Food-Herb Formulas — Food-Herb Formulas
The ancient Chinese doctors usually used food and herbs as the major and common healing method. These naturally grown food and herbs are completely different with the modern man made, extracts, and GM food supplements.
The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor states:
"For early sickness, people should use food and soup to balance the body;
if the illness has developed further, then use a combination of food and mild herbs;
and if the illness gets very serious, then use herbal treatment".
The food-herb formulas we use belong to the food and mild herb group. The food and herbs are grown and processed naturally. (see Professor Liu). As mild herbs, the Chinese government has approved these under the general food category.
The ancient Chinese doctors used food and herbs in conjunction with the theory of Yin and Yang, the five elements, and the 5 tastes.
The five tastes, and the elements and organs they relate to, are:
- Sour - Wood - Liver
- Bitter - Fire - Heart
- Sweet - Earth - Spleen
- Pungent - Metal - Lung
- Salty - Water - Kidney
All food and herbs have different tastes, which go into different organs. Each food or herb also has other characteristics of its own. For example, raw apple is sweet in taste and goes to the stomach and cools the stomach heat thus helping constipation, whereas cooked apple goes to the spleen and warms and tonics your body.
As well as taste and going to different organs, food and herbs have their own personality. For example, Ginseng has a "Tonic" trait; Ginger is "Moving", Peppermint is "Deleting", and Plums are "Astringent".
Like human beings, food and herbs come from different areas, and have different colours, looks, personality, and characteristics.
A good manager will find the right person to do the job, and a good doctor will find the right food or herb to heal the body. That is the art of management which requires complex knowledge.
Ancient Chinese culture called the human body "The Small Universe", because they believed that the body relates to, and is in symmetry with, the universe (see Chinese Astrology).
The sages categorized food groups, individual foods, and herbs. The general categories are:
- Warm and Hot foods Meat and Nuts
- Neutral foods, Grains and Rice
- Cool and Cold foods Fruit and Vegetables.
For example, if a body organ was "Hot", then a cold food or herb was used to bring the body back into a state of balance (Yin Yang principle). Likewise, if an organ was "Cool", then a warm food or herb was used.
This is the theory of "Zhong" or "Middle", meaning everything in a "Middle State" will lead to harmony, whether it's in the body, the family, the work, the country, or the world. "Middle" is the key to food and herb healing. That is why China is called "Zhong Guo" which translates to "Middle Kingdom".
The common food dishes of today, especially in Canton and Hong Kong still contain these theories. It explains to a degree why the Cantonese people who eat a lot, with all their stresses, poor environment, and minimal exercise, still lead a relatively healthy life with few obese people.
It is commonplace in South China for herbal soups to be incorporated daily into meals. The general public is well versed in understanding what is healthy and what is to be avoided, what foods should not be eaten together, and when to eat and not to eat certain foods.
As Chinese culture is so old (over 5000 years), all this living knowledge has been passed down through each generation and is an integral part of Chinese eating culture. The great value of the food-herb therapy is that it has been naturally used on millions of people over thousands of years, thus leading to huge amounts of information on how food and herbs affect the human body and how to heal illnesses.
The best part for us is that this methodology has already been thoroughly tested on humans over a long period of time, which is a different scientific approach compared to laboratory testing.
Basically, it is a very safe and systematic approach to health.