Flavours and Energies of Food

Growing up, my mom always commented that certain foods I wanted to eat were too hot or too cold for my body to handle. This made absolutely no sense to me as most of the time, I was reaching for some chips or biscuits that were neither hot nor cold. It wasn’t until I learned about the Chinese Medicine properties of food that I understood she was not referring to the temperature of the food. In Chinese Medicine, each food has unique and specific properties that allow them to cause or relieve imbalances in our bodies. Chinese Medicine Diet Therapy (CMDT) classifies according to energy, colour, flavour or movement.

The energy of the food refers to the effect that can be generated on our bodies. They are hot, cold, warm, cool and neutral. These energies have different effects on our body and state of health. Hot or warm foods can raise the body’s inner heat, improve circulation and nourish the energy of the body. Cold or cool foods can calm the blood, clear toxins and reduce heat. If there is too much heat or yang in our bodies, we can use cold or cool food to reduce the heat. While if there is too much cold or yin in our body, we can use hot or warming foods to minimise the cold.

Here are some examples of foods with different energies:

Examples of foods with different energies

There are five flavours of food that correspond to our Zang-Fu organs and meridians, according to the Five Element Theory. The five flavours are sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty. Some foods may have multiple flavours or a bland flavour. We can use food with specific flavours to target imbalances in the organs.

Examples of foods with different flavours

In Chinese Medicine, food can help to move qi and vital substances to specific areas of our body. The movements are lifting, floating, lowering and sinking. Lifting food allows qi and vital substances to move from the lower body towards the upper while lowering foods allows substances to move from the upper body towards the lower. Floating foods allow substances to move from inside towards the outside, while sinking foods allow qi and vital substances to move from the outside towards the inside. Lifting and floating food are associated with warm, hot, pungent or sweet food. Lowering and sinking foods are associated with cool, cold, sour, salty or bitter foods. 

How to incorporate Chinese Medicine Diet Therapy?

The first step to incorporating CMDT to maintain health and wellness is to consider your daily diet. Do you eat regular meals at regular times? Do you include a variety of warm and cool foods and beverages? Or maybe you have a preference for flavour or foods? Is there a particular type of food you are craving at certain times of the day? These are all questions that TCM will consider when making recommendations for diet therapy.

In CMDT, it is essential to include a full and balanced range of foods in your diet. A balanced diet will help to preserve health and maintain wellness. If you overeat foods with specific energies, tastes or movement, this will create imbalances in your body. The combination of foods with different properties can be used to affect the imbalances in our bodies. You can incorporate CMDT into your TCM treatment or in the maintenance of health and prevention of disease. 

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