The traditional Chinese medicine diet – What to eat every day

7 May 2025


The traditional Chinese medicine diet – What to eat every day



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what are the foods that can heal you and what are the foods that can harm you know in this video we're going to jump into the traditional Chinese medicine diet because you might be surprised as you go through this video lots of foods that you think you should be consuming like the medical mediums celery juice cleanse are actually not considered healthy for a lot of the people that are watching this video in this video we'll jump in more with lots of the specifics and we'll share what foods are good for which person and which foods are not good for which person hey guys I'm Dr Alex hin board licensed acupuncturist and doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book master of the day so let's jump in right here so let's talk about celery juice for example because this is a perfect jumping off point I had a patient once come in years ago in the student clinic and she was this very very thin pale anemic weak-looking woman had very very poor digestion she was complaining about getting a food baby with every meal even diarrhea and looser bowel movements lots of bloating lots of food allergies she felt cold often and was complaining of hypo thyroid like symptoms you know loose and thin and falling hair brittle hair lots of fatigue Etc and as we were discussing more and more more in the student clinics she was saying you know I'm really loving this celery juice cleanse this diet from the medical medium and I'm really trying to figure out why I'm not feeling that well though now this is a great moment as a teaching student right because for me this is a great example of what Eastern versus Western dietetics looks like this woman had a pattern of what we call call spleen dampness and interior cold stomach cold what these mean in modern scientific terms or layman terms dampness is often the gut microbiome destruction that you see in excessive bloating food allergies and loose stools and stomach cold is often when people have not enough stomach acid and low pancreatic enzyme production so anything they eat they feel like it's food sitting in their stomach they're getting bloated or full easily or they get loose stools now the problem with the celery juice while plants are health in general raw vegetables especially raw celery is considered one of the coldest things you could consume from a Chinese medicine point of view cold meaning on a what they call a chi level like the temperature of food temperature meaning like the spice of Ginger or the nice cooling sensation of a iced lemonade in summer so celery is a lot more on the lines of like watermelon juice you would only want to drink that on a hot summer day you would not want to be drinking that in a cold Midwestern summer but this woman have been convinced she should be drinking 30 40 50 ounces of this daily so in Chinese medicine this would be extremely contraindicated she should be having foods that are like meat or like oatmeal for breakfast with warming spices lots of cinnamon some honey in there maybe a little bit of fruit but she was doing the exact opposite and having ice cold smoothies with ice cubes protein powder that was way based and then also celery juice there's lots of this messaging East versus West like green tea green tea is so good for you right green tea is bitter and cold so if you're someone who easily gets indigested you don't have a good appetite you are cold and you're someone who has lots of food allergies green tea is not the thing to drink 10 times a day you're better off with like a PO tea like more of like a warming black tea or Ginger cardamum like in more Indian chai tea now great lesson for dietetics from the Chinese medicine point of view but what are the macr level principles of dietetics according to traditional Chinese medicine because in the west we're used to like the food pyramid right if you go to like a dietitian but what is the Eastern equivalent of that that's what we're going to talk about now and again don't forget you guys put together this really great root cause quiz it's the first link below the video this is something that's going to help you a lot figure out what your digestive symptoms are what organ Network they're coming from you can even score yourself on how many of the symptoms you have of each organ Network problem whether it's stomach pancreas gallbladder large intestine a microbiome issue right small intestine the first link below this video it pairs really well with this so let's jump in a little more and download that so principle number one is the balance of Yin and Y now lest you think this is some kind of esoteric concept it is actually a very clinical concept so when we talk about the balance of Yin and Yang we're often talking about Foods being classified according to their Yin cooling nature or Yang warming nature so for example a balance diet would ultimately involve both in your meals right but someone for example with excess stomach heat is often acid reflux red face they feel warm often have acne sometimes also have headaches bad breath prone to sore throats all of this is excess heat so you'd be better off having a more cooling diet more vegetables that are sauteed more of that green tea less coffee less alcohol less smoking less fried food less Meats those kinds of things would benefit that person a lot and the opposite is true if you have you know for example stomach cold this is the kind of person who shouldn't be eating raw vegetables they should stay away from a raw vegan diet they should do more Meats more cooked vegetables more warming stews and spices now the second theory is the Five Element Theory so Five Element Theory basically connects certain foods and flavors like sweet sour salty bitter Etc to certain organs and organ functions so for example wood fire earth metal water organs and their corresponding flavors but each element and organ has a specific taste color and food associated with them for example sour foods are linked to the liver which is the wood element or wood phase while bitter foods are associated often with the heart and the fire now a clinical example is we say bit reduces the Earth organs so Earth is like your stomach spleen pancreas so when you've overeaten the way you reduce this excess food in digestion is by having bitters there's a reason why there digestive bitters there are alcoholic drinks that are bitters like a Negron right all of these are traditional indigenous wisdom for how to improve your digestive function the third principle is the energetic qualities of food or the temperature so in traditional Chinese medicine we consider not just the nutritional content of food but also also the temperature like hot Warm Neutral cool or cold as well as the flavor sweet sour bitter salty pungent these are the two qualities that we also use in terms of the herbal medicine for example lots of those warming stimulating spices Ginger cardamum clove cinnamon Twigs cinnamon bark are stimulating and improve metabolism and they will often for example stimulate appetite but if you have a great appetite that may not be a good thing for these Foods they influence basically what we call the body's Chi and could support or disrupt that balance so if you have tons of acid reflux and burning in the acne red face you're warm stay away from pungent warming spices you'd be better off on a vegetarian based diet for at least a certain period of time and the final principle is seasonal eating so our most ancient medical texts or I should say one of the most important ancient texts the yellow Emperor's inner classic the hungi Ning says the cultivated person the person who lives a long life adjusts their lifestyle and even their eating to the chi or the quality of each season so in summer you probably shouldn't be EA in ginger every single day and eating a very highly warming diet even though I know in a lot of tropical climates where it's hot and humid they do eat lots of pungent spices to cool down but winter is the season for these hearty soups bone broth chicken soup hot tea in the morning right hot cocoa in the summer it's why people like drinking cucumber mint lemon tea right these foods have a naturally cooling quality to them and that quality is what ancient doctors is called the chi right related to like the temperature of it so adjusting your eating seasonally and I would say even for seasons of your own life right if you're in a high stress phase of life and you notice that you get lots of indigestion maybe just eat a little bit lighter and adopt a little bit more of a cooling diet if you're getting some acid reflux flaring up or maybe if you're a professional who needs five cups of coffee during that tough accounting season and you're not going to take my advice to not drink five cups of coffee have a more simple temperature cooling diet so you're not getting much GI upset do more vegetarian meals do more cooked vegetables stay away from heavy fried greasy Foods so what does the actual research say on this though you know for example there's this idea that like bitter foods can improve your digestion right but is there actual any evidence for that when the Chinese medicine medical Classics say eat bitter to reduce the Earth organs or eat sour to tonify the liver like what does this stuff mean clinically so let's talk about the flavor of bitter it is one of the least enjoyable flavors most of us like to eat dandelion greens bitter melon certain kind of greens even like Shard can be a little bitter sometimes s but I should say these bitters for example have a number of clinically proven benefits so for example check out this research paper in the Journal of phyto Medicine talks about billiary elimination of lipids and bile acids induced by an artichoke leaf extract so artichoke leaf extract falls into that bitter herb category what they found was that bitter compounds stimulate the taste receptors that trigger the digestive system to increase B production helps in breaking down fats and AIDS in the absorption of fat soluble vitamins like a a k and that regular exposion of bile from the gallbladder can actually prevent the formation of gall stones by avoiding the buildup of B and it is for this exact same reason that bitter foods can help the liver in its detoxification process so these bitters can also help in the production of certain gastric and digestive juices which can help with bloating constipation and gas so that's a rough overview on TCM dietetics we also have a couple other videos on the channel here on TCM dietetics and how you can apply it clinically in your day-to-day life but there's also this quiz we put together that is a very useful resource that will help you figure that out again guys don't forget I work with a limited number of new patients every month in my clinic in Los Angeles or virtually via tele medicine so if you're interested go to Dr Alex hind.com clinic or check out the information to call us or email us in the link in the bio right below here there's information and we also have another related video on TCM dietetics right up here

#traditional #Chinese #medicine #diet #eat #day

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37 Comments
  1. Hey guys, discover what is likely causing your symptoms according to Traditional Chinese Medicine by taking my FREE Root Cause Quiz. Download it here ➔ https://dralexheyne.com/quiz/

  2. Thank you so much for this video!!! I wish there were more informational videos on TCM 💚

  3. What a best breakfast for person with diabetes in Tcm

  4. What about sourdough bread? Does this affect the liver since it is carbs?

  5. Thank you so much for this video. It was very informative.

  6. Are there people for example with italian genes that just might tolerate strong coffee better then others?

  7. Memo: in summer u shouldnt be eating ginger every day probably

  8. Memo: sour foods are linked to the liver

  9. Memo: sour foods are linked to the liver

  10. Memo: yin cooling nature yang warming nature

  11. Memo: chai tea is warming green tea cooling

  12. Memo: chai tea is warming green tea cooling

  13. Memo: raw celery is ome of the coldest things u can consume

  14. Memo: dampness-> gut microbiome destruction

  15. Memo: celery cleanse juice is not considered healthy for many people

  16. This makes no sense. What if you have symptoms of both "excess stomach cold" and "excess stomach heat"? What then? Are you too "cold" or too "hot"? What are you supposed to do then

  17. Thank u dr Alex , I'm a Chinese learning my own culture from a westerner XD

  18. Well that explains why I'm so bloated when I consume fruits (some fruits are OK but not too much) and raw veg (I would eat huge amounts of salads in the past (wanting to be super healthy once again) but I learned the hard way that just because something is good for you it doesn't mean that it's good for YOU cause our bodies function differently which is why some people can eat whatever they want with no issues whereas peope like me don't have that luxury. I watched tons of videos with other people who have similar issues and no one really explained about this. I actually have an appreciation for Chinese culture which is why I clicked on your video.

  19. In my thirties i learned the Value of the bitter taste 🫡💫💫💫💫

  20. Speeeeak 🫡💥💫 the raw Vegan is Agenda driven 🗯😱…TCM & Ayurveda changed my life🕉🕉☯️☯️🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

  21. Thank you, but could you slow down the speed?

  22. Show: I am the god of medicine
    It’s a compilation of short episode.
    Total watch time is about 1h 50m long.

  23. Whats it mean when u cant drink green tea

  24. What about fermented food and Chinese medicine?

  25. Can you do a video on cannabis

  26. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), like many aspects of ancient Chinese philosophy, is deeply influenced by the "I Ching" (Book of Changes). It can be said that the thought system derived from the "I Ching" is foundational to TCM. The basis of the "I Ching" is the system of Yin and Yang interaction, which serves as a model. Ancient people used this Yin-Yang model as a systematic way of thinking to understand the functioning of the human body, which is essentially what TCM is about. Before Chinese culture entered modernity, traces of Yin-Yang model thinking permeated various aspects of daily life.

  27. I would love to know the dosing of poria, gui zhi and yuan zhi to help palpitations. I have them every day. Sometimes 5 a day (great days) and sometimes 5,000 a day (terrible days). Healthy otherwise and been dealing with this for a year now. Found you 1 hour ago and already ordered some Chinese herbs (listed above) I’m just not sure how much to take or how often. Willing to pay for your knowledge in a telemedicine visit if you don’t want to give advice for free. If you are, I appreciate it! Let me know if you can. Thank you!

  28. Mm I love bitter food. Dandelion and chicory.

  29. i have a sore throat acid reflux and sore throat with ulcers on back of mouth andgetting watery acne on body… but i feel chills and cold throughout.. and its not winters yet where i leave….sowhat do i have?

  30. Awesome video. I find your information very beneficial to my study of chinese herbology. I appreciate the effort you provide. Thank you.

  31. I like to Fast and stand out in the rain and see rainbows! It is esoteric, and I draw rainbow energy into my dietary measures.

  32. Thanks for the video! Does TCM address intermittant fasting? I often skip breakfast entirely and that seems to be beneficial for my weak stomach.

  33. This is so interesting that traditional chinese way of addressing food and their affect on the body (yin and yang balance) and the different tasting food targetting differnt parts of the body is so similar to the ayurvedic concepts . I guess both being easterrn culture would have similar concepts and overlapping herbs

  34. Thank you for addressing the celery juice fad

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