Nutrition and the Five Tastes and Temperatures in Chinese Medicine
In Oriental medicine, a well balanced diet is comprised of roughly 20% of each of the following five tastes (or flavors): sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and salty. The typical American diet tends to be improperly weighted with too many salty and sweet tastes. You might ask: why does this matter? Oriental medicine, also known as Chinese medicine, is a health system based on achieving balance, moderation and harmony in all aspects of a person’s well-being. Culturally, we tend to underestimate and de-emphasize our food choices as a vital component in preservation of health. Chinese medicine wholeheartedly integrates food and dietary principles to restore and maintain health.
Chinese medicine categorizes both herbs and foods based on their inherent characteristics. Two of the most common criteria in selecting an herb or food to remedy a particular condition are its thermal and sensory properties. The Chinese medicine classification of foods by temperature is evaluated in both the thermal nature of the food itself and the way it is prepared. This measure – expressed as hot, warm, neutral, cool and cold – is an energetic temperature that indicates the effect a particular food has on the body when ingested. This translates into how we use foods as a thermal vehicle either to warm or cool various parts of the body, as needed, to aid in the reversal of a condition.
The Five Tastes is another level of food categorization in Chinese medicine. Similar to food temperatures, the five tastes refer to the quality of energy a food or herb emits in the action of ingestion and in process of digestion. In Chinese medicine, each flavor has an affinity and energetic correspondence mapped to specific internal organs. This creates another layer of precision and personalization in the selection of foods and herbs to treat an individual with specific complaints.
A practitioner of Oriental Medicine will assess your health, symptoms and dietary habits in order to form a complete diagnosis. Often, dietary recommendations are made to supplement and support your treatment plan.
Sharon Sherman is a Licensed Practitioner of Oriental Medicine (L.OM.), specializing in Acupuncture, Chinese Herbology and Oriental Medicine. Sharon is the founder of Empirical Point, LLC. a private practice with offices in the Mt. Airy and Center City neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Sharon graduated with honors and holds a Masters of Science degree in Oriental Medicine from the Tri-State College of Acupuncture in New York, NY. Sharon is Board certified as a Diplomate in Oriental Medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine. To view information on Sharon’s practice or to read more about Chinese medicine please see Philadelphia Acupuncture website. and Philadelphia Acupuncture Blog.
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