FOOD THERAPY
Food Therapy is the prescription of food cures for certain health conditions. Foods are often prescribed as a supplement to acupuncture or herbal medicine treatment, and is something that can help the patient to become more active in their recovery. Recipes for self healing then become part of the patient’s own first-aid kit against disease.
Unlike the typical modern day approach to food, which focuses on vitamins, mineral, micro-nutrients and calories, Chinese Medicine Food Therapy primarily categorises foods according to their actions upon the body: eg. warming, cooling, drying, moistening.
Eat According to Your Constitution
Chinese Medicine has always understood that the foods we eat are potent medicines. Food is just like any other medicine, if you eat the wrong type of food for your constitution, you can become very unwell as your body struggles to find harmony. The Chinese Medicine approach to Food Therapy recognises that there are no “one size fits all” approaches to anything, especially when it comes to the medicine that we take 3 times each day: our food.
Food Therapy in the West
Traditional Chinese Medicine separated the healing power of food into a separate branch of medicine: Food Therapy, and many healing recipes were documented in the ancient texts, right the way through to modern times. Whilst many of the healing recipes described in Chinese Medical texts are indeed intended for medicinal purposes, they don’t taste that great and would be extremely difficult to tailor to the typical modern western palate. The focus of Chinese Medicine Food Therapy in the west has been to give people an understanding of how they can modify the recipes that they know and love into recipes that are suited to their constitution and can help to support the health outcomes they desire.
Individualised advice for food therapy is included during your Internal medicine or Dermatology consultation sessions. Supplementary herbal products to be incorporated into your diet are available to purchase in the clinic.