Nature of Food in Chinese Medicine

Have you ever thought of the function of your very common diary food such as milk could be of some medical nature??? yet while sometimes it could mean nutrition other times it may factually make one less health under certain current disease???How about the concept that milk may add up "heat" to some disease "hot" in nature ... like oil on the fire ??? with such question, I tired and found it worked... for thousand years...

This is to introduce Chinese medicine concept on the nature of food and herb medicine, to help people increasing their knowledge of their daily diet.



Core of Chinese medicine theory, is the balance of Yin and Yang. And every food and herb has its nature. Food in Yang nature including fried foods as more fire are added during the process of cooking, along with materially Yang natured foods, all to add up more Yang energy to body. While the Yin food, including water boiled or braised food during the process and cool the body down with Yin energy. So as a common sense of such initial understanding, in Winter , generally people are able to eat more food of Yang energy (called hot food in Chinese medicine concept) and in summer, people feel healthier with Yin diet( cool or cold food with Chinese medicine concept).

As a word , "Yin" and "Yang", are neutral as "hot" "neutral" cool" or cold" . And the health is in the balance , and any extremity means disease. And the Chinese medicine theory is to utilise herbs of the opposite nature to balance disease caused by one nature, in order to achieve health. And it's in everyday diet.



So for the people who has already got certain disease, the immediate thing they can do is to choose the right diet that helps.



Following list classify our daily especially in western menu, food belong to different nature.So people are able to consciously using them to balance and minimise the effect of disease .



Hot food ( Yang energy)
Meat : Lamb , seafood, beef,

Vegi : Chili, Garlic, Onion, chive

Fruits: Lychee, mandarin, date, chestnut, durian, cherry

Drinks: wine , chocolate, black/grey tea , milk

cooking methods : fries

Spice: chili, pepper, curry


Cool and cold food

Meat : plain water river fish and shellfish , duck

Vegi : most of green leaves ,bean products, bamboo shoot, sprout , tomato, cucumber , cold :balsam pear, celery, radish

Fruits : orange , kiwifruit,banana, pear, persimmon, melon, watermelon, fig, apple

Drinks: green tea, plain water

spice: salt, soy sauce , mint

Method of cooking: Boil , braise , steam,

currently this list is still to be increased , but as immediate handling, people should choose correct catalog opposite to the nature of their disease and avoid or even ban the food of the same nature. This help to minimise the effect of disease effectively , and help to increase human ability of immunity. And water is generally helpful to dissolve harmful substance and help to release them out of body quicker. Rest is necessary when tired, as your body telling you it's time for your immunity army fighting . To extreme Yang diseases or venom, you should choose food in cool or cold nature , especially the cold ones to be more effective, special catagory are vegies with bitter taste, they are stronger. However, as previously stated, key is in balance, so in normal situation, over consuming food in cold nature may lead to some sympton or disease such as diarrhea.

Besides, I dont think increase blood circulation should be introduced as a mthod of treatment in situation of venom present, as then the increased circulation would send more venom to the whole body.

But I do suggest choose the right drink as probably very effective way- increase water consumption with medical purpose... including - green tea catogory, and you may found lot in china town market for the special purpose to "cool down" and dissolve poisonous substances inside body, and also soup with carefully chosen functional food in specific medical nature.

Treat Xiaoqi Drum -pomegranate

It is said that the peel and root of pomegranate can cure the liver disease.

This is a herb medicine treatment of Chinese Minority : braise the peel and root of pomegranate to make very thick syrup, and drink it. Function of pomegranate as herb medicine is to kill the parasite in human body. It has a mild nature.

I have thought the treatment must include Chinese herb as the very cause of the disease is bugs or parasite which is venomous made at the time of extreme yang . So the treatment must include-

1. killing parasite -however the parasite itself is venomous. Using pomegranate

2. relieve or neutralise the venom .But I dont think there's any virus targeted antibiotic equivalent in western medicine. The tradition western treatment , as the cause of bugs is unknown , using even the medicine for liver cancer would not touch the very root, as parasite still breeding and producing new venom inside body. And the Chinese medicine neutralise the Yang venom is Yin.

3. The general medicine in western medicine used on further disease like hepatitis or liver cancer. Based on treatment on the very cause.

It has been widely believed in minority that sugar can relieve venom, however , in another hand, sugar may hurt liver. This is probably the reason why it's easy to get worse, as function of sugar contradicts.

Xiaoqi Drum

A disease named“xiaoqi ( bamboo basket rice washer) drum” has taken lives of at least 9 people in the past 20 years in a Chinese village. The latest tragedy happened in 14 , Apr, 2010. when 30 years old Zhang Xiaoming left his wife and aged mum.

From the description of 26 years old wife of Zhang, as early as Jan this year, her husband felt uncomfortable in his abdomen. Through medical examination, his liver was found problem.

In Feb, he moved to a major hospital in the city, the shocking diagnosis is liver cancer, and later stage.

The wife said, during those days he husband had black and purple facial complexion

fever everyday, while he's losing weight, his abdomen become swollen, as if a hideous xiaoqi(bamboo rice washer) under his cloth, just like woman of 6 month pregnancy.

The other young man named Zhang Ming died of the same disease in last Jun, and apart from his father, he's the third one in his family died of it. A third death also happened last year. All share similar symptoms.

Local income of the village from silk product, pig raising, and rice (Oryza) plant, economically above average of the province. Yet villagers are puzzled about the reason of the “xiaoqi drum”.

There's such story among villagers like Huang Shuer : at the time of their ancestor, there came a strange bird, one aged said randomly ' I'm afraid there would be weird things happening”, since then, the ghost of disease has haunted villagers. Many people believe that it's kind of voodoo. And they even invited some wizard to expel the ghost.

One month after the local health department receive report, they have found the real criminal – family liver cancer history and Hepatitis virus.

The environment locally is pleasing, rich soil , fresh air. The living habit of the villagers are healthy , no alcoholics. There's no enterprise of pollution around. Every family uses underground water, and the source of water from a cave. Collecting the sample ,water is found of standard quality,after microbiological examination and cultivation. There's no source of pollution around fountain, neither have the villagers over-stored or molded food.

The investigation team has proven that the dead have family history of Hepatitis, after analysis of family blood samples. Hepatitis causes liver cancer can not be excluded. So to decrease the ratio of Hepatitis is important measure to reduce chance of liver cancer, and vaccination is one important joint.

Experts have reached the initial conclusion : death of villagers are caused by Hepatitis virus. Health department has increased education to the villages, demanding good hygiene habit , hand-wash before and after meals, excremental pollution elimination , and rejection to alcohol .

The causes of Hepatitis varies, the most common is virus, besides, deficiency of personal immunisation system and alcohol consumption may both cause Hepatitis.

My fourth suggestion here is: prevent earlier and discover earlier for treatment as liver disease may not have obvious symptoms from beginning. So please do not take any advices without result from physical examination, you may be misled and delayed important time for treatment !!

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