The Sacred Shift | Intuitive Guidance With Suzette Lindo

I’ve studied the idea of using food to cure the body over the years. The piece below is from “The budding optimist,” and I’ve included the passages I think are most important. The article discusses their observations and suggestions for using food to heal the body.

Article: A balanced, healthy person should strive to eat foods from each of these categories. But for people with a health condition related to a specific organ, they should eat more foods of the colour that’s associated with that organ.

For example, I suffered from severe anemia when I was undergoing treatment for Leukemia. During that period, I ate a lot of red beets. Why? Because red is associated with the heart and blood system. This really helped me with my energy level even though my hemoglobin level was constantly low.

To help maintain my lung health, I regularly eat a dish made with a type of mushroom called “snow mushroom” and Chinese almonds.

I boil the cauliflower-shaped snow mushroom with the Chinese almonds in my Instapot (or any pressure cooker will do) for an hour, until the mixture has a gelatinous consistency. This is a classic recipe in Chinese food therapy that benefits the lungs. Both ingredients are—you guessed it—white.

Again, the idea is that we can enhance organ functions and achieve better overall health by using these flavours in an intentional, mindful way. For example, incorporating more sour foods into your diet will help strengthen and detoxify the liver while eating bitter foods benefits the heart and small intestines and helps with alleviating anxiety and excessive heat within the body.

Here’s a detailed list of the 9 different constitutions according to TCM and the characteristics linked to each constitution.

http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/lifestyles/nine_body_constitutions_in_chinese_medicine.html

Once you’ve determined your specific constitution type, try to be more mindful of the yin and yang qualities of your food and how they can impact your body. There might be certain foods you’ll have to avoid and other foods you should eat more of.

Avoid Cold Foods and Beverages

What I usually tell them—without getting too deep into the whole yin and yang theory—is that cold foods or beverages have a significant cooling effect on the body. When you take in too much of these cooling foods or beverages over time, it can have a negative effect on your energy balance.

If you have digestive issues such as bloating and gas, or you’re a woman who suffers from painful cramps during your menstrual cycle, I encourage you to avoid cold beverages and foods for at least a couple of months. You’ll really notice an improvement in these symptoms.

And this emphasis on balance and moderation extends to different cooking methods too. Grilling, frying, and baking will drastically increase the level of yang in the food whereas steaming and boiling won’t have the same dramatic effect.

Raw, uncooked foods like salads or smoothies will have the highest levels of yin. Instead of grilling, frying or baking your meals every day, or eat nothing but salads and smoothies on the opposite side of the spectrum, aim for the middle by steaming and boiling your meals more often.

http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/lifestyles/nine_body_constitutions_in_chinese_medicine.html