“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”
Over 1400 years ago, Dr. Sun Si Miao stated the importance of food therapy: “a good medicine worker should first detect the origin of the disharmony, aware of the disease, first should treat it with food therapy. If the food does not do the trick, and then follow with herbal medicine.”
In TICM, food is medicine that heals and harmonises through its therapeutic properties. Food is not seen as its chemical composition, calories, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, etc but as how it interacts with the body.
TICM has always been consistent with the lifestyle, food and nutrition that is recommended for the body's optimal functioning. Choosing local, organically grown, seasonal foods while also aligning foods with the tastes, temperatures, colours, and seasons are the foundation of TICM, is the "diet" we follow.
An example of this would be making sure to always incorporate specific flavours of food like pungent, salty, sour, bitter or sweet foods, which each help a specific organ. Food is considered by its temperature, which is not the actual temperature of the food but how it affects the body.
We tend to gravitate to this way of eating without really knowing. For example in the heat of summer, nothing cools you down like watermelon. This food is known to cool down heat or fire and beloved by the Heart, the organ which correlates to the Fire element. When you are congested, you may want something spicy or pungent to help you decongest and breathe better. Pungent is the taste which correlates to the Lungs. Eating in season helps balance the Yin and Yang of the season and what our bodies need.
“Diets” that totally eliminate food groups may be okay for someone short term, but are they really healing the body for long term? Will post more on how to eat according to TICM. The only “diet” I ever recommend is a keto for diabetes type 1 for maximum 6 weeks to reverse to type 2 then we begin to introduce all foods.
If you wish to eliminate anything, please eliminate: sugars, sweeteners, diary, junk food, preservatives, flavourings, colourings, milk chocolate.....
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