Week 2: Energetics of Food Flashcards
What is the single most important category in oriental medicine in regard to food?
The temperature of a food
What are the qualities of HOT food in TCM?
- Speed up qi
- Increase yang
- Activate, warm, disperse
- Move upward and outward
- Eliminate external and internal cold
- (Zang Fu) Warm the bowels and viscera
- Enhance defense qi
What are examples of hot foods?
Ginger, cinnamon, lamb, chilli
What happens if you have an excess of HOT foods?
Excess creates heat (yang repletion), injures yin and dries out BF
What is the action of WARM food?
- Strengthen yang and qi
- Warm the body, bowels and viscera
- Warm and strengthen middle jiao
- Treatment of cold symptoms
What are some examples of warm foods?
Fennel, chicken, beef, oats
What happens with excess warm?
Yang repletion
What is the action of NEUTRAL foods?
- Build up qi and BF
- Stabilize and harmonize the body
- Treatment of qi vacuity
What are examples of neutral foods?
Honey, rice, potatoes
What is the action of COOL foods?
- Supplement body fluids (jin ye) and blood (due)
- Slow down qi
- Clear heat
- Treatment of heat symptoms
What are some examples of cool food?
Yogurt, soy milk, wheat
What are the actions of COLD foods?
- Create cold
- Cool internal heat
- Calm shen
- Treatment of heat symptoms
What are examples of cold food?
Watermelon, dandelion, orange
What happens with excess cold?
Damages qi and yang, thoroughly cools down the body.
Plants that take longer to grow (eg. root vegetables, ginger) tend to be _______ than fast growing foods (e.g. lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes)
warmer
Foods that contain high water content tend to be more ______ e.g.. melon, cucumber, squash
cooling
Dried foods tend to be more _______ than their fresh counterparts
warming
Some chemicals added to foods may produce ____ _______ as may artificially ripened foods
heat reactions
Foods with blue, green or purple colours are usually more _____ than red, orange or yellow
cooling
What are cooling cooking methods?
Blanching
Steaming
Boiling in plentiful water
Salting (pickling in brine)
What are warming cooking methods?
Grilling Frying Roasting Smoking Searing Baking Long simmering in liquid
Longer and slower methods will produce more _______ effects than quicker methods
warming
Does microwaving add any heat to food?
No, but it does alter the molecular structure and cause abnormal changes in human immune systems.
What is Wu Wei?
Five flavours
What is the function of the sweet flavour?
- Harmonizes all other flavours and forms the centre of the diet
- Mildly stimulates circulation of qi and blood
- Treats deficiency (tonifying and strengthening)
- Moistens and benefits dryness