Fire Season

In Chinese Dietary therapy, the foods recommended to eat are much like using Chinese herbal therapy.

 

Foods have a temperature to them that should be considered based on the internal and external environments of the person.

Summer is the season of the Big Yang, the Fire Phase of the 5 element Theory. Heat can consume body fluids and harms the Yin. Therefore, it is recommended  to eat predominantly cooling foods and Yin foods to disperse heat and build body fluids. The flavor of the Fire Element (which includes the Heart and Small Intestine) is bitter and cool or cold.

Recommended Summer Foods:
 

Fruit juices and fruit:
Apple, lemon, kiwi, melon, orange, pear, pineapple and tangerine (think juicy fruits).

Cooling foods:
Cucumber, spinach, tomato, salads, yogurt, wheat, barley, black or green tea, cacao, hibiscus water/tea, mineral water, fennel tea, mussels

Avoid:
Dry and energetically hot foods such as coffee, and acrid spices such as chili, ginger, cinnamon, garlic and green onion.
Avoiding ice-cold foods and beverages as well as ice cream because it can abruptly block the stomach’s digestive energy.

 

Further Consideration should be taken for our damp Summer environment

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Dampness

We live in a very damp environment during the Summer, so further consideration should be taken to help balance the damp environment outside with any dampness in the body.

Overview
Dampness creates signs of stagnation and sluggishness, the person may feel tired, feel heaviness of the limbs or a heavy body. If there is pain, it’s usually fixed in one location, movement becomes difficult and numbness may appear. Conditions of dampness include edema or watery accumulations in all or parts of the body, excess mucus, tumors, cysts, parasites, yeasts such as candida, fungi, excess body weight, and a thick and or greasy tongue coating.

Dampness affects the spleen-pancreas – the intestines and digestion in general – symptoms may include lack of appetite, bloated abdomen, watery stools, feelings of heaviness, particularly the head. Damp diseases in general have a sluggish, stagnant quality and often take a long time to cure, which is why diet is extremely important.

What are some of the causes?
Dampness can occur from a diet of refined, highly processed foods, stale, rotten or chemically treated foods, too many ingredients in a meal, late-night eating, overeating. Two thirds of the typical diet in the United States consists of animal products which promote dampness.

Overwork without enough rest can also lead to a deficiency of the spleen which can lead to dampness accumulation in the body.  Overexposure to dampness in the environment will worsen internal damp conditions.
 

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Here are our Food Recommendations to nourish the Heart, Spleen, Stomach and Small Intestines.

 

Foods which dry dampness:
*These foods are typically bitter and/or aromatic in taste
Lettuce, Celery, Turnip, Rye, Amaranth, Aduki-bean, Wild Blue-green Algae, Alfalfa Sprouts, Pumpkin, Vinegar, Papaya, Corn, Scallion, Raw Honey
 
Herbs which dry dampness:
Chaparral, Pau d'arco, Valerian, Chamomile

Foods that promote dampness or mucus & should be avoided or limited:
Too much raw cold food (signs of excess raw-food consumption include weakness, coldness and watery stools), Dairy Products (cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs), Tofu, Excess meats (especially red meats), Soy products, Pineapple, Salt, Concentrated Sweeteners

Exercise:
Exercise is essential as well. Just as a damp cloth does not mold if it is hung out in circulating air, appropriate exercise oxygenates the body.

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You’ll notice that some acrid foods are recommended for dampness but in the summer just eat them more sparingly as they can produce more heat and injure fluids.

You’ll also notice that pineapple is a fruit that contributes to dampness, again just eat sparingly in our damp environment.

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Happy Solstice & Fire Season!

 

With love and light,

 

Noemi