damp heat strangury

I ngre d i e nts: Ad uki beans, 25

Method of p reparati on & admin istratio n : Cook the red beans and rice. Then
grams, rice. 25 grams

t
eat the resulti ng porridge 1 -2 imes per day.
F o u r se eds & egg jook

and lung
F u n cti ons: Supplements en riches and kidney yin

onc i s d ue to l u ng-
I n d icati o n s: Chronic cough and br h ti

kidney yi ty n vacui

Gingko see almonds.

I ngred i ents: ds several,
,

several , walnuts, several,

peanuts, sev e
 nee. grams
tal. 50

the e g
Method of p reparation & ad m i n istration: Cook nuts and ric , poachi n

the steam i ng hot po

two eggs at the end i n

rridge .
for severa l weeks 01 mor-e .
Eat fo r bt-eakfast conti nuously

Barbarian rad i s h (i. e. , carrot) jo ok

F u n cti ons: Supplements the center and boosts the qi. disperses distenti on and
transfotms stagnation

en
I nd ications: Abdominal dist tion and food stagnat1on

50 grams
I ngredients: Sliced car rt o s i 00 grams, rice,
,

r
M ethod of p ri ce ar por
eparation & ad m in istratio n : Cook the and c rots into

1-i dge f r after overeati and eat o breakfast

ng the night befo re .

D r i ed gi nger jook

F uncti o n s : Fortifies the

spleen the center, scatters
cold and stops
and warms

vom ittn g

v t
I n d i cations: Spleen-stomach cold om t ing and/o r diarrhea, l ung cold cough

50 ge
I ngred i ents: Rice ,
1 02 The Tao of Heal rhy Eating
grams. d ried gin r. 2-3 grams

Cook the n ee and

M ethod of p re pa ration & ad m i n i stration:

dri d gingere in a
ui a l e amo u nt o f water and
s t b

eat on an empty stomach.

F e n n e l seed jook

F u n ctions: Moves th e qi
and the stomach, harmon izes

scatt.ers cold nd stops pain a

I n d icati ons: Ep igastric and

abdomi nal q i d s e n i o n i t t

and pain, l ack appetite , and of

flatu lence
Rice . grarn s, f n l
I ngredients: g 50 en e seed, 1 5-30

t-ams, own to taste br sugar;

e rice a
M ethod of p reparati on & admini stration: Cook th and fen nel seeds in

brown sugar taste .

s u itable amount o f water and add to

Eat per day. warm one t1me

eq ualing one co e
with f1ve days u rs of treatment.
j uj u b e jook
F u n ctions: Supplements the
heart and spleen and
harmon izes the center
I n d icati ons: Heart-spleen
vacu ity i n o nia, restl s m

essness. fatigu e . lack of stl-

ength .
p oo r memo 1-y, h eart pa l
pitat1ons
Ric e,
I ngredients : j pieces. 50 grams. j u ube 8- 1 0
,

brown sugar; a su1table

amount
in
M ethod of p repa ration & admini stratio n : Cook the rice and j uJ u bes a suitable

amo ee taste sugar

unt of water Sw ten to with brown Then

eat the re u l g porridge , s ti n

be t o o j uj e seeds.
ing sure spit ut the ub

Rad i s h jook
 Rect1fies
F u nctions: transforms ph the qi and

l egm , l a r c e s heat and d1 sperses food

Sto mach t stagnation I

I n d i cations: hea and food

ndiges tion. bad breath, and

obesi y t

Ri ce , i o (w te)
I ngre d i en ts : 50 grams, da k n hi

radish, o n e medium -sized, salt or soy

sauce , s u 1table amount a

i
M ethod of preparation & a d m i n i stration: Co ok the rice and s l iced dai ko n radish na

salt or soy sauce.

surt:able amount of water and season to taste wtth

t me per day.
Ea 1 -2 t1 s

Celery jook

Cl s liver heat
Fu nctions: l press
e ar and lowers b ood

ure
Liver at
I nd i cations:
hypertensi on
hype ractivity he and yang

Recipes 1 0 3

I ngredi ents: Ce lery, 25 grams, rice, 50 grams, salt or soy sauce, a su itable amount

M ethod of preparation & ad m i n is trati on: Cook the cel e1y an d rice 1n a suitable

a m o un t of water a n d t h e n seaso n with a sma l l amount of salt o r soy sa uce t o taste .

Eat 1 -2 ti mes per day.

Blac k soybean jook

blood d pe an
F u n cti ons: Q u i ckens the and is ls wind, disinh1 bits water

d p ers s dis
swe l l i n g
e

by bl od
I n d i cations: Chro n ic wind dam p joint pain compl icated o stasis

Re
I ngredients: ric , SO grams, black soybeans. 1 5-20 g ams brown sugar, a
,

suitable
amount
M ethod of preparati on & admi nistra tion: Cook the rice and black soybeans in a

and
s u itabl e am ount of water. Then add brown sugar to taste eat r-egularly for

breakfa st fo r
C h i n ese-style D i shes
a long period of ti me.

The following Chtnese-style

recipes not only taste deliCious but

every in red e t in them g i n

se rves purpose . As with a the JOOks

a ove feel free to e pe iment

b , x r and

substrtute ngredients i
to yo u r own personal needs and l
i king.
S h r i m p, c h i c ke n , water chestnut and s h i take rice pot

F u n ctio n s : the spleen, Supplements

l i ve1 an d kidneys wh i l e
also seeping dam ness p

I ndi cations: S p l ee n-
kidney ya ng v c i y and/o r l a u t

iver blood-kidney yi n vacu

ity w1th
dam pness
pound. u
I ngre d i e n ts: Shnrnp. I 5. ch 1cken. 1 12 s h i itake mushrooms, 6-8, chestn ts 1 2,
,

sauce, s u itable
rice, I 1 n c u ps, soy a amount, roasted sesame oil. a

amount
suitab le

c
M etho d of p reparati on & a d m i n i s trati o n : Ft rst re onstitute the s h i itake mushrooms

ri ce and a l l
and d ried chestnuts in water. Th en add the the

other i ngredients (except

a covered d
the soy sauce and sesame o i l) to
cove
cassero l e d1sh. Ad water so that it
rs a

a
l these
375 F
l ta p in i ngte d i ents o de th of the knuckle of yo u r thumb. Cook

e
and rice .
ove n for 30 m1 nut s . Remove from oven test the If it is not cooked enough,

another m i nute s
add more water if n ecessary and cook for
or so. Aga i n rem ove
I0

from ove n 2- a n d season to taste with the soy sauce and sesame o i l . Sel-ves

3.
1 04 The Tao of H ealthy Eating
Lamb sou p with Dang Gui

ri s
Functions: Nou ki y i n she liver blood and supplements dne y and yang

Liver
I ndications: yi n and/or yang blood- kid ney

vacuity
Sliv d l amb, un
I ngred ie nts: nu s j ere 1 /2 po d chopped wal
, t , 2,

uj u b cae e 5, Radix Angel i

,

Si n is ne ra sl rvere d
s (Dong Gui) ,l I 0 g ms ,

longans,3 star anise , ack I 0 grams, I . bl

ta
pepper. 1 /8 g i slice,
e spoon mi nced sca l l ion, I teaspoon, fresh gin
, er. I th n rice

c ki
wine or t t ta n
oo s n ng sherry, I ablesp oo n sal , , 1 /2 e s poo , soy sauce , I tea poo

amb e
M ethod of preparation & ad ministration: Boil the l in 2 cups of wat r with the

gi ger
scall ions and
sutface . Add
kimmi a n for I 0 minutes, s ng off ny bu bbles from the
all the othe r i gr i nt
n ed e s except the soy sauce and wine a nd cook for I 0 more minutes.

Remove the Dang rt Gui oo and the slice of gi n ger. Add the soy sauce and wine

and serve hot S rv e es I .

Oxtai l & tomato sou p

Functions: Su pplements the

q i and blood
Indicati o n s : Qi and blood
vacuity
a k, a l ic 4
I ngre d i ents: Oxtail , 1 /2 p ou nd, celery. I st l to mato, 3/4 pou nd, g r ,

cl oves ,

1 s , a cr c
onion, I medium, crushed an , se eed 1 /4 te spoo n , ushe d loves 1 14 teaspoon
,

i ing s
black pepper. 1 /4 teaspoon, rice w ne or cook
Meth od of p reparation & adm i n i stratio n : Chop the oxtai l into small pi eces. (If
sherry, I table poon

have or i k
one does not use beef.)
Chop the onion, tomato, and
l e oxtai l. one can

a ep oil a y
celery and mi nce the garlic. Put 4 t bl s oo ns of coo king in hot wok and fr

I 0 cups at r
the meat. Add after a u of w e to the wok bo t

6-7 min ut frying es of and

f and
skr m off any bubbles that orm on the surface. Add the anise seed cloves and
 the m ixture .
cover u Al low to simmer for 30 m in tes. I n another

pan, f y n r the o i on ,

ce lery. ar i t m t fo r s u t g l c and
, o a o everal m inutes n i

ni n ra spa nt.
l the o o ist n re Then

th is r
add i to the la ge wok with the meat in it Add the rema n ing ingred i e nts and

s mm u nti l half the water h s

i er a

va a
e 6-8. p or ted. Se rves

2 Dong Gw
wrll
rt.
jar.
(2.k.a tang kue1) can be purchased from Chrnee herb stores and apothecanes. lfkept in a sealea

keep for three years.

1 Longans (Ani Ius Longanae. Long Yon

many Onental speciality food stores.
Rou) are a Chinese drred frurt w hh rc c<Jn be bought at Chrnese herb stores and

Recipes 1 05
Seawe ed & egg d rop sou p

Enrich es kidney yi n
F u n cti ons: at the sa me time

as drai n s live he t a l wer r a nd o s

blo p su e od re s r

Live yang hyperact ivity

I nd i cations: r

y erten si and p d i sp siti n to

h
stroke
p on re o o

ch icke leek
I ngredients: Nori seaweed,' 2 sh eets, eggs, 3. n broth, 6 cups. m inced

or
 l o cup, mi nced fi-esh
scal i n , 1 /4

g1nger teaspoon. r ce i n 1 /4 i w e

or o k ng sherry, t blespoon
c o i I a

, seed oil,
roasted sesame I dash

o st the nori
M ethod of p reparation & ad m i n istratio n : T a

sheets quickly over

u nti l they ch ang col o fr
f1ame or burner e r -

o m pu rple to a d then green n

crush
them and add to the ch r c
ken broth in large pot. S a

immer fo mi nutes. rI0 Gently

pour- in the sl ightl beaten y

eggs and add the oth er i

ngredients. Sti r gently and

as soon as th e eggs appea(

serve

cooked. Serves 4-6.

Qu i ck preserved vegetable saute
 dn y yi at same
F u n cti ons: Enriches ki e n the time as drains l iver heat

and l ow ers

blood pressur e

hy erten si and
I n d ications: Liver yang hyperactivity p on pred isposition

to stroke

o k pound. stalk,
I ngredients: Sl ivered p r . 1 /2 chopped leek, I

Chine vegetables, se preserved

small can, green be s

I an . 1 12 pound.

garlic g li e clove, I , fresh i nger I s c , broccoli,

o b m bo sho t o u
1 /4- 1 /2 p und , a o o s, 1 /LJ p nd

the gr e en beans
Method of pre pa ration & admin istration: Parbo i l -

fo five minu es
r t

and drai n Heat 3-4 tabl esp .

oo ns of cook1 ng oil i n wok a

and saute o k the p r ,

c h o p ped leak. mi nced arl g

ic and chop ped broccoli unti l

,

th e pork tu rns brown .

Add the fi n ely chopped
bamboo shoots an d the
green eno ugh soy beans with

to seaso n. Serve hot with

sauce

rice or noodles. Serves 2 .

S h i itake & abalo ne sou p

kid ney yi n at the same

Fu n cti ons: Enriches

ti me that it r ns l iver heat d ai

and
blood pressu r-e
low ers

1v r hyp r activ ty hyper-

I n d icatio ns: L e yang e - i

tension and pred isposition to stroke

Sh i r k mushrooms, abal
I ngre d i ents: ta e 5-6,

one snow peas, cup, salt,

filet I , 1 /2 1 /2

Awulab!e at most health food s'lores

1 06 The Tao of H ealthy Eating

e a
teaspoon, sesame oil. I tablespoon, soy sauc e. I t aspoon, honey or sugar. 1 12 te spoon.
 n sltce .
mi nced leek or scal lion. I tablespo o . fresh gi nget I

crushed 2 garl ic,

cloves. 3 cornstarch or kudzu root powder I teaspoon di sso lved i n cups wat e r

Sa
Method of preparati on & adm i n i stration: o k the mushr-ooms in water fo r one

the ste m .
hour, the rem ove

oil i n a
and sl iver Al so sl iver the abalone fi let. H eat the

wok, add the leek, garl ic. gin ger and mushrooms, and q u r ckly brarse for half a
m i nute or so. Add the abalone and snow peas and sti t- for another half-minute.

ad d
Then i watet- and cornstarch mixtu re and stir u nti l sl ghtly th
ickened. Serves 4.
Th ree m u s h rooms & Ch i n ese cele ry sti r-fry

F u n ctio ns: Nourishes liver blood, enriches kidney y r n . and clears liver heat

I n dicatio n s : Liver yang hyperactrv1ty high blood pressure , d

izzi n ess arteriosc lerosis,

.

and high cholesterol

I ngred i e n ts: Ch inese celery, 8 stalks, s h i itake mushrooms. I 0, wood ear fu ngus.

I cup, v lv t foot en oki) e e (

mushrooms, k ng rum 2 cups, i t pet (

ery gi ) m ushl- n i

ooms. 2 cups. rl . cloves. ga ic 8

cooki ng oil, 2 tablespoon s,

roasted sesam e oil. I
tablespoon. soy sauce , 2 tabl
espoons. sesam e e ds I ta s e ,

blespo o n , salt and pep per.

asu itable amo u nt
M ethod of p reparation & ad m i n istratio n : Add one tablespoon of oil to a pre heated
wo k. When the o i l starts t o ilow freely, a d d the crushed garl ic cloves. Do

Add
not over cook the gar-l ic or it will become bit1er. the sliced cele ry soy sauce,
,

sesame seeds, and pepper to taste . When the celery is cooked but sti ll cru nchy,

retain h
add salt and the sesame oil. You may need to add some water to t e

the various
moisture of the vegetabl es. Sl ice mushrooms. Remove the celery

from the wok and cook the rest bi

of the ingredi e nts the same way. Then recom

ne and
all the i ngred r e nts serve. Serves 4.

Lamb, g i nge r & Dang Gui d u m pl i n gs

and
Functio ns: Suppl ements the q i and blood, moves the C]I
and regu lates menstruation
q u ickens the blood.

Ind i cations: Qi and blood vac u ity with or without qr stagnation and

stasi s
blood

i u menstrual
resu lt1 ng in var o s irregula1ities

n
Ingre d i ents: Wo ton skins, 80, grou nd la mb, 1 1 12 poun ds, ch 1ves, I bunch, p Reciow

pes 1 07
 adi i a
dered R
cup, black
I 0 ram , x Angel c e Si nensis (Dong Gui), g s mushrooms. I

u u. a i
f ng sh gin r, I 14 c .
s I cup. g rl c, 6 cloves, fre ge up

chi cken cup. salt. broth, I /2 pepper;

sa ,
oyster
to taste .
e. or cooki ng sh y
u ce Shooxtng wr n er r

and
Method of p reparatio n & ad m i n i stratio n : Chop the mushrooms ginger and

d
mash the garlic. o-
Add al l of the ingre i ents to a bowl and m ix them th ough ly.

a s i .
Then fi l l the w nto n wrappers with th i fi l l ng As you make the d u m p l i ngs, stack

rn
them 1n a platec o n e ti er. Do not pla e one tie r- of d u m p l i ngs on another ti er or

s
the j u ice k h r.may run a n d m ake the du m pl i ngs sti c toget e

b g water-
To cook boi led dumpli ngs. ri n a pot of to a botl and add several

m
dumpl ings to the pot. Do not add too any dumpl ings at one time or you may

problem retrievi ng
have a them when thy are

done. When t h e dumpl i ngs are

the i
cooked, they will Aoat to surface and you can remove them w th a wire net.

T a o ste d t
m- fry dumpl i ngs. add oil to a me i um- ho pan. When the oil begi ns to

d
smoke, a stacked
d h
a row of dumpl ings cl osely to one another in t e pan. When
h
t r them and
e dumpl ings start to brown. tu n over Add some water

cover the
dumpli ngs.Th r s al lows he t

d r d
u mpl
Serves: 6-8 .
c ngs to steam an co mplete the ooking process.

B lack wood-ear & c h ic ke n so u p

Su pplements the q i
F u nctio n s : and

blood , moves the qi th a n d q u ickens e

blood
o pa t m blood vac ity and
I n dicat i o n s : P st r u u

blood stasis wi h t abdominal pai n ,

excessive bleedi ng,

prolonged lochia, dizz ess in

Black s
I ngre d i e nts : 400 wood- ear . 30 gr-ams. chicken , one-hal f (appr-oximately

fresh
grams) . rice wi ne , I 80 grams, gr nger: 5 slices

30
M eth o d of p reparati o n & ad m i n istrat i o n : Soak the wood-ears for m inutes

thin st . v
u nti l soft. ri nse , and cut i nto ri p s Was h the chicken. r-emo
and also cut i nto pieces. Next, put the ch icken i n boiling water fo r a cou p l e of
e the ski n and fat

t d
minutes, remove , and d rain. Put all ingredi e n s in a pot wrth a eq uate water

s. h
(about 5 cu ps) and cook for 30 m i nute Add t e ri ce wi n e and cook u nti l about
3 cu p s soup of th
is left. Season wi salt to serve a nd eat al l i ngredients with sou p.

a s as
Eat with a meal once a day fo r frve d y one course of therapy. If necessary, re

peat one more

1 08 The Tao of Healthy Eating
c o u r-se fo r a com p lete recovery. Serves 2.

American-style Rec i p es
S p i n ac h-tofu c asse role

moistens d yne s cl
Functions: Noutishes yin and r s ,

ears heat from l ngs

stomach
the u and

Constipation. stomach and

I ndications:

mouth ulcers, swollen gums,

hypertension
Fwm tofu, blocks (1.e . 6
I ngredie nts: 6 .

po unds) . o n 1 ons, quart I

c d m inced garl
di e ,

i c, ta blespoon. o l ive oil,

I 2

tabl espoons, spinach, 3 bun

ches, tah 1 n i , tabl espoons, 2
lemon juice, 2 tabl espoons,
salt and peppe to taste, filo d r

o gh pi eces, lemon
u . 12

a n d pa rsl ey to garn ish

Cover the tofu w h
M ethod of preparation & admin istration : rt

somet ing heavy to h

squeeze out the water. Saute

onions and garlic in oil until
the

the on1ons are soft.

Add the washed and d ed spi ri

nach and cook until the spi

nach 1s tender. Ta ke the
tofu and crumble up w h your it rt

hands. Add the onton and

sp1nach mixture to the
tofu and then add the
maining ing edients except
re r
the fila dough. Season with
salt
and pepper to taste. Next, oil
a casserole pan and line with rt

four sheets of o ile d fila

dough. Spread half of the tofu

mixture on top.T en lay down h

four more s eet of h s

oiled fllo dough an spr ad the d e

remain ing tofu mixture on

top.Top with the rematni
ng fou r sheets of oiled filo.
Bake the casserole for 30

min es at 350F or until the

ut

top filo dough is golden. Gam

is with lemon we ges and
h d

parsley Se rves 0- 1 2. I

B aked m ashed tu rn i ps
 Clears heat and elim
F u n ctions:

inates dampness, is e s food

accumulation
d p rse

and stagnation, t an fo s phl g r s rm e m

and stops cough ing

Overweight cough, and all
I nd ications:

othe 1 co nditi ons

associated w ith l gm ph e

dam pn ess and/or food

stagnat1 on
I ngredi ents: Tu rn i ps, 2-3 po unds,

non-fat milk cup, butter: 1 /2

sah:, and pepper to

taste

ash , cube , and

M ethod of prepa rati on & a d m i nistratio n : W

boil the turn i ps until

they a1e fork-soft.Then

blend in food proce ssor. Add a

butter, salt pepper to and

 mrx, and bake covered an
taste. in

oven for one hour. Serves 4.

Leek & onion pi e

Warms the i nteri or and

F u n cti o n s :

scatters cold, moves the q i

and quickens the

blood
Recipes 1 09

Interior cold conditions as

Ind ications:

well as qi and blood stasis

and stagnation
cond itions
Leeks, onions.
I ngredients: cup. 4, 2. water; I

cornstarch or kudzu root

powde r, 2

tablespoons. soy sauce, 1 1 12

tablespoons, cider vinegar. a

dash, and black pepper.

salt
adash, your favorite pi e crust
reci pe or prepackaged pie
a

crust
Method of preparation &
administration: Line a pie
dish with the crust. Preheat
the oven to Sau the350F. te

coarsely chopped leeks and

onions for n es i n
8- 1 0 mi ut

awok using butter o r cooking

oil. Dissolve the kudzu root
powder o r cornstarch in

water with the soy sauce and

add to the onion and leek

mixture, stirring until rt
thickens. Add dash of a salt,

pepper, and vinegar and pour

into the waiting pie shell.
Roll out top crust, lay it over
a

the top. and flute the edges.

Prick the top o allow t

steam to escape and bake for

minutes until the crust is
35-45 bmwned.

Allow to
cool and set for n es after 1 5 -20 mr ut

removing from the oven.

Serves 4.

_.
S e readers may object to
Nte: m

the cl s o of little and

ir) u i n milk

butter
in a d s i ntended to elim n te
! h i a

dam pess a d transform n

phlegm. H oweve_r.
this is the .brilliance of
Chinese diet ry therapy. Bec9- a

use of the acrid, warm

leeks and o ions well as,

nature of th n as

the hot a e the black

acrid, n tur of

pkpper; tf.t)se i'ri

gredTentsduall)
.
>h'elp ad>trd.nsfofth'e mqv

' (Jry pr9ucG

in th -dish. Thus one can
is

"have ca e and eat it too." their- k

Del ightfu l apricot bars

 Supplements the spleen
Fu nctio ns:

and boosts the qi, moistens

the l ungs and
stops coughing
Fl uid d ryness consti
I n d icati o n s :

pation and/or lung dryness

cough compl icated by
spleen vacuity
D ed apricots, c s, grated
I ngre d i ents: n 3 u p

lemon peel, large tablespoon,

1 /4
I

teaspoon salt water; 2 cups,

vanilla e r , teaspoon, rolledxt act I

oats, cup, whole I

wheat pastry fiour; I /2 cup,

rice fiour, cup, cup, 1 12 wheat germ. I

unsweetened
shredded coconut. cup, 3/4

melted cup butter; 3/4

Boil apncots,
Method of preparation & adm i nistration: the

lemon peel, salt in and

one cup of the water: Mash

the apricots with a fork they wh ile

are cooking and, when

this is almost add the smooth,

vanilla set aside. Preheat and an

oven to Mix 350 F.

the dry ingredients bowl, in a

add t e butter; and wel l .

h mix

Heat the other cup of

110 The Tao of H ealthy Eating

water and po ur over the dry

mixture Next, press and stir thoroughly. a

third of the
oat mixture into the bottom
of nine-inch square baking
a

pan that has been well

e sed.
gr a half of the Smooth on apricot mixture.Then

repeat th1s sequence again, top

the whole thing wtth th e fi

ping

nal thi rd of the oat mixture.

Press down so that firmly

all togethet Bake for

hold 45

minutes or so until the top l e ay r

is nicely brown. to Cut

your preferred size when

cooL
Apple agar d e ssert

Clears heat, moistens

Functions:

dryness. stops coughing, and

frees the flow of the stools
 Lung heat dryness
I n d ications: and/or

cough , nuid d ryn ess

constipation
bars, apple j ui
I ngred i e n ts: Agar. 3 cu ps, ce 4 1 /2
,

water; cu ps, 2 1 1 /2 va n i l l a extract.

teaspoons, peaches. cups. ta 3

h ini, tabl espoons, ap ple

2

Ctder vinegar. a dash, salt

tea spoo n , al monds,
1 /2 6

Bring the agar. j i

Method of preparation & ad m i n istratio n : u

c salt water to
e , and

a bo il. Si mmer until the agar

has and then sti r in the
dissolved van i lla

extract.
Wash. peel, and s l i ce the
peaches. Line the n i ne-i bottom of a

nch shallow baki ng

pan with two-th irds of the peaches.

po ur the hot agar mixture

Gently
the
over

ches. Ch i l l refrigerator
pea in the

unti l fi rmly set. Cut the 1 agar

nto squ ares. Whip

the i n ing peaches blender
rema in a

with the tah ini and i e Use v n ga r

this as a

sauce over the aga r squares.

Then top with the slive t-ed al
monds.
White corn & baby pea salad

l and elimi nates heat

Functio ns: C ears damp

from the lowers l ive r--gal l bladder and

blood pressure . d i si n h ibits

seeps dampne ss
urination and

I n d i cations: Damp heat

cholecystiti s and
cholelithiasis. hypertensi o n ,
excessive
dampness
1 6-ounce package of
I ngredients: I

frozen wh1te com. thawed, 1 I

6-ounce package
frozen baby peas, thawed,
chopped peeled cup, j icama. I

chopped cup. cele r-y, 2J3

thinly sliced green or red

pepper; cup, hop e green
1 /4 c p d

onio ns, cup, seasonedI /2

vrnegar, cup, brown 2

nee 1 12 sugar.

tablespoons. sni pped ft-esh

parsley. tablespoon.
I

teaspoo n, white p p dash,

sah:, 1 /2 e pe r: a

snipped ft-esh mint (optional), I tablespoon

 In bowl . combine
Method of preparation & ad m i n istrati on: a

the co rn, cama, peas, ji

green p epper. and o n

celery, green

ions. In a ja1 m ix together

the rice vr ne gar;

brown suga r. p l y salt, and a rs e ,

wh ite pepper shake wel l . and

Po u r over sal ad
toss. Cover c h i l l fo r two
and and

hours. Add m i nt desi red. if

Serves 8.

Reci pes.
Roasted garl i c creamed potatoes

spleen and
Fu ncti o n s : Fortifi es the

supplements th q i , w ms
and
e ar the i nte11or

moves the q i
Ill
I n d icati o n s : Spleen qi or yang v cu ity with a

fd oo stagnation resu lt1 ng i n abdom

inal
disi:enti n a d fu l ne s o n l s

I ngred p o
i e n ts and ic e
: Yukon Gold otat es, S large , peeled d d , garl ic

cloves, 4 large

butte1 up heavy
roasi:ed, unsalted u 1 /4 c , c ream. 1 12 c

p pepper taste
, salt and to

c
M ethod of p reparati o n & adm i n istration: Preheat the oven to 300 F. Pla e the

medium saucepan
potatoes i n a with water to cover.

ig heat
Bring to a boi l over h h

m i ain b i l and cook ab

reduce heat to a nt a low o . out

I0 Drai n
m 1 nutes or until soft.

ace n b ki g
the potatoes and pl them o a a n sheet in the ove n for about I 0

m s inute

to dry oe
out. in a
Remove the potatoes from the v n and place large m txing bowl.
Whi p the p a oe ing i c ot t s add garl ,

butter. cream, salt. and pepper.

Serves 4.
Note: Once again the garl ic
and pepper make the dairy

products m e g or di estibl

e o u ce unwa ted ph
and less likely to pr d n

egm and dam p es .

l n s
Bar l ey & tem pe h stuffed aco rn squash

F u n ctio n s : Sup ple ments the q i and bl ood. warms the center: moves

the q i , and
a es
elimi nates d mpn s

bl o acu with s
I n d icati o n s : Q i
dampness
and o dv 1ty pl een vacu1ty and

c sq uashes,
I ngredients : A orn 2 medium, halved, seeds removed, washed. I 8 -

oun ce

package tempeh, I I 0 I /2-ounce can

vegetable b r e , 1 /2 cup,
mushrooms,
broth, a l y Cri mini
 po onion,
cleaned, chopped, 1 J2peeled. und, 1 /2 medium, diced.

1ed pepper I

wa he
small, ai m ds d , cored, seeded, diced, g rl c 2 cloves,
, peeled i nce .

g ud e ro n thym . 2

ch ed
teaspoons, tablespoons, opp fresh parsley, 2

bla k pepper. eas o

c 1/4 t po n, soy

t be o n
sauce, 2 achee l sp o s fat-free
, Mo ntety jack se . 2 ounces,

ra e
g t d

baking
Method of p reparati on & ad m i n i s trati o n : Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray

heet with c king

s ut oo spray. Place squashes, c side down,

bak1ng s e
on he t and

at
bake u i wit M
375 o F for 45 minutes or nt l tender when pierced h a fork.

ea n
w , a hile b k or colander.
inl rge pot with steaming as et

bri ng i n h a 2 c es o f water t o
boi over high heat. Break te
l

mpeh i nto fo u l p ieces,

place ba ket 1 n si:eamer s , and

medium. Cover and

reduce h eat to

steam fo r minutes. 20

Remove . cover. and set

aside to l ightl In med i u m cool s y.

sa epa bring o n e c u p
uc n
, of broth to a boil.

Add
I l l The Tao of H ea l thy Eating

ry
the ba red uce
le , return to a boi l , then heat to si mmer. cover, and cook until all

mi . stand .
water is absorbed, approxi m ately 20 nutes Remove fro m heat and let

m1nutes. Transfe r
covered fo r five t to large bowl and se

a y geside . Spra lar nonsti ck

m smal l
skillet with vegetabl e cooking spray. Cru m bl e steamed te peh i nto pieces

abo ut
and add to skillet Cook on m edium-high heat u nti l l i ghtly b rowne d, 3-4

m t i nu y
es. Rem ove from skillet and add to m1x i ng bowl with barl ey. Re-spr a ski l l et

i thyme ,
with vegetable cooking spray. Add mushrooms, onion, red pepper, garl c,
parsley, black pepper; soy sauce , and remaining (2 1 / 2 oz.) vegetable broth . Stir

with wood e n spoon to saute vegetables and to de glaze b rown bits of tempeh

i g
from ski l l et. Continue cook n unti l o n io n and pepper is soft about 3-4 m i nutes.

l y
g y m ix.
Add vegetable mixtu re to bar e and te m peh and entl Remove squash

from oven, let cool y ms i ty

l gh l and stuff with barle and te peh stuffi ng. Spri n kl e top

mi
with cheese and return , un covered, to oven . Bake I 0- 1 5 nutes o r until ch eese

on top melts and sq uash

serving. Serves 4.
is fork te nder Cool sl ightly before

E ggplant caponata

F u n ct i o n s : Q u k ns
I n d i cations: Blood stas1s
1 c e the bl ood and d i spels stas1s

r,
I ngre d i e nts: Vegetab l e cooking sp ay a s u itable a m o u nt, o l ive o i l . I teasp o o n ,

eggplant, I smal l , p e e l e d , d i c e d (ski ns re m a i n o n ) . o n i o n , I /2 s m a l l . p ee led,

d iced f1 n e , cele r y a washed, tri m m e

, I st l k.

d, s
d 1 ced fine, garl i c , 2 cl ove , pee l e d ,

i m
m 1 nced. p i m i e nto-stuffe d o l n ves, 2 ed i um , d i ce d , capers, I tablespoo
I ta bl espo o n , red wine v i negar. I teas p o o n , d ried o regan o, 1 /4 teaspo o n ,
, catsup,

fres h l y gro u n d black pepper, I / 4 te aspoon

M eth o d of p repa rati o n & ad m i n istratio n : S y

e cooki ng spray and add o l ive o i l . Place over med i u m heat and add the egg
pra a large nonstick ski l l et with vegetabl

p lant, onion, cel er y , and garl i c . Saute until tender: about 6-7 m i n utes, sti rri ng freq

uentl y . Add the ol ives, capers, catsup, vinegar: oregano, and blac k pepper and sti r
 cook u nti l e
ge ntly t o combi n e . Co nti nue L o
m i n utes.
h eated through out a bout fiv

n . as
Coo l sl ightly before servi g Serves 4 an a ppetizer.

really t
As an exercise to help ay h in ernalize the logic of Chinese d iet r t erapy. I

highly
n
recomme i i tsd the reader look up the ngred en in the Chinese food materia medica

ha t and then
nctions and indications
th
1ncl uded i n the preced 1 ng c p er try to understand e fu

of
Reci pes
y
each of the above recipes. In this way, the reader wi l l see that one real l

does not have to eat Chi n

ese foods or Chinese-style
recipes in order to get the ful
l
benefits o f Chi n ese d ietar-y
therapy.
C h i n ese M e d i c i n al "Teas"
113

The next gro u p of formu las

are for sim p l e , 1 -2
ingredient Chi n ese med
icinal teas.
ese be d un as ver ge with
Th can r k a be a

healthy prDperti es or- can be

used r-emed i ally
for specific patterns of
specific conditions. H e re .
the word "tea" refers to a
beverage
made by steeping one or
more i n gred i e nts in hot
water. Technically, th i s is an
i nfusion.
These teas may o r may n ot
contai n tea leaves (Fo l i u m
Cam i l l iae Sinensts, Ye) . Cho
Most of the 1 ngredients in
this secti on are commonly
ava i l able i n the p rod uce
or herb
sections of health food
stores. Some of these
ingredients may a l so be i n
you r garden.
L i corice & o ran ge pee l tea

Forti fies the spleen and

Fu n cti o n s :

recties the qi
Pept c ulcers and
I nd icati o n s : r

excessive gastnc secreti on of

acid due to spleen q i
vacuity weakness
Dri ed orange peel,
I ngredients: I0

grams, l icorice gt-ams, sl root, 5

iced
 ear the o range
Meth od of p reparat i o n & a d m i n istrati o n : T

peel i nto pieces, place

bo1h i n g dient into cu p, re s a

and soak i n hot boi ed water. l

Thi be drunk at s may

any time i n the day.

O range peel & tea leaves

Transfo rms phlegm and

Fu n cti o ns:

stops cough, rectifies the qi

and harmon izes
the stomach
Ch 1onic bronchitis with
I ndications:

profu se ph legm due to l u

ng p h l egm dam pness
Tea l eaves, grams, d ried
I ngred ients: 2

orange e l 2 grams p e ,

Place the two i n

M eth od of p reparati on & ad m i n i strati o n :

gredients up in a c ,
pour boi l ing water i nto the
cup, and al low to steep for I
0 m inutes. Dri n k as a
beverage t1me in the da . any y

Pep perm i n t & l i corice tea

Clears heat and d ispels

F u n ctions:

wind
Wind heat exterior
I n d i cati o ns:

contraction with sore throat

nasal congestion,
fever, other such stgns of and

the begi nning of a common

cold
114 The Tao of Healthy Eating

I ngredients: Pepperm int, 9 grams, l i corice root 3 grams, sliced. white sugar to taste
Method of p reparation & adm i n istratio n : Place the licori ce t-oot in a pot and
add one quart of water Boil for I 0 minutes. Then add the p eppet-mi nt and al low

to steep for I 0 min Lites. Strai n off the liquid a nd

of sugar to taste. Dri n k when cool th roughout the day.
reserve , adding a smal l amount

Radish leaf tea

F unctio ns: Disperses food and transforms stagnation
I n d ications: Food stagnation indigestion with nausea, abdominal distention, and
lack of appetite

I ngre d i e n ts: Radish leaves, grams I 00

Method of p reparation & adm i n istration: Tear the radish leaves into pieces and
place in a pot Pour in boiling water and allow to steep for I 0 minutes. Strain out

the dregs and drink the resulting liquid warm in smal l servings over a period of time.

Rice & g i nge r tea

Fu nctions: Fortifies the spleen and disin hibits urinati on
I n d ications: Chronic diarrhea due to spleen qi vacu ity weakness
I ngre d i ents: Tea leaves, 1 5 grams, fresh gi nger. 3 grams, sl i ced, rice, 30 grams

M ethod of pre paration & a d m i n istration: First make a pot of tea and reserve
the liq uid. Then ri nse the r-ice well, add the fresh ginger. and simmer in wate1- that
has been used to make the tea. D rink warm: one ' 'packet'' per day.
Sesame oi l & honey tea
F u n ctions: Moistens the i ntesti nes and frees the fiow of the stools
I nd ications: Intestinal d ryness hab itual consti pation

I ngredie nts: Honey. 65 grams, roasted sesame oil, 35 mill ilite1-s

Meth od of preparation & a d m i nistratio n : Add the roasted sesame oil to the
honey, pou1- 1n boi l ing water. and stir. Take once i n the morning and once agai n in
the even1 ng.
Day lily tea
Fu ncti ons: Clears heat and stops bleeding
Recipes I I 5

Heat-type hemorrho idal

I n d icati o n s :

b l eeding
Day l i ly fiowers, 00 g s,
I ngred i e n ts: I ram

brown sugar a s u itable

amount
Boi l these tvvo
Method of p reparati on & ad m i n istratio n :

red e the l ily

i ng i nts until

flowers are cooked.Then

discard the dregs. liquid Drink the resulti ng i

morn
n the ing
 the omach 1s empty Take
when

tea continuously ev ral

this for s e

days.
C o rn si l k tea

F u n ctions: Clears heat and elimi nates da m es pn s, disinh ibits the gal
lbladder and

calms the l iver

Damp
I n d icati o n s :l o es heat cho lecystitis, ga l n ,

hyperte nsion, diabetes, and

nephritic d ma e e

Corn
I n gred i e nts : s1lk, a large handful

l c the com i l
Method of p reparation & ad m i nistratio n : P a e s k in a pot,

add boi l i ng
water, and al low to steep for
I0 mi nutes. Strain out the
dregs and drink freque ntly
as a tea.
S elf h eal l ower pressu re tea
 Cl ears
Fu ncti ons: s n h b ts uri heat, di i i i

natio n , and lowe rs blood

pressure
Liver yang hyperactivity
I n d i cati ons:

blood pressure
s p s 0 grams, pl nt n
I n gred i e n ts : Self-heal i ke , I a ai

leaves, 1 2 grams

Place the two

Method of preparati o n & ad m i n is tratio n :

types of leaves in a cup

a pour o l i n l lo to fo r 0
nd in b i g water. A w steep I

m u e remove the and

in t s , dregs

d rink freely as tea. a

Rose fl ower tea

M oves and harmo n i zes

Fu nctions: the qi

the blood, co urses the liver

and reso
lves depression
 qi pai n hest
I n d i cati o n s : Liver-stomach in the c ,

breasts, and rib-sides,

menstrual i rregularities

due to q i and blood stasi stagnation

s
Rose 6- 1 0 grams
I ngred i e nts : fiowers,

Place the d ry rose fl

Meth o d of p reparati o n :

owers a in bo l i 1n teapot, pour i ng

wate r, and allow to fo r I 0 steep

minutes. Dri nk t e r su w rm h e lting tea a

any
at

time of day.
1 1 6 The Tao of H ealthy Eacing
the

C h i n ese M ed i c i nal Wi nes

Ch1 nese e i i ne
In m d c , alcohol is bel ieved to be a very potent

g e ie . In own
in r d nt its nght.

qi and quickens b o .
it moves the the lo d

However. ot n other ing e it also p e tizes r di

e ts n
 in g that c n of these
taken wrt:h rt, s u r in the medi i al effects

ingredients
other reach

t o g out the body

hr u h
varrous types of med ici nal
og Therefore . Ch inese have l n used

or ti nctures. These
"wi nes'' w1nes are easy to

make and in ng conversa make for tel esti

- tions.

of the 1 n e
Many i s section are gr dients in Lh

available in the herb sections of health

st re or can be
food o s purchased from Chinese apothecaries in Ch inese

co n t mmu i ies
.

Astragal us5 wine

F u n cti o n s : F ort es the s p l e e n an d

1 fl

boosts th e qi

vacuity
I n d i cati o ns: Spleen q i weakness with f a gu . o f
ti e lack

strength.
the spirit
l t de
ass tu of

(Radix
Ingredients: Astragalus root Astragali, Huang Q1), 300 grams,
sliced, alcohol,6 2quarts
M ethod of prepa rati on & ad m i n i stratio n : Place the Astragalus r ot o

in a l arge jar
and soak i n the alcohol. Seal the lid
and al low sit to Open.
for one month. r-emove

the rin dregs. and store for use. D 1 -3 ti

k one smal l Chinese teacup mes

per day.

Red date wi ne
Fu ncti o n s : Su pplements the heart fortifi es the spleen, and quiets the spiri l

Heart-spleen v c i
I n d i cati ons: dual a u ty wtth

restlessness, t nsomn t a. o pr fuse

e l ack
dreams, fatigue, pal l ips and nails. of strength, heart palpitations

J ujubes
I ngre d i ents:Ch n se
alcohol. I q uart
(a.k.a. i e red dates)? 600 grams ,

the bes co
Method of preparatio n & ad m i n i strati o n : Place Juju t n the al hol 1n a

se and
large jar; o Later: open,
al , soak fo r one m th.
n

e e th egs and
r mov e dr . store

per day.
the res u lting trncture fo r use . Take one small Ch inese teacup 1 -3 ti mes
Goji berry8 wine

nc
F u n ctions: Eblood n hes kidney yin and nourishes l iver

brightens and the eyes

strengthens i n w b e the s e s and on s

s Rad1x Astragali (Huang Qi)

o chotce can be
For all the following rectpes. one can use the alcohol of one's Th1s

brandy cognac. or wh1skey

vodkJ.

Fot a less stmng "wtne," one c a ;"i illso use sJke or Oornesc rice wrne

1 Zoo Hong Zoo)

Fructus ju1ubae (Do or

il LycrJ (Gcu Qt Z1)

f;\.Jctus

Recipes
a
I n d icatio n s : Liver-ki d n ey yi n v
pai n , sore , tight ten dons, bt-ittle nai ls. etc.
cu ity with poor or decreasing eyesight low back

alcohol,
I ngre d i ents: Goj i bern es.
117
3 00 grams. 2 qu arts

P c Goji
Meth od of p reparation & a d m i n i strati o n : la
soak 1 n the alcohol fo r two months. Later, open. remove th e dregs. and store the
e the berries in a large jar and

tinctu re fo r u se . Take 1 -2 ounces before or after meals.

G i n seng9 wi n e

Fu ncti ons: G reatly su pplements the source

ra. and quiets the spi rit
of qt. supplem ents the qi all five VISce

I n di cati o n s : Qi of of
vacu1ty with shortn ess breath , fatigue, lack stre ngth . lack o f

appetite , loose sto o l s, heart

memo ry. i n somnia,
palpitati ons o n exerti on, poor
dizz1 ness afte r stand1 ng up
I ngredients: G i nseng. 300 grams, alcohol, 2 q u arts
Meth od of p repa rati on & a d m i n istrat i o n : Place the Gin seng root 1 n a large j ar
and sao k in two quarts alco hol fo r 1 -2 months, the longer the better. Seal the lid.

Later. o pen and use. Ty pically, the G i nseng is left in

batch of wine 1s used, one can refi l l the bottle w1th fresh alcohol and re peat the
th e bott le o r ja1 When the kst
process. The resulting tinctu re wi l l be weaker but have the same gene t-a! effects.
Ta ke one sma l l Chi nese teacup 1 - 3 ti mes pe r day.
L ongan 1 0 wi n e
Fu n cti ons: Su ppl ements th e heart a n d nou rishes the blood
I n d i cati ons: Blood vacu ity exces sive worry and anxiety, heart palpitat1 ons. insomn

ia, dry, wri nkled sk1n. Th is is consi dered a ' ' beauti fying" wi ne fo r wo men.
I ngred ients: Longans, a l arge handful, alcohol, I q uart

M eth od of pre p arati o n & ad m i n i strati o n : Place the Longans

alcohol fo r one month o r m o re . The n o p e n the jar, remove the dregs a n d store
in a j ar and soak i n

the t1 nctu 1-e for use . Take one smal l Ch1nese teacup per day 1 n the evening
before bed.

9
'0
Rad1x Ginseng (Ren Sne11 )
Anllus Longanae (Long Yon Rou)

1al Issues Wh en It
omes to Eati ng Healthily 8
in Develop ed Co untries
There are a n umbe r of
special issues that need to be
addressed when speaki ng
about Chinese dietary the
rapy in 21st century
developed nations and
especially
in the West. These are issues
that trad it ionally Ch inese
doctors either did
not know about or did not
have to ta ke into account
Neve rth eless, th ese are iss
ues
that many readers of this
book may have questions
about or are struggl ing with.
Obesity
Since originally writing th 1s
book. the issue of obesity has
become even more import
ant in We stern and ot her
developed/d eveloping cou
ntri es. 1 The tAe fore, 1t is e
v en
more appropnate 1o discuss
this issue specifi cally in a
book about Chinese dietary
therapy aimed at readers 1n
such countries. In Chinese
medicine , fat is yin since it is
an ac cumulation of
substance . Specifically, Ch
inese medic1ne h old s that
exce ssive fat
or adipose t1ssue is made up
of p h l egm dampness, and
,

turbid ity. As we have already

see n it is the Chinese
,

medical spleen which is c h

arge d with the move ment
and transfo
rmati on of dampness. If dam
pness l ingers and endures, it
congea ls into ph legm. Thus
it is said in Chinese medicine
t h at the spleen is th e root
of phlegm production. There-
' See the ::.1.atist1cs on
obesrty 1n the U.S. 111
Chapter 4
119
1 20 The Tao of Healthy Eating

fo re, Chi nese dietary

therapy s approach to the '

treatment of ob esity revo

lves arou n d
i mprovi ng the sple en s '

movement and transformati

on of body nuids and its cl
ean and
complete di stil latio