The yin & yang of food - The basics of Oriental diet therapy

To keep our body healthy is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”
~ Buddha

Yang = Hot, Spicy, Acidic
Yin = Cold, Raw, Alkaline

In Oriental culture, the theory of yin and yang in relation to food has been thoroughly investigated and practiced throughout the ages. For thousands of years, the ancient Chinese observed the actions of food on our bodies and our minds. They were able to distinguish which foods were more yang in nature and which foods were more yin.

The most basic principle of the yin and yang of food is found with the essential heating nature of food.

If it is hot, as in spicy hot, it is considered yang. If it is cooling, it is considered yin.

Disease in the human body often manifests as what they consider either a hot disease or a cold disease. Hot disease is found when the patient suffers from a fever and elevated body temperature.

So, in many cases, if such a disease presented, a prescription of yin energy cooling foods would be administered for healing as well as nutritional support. In cases of a disease that brings coldness throughout the body and a colder body temperature, yang energy heating foods would be administered.

It is important to note that the body is around the average temperature of 38˚ Celsius and in most cases, is slightly hotter than the environmental temperature of the external environment. Therefore, to have slightly warm foods is generally considered to be “neutral” because the body’s natural state to be slightly warm.

Here is a list of foods that have been split up into their various states of yin or yang. Depending on your reference material and the cultural context, some foods can be found to vary in their yin or yang categorization. This list, therefore, aims to serve only as a guide.

General Foods

The style of cooking is also considered to influence the yin and yang properties of foods. For example, to bake or cook food over an open flame is considered to be a very yang, hot style of cooking, which, in effect, will add more yang energy to the food. To steam or lightly boil food is considered a gentler way of cooking and, therefore, is considered to be less yang. Therefore, this method would be recommended for those people who tend to have too much yang in their system.

Raw foods are generally considered to be very yin and cold in nature because of the lack of exposure to any yang style cooking. Also, raw foods can often lack hot spices and heat inducing herbs that would bring the food at least up to a neutral warming state for the body. Therefore, in oriental cultures and oriental traditional medicines, raw foods are rarely used or prescribed especially in any case of disease that is presenting cold signs and symptoms. In summer and the hotter months of the year, raw and lighter foods are considered beneficial because of the excessive yang in the atmosphere. However, during winter or the cooler months, it is advised to completely steer clear of cold yin style foods.

The other consideration, in regard to food and the nature of yin and yang, is to do with acidity and alkalinity of foods. Acidity refers to foods or substances that have a pH level of 7 or less. Alkalinity refers to those foods or substances that have a pH level of 7 or over. An alkaline environment is like being in the middle of a green, luscious rainforest. The air and water is clean and pure and the environment is alive and buzzing with life.

An acidic environment is more like being in the centre of a big city. The air is full of petrochemicals, the water has been processed and recycled, the roads and sidewalks are covered in grime and life struggles to survive. A highly acidic environment within our bodies encourages degeneration of tissues, illness, inflammation, and cancer. An alkaline environment in our bodies promotes cellular regeneration, good circulation and elimination, oxygenated blood, healthy tissues, and happy organs.

The ideal pH level for the average human being is slightly alkaline at 7.3-7.45. You can easily get your body’s pH level by using a piece of litmus paper in your saliva or urine first thing in the morning.

Generally, it has been well accepted in the world of modern day nutrition that alkaline based foods are more acceptable and beneficial for health than acidic foods. The general recommendation lays somewhere around 70-80% alkaline food and 20-30% acidic for ideal nutritional health.

For most people in the western world, however, it has been found that diets mainly consist of acidic foods more so then alkaline foods, which, over time, often gives rise and contributes to various diseases, inflammatory conditions, and degenerative conditions. Although this is not a new concept and understanding into the field of nutritional science, it is still not well known or practiced because of the medical field’s slow acceptance to acknowledge that nutrition does in fact play a big part in someone’s overall physical and mental health as well as the aggressive advertising campaigns of mass food production companies.

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