Traditional Chinese Medical Treatments

The Energetics of Foods

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Chinese medicine recognizes that foods have an innate temperature that can warm or cool the body, much the same way herbs can. The food we eat can have a profound positive or negative effect on healing.

For example, the condition of a person with chronic inflammation due to heat arising from yin deficiency is more likely to improve if this person eats cooling, moistening foods such as lettuce, cucumbers, and mung beans.

On the other hand, if he or she eats warming, drying foods such as chicken with ginger and onions, the condition will be more difficult to resolve, even if the person is taking cooling herbs. Since they don't affect the body's interior climate, neutral foods are appropriate in most situations.

The charts that follow list foods that have different innate temperatures.

Cold

Banana	Tomato	Crab
Grapefruit	Seaweed	Kelp
Watermelon	Clam	Salt
Persimmon

Cool

Apple	Tangerine	Orange
Pear	Strawberry	Eggplant
Cucumber	Lettuce	Radish
Spinach	Barley	Mung bean
Tofu	Wheat	Sesame oil
Peppermint

Neutral

Fig	Grape	Olive
Papaya	Pineapple	Plum
Peanut	Cabbage	Carrot
Celery	Beet	Corn
Potato	Sweet potato	Pumpkin
Shiitake mushroom	Yam	Green beans
Rice	Soybean	Beef
Milk	Egg	Pork
Carp	Oysters	Honey
White sugar

Warm

Cherry	Coconut	Guava
Date	Peach	Raspberry
Chestnut	Walnut	Chive
Asparagus	Green onion	Leek
Onion	Squash	Mustard greens
Malt syrup	Sweet rice	Mutton
Chicken	Mussel	Shrimp
Vinegar	Wine	Coffee
Brown sugar	Fresh ginger	Fennel
Basil	Dill	Garlic
Clove	Nutmeg	Coriander
Rosemary	Spearmint

Hot

Soybean	Cinnamon	Dried ginger
Black pepper	Red pepper

Determining which traditional Chinese medical treatments, whether dietary or otherwise, are right for which ailments requires training and experience. For information on finding a qualified practitioner, see the next section of this article.

For more about traditional Chinese medicine, treatments, cures, beliefs, and other interesting topics, see:

This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.