Our columnist explores the foods that help our vital energy thrive
Nourish your Qi
It is impossible to have too much Qi; we can have a lack of Qi, or stagnation of Qi but we cannot have an excess of it. One of our main sources of Qi is food. Chinese Medicine have always put a great deal of importance on food as being an important component to our overall health and wellbeing. Yet it is not only the food that we eat that is important, but also our ability to extract and receive the nourishment from the food. This is often the missing ingredient is our perfectionism-driven society where comparisons and anxiety are at endemic proportions. How and why, we eat is as important as what we eat. Our belief around food is central to how we receive the nourishment from it; so, if we believe something is bad for us, it probably will be. Learning to have a relaxed attitude towards food, one where the food is appreciated and savored will improve the body’s ability to receive nourishment from it.
What constitutes a Qi -building diet?
• Fruit and vegetables
• Good quality protein
• Fresh food, local and organic (where possible)
• Sprouted seeds
• Mostly cooked foods especially in winter
• Some raw food can be included if the digestion is strong, but no raw after 4pm
• Avoid refined carbohydrates in favour of complex ones; these release energy slowly making them more Qi-rich. Whole grains are a good example of this.
The best Qi tonics
As you would expect the best Qi tonics are vegetables, fruits, wholegrains. Sweet vegetables tend to be a great source of Qi since they also support the stomach and spleen, the main organs of digestions. Sweet potato, butternut squash, pumpkin and beets are all good examples of this. Roasting them slowly in the oven until soft, will further enhance their Qi-giving properties.
A practitioner of Chinese Medicine can devise a personal diet based o
