The #1 Chinese Medicine Concept I Share with Clients
While Western medicine taught us that we should eat tons of fruits, raw veggies, nuts & seeds, salads, & smoothies…
… A world away, Chinese medicine has maintained that these types of foods are not part of an ideal diet. In fact, they may have the opposite effect intended.
When I tell you that the “healthiest” foods can actually damage your health, you may want to throw your computer across the room or yell at me in the comments. But I encourage you to be courageous and try on a brand new lens, just temporarily.
Take what may be your first ever foray into Chinese medicine with me (:
… I’ll also give you practical suggestions if you want to keep these foods in your diet yet still strengthen your digestion.
Let’s get into it….
A core concept of Chinese medicine is that healthy digestion is crucial for health & wellbeing, and…
Cold & raw foods are to be avoided because they weaken digestion.
Let’s talk about the first part: digestion is CRUCIAL to health. Here’s why: even if I design & implement a perfect diet… if my body can’t process all the good stuff I’m taking in… assimilate the nutrients, send nutrients out to all parts of my body, and process the waste efficiently… then that “perfect diet” is totally pointless.
If my digestive system isn’t optimized, then my body can’t effectively turn the food I eat into energy to nourish my body & mind and to fuel my day.
Imagine it this way…
Visualize your digestive system as a fire that needs to stay stoked in order to do its job.
In Ayurveda (the other 2,000+ year old medical system from the East), the Sanskrit word agni refers to the digestive fire that cooks food in our belly. I like to use this as a visualization.
When you steam or roast some veggies, the food matter is already cooked, so the the cooking pot (stomach) doesn’t have to do as much work. Now imagine throwing some raw broccoli and a handful of cashews onto it… There’s a lot to break down and process. The fire will be dampened, if not put out as a result of being forced to used most of its energy to break these foods down and extract their nutrients. And since a fire’s principle function requires a stoked flame and not just some embers (unless you’re slow-roasting some s’mores), we want to keep the flames roaring.
When we add something that’s cold in nature (e.g. an iced drink, smoothies, cold meat from the fridge), this dampens our digestive fire. The stomach has to work really hard to cook these raw foods and turn them into something usable.
Do you know anyone who gets really tired right after they eat anything? This is why. They used up a ton of energy “cooking” their food in their belly.
Excepting the garlic & turmeric, these are ALL raw (& therefore cool or cold in nature).
The same is true for foods that don’t necessarily come straight out of the freezer or fridge but are nonetheless cold in nature — salads, fruit, raw veggies, nuts & seeds. According to Chinese medicine, these foods are to be enjoyed in moderation or avoided altogether.
In clinic I always ask my clients “Do you eat many salads, smoothies, raw veggies, fruit, nuts & seeds?” and after a few times I realized that every person thought I was essentially asking them “Do you eat enough healthy foods?” I mean the photo above is literally the result of typing “healthy foods” into the image search on Canva.
But what I was actually doing by asking that question in clinic was trying to determine if they might be consuming too many raw foods and therefore have a weakened digestive system. This would explain a whole host of health issues such as anemia, tiredness, apathy, insomnia, painful periods, & anxiety.
Owwy… stomach pains, bloating, gurgling intestines, loose stools, tiredness. All signs of weak digestion.
If you have older friends from China (or young ones who listen to their elders), you’ll have learned this concept by now. This concept is so essential to Chinese medicine & culture that there is an entire school of thought called the Earth School — so named because the digestive organs (Spleen & Stomach) are the Earth element. The Earth School was based on the belief that all diseases were a result of damage to the digestive system. After all… we need nutrients to survive and be well, so if we’re not actually assimilating nutrients, we’ll have all types of issues.
Cold &/or raw foods (enjoy in moderation or avoid if you have signs of weak digestion)
salads & raw greens
fruit
raw veggies
nuts & seeds
nut butter
yogurt
iced drinks
smoothies
If you enjoy these food items and want to keep them (& all their yummy nutrients) in your diet, you can make adjustments to warm them up a bit.
Don’t add ice to your smoothie or drink it at room temperature. You can also add cinnamon to warm it up! It tastes SO good. Thank you Rachel for making me a smoothie with cinnamon sprinkled on top… I’ve never gone back.
Cook your fruits on the stovetop before enjoying, or cook them into your oatmeal (e.g. blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, pears).
Soak your nuts & seeds to improve digestion and bioavailability of nutrients.
Massage hardier greens like kale before cooking. Another option is to add a vinegar or lemon juice which all act as a type of “pre-cooking” your greens.
This information is not intended as medical advice. I’m sharing what I find to be a very useful core concept of an ancient medical system. You can choose to put into practice if it feels realistic to you, or enjoy this article as an interesting concept in Chinese medicine. If you’d like to talk more about it, or schedule a consult, send me a message
