Theory: Wuxing and Chinese nutrition
The principle of Chinese diet and nutrition engross heavily on the theory of Wuxing or the Five Phases. According to Chinese medicine, the universe is composed of Wuxing: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. This infers that the human body is composed of those Wuxing as well. A deficit of one the phases correspond to malfunction of one or more of the 12 internal organs. The harmony of all phases will keep the person healthy. All five phases are interconnected with generative cycle and destructive cycle.
Understanding the relationship between Wuxing and food is pertinent in order to know how to choose a healthy diet, prevent and treat illness. Wood is associated with sour, citrus and acidic taste. Sour is astringent and gathering . Sour directly affects the liver with the over production of saliva and injure to the muscles. An excess amount of sour in the body will cause all wood phase’s elements to over react and cause injuries to the associated organs and body tissue. According to the destructive cycle shown in the diagram above, excess of sour could cause weakening of the earth phase with is association with the Spleen. Also by this cycle, sourness could be counteracted or controlled by the addition of metal-pungent foods .
Fire is associated with bitterness. Bitter is drying but yet strengthening . Bitterness directly affects the heart, blood vessels and circulation. It helps us with growth and strengthening of our body. This will help tonify the heart, blood vessel and metabolism. Many heart related problems, such as obesity and high blood pressure, could be prevented if we increase our intact of bitter food. However, consuming too much alcohol, coffee or tobacco will introduce excess bitterness to the body. Too much of it could lead to Spleen energy dryness, congestion of stomach energy and a withering of the skin . It could also invade the metal phases and dry out the lung, which would not be favorable because the lung hates dryness. Excessive bitterness could be counteracted by addition of salty food.
Earth is associated with sweet. Sweet is harmonizing and retarding. Excessive sweetness could cause damage to the water phases. In our society, excessive consumption of sweetness is the biggest problem. One thing that makes sweetness so attractive is its ability to reduce pain by affecting the central nervous system . Excess sweet invade and cause damage to the water phase: including an unbalanced kidney, an overactive bladder, weakening bones, and teeth. Urinary problems and diabetes are directly related to excessive sweetness . Excessive also sweetness repels the fire phase. The damage to the fire phase could be similar as described in the previous paragraph, such as obesity, low metabolism and heart failure. Addition of sour foods could be used to counteract extra sweetness and strengthening the fire phase.
Metal is associated with hot, pungent, and aromatic. Metal is dispersing. "The pungent taste scatters, and is used to expel pathogenic factors. " Pungent is warming and treat cold as well. Metal tonifies water phases. If there is deficiency of water phases, the kidney is usually a deficiency of yang to heat up the body. Pungent warming food could treat yang deficiencies in water phases. Excessive pungent or spicy food could attack t
he wood and dry out the lung. Muscle knots, slack pulse and unhealthy fingernails could be a result of excessive metal pungent foods in the body. This can be counteracted by the addition of better foods .
Water is associated with salty. Salty tastes flow downward and soften hardness to treat swelling and constipation. In biomedical terms, saltiness create an osmotic gradient when salt passes through the large intestine and draws fluid back to help soften stools and constipation . Excessive salty diet invades the fire phase and injures the kidney. Sweet foods can be used to counteract this excess of salt.
Classification of food and their properties
Within each food type, there are different intrinsic properties of Wuxing. One interesting observation is that chocolate is under bitter taste. Some research has found out that eating a small amount of chocolate may help blood circulation and prevent heart disease. This is also true for consuming a small amount of coffee or tea. However, an excessive amount of these could render the reverse affect.
Besides the properties of Wuxing, foods also hold a Yin and Yang characteristic. According to Chinese Medicine, foods have an intrinsic temperature and they can be classified as hot, warm, neutral, cool or cold foods. The intrinsic temperature of food does not depend on whether food is hot because it is taken from the oven or cold because it is taken from the fridge but because food is understood to have an inherent "quality" in its nature .
Hot food has strong dry tastes. Eating too much hot food can cause damage associated with the fire phase. Hot food creates excess body heat which in turn causes the person to be restless, insomniac, have a hard stool and excess pimples. Body heat problem can lead to high blood pressure, emotion instability, and loose shen (spirit). Loose shen can be characterized as attention deficit disorder. The person has trouble sticking with a plan, or schedule and often becomes forgetful. Emotionally, the person could have sudden burst of emotion such as anger, grief or becoming bi-polar.
Cool foods have a harsh effect on the spleen and stomach. Cool food is usually associated with raw meat, fruit, vegetables and diary products. Raw food requires more effort to digest and broken down. Food that is cool in temperature also requires the body to heat it up which takes away body qi. Especially, diary products are raw, heavy and stagnant. Consuming an excess amount will cause blockage and digestion problems. Too much meat, cheese, butter, fats and sugar in the diet forms a substance called "phlegm". "Phlegm" tends to accumulate and obstruct various channels in the body .
Next I'll discuss the application of the wuxing diet.
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