The Chinese maintain that health depends on one’s vital energy, called “qi (chi)”. Chinese dietary therapy cultivates the qi. According to the Chinese, foods are classified, not by their nutritive components, but rather by the kind of energy they produce in the body. The flavor of foods also contributes to the energy response in the body.
In general, a food, if consumed on a regular basis, will either lead to greater overall health or to overall illness in the long term. The difficulty with food is that the destructive effects of food do not become apparent until some time later. This is one of the main reasons food is passed over as a factor in one’s health. The time delay, from the actual food consumption to the manifestation of detrimental effects, make a causal connection difficult to establish. We have had to use scientific studies to guide our eating because seeing the effects of food before our eyes is unrealistic.
Each food has a particular relationship to your body. A food has an affinity to certain organs over others. How could we expect each food to affect each organ in exactly the same way? It then follows that eating certain foods helps various physical ailments. Chop suey could then be our medicine.
In our technologically advanced society, rather than using foods as health remedies, we take vitamins, other nutritional supplements, or medications for improving health. What we miss here is the hidden integrity of a whole food that cannot be measured by any nutritional breakdown. Energetic qualities are simply invisible and unmeasurable so far. Food remedies take longer to take effect compared to medication, but they have a more balanced impact on the body. Once their effects take hold, they will last longer than the effects of medication or vitamins.
Some Chinese food remedies for some physical ailments are listed below as examples, but are not meant to replace your doctor’s advice. Before using them, please consult your physician. (This information was taken from The Tao of Nutrition by Maoshing Ni, Ph.D.
Asthma: Take an unpeeled orange, stick a chopstick through it, roast until the peel blackens. Remove the peel and eat the insides; one orange daily for 7 days.
Coronary heart disease: Take black fungus and black mushrooms, soak over night, then steam 1 hour and eat before bedtime.
Diabetes: Eat a slice of pumpkin with each meal.
Hypertension: Eat two raw tomatoes on an empty stomach every day for a month.
Premenstrual syndrome: Make a tea from ginger, green onions, fennel, black pepper, and orange peel, boiling for 10 minutes. Drink 3 times daily, starting at least one week before usual onset of symptoms.