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Food Therapy
By peace | August 2, 2007
Throughout the history of Chinese medicine, doctors have recommended different kinds of food as treatments for their patients’ ailments. A Chinese medical doctor will carefully examine all aspects of a patient’s health and environment that could affect his or her condition.
Many of the doctors recorded the diets, sometimes called prescriptions or formulas, in medical texts. Before suggesting a therapeutic diet, a doctor of Chinese medicine must first take many different factors into considerations. The doctor studies the patient’s constitution, the nature of the patient’s illness and type of syndrome, and even the season and climate. The doctor selects the proper diet for the patient based on all of these factors, not just upon the disease alone.
For example, two people suffering from asthma may not necessarily need the same type of therapeutic diet, because in Chinese medicine all diseases are characterized into different types. In the case of asthma, the doctor determines whether the asthma is cold type or hot type or phlegm -damp type. If the asthma is a cold type, then the doctor might recommend warm or hot types of food, such as fresh ginger and green onion, especially if the weather is so cold outside. If the asthma is a hot type, perhaps occurring during the summer, the patient might need a cold type of food, such as watermelon, to help eliminate the heat. Additionally, the patient’s constitution and the season or climate would be taken into consideration before prescribing a therapeutic diet.
The typical Chinese diet is very healthy. Many food are quickly stir-fried to preserve the nutrients. A prescribed diet can be used only for treating diseases, but can also maintain a person’s good health. Garlic, for example, can be used to treat indigestion, diarrhea, dysentery and whooping cough. But because garlic kills bacteria, detoxifies poisons, strengthens the stomach, and promotes digestion, it also has been known to prevent flu and epidemic encephalomyelitis. Fortunately, most of the food and herbs used in diet therapy have a good taste and are pleasant to take.
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