Freedom Chinese Medicine

Dietary

What we eat is such an important part of our health.  These days it can be confusing to know which foods are best for you.  Your practitioner at Freedom Chinese Medicine will give you expert guidance as to how you can modify what you eat to improve your health, specifically for you, your constitution and lifestyle.

Food as Medicine

Eating for Health

The following guidelines list the simple general dietary practices that are essential for health according to the ancient wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

• Include a large variety of foods in the diet.
• Live on a mainly vegetarian diet of light, simple foods.
• Eat largely whole, unprocessed foods.
• Chew and swallow slowly.
• Relax while eating; avoid eating while reading, watching TV or rushing.
• Eat regularly. The amount of food and time of meals should be similar every day. Optimal is breakfast at about 7am, lunch around 12 noon and supper at 6pm.
• Food intake should be greatest in the morning, a moderate amount at lunch, and a small amount at the evening meal.
• Eat small amounts of food frequently rather than large amounts of food infrequently.
• Avoid eating when in any kind of extreme emotional state.
• Eat moderately at each meal; eat until only 2/3 full.
• Eat clean, fresh, organic and seasonally ripe produce as often as possible.
• Avoid extremes in the diet, such as too hot, spicy, too raw, too cold, or too greasy.
• Balance the five flavours; sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty, to the best of your ability, ask for clarification on flavour categorisation.
• Avoid eating anything 2-3 hours before sleep.
• Harmonise the diet with your individual constitution or problem; ask us for specific advice and information.

Use your noodle: The real Chinese diet is so healthy it could solve the West’s obesity crisis.  Sophie Morris explains how it works – and nutritionists give their verdict

Chinese food has a bad reputation in the UK. The rice-heavy meals and fatty meat dishes are thought to lead straight to obesity and heart disease. But properly prepared, says Chinese food expert Lorraine Clissold, the very opposite is true: the Chinese way of eating is healthy and fulfilling, fights illness and prolongs life.

She also insists, in her book Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories, that a real Chinese diet won’t make you fat, and that the rising levels of obesity observable in China are in fact caused by sugary, overprocessed Western food. Here are some of her Chinese dietary secrets – and the verdict of two Western nutrition experts, Patrick Holford and Ian Marber.

1. Stop counting calories

2. Think of vegetables as dishes

3. Fill up on staple foods

4. Eat until you are full

5. Take liquid food

6. Bring yin and yang into your kitchen

7. Raw power? Not necessarily

8. Use food to keep fit

9. Drink green tea

10. Take restorative exercise

Read More

Exercise

Moving our body is essential to our health.  How we move and our posture is also important.  It can be confusing to know which exercises and movements best improve your health.  Your practitioner at Freedom Chinese Medicine will be able to provide expert guidance on which exercises would best benefit you.  We also run group exercises classes, click here for details.