Which Foods Should I Eat?
/Is drinking cola good or bad?
My answer is both, good and bad. I am not going to explain the good part here. I want to hear your opinion. What is bad, then? Many will mention that soft drinks contain sugar and caffeine. This is only half true in my opinion. I have to bring up primary school education before my answer. We learned as follows.
When we breathe air, we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Oxygen is good for our body and carbon dioxide is the product after exchanging waste materials with oxygen. Cola is made of carbonated water. What is the carbonated water? It is water containing carbon dioxide. When you drink cola, there will be more carbon dioxide in the body. All cells have to work harder to get rid of this unnecessary gas, especially the lung. Why do you spend money to have your body work harder?
This kind of information is very basic for better health. Most of us are interested in more advanced and updated knowledge. In my opinion we must have a good foundation, otherwise we are building on sand.
Some think that taking all kinds of foods is the best way. Many believe this. Most of us don’t follow this either, even though this could help us. However I don’t fully agree with this theory. The reason is this may apply to only 50% of population. There are certain body constitutions that benefit from taking all kinds of foods, but not all body constitutions benefit.
Humans belong to yang, vegetables and fruits belong to yin
Moving is yang and fixed is yin. Human beings are moveable, so belong to yang. Fruits and vegetables are fixed, so belong to yin. Human beings breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Trees and vegetables breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. If we take more vegetables and fruits, what a good combination of yin and yang!
Yin and Yang body types
One Indian born in Alaska used to hunt whales, bears and some wild animals while he was young. He used to eat these animals. He studied about nutrition and became a nutritionist. He advised his clients to take more vegetables and fruits. They were happy about his advice and became better. He himself also took more vegetables and fruits by textbooks.
Unfortunately he became sick. While he was in the hospital bed, he wondered why he became sick, even though he ate foods by the book. He couldn’t get the answer. He recalled his childhood of hunting and eating wild animals. He was healthy and had full of energy when he was young. He missed his childhood eating on the hospital bed, so he began to eat more meats and recovered from his sickness. Eating more vegetables is not always the answer.
Most of you who read this might understand western nutrition theory better than eastern theory. I am not an expert on western theory, but I have my opinion on eastern theory. We must understand both eastern and western theories and practice both. The whole concept of eastern nutrition is based on yin and yang. Making a balance of yin and yang is the best choice.
I assume this Indian was born in the cold weather of Alaska weather. If so, his body condition is closer to yin. Yin is cold and yang is warm. Look at wild animals. They belong to yang. We watch bears playing on the top of ice or snow. If bears are a cold type animal, they may not survive in cold conditions. This means bears belong to yang type. Whales also belong to yang. Most vegetables belong to yin. When the man with the yin body took yang foods, he was healthy when he was young. When yin body takes more yin foods (vegetables) in adulthood, this makes his body unbalanced and made him sick. I believe this makes sense to you by now. In addition, if he took more yang type vegetables as discussed below, I think he might prevent his sickness.
There is no full yin and no full yang
Now you may have a question whether all fruits and vegetables belong to yin and all animals belong to yang. The answer is not so. All in nature consists of yin and yang. There is no full yin and no full yang, meaning there is no absolute in yin and yang theory. We can say now that some fruits and vegetables belong to yang and some animals belong to yin. For example, pork is a cold food. As pigs are so cold, they have so much fat on their outer skin to protect their body against cold. If a yin type person over-consumes pork, do you think this person becomes healthy? What about yang type person consume more yang type foods?
Here is another example. Let us discuss aloe vera. This grows in the desert which is dry and hot. The only plants which can survive in this condition must be wet and cold. So aloe vera is cold type. If yang type person uses aloe vera, this is wonderful. If yin type uses aloe vera, this will make his condition worse.
Americans consume lots of breads. Breads are made of wheat most of times. Is wheat yin or yang? Unless you understand this well, you may not become healthy. What about sugar or salt, that everybody talks about?
Body Types and Food Types
- Find what types of body I belong to, yin or yang.
- Find which foods belong to yin or yang
When we know our body type and food type, we can choose something right for us.
There are four different body types according to famous Korean scholar Lee, JaeMa. These are Tai yang, Shao yang, Tai yin and Shao yin.
This theory is every person belongs to one of four groups. There are also certain foods to help better health for each group. One day consists of morning, afternoon, evening and night. For example, some prefer to study in the morning and others prefer at night. Everyone has their own preference as they have different body types. One year consists of spring, summer, fall and winter. Some people like summer and others like winter. This is also due to different body types. We apply this theory to our body to have better health.
Basic characteristics of the Four Constitutions
The Four Constitutions are based on the size and strength of functioning of different organs.
- Taiyang: large lung and small liver. The function of lung is strong and function of liver is weak.
- Shaoyang: large spleen and small kidney. The function of spleen is strong and function of kidney is weak.
- Taiyin: large liver and small lung. The function of liver is strong and function of lung is weak.
- Shaoyin: large kidney and small spleen. The function of kidney is strong and function of spleen is weak.
This size difference determines personal character and pathology.
Foods for each constitutional type
Taiyang
- Good foods: grape, kiwi, cherry, Chinese quince, buckwheat, buckwheat jelly, fruit of Actinida arguta, shellfish, crucian carp, cuttlefish, crab, shrimp, sea slug, pine needle tea, non-glutinous rice, Chinese cabbage, carp, octopus, wild grapes, orange juice,
- Bad foods: beef, sugar, radish, yellow corbina (croaker)
Shaoyang
- Good foods: melon, apple, strawberry, water melon, tomato, grape, red bean, hulled millet, mung bean, sesame, potato, lettuce, egg, dropwart, cucumber, eggplant, pumpkin, Korean cabbage, sea slug, abalone, snapping turtle, swellfish, sweetfish, snakehead, oyster, crab, shrimp, pork, duck
- Bad foods: milk, taffy, honey, peanut
Taiyin
- Good foods: walnut, persimmon, apricot, plum, pear, ginkgo nut, peach, pine nut, Japanese apricot, watermelon, glutinous rice, Job’s tear, beans, millet, perilla, radish, eggplant, taro, mushroom, platycodon, sweet potato, bracken, condonopsis lanceolate, spinach, lotus root, bean sprout, bean curd, carp, herring, sardine, brown seaweed, laver, cuttlefish, sea tangle, brown sugar, beef
- Bad foods: Chinese cabbage, apple, coffee, pork
Shaoyin
- Good foods: jujube, orange, apple, peach, non-glutinous rice, barley, ginger, garlic, carrot, spinach, shepherd’s purse, cabbage, leek, crown daisy, green onion, mustard, goat, pheasant, sesame, rabbit, roe deer, chicken, dover, anchovy, shrimp, croaker, globefish, yellow corbina, whitebait, eel, flatfish, sea bass, gray mullet, mandarin fish, hard shelled mussel, mudfish, taffy, honey, ginseng, cinnamon, beer
- Bad foods: red bean, mung bean, buckwheat noodle, beef, milk, pork, pear, water melon, cucumber
Now it is you who have to take an action to find your own body type and take better care for your body.
There are lots of foods which are not listed here. When you visit our clinic, we will advise you how to find better or bad foods on your own.
How much meat should I eat?
The ratio of canine teeth (4) and molar teeth (grinding teeth) and front teeth (24) is 1:6 excluding wisdom teeth. The canine tooth are good for meat food and molars are good for vegetables. We may apply this information to eat more vegetable in our diet than meat. I suggest eating meat once a week based on the ratio of 1:6.
Should we eat raw or cooked food?
Some believe that eating raw food is only way to be healthy. The reason is that all important nutritional values can be kept without being destroyed while cooking. It is true that many vitamins lose values or destroyed while cooking.
What about cooked food? Is this bad? The answer is good and bad, too. Why? Cooked food is better for digestion than raw food. And there is another reason, but I’ll discuss that in another article.
Should I drink water while eating?
Some believe it’s better not to drink water while eating so we don’t dilute the digestive fluids. This theory doesn’t consider different bodily constitutions.
Korean 4 Needle Acupuncture combined with the right treatment and the right foods for your personal constitution can give excellent results.
As I mentioned before, there is no absolute that applies to everyone. There are many theories in the market. All these confuse many consumers who don’t understand the whole picture. When you come to visit me at my clinic, we will give you advice on which one is better for you, what type of constitution you belong to.
