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Chinese Medicinal Cuisine 1
Medicinal cuisine is a unique characteristic of Chinese food. “Medicine and food are of the same source.” in the early days of human history, people found some foods had curing effects. But only in China, because of the Chinese medicinal theory, the tradition of “treating food as medicine or medicine as food” is retained and carried forward. Chinese medicinal cuisine now becomes a systematic theory. There is an old saying that “food tonic is much better than medicine tonic in building up one’s health.” Even now when modern medicine has been available, many Chinese people still prefer to use medicinal foods to cure or prevent some illness, or only for improving physique. More and more people in other countries also pay attention to the Chinese medicinal food.
Chinese medicine is based on the principles of yin and yang, Qi, heat and cold, dampness and dryness. If these are out of balance, people will be ill. For example, if you have a cold it is because there is too much yin in your body. According to Chinese medicine, different foods have different natures. They could be hot, cold, warm, cool and neutral. Foods could be selected to help people to keep the balance and sty in health. Some herbs could be added to food to enhance its curative effect. Some diseases are due to lacking certain elements. These elements could be supplied by some foods. Medicinal foods are combinations of food and traditional Chinese medicine(herbs, animals), or just normal foods. In traditional Chinese medicine, many common foods serve as medicines and many specific medicines are also commonly used as foods. Among the most common items are the Chinese date, ginger, cinnamon, Chinese prickly ash, Chinese onion, garlic, Chinese kernels and rice. Medicinal foods have some therapeutic qualities. But like normal foods, they could be very delicious. Medicinal foods can prevent and treat diseases, improve fitness, and/or slow down the aging process.
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