Food Energetics

Question 1

Food Energetics

Answer 1

Direction
Flavour
Organ Affinity

Question 2

Food Energetics: Direction

Answer 2

Foods have different energetic ‘vectors’. Namely ascending, descending, centring, consolidating or spreading out to the exterior.

Question 3

Food Energetics: Flavour

Answer 3

bitter, sweet, sour, pungent, salty.

Question 4

Food Energetics: Organ Affinity

Answer 4

Different foods support specific organs by virtue of their flavour, colour or appearance.

Question 5

Food Direction: Ascending

Answer 5

• Hot foods are ascending, i.e. hot spices, onion, garlic, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, sugar. Avoid with heat signs: headache, hypertension, infection.
• Stalky vegetables that grow fast and upwards are ascending, i.e. celery, asparagus, broccoli, parsley and sprouted seeds / beans.
• Stir frying vegetables and dry roasting grains gives them an ascending vector and adds warming energy to meals.

Question 6

Food Direction: Descending

Answer 6

• ‘Cooling’ foods are descending i.e. cucumber, watermelon, strawberry, raw food and veg juice.
• They direct energy and fluids downwards, clear and descend heat, especially from the upper body.
• Descending root vegetables such as carrots or parsnips.
• Bitter foods are descending and clear heat, i.e. spinach, rocket, kale, radicchio, radishes, cabbage, lemon. Bitter leaves, with a splash of olive oil, relieve constipation by supporting the descending function of the digestive system.

Question 7

Food Direction: Centering

Answer 7

• Wet cooking methods (steaming, boiling, braising) nourish and warm the centre / digestion i.e. soup, stew, porridge, steamed / boiled veg.
• For weak digestion, dehydration and feeling cold.
They keep us centred and grounded in ourselves.
• Steamed whole grains, sweet veg (sweet potatoes, squash) all nourish digestion.
• Round shaped foods such as celeriac, sweet potato, squash, beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes, hazelnuts have affinity with the abdomen and are centring. So are warm water and herbal teas.

Question 8

Food Direction: Exterior

Answer 8

• Foods that spread out to the exterior.
• Help the lungs expel pathogens, i.e. hot spicy food, black pepper, ginger, chilli.
• Help lungs expel mucus , induce sweat, support digestion of mucus forming foods, promote circulation to the muscles and limbs.
• Spices can have a heating and dehydrating effect and should be used alongside foods that moisten the lungs.
• Ginger, lemon and honey tea: ginger helps lungs to expel mucus; Lemon ( descending) clears heat from the lungs; honey moistens and soothes the lungs.

Question 9

Food Direction: Consolidating

Answer 9

• Affinity with the kidney / adrenal function of preserving and supporting life (cortisol / adrenaline).
• Roasting vegetables or meat consolidates their volume and intensifies taste. It is the best cooking method for systems that need consolidation and rebuilding.
• Nuts & seeds are the most energetically dense parts of plants that contain the blueprint and essential nutrients for new life. Bone broth is consolidating when recovering from chronic illness.
• The sour taste of naturally fermented foods has a firming and moving action that helps consolidate blood.

Question 10

Food Direction Conditions: Ascending

Answer 10

Chronic diarrhoea, depression, lethargy, sadness.

Question 11

Food Direction Conditions: Descending

Answer 11

Headaches, migraines, eye or ear infections, hypertension, anger, rage.

Question 12

Food Direction Conditions: Centering

Answer 12

Weak digestion, feeling cold, exhaustion, feeling ungrounded or under nourished within oneself.

Question 13

Food Direction Conditions: Exterior

Answer 13

Colds and flu. Excess Damp and mucus. Cold limbs and extremities.

Question 14

Food Direction Conditions: Consolodating

Answer 14

Chronic fatigue, deep cold, chronic illness, old age.

Question 15

Food Flavours

Answer 15

Bitter 
Sweet 
Sour 
Pungent (spicy) 
Salty.