c r o w d e d + w o r l d // a s i a n + w i s d o m // c h i n e s e + m e d i c i n e // y i n & y a n g + f o o d s YIN AND YANG ---- The Ki Quality of Food. Tweet IT WAS A COLD AND RAINY CHIRSTMAS ON THE SOUTH-EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA THIS YEAR, THE WIND OFTEN DRIVING, AND THE WET GLOOM MORE REMINISCENT OF THE LA NINA YEAR WE HAD LAST YEAR, THAN THE WANNABE EL NINO YEAR WE ARE ENDURING NOW. Of course, Australian Christmases are not meant to be cold, and in anticipation of a typical Downunder scorcher my Mum had pre-ordered a batch of seafood for lunch, to dish up as a summery alternative to the traditional roast. The plan was we would sit out under the trees by the lake (Budgewoi Lake, on the NSW Central Coast north of Sydney), drinking cold beers and pigging out on oysters, cold prawns, Balmain bug (a relative of the lobster), and other Aussie classics. My Mum probably assumed all this chilled food and drink would chill us out, both physically and figuratively. What she didn't realize, however, was that some of these foods (such as the lobster) are actually considered warming foods in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and are perhaps just as warming for the body as the more traditional Christmas turkey and baked potatoes and ham! In other words, you wouldn't necessarily get a cooling effect from eating such fare on a hot day, no matter how long they'd been kept in a fridge (according to TCM, at least!) That said, my Mum had got something right by serving up a small bowl of Japanese wakame seaweed salad, to complement the seafood. As a type of seaweed, wakame is classed as a cold yin food, and is thus perfect for summer. Like many Japanese foods, wakame has some awesome health benefits, and is packed with valuable nutrients, much more than the average vegetable. Even more astoundingly, wakame is purported to cleanse the body from toxins including radiation poisoning! Just before I left Tokyo last year, in the crazy aftermath of the nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima, there was a huge rush on seaweed products, everyone was stocking up on them, and it was widely believed they would help protect the thyroid gland from contamination. The ancient east Asians knew of seaweed's detoxifying powers, and made use of it in their medicine. As it turned out, Christmas Day was rainy and cold, so we didn't need any extra yin in our lunch this year. In fact, we could have done with a bit more yang! (For more on the yin/yang properties of food in TCM and how they can improve your health, click here.) WHAT IS THE QI NATURE OF FOOD? What is yin and yang, that essential dichotomy which lies at the heart of Oriental thought? Why are noodles and chicken and turkey considered "cold" foods (even when eaten hot!), while eggplants and dogmeat are considered "hot"? (and thus perfect meals for cold Chinese and Korean and Vietnamese winter nights) Welcome my friends to the wondrous world of Chinese medicine and cuisine and philosophy -- a world of energy meridians and age-old folk remedies, strange foods and even stranger customs. While many in the West have a cynical view of Chinese medicine (TCM), a growing minority are starting to warm to the accumulated body of Eastern wisdom. Personally, I think there is actually something powerful to TCM and other related fields. This stuff can change your life, if you are only open to experimenting with them. And experimenting with Chinese medicine and the Yin/Yang nature of food, is the entire point of this website. THE NATURE OF KI - In Oriental cultures the lifeforce of the Universe is considered to be a myterious kind of energy called "Qi" (氣, or "Ki" in Japanese). In Japanese for example there is a familiar greeting "Genki desu ka?" which literally means "How is your original lifeforce?" -- is your lifeforce in good order? Charlie Badenhop from the School of Seishindo describes "qi"/"ki" as "common energy source (ki) that helps to run and maintain our environment as well as our individual human systems". He goes on to write: "It is suggested that ki was "born" at the same instant as the rest of the universe, and that we are all born from the ki of the universe. Ki is considered to be an energy that we all have equal access to. It is an energy that courses through our system if we do not restrict it." I understand what Badenhop means. Have ever you had a dramatic spiritual or emotional experience and felt energy literally rushing through your body? I believe this is Qi energy at work, moving through the body. And it is from my experience a physical energy -- a strong energy. YIN AND YANG - The balance between Yin and Yang is very important to the body. For example, it plays a major role in the production of hormones such as progesterone, glycogen and insulin and the expansion and contraction of the lungs, etc. Food is a major source of energy and therefore diet can be modified to change the Yin or Yang state of the body. Foods are able to balance Yin and Yang, and Qi and blood in the body. To prevent and cure diseases, both foods and medicines could exert important roles since they share the same source, are based on the same theory, and have similar medicinal actions, so food and herbs are combined in clinical use. As always, a balanced way of eating desired, relying mainly on grains, beans, seeds, nuts and vegetables, etc. Ultimately, failure to maintain energetic balance (appropriate for your season, climate, constitution, etc) is the root of many illnesses: excessive Yin leads to weakness and excessive Yang to restlessness manifested in inflammation and ulcers. A more comprehensive list of Yin and Yang foods can be seen below. Yin is where energy is expanding and yang is where it is contracting. Food can be further divided into four temperature groups, from Cold (most Yin) to Hot (most Yang), with the neutral ones in the middle. FOUR TEMPERATURES -- Milk Green tea Honey Sugar Salt Oil Fruit juices Potatoes Stimulants Most drugs (such as aspirin) Tropical vegetables and fruits Refined foods Most food additives of a chemical nature. YANG FOODSTUFFS Alcohol Black tea Poultry Seafood Eggs Meat Fish Cheese Spices (This is just a brief list. Between YIN and YANG are the balanced, neutral foodstuffs -- and remember, in the middle is where you want to be to get optimum health and power.) NEUTRAL FOODSTUFFS: Seeds Nuts Vegetables Cereal grains Beans Sea vegetables Temperate fruits (such as apples and pears) Yin and Yang foods can be further broken down into four categories -- cold, cool, warm and hot. These categories have nothing to do with the physical temperatures of the foods, but the energetic effect on the body. For example, Korean and Vietnamese people believe that eating dogmeat heats the body, so it would be considered a "hot" food even if it was eaten cold. As with Yin and Yang foods, the ideal is to stick to the middle, although deviations can be allowed depending on the season, the climate of the place you live, and also your constitution. Some people can be quite Yin and for them Yang food is energizing, so they may find themselves attracted to spicy food, bitter vegetables and so on.
COLD VEGETABLES: Asparagus Bean Sprouts Bok Choi Califlower Celery Chinese Cabbage Chrysanthemum flower Cucumber Dandelion leaf Eggplant Seaweed Snow peas Turnip Water chestnuts White mushroom White peony root Zucchini FRUITS: Banana Blueberry Cantaloupe Cranberry Grapefruit Kiwi Lemon Mango Persimmon Plum Pineapple Rhubarb Tangerine Tomato Watermelon GRAINS: Wheat germ MEAT: Bear Gall Clam Crab Octopus SPICES Salt White pepper. MISC: Soy sauce Sugar cane Tofu	COOL VEGETABLES: Alfalfa sprouts Artichoke Bamboo shoots Bitter Gourd Button mushroom Broccoli Cabbage Carrot Cooked Lettuce Cooked Onion Corn Daikon radish Endive lettuce Lotus root Mushrooms Potato Snow Pea Soybean Sprouts Spinach Swiss chard Tomato FRUITS: Apple Avocado Black currant Cherries Fig Lemon Oranges Pear Prunes Strawberries Tangerine GRAINS Amaranth Barley Buckwheat Millet Wheat SEEDS Lima beans Mung bean Soybean MEAT Duck egg Duck Eggs Frog Oysters Pork Rabbit SPICES Cilantro leaf Marjoram Mint Peppermint Tamarind MISC Beer Cheese Green tea Milk Miso soup Oolong Tea Peppermint Sesame oil Yogurt	WARM VEGETABLES Bell pepper Chive Cooked Tomato Fennel Green bean Green Pepper Kale Kohlrabi Leek Mustard green Onion Oyster mushroom. Parsley Parsnip Pumpkin Squash Sweet potato Watercress FRUITS Blackberry Coconut Dates Grapes Hawthorn fruit Kumquat Litchi Longan Nectarines Pomegranates Quince Raspberry GRAINS Oats Quinoa Safflower Sweet/glutinous rice SEEDS Black bean Chestnut Lotus seed Pine nut Walnut MEAT Anchovy Beef Butter Capers Chicken Eel Fresh water fish Ham Lobster Mussels Pig tripe Sheep & goat Sheep's milk Shrimp Turkey Venison SPICES Anise Basil Bay leaf Caraway Carob Clove Coriander (also known as Chinese parsley or Pak Chee, in Thai.) Cumin Dill seed Fennel Fenugreek Fresh ginger Jasmine Nutmeg Rosemary Sage Spearmint Thyme SWEETENERS Amasake Brown sugar Malt sugar Molasses Sorghum MISC Black tea Coffee Goats milk Plum vinegar Rice vinegar Wine Vinegar	HOT VEGETABLES Garlic Green onion Raw onions Red pepper MEAT Deep-fried or grilled meat. Dog. Sparrow Turtle SPICES Black pepper Cayenne pepper Chili pepper Horseradish/wasabi Mustard MISC Chocolate Cocoa

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By Robert Sullivan. Contact me by email: coderot@gmail.com. Visit my Google + profile.  
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