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The Chinese model of medicinal food therapy is highly intricate and an essential part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Specific foods, spices, and herbs are used as natural supplements to help restore and maintain balance of the body and mind. Food therapy is so important traditionally, that it is considered the first line of defense when trying to heal any imbalance.
Nutritional Therapy sessions utilize the principles of Chinese medical theory while integrating modern nutrition. According to eastern nutrition principles every food has an affect on the body. Foods are categorized by flavor, taste, temperature, and color. For example foods can be hot, warm, neutral, cool, or cold in nature. This is broken down even further into sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, salty, and bland. Each of these flavors has an affinity for specific organs and Qi pathways, thus giving each food specific therapeutic properties.
One of the central tenets of traditional Chinese medicine is that we are constantly in interaction externally and internally with five energy fields. These five energy fields, also referred to as elements, are Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. Each corresponds with specific body organs, seasons, time of day, colors, odors, sounds, and emotions. The five elements interact and depend on each other, thus keeping all the elements in balance promotes harmony within our bodies.
Individualized diagnosis is completed encompassing the patient’s unique constitution. Foods, herbs, and spices are selected based on their energetic characteristics to create daily meals, snacks, and additional recommendations including tasty recipes. Changing the food you eat and how you eat it, can create a dramatic difference in energy levels, mental clarity, minimize digestive issues, aid fertility treatments, regulate sleep, and help maintain a healthy weight.