5 Healthy Eating Tips From Traditional Chinese Medicine (PHOTOS)

Eating is a hot topic in the United States--partly because we seem to do it so badly. For all of our modern scientific knowledge, our eating habits have made us one of the world leaders in obesity, diabetes and heart disease. We know all about vitamins, minerals, fats and carbohydrates--so why aren't we healthy? While the reasons are no doubt many (processed food, sedentary lifestyle, cheap calories, etc.), one way back to a healthier lifestyle can be found in the East Asian tradition, which has developed and honed the practice of food therapy over many thousands of years.

Here are five tips on healthy eating according to the East Asian tradition, which I explored while writing Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen: Recipes from the East for Health, Healing and Long Life (Da Capo Lifelong), with Chinese medicine experts Yuan Wang, L.Ac., and Warren Sheir, L.Ac.

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Balance Is Beautiful

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In the West, we can be found casually eliminating whole food groups, say fats or carbohydrates, or trying to exist on a single type of food (the grapefruit diet, anyone?). That's an anathema in the East, where we're advised to pursue balance in our bodies and in our minds by eating a variety of foods to maintain health. No single ingredient or kind of ingredient is vilified or consumed to excess. As one Chinese proverb says, "Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent: all must be tasted." Food is also used to bring balance between the individual and his or her natural cycles and parts of the environment. Particular foods are thought to counteract an individual's personal tendency toward, say, restlessness or fatigue, and different choices are recommended for different seasons. Take a food's temperature, for example.

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In the West, we can be found casually eliminating whole food groups, say fats or carbohydrates, or trying to exist on a single type of food (the grapefruit diet, anyone?). That's an anathema in the East, where we're advised to pursue balance in our bodies and in our minds by eating a variety of foods to maintain health. No single ingredient or kind of ingredient is vilified or consumed to excess. As one Chinese proverb says, "Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent: all must be tasted."

Food is also used to bring balance between the individual and his or her natural cycles and parts of the environment. Particular foods are thought to counteract an individual's personal tendency toward, say, restlessness or fatigue, and different choices are recommended for different seasons. Take a food's temperature, for example.

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For simple, delicious recipes that build on these tips, see our book Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen and the Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen blog here.

 

 

 

Comments

[Caroline Sutherland]

11:16 PM on 07/05/2010

I am a big fan of Chinese medicine. TCM (Traditional Chinese medicine) as it is called, pulled me out of a major bronchial infection about 5 years ago and I will visit my acupuncturist when I feel in need of a “tune up.” If you have ever visited the orient, you will notice that people eat small meals consisting of protein, vegetables and rice. As they deftly handle chopsticks, food is consumed quickly with a minimum of chatter. The Chinese feature a variety of tastes in their cooking such as sour, bitter, sweet and pungent – very similar to Indian food. It is believed that varying tastes is healthy and life-giving. Think about using different colors and flavors in your own cooking. In the west, we are not as willing to “mix it up” as much as other cultures who are resourceful and use almost anything and everything at hand. Visit an Asian grocery store and ask about how to use the unusual ingredients found there.
Start simply – use ginger. Add it to your vegetables and make it into tea. Great for the digestion and the palette.
Caroline Sutherland, Best selling Hay House Author of The Body Knows...How To Stay Young, http://www.carolinesutherland.com

[Quilll]

01:43 AM on 07/04/2010

We also need to vigorously monitor the highly toxic compounds that some growers use on their crops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/us/20strawberries.html

[bthechangeyouseek]

01:59 PM on 07/03/2010

We have lost the art of understanding and preparing healthy foods. Kudos to individuals like Michale Pollan, Alice Waters, Jamie Oliver and others who are walking the talk of the food revolution.

[EvitaLuisa]

02:01 PM on 07/04/2010

I totally second and third this viewpoint in fullest agreement! These folks, and the one I am most familiar with at this point is Jamie Oliver (I'll read up more on Pollan and Waters, that's for sure), are so critical to our national dialogue on food, nutrition and basic eating habits. What we have going on in America is a catastrophe of gigantic proportions. not an understatement. So glad HuffPo ran the article re: "Obesity in America" on the front page this time around. We need constant articles like this, front and center!
Thank you for the gratefulness you show to our leading figures in the food biz -- they deserve it.

[shuffleoff]

10:43 AM on 07/03/2010

Most Americans actually think that salads are healthy! On the contrary. A nutritionist I worked with decades ago told me to eat cooked vegetables only, as salads are so difficult to digest and really don't hold much nutritional value. Or as you suggested, a small amount of salad with a miso based dressing. I love this article...if only more people would pay attention and eat like this, the grocery store chains may actually start providing healthier choices across the board...and the cost of healthy food would go down.

[Eric Normand]

11:03 AM on 07/03/2010

I'll have to disagree with you about the salads here. Research the average lifespan of those who eat a Mediterranean diet. Salads and fresh uncooked vegetables are a big part of their diet and they have far fewer instances of diet related health problems. Now the version of a salad that most Americans eat? A bowl of nutritionless white lettuce with a few token vegetables on top, smothered with cheese and bacon bits, and then swimming in a creamy fat, sugar , and salt laden dressing. It doesn't matter that this is uncooked, it has little nutrition to offer in the first place.

[shuffleoff]

11:07 AM on 07/03/2010

Um, I've never eaten a salad like the one you mentioned. Here is CA that's not the norm. However, for digestion, cooked veggies are much easier on the system.

[Vickster]

11:32 PM on 07/03/2010

For the record, the Mediterranean people who have the longest lifespan (the Cretes) also eat more meat than their neighbors. As for me, I've never cared for meat or fish in my salads and my preferred dressing is a homemade vinaigrette, although I've been known to sprinkle a little cheese on a salad, depending on the other ingredients.

[Eric Normand]

10:11 AM on 07/03/2010

If you want to eat a healthy and nutritious balanced diet in America today you need to do two things. 1.) Perform a great deal of research on food, nutrition, and the food products available in your area, and 2.) Avoid all restaurants like the plague. As the documentary “Food Inc.” points out, out of the tens of thousands of food products available in supermarkets, most are just “clever rearrangements of corn”. Yes, a balance of the right foods is essential, and that might vary from person to person. But unfortunately, most people in Western civilization have no clue about what nutritious food or a healthy balance might be, and this, in part, has led to our current obesity epidemic.

The information available to the public about nutrition and the makeup of foods is tainted. There is no one accurate source. Even the USDA food pyramid greatly contradicts itself within its own documentation. My wife and I have spent the last 10 years conducting our own research in an attempt to self educate ourselves about what is “good food”. While we can go through a supermarket and selectively pick out what we have deemed as the healthiest foods to consume, most Americans do not have the tools or information they need to do this. We need a complete overhaul about the way we think about food and health in America. And as far as restaurants, most in this country put taste and value first, and health last.

[bthechangeyouseek]

01:56 PM on 07/03/2010

nice post.

[LyssaBarnes]

01:57 PM on 07/03/2010

This is one of the best food pyramids I've run across.

http://www.med.umich.edu/umim/

[MDivad20]

05:44 AM on 07/03/2010

I have been travelling to China and SE Asia for years. The tradition of buying at the wet markets and cooking from frsh/live whatever is to be eaten that day is gradually being eroded. The biggest surge is in eating Pizza Hut and KFC plus Maccas. The other thing I have noticed over the years is the young population is getting ...fatter.
The Chinese know the "Nutricetical" benefits of food but this is slowly dissapearing.

[lunacholy]

03:13 AM on 07/03/2010

All very good infomation. But as a westerner living in southern China, my experience with traditional chinese culinary and health practices (one and the same, here!) is that East Asian sensibility doesn't take everything into account, and blindly following such advice can be counter-productive. I don't dispute any claims that one should eat more fruits and vegetables of all different colors, but the Chinese mentality of prefering cooked over raw just doesn't work for me. I grew up in the west eating salads and minimumly cooked foods. I'm used to it, and to no disservice to myself. By contrast, Chinese cook most everything, and it is all too often fried or stir-fried (excluding the great Cantonese tradition of steaming foods). Furthermore, heating up oil to high temperatures is proven to be carcinagenic, yet that's the norm here. Most everything, regardless of how nutritious, is over-cooked and much too oily. Lasty, the Chinese rarely eat the skins of fruits and vegetables, partly for food safety reasons, but mostly because it's considered coarse and unsavory. People here even peel grapes, regardless of the skin's proven nutrient value. I understand this article is about East Asian practices in general, none of which I dispute. I'm simply pointing out that even with such great ideas about food and health, one must use discretion when applying another culture's ideals to one's diet.

[LyssaBarnes]

01:37 PM on 07/03/2010

Agreed. I tried the mostly cooked eating method with great detriment to my digestive system. I am back to eating about 50% to 75% raw and doing much better. I shun most processed foods and my preferred method of cooking is steaming, a light saute, broiling, or baking. Lean meats and good fats in small amounts are good. I also consume quite a bit of soup. I believe there is healing energy in soup broths and grew up in a household where soups and stews were a main dish many a day.

[mssreader]

11:34 PM on 07/05/2010

Lyssa, your diet is close to mine though I don't eat meat, 40 years, and a vegan who now eats a plant based diet-8 years. I too eat lots of soups in the winter and grain salads in the summer, lots of raw veggies and very low in fat. I am getting so that I don't like cooked veggies except in soups and steamed but mostly raw. It changes as I find the longer I'm on the plant based diet that fruits are my preferred sweet though I still have organic chocolate once in a rare while. I think one has to listen to their bodies because our body will let us know what its happiest with.

[Over50WhiteWoman]

03:06 AM on 07/03/2010

Eat the rainbow!

[iRock]

12:58 AM on 07/03/2010

I absolutely LOVE moderation. That sounds so silly. Like saying extra regular. lol.

But I'm a big believer in moderation in almost EVERYTHING edible. I love food so much lol. And with moderation, you get to eat it ALL.

[Juliette Aiyana]

10:53 PM on 07/02/2010

Out of professional courtesy, this book was given to me by the authors. It is well written, and the receipes are super yummy, especially for those who enjoy eating Asian flavors. However, the concepts in the book can be applied to any culturals food for those of us who don't want to eat Asian style everyday! LOL.

[nvzephyr]

07:39 PM on 07/02/2010

A Chinese friend tells me that you should not drink too much water directly with your meal; it dilutes your digestive acids, and makes digestion more difficult.

[iRock]

12:59 AM on 07/03/2010

hmm, makes sense.

So when should I drink water? hours after before a meal?

[ollddskool]

12:40 PM on 07/03/2010

I've heard drinking small sips throughout your meal is maybe better then gulping a glass down.
Stepehen Cherniske is the source of this info.

[nvzephyr]

12:31 PM on 07/06/2010

Just stay hydrated. Don't be thirsty when you eat. And, when you eat, don't drink water out of habit, and don't feel like you have to "wash the food down."

[LyssaBarnes]

06:51 PM on 07/02/2010

I agree with most things with the exception of the view on raw foods. I find that consuming mostly cooked food more taxing on my digestive system as I am aging. The article highlights salads, but there are plenty of other food items to consume in raw form. Fruits make the best snacks. Unroasted nuts and meat (for us omnivores) in small amounts work well, too.

[Juliette Aiyana]

10:46 PM on 07/02/2010

Hi Lyssa, You may be a yang constitution therefore raw and cool foods work best for you. The over arching manner in which TCM is practiced is to tailor our treatment strategy to each patients pattern of energetic disharmony. In my decades worth of practice I have found that most American patients suffer from cold induced disorders therefore a warming diet which consists of mostly cooked foods is imerative to resotring health. However, there are patients who need a cooler diet. It sounds like you listen and respond to the needs of your body's energy! Best, Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac., Herbalist, Author

[Christy Caudill]

05:48 PM on 07/03/2010

Thank you for replying to LyssaBarnes. I have my life back from TCM, and what most people don't get is that everyone is different.... A professional in TCM can give you a traditional diet that suits you body, but probably not someone else's. I would say to LyssaBarnes and others, stay open to what makes YOU healthy, and above all else, listen to YOUR body- you're the only one that lives in there! :)

[mssreader]

10:13 PM on 07/03/2010

Lyssa, I just don't like cooked veggies therefore eat most of them raw and even do green smoothies. I definitely don't agree about the cooked veggies. I really feel that so many nutrients are lost in cooking. Fruits are great snacks as are veggies and fruits are my sweet of choice and go so well with nuts. I've ben a vegetarian for 40 plus years and even gave up fish some years. My body lets me know when it's not happy with my diet.I think we must learn to listen to our bodies as they can tell us a lot.

[ilovesushi]

05:37 PM on 07/02/2010

That sushi roll looks good

[Jason Bussell]

02:55 PM on 07/02/2010

I could not agree more. I actually wrote a book for my patients (and the public) which explains these and other healthy habits we can learn from the Chinese. My book is called "The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well". I have not read Mika's book yet, but these suggestions are spot on.

[Kathy Sparrow]

01:32 PM on 07/02/2010

These are wonderful tips and very similar to Ayurveda. I've tried intense workouts, and cutting carbs, but really what I find works best for me is balance.