The Importance of Food

In Chinese Medicine, the Qi (energy or life force) we receive from our daily intake of food - called Post-Heaven Qi - is what fuels the activities of daily life. This is in contrast with Pre-Heaven Qi - the life force we are endowed with at birth - often compared to a person’s genetics. The Pre-Heaven Qi is like your savings account – you certainly don’t want to draw upon it to run your daily life. Thus, Post-Heaven Qi – which is determined by the quality of a person’s diet, as well as the digestive health of the person (called Spleen Qi, or Central Qi) is incredibly important to a person’s health and longevity.

As a Chinese Medicine practitioner, I am frequently wary of the various ‘diets’ touted for weight loss or increased health and vitality – often they are recipes for disaster! While the best diet for any individual is determined by the state of their own digestive health or Spleen Qi (e.g., those with weak Spleen Qi require milder and easier to digest foods than those with heartier digestive energy), there are certain dietary recommendations that are relatively universal:

• Eat regularly – do not under-eat or over-eat
• Make time to eat – sitting down, not working or otherwise engaged
• Eat a variety of foods, mostly plant-based (though a completely vegetarian or vegan diet is not advocated in Chinese Medicine)
• Eat whole grains
• Eat warm, cooked foods
• Avoid cold, raw foods – people with strong Spleen Qi can tolerate a couple of salads a week. Those with weaker digestion should avoid salads and raw fruits altogether. Raw foods are more difficult to digest and weaken the digestive energy over time.
• Avoid processed foods, including refined sugars and flours
• Minimize fried or greasy foods, alcohol, dairy, and overly spiced foods (chilies)
• “Fasts” and “cleanses” should be undertaken with caution – the vast majority of people’s digestive energies are too low to tolerate these extreme measures, and their systems can become even more weakened. A more healthy and balanced approach that can work for all constitutions is to consume only organic, home cooked whole grains, legumes, and steamed vegetables (perhaps with some digestive herbs and spices added) for 2 to 4 weeks.
• Certain spices help to facilitate digestion – ginger, mint, fennel, cardamom, cumin, cilantro, basil, dried orange peels – add these to your cooking, or make these herbs or spices into teas!

Signs of Spleen Qi or digestive weakness include loose or soft stools, bloating or gas, discomfort after eating, poor appetite, low energy or fatigue, being easily bruised, and other symptoms. As our digestive energy weakens, our bodies are not able to transform food into pure energy for daily functioning, and instead creates what we call Dampness. In Chinese Medicine, Dampness is the origin of the “mysterious diseases” – it is a lingering and difficult to treat pathogen that can manifest in numerous ways.

Dampness is also engendered by poor diet – particularly processed foods, including refined sugars and flours; raw and cold foods; alcohol; and greasy foods. Signs of Damp accumulation in your system include lethargy, foggy headedness, dull aches and pains or feelings of heaviness in the body, weight gain, yeast and fungal conditions, among others.

Diet modification as stated above can go a long way to supporting your digestive energy to provide health and vitality for the long-term. Acupuncture and herbal medicine has been shown to greatly improve digestive function for those with troubling symptoms. Remember, however, that food should be eaten with joy and pleasure – if you eliminate what used to be your ‘comfort foods’ because they are harmful to your system, make sure you investigate new comfort foods that are wholesome and nourishing for your body, mind, and spirit.