5 Element Healthy Cooking
We must eat to live -
but we do not always eat what is best for our bodies and our health,
particularly today when life's fast pace leaves us little time for
preparing meals. Food
Cures are a way of using food to balance the body and heal illness and disease.
The basis of Chinese food cures is using the principles of Yin and Yang and
Five Element Theory as well as knowledge of which internal organs foods act
upon. Using this knowledge, one can find a way of eating that suits their own
body and lifestyle which will bring them good health and vitality.
History
Using
plants for healing is not a new practise. Even in the west in 1598, England's John
Gerard published his book Herbal and later followed by Culpeper's Herbal in
1660. This was in a time when new lands were being discovered in the Americas and ships from the Far East were bringing
new plants and foods to Europe. Still,
compared to China who began
exploring and developing food cures before the Qin Dynasty (before 207 BC), this
400 year history is very short in comparison to China's 2000 year history of food
cures. As food cures developed, more and more books were written, many of which
still survive today. In the Zhou Dynasty (11-771 BC), the emperor and his court
even had their own 'food' doctor who had a higher position than even the physicians
for bones and injury and internal diseases as they were considered of more
importance.
Using Food Cures
Identifying
the energy of foods based upon the Five Elements (wood, water, metal, earth and
fire) is unique to China.
At first the knowledge was very basic…if there was too much cold in the body,
then they would prescribe warming foods such as lychee, lamb, beef and walnuts.
If there was too much heat in the body, then more cooling foods would be eaten,
such as bitter gourd, mung bean and chrysanthemum flower. Herbs would also be
used, either in stews or soups where their healing properties could slowly
release and then be re-absorbed when eaten.
We need
to eat to live but as it says in the Yellow Emperor's Classic Medicine, (the
Nei Jing), any food cure be a medicine - any food can be a poison. Depending
upon how balance our diet, reflects our health. Today, there are so many
different kinds of foods available from around the world, that it is difficult
to know what would have been in season naturally in our local climate. Eating
according to the seasons is one of the basic principles of food cures. For
instance, eating foods that lubricate the body during autumn and winter (like
apples, figs cooked in soups, Chinese red radish) and foods that cool down
summer heat (like watermelon) helps the body to use less energy for maintaining
its energy and will improve the immune system.
Someone
once asked me what he could do for his condition of acid reflux as he said he
had to constantly carry and eat antacid tablets. His question came over a
Chinese meal with several students and as I was answering, I watched as he
liberally dripped chilli onto each mouthful of food that he took. I laughed and
said, "You should stop that straight away." "I know he said, but
I love it and have done all my life."
So sometimes it is not about the cure but about ourselves. Are we
willing to change ourselves to be healthier or do we want to carry on eating
the foods that should maintain but are actually killing us.
Diagnosis of Body Type
Using
food cures on a basic level is both fun and easy. Doing this we begin by making
our diagnosis of our body type. For this we would try to find whether we are
have a Yin (cold, weak, ill) bodytype or Yang (hot, strong) bodytype. Later, once
we have developed our knowledge more, we use the Five Element theory to find a
cure based upon a more detailed diagnosis. For instance, someone may have a
Yang body type but they also have lots of damp which is causing arthritis so
the food cure prescribed needs to acknowledge this.
The Five Element theory and that of the Yin/Yang theory is the basis of most
all Chinese culture, be it astrology, martial arts, Qigong, religion, medicine,
moral ethics and even farming. This unification of principles and this long
history gives Chinese culture and society a very strong foundation. Instead of
being pulled apart by differing philosophies, there is a connection between all
and therefore an acceptance. For instance, Daoism has no problem for Buddhism
as the principles are similar.
How can I learn more?
5
Element Healthy Cooking seminars are offered as well as private tuition. Please
refer to Classes/Contact page for further information.
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