Foods are grouped with an element based primarily on flavour. They are also classed as either Yin or Yang based on whether a food is 'cooling' or 'warming', and style of cooking.
Flavours of Five Element Theory
There are traditionally five flavours, each associated with one of the traditional five elements
- Sour is associated with Wood
- Bitter is associated with Fire
- Sweet is associated with Earth
- Strong/Pungent (think of the 'strong' flavour of a good chicken broth) is associated with Metal
- Salty is associated with Water
A healthy diet consists of a balance of these flavours. An imbalance, too much or too little, will cause illness. For example, Water is the controlling element of Fire, so too much salt will weaken a person's association with Fire, causing illness in the organs and tissues associated with Fire. In Western Medicine this is understood as: too much sodium can lead to a heart attack (the heart is associated with Fire.)
Yin and Yang Foods
While it is not a hard and fast rule, in general foods with a lot of calories, or fat, are considered 'warming' or Yang foods, while foods with low calories or low fat are considered 'cooling' or Yin foods. Western thought might explain it as, calories and fat are both forms of energy, and energy = heat.
Foods can also be considered hot or cool based on the immediate effect they have on the body. Spicy foods are almost always considered Yang in Chinese nutrition, which should not come as a surprise to anyone who's ever had a too-hot bowl of chili. Most forms of alcohol are also considered 'warming;' the 'burning' sensation of a strong drink is well known and long referenced!
Cooking styles also can be Yin or Yang. Raw or steamed foods are Yin, baked, fried or boiled foods are generally Yang.
Some food is considered neutral: bread, rice, grains, some bird meat and a few fruits and vegetables.
Constructing a Balanced Five Element Meal
At first glance, building a healthy meal this way seems more complicated then following Western nutrition, but with some familiarity, it actually becomes much easier. Here are a couple of simple guidelines:
- Don't worry about memorizing elements and their flavours and effects. Just make sure you have a lot of different flavours - something salty, something sweet, etc. at each meal, or have each meal focus on a different flavour in rotation.
- If you prefer one-pot cooking, use a Yang cooking style, like baking, and have some plain fruit (Raw=Yin) for dessert.
- Mix cooking styles - Steamed vegetables with baked meat for instance, or cold cuts ('raw' meat) with baked vegetables.
- Mix calorie levels and fat levels - some amount of calories and fat are needed so the body has enough energy, but make sure there's plenty of low calorie, low fat foods to balance them out.
- Almost all traditional (not Westernized or Americanized) Chinese meals are already balanced for optimum nutrition. So are many traditional meals from other Asian countries, most of whom learned the Five Element Theory from China.
- Remember that it's the foods themselves that matter - not how the food is spiced. Chili is definitely Yang, but adding a pinch of chili powder to a bowl of steamed vegetables for flavoring will not make the vegetables Yang!
As a bonus, because of the variety of food necessary to a Five Element Diet, eating according to Chinese nutrition will generally result in a diet that is healthy and balanced for Western nutrition.
References
- Ni, Maoshing. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine: A New Translation of the Neijing Suwen with Commentary. New York: Shambala Publications, Inc. 1995
- Lundberg, Paul. The Book of Shiatsu. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2003
- Feng Shui Institute
- Supermarket Guru
- Mypyramid.gov
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