Ping Ming Health
2) Warming foods
3) Balanced, neutral foods (neither cool nor warm)
1) Effects of cooling foods
Cooling food has effects of clearing heat and toxins, cooling and calming the blood and nourishing yin. These types of food are suitable for people who have heat constitution of the body. Usually these people have the following symptoms: The body feeling hot, perspiration, thirst, constipation, pungent odourous wind and stools, burning of the anus area after bowl movement, anxiety, red eyes, red face, emotional, head aches, vivid dreams, ulcers in the mouth or tongue, cold sores around the mouth, red tongue with a thick yellow coating on the tongue, rapid pulse, heart burn and dark or yellow urine.
If you have any of the symptoms listed above, the following cooling foods are suitable to be eaten:
Cooling foods
| Fruits | Vegetables | Grains, Legumes & Seeds | Meat, Seafood & Dairy | Condiments & Beverages |
| Apple Banana Grapefruit Kiwifruit Lemon Orange Pear Persimmon Star Fruit Strawberry Watermelon |
Alfalfa sprouts Asparagus Bamboo Shoot Bitter Melon Celery Chinese Radish (Daikon) Cucumber Eggplant Green leafy vegetables Kelp Lettuce Lotus Root Mushroom Spinach Swiss Chard Tomato Water Chestnut Watercress Winter Melon |
Barley Buckwheat Millet Mung Bean Soy Bean Tofu Wheat bran Whole wheat |
Clam Chicken Egg Crab Duck Egg Rabbit Seaweed |
Chrysanthemum Tea Green Tea Peppermint Tea Salt Sesame oil |
2) Effects of warming foods
Warming foods have the effects of raising the yang, energy (qi) of organs and warming and improving the circulation and dispelling the cold. These types of food are suitable for people who are yang deficient. Usually with the following symptoms; cold hand, cold feet, cold body, diarrhea, stomach pains or discomfort after eating or drinking cold things, bloating after eating, lack of energy, sore joints, oedema and fluid retention.
If you have any of the following symptoms listed above, it is suitable to eat more of the following warming foods:
Warming foods
| Fruits | Vegetables | Grains, Legumes & Seeds | Meat, Seafood & Dairy | Condiments & Beverages |
| Cherry Chinese Red Dates Coconut meat Coconut milk Guava Hawthorn Fruit Longan Lychee Mandarin peel (dried) Mango Nectarine Peach Raspberry |
Chives Leek Mustard greens Onion Pumpkin Squash |
Caraway seed Chestnut Glutinous Rice Malt Pine nut Pistachio nut Walnut |
Butter Chicken Deer (Venison) Eel Goat Milk Ham Lamb Mussel Prawns (shrimp) |
Basil Brown Sugar Chilli Cinnamon Clove Coffee Coriander Fennel seed Garlic Ginger Ginseng Nutmeg Pepper Rosemary Spearmint Vinegar Wine |
3) Foods which are neither warm nor cold, and are suitable for any type of body;
Neutral foods
| Fruits | Vegetables | Grains, Legumes & Seeds | Meat, Seafood & Dairy | Condiments & Beverages |
| Apricot Figs Goji Berries Grape Olive Papaya Pineapple Plum |
Black fungus mushrooms Carrot Chinese cabbage Corn Potato Pumpkin Shiitake mushroom Sweet potato Taro Turnip White fungus |
Adzuki Bean Almond Black sesame seed Black soybean Broad bean Kidney bean Lotus seed Peanut Peas Rice bran Rye String bean Sunflower seed White rice Yellow soybean |
Abalone Beef Cow’s milk Duck Fish Oyster Pork Scallop |
Peanut oil Honey Saffron Licorice |
The food we eat every day affects our body’s balance. In the clinic we find that many diseases are caused, or made worse by eating the wrong foods. Therefore it is important to know your own body’s constitution so you can find out what foods are best for you. If you do not know your constitution you can make a visit to an experienced TCM practitioner to find out.
Traditional Chinese medicine also believes that during different seasons we should eat more certain cooling or warming foods which can help to combat the changing weather. As Chinese medicine also considers that the human body and health are associated with the environment, so changes in the weather can affect our body and therefore our health.
For example, in summer, it is very hot and dry, which can cause the body to acquire heat and can dry out our body leading to dry skin, constipation and lack of fluid in the body. Thus if we eat more cooling food, it can balance the body which has been attacked by the hot summer.
Usually we suggest you to eat local seasonal fruit and vegetables as they are most suitable for the body during a particular season.
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http://www.pingminghealth.com/article/581/warming-and-cooling-characteristics-of-common-foods/