The Tao of Nutrition

By: Ricardo Dacosta
aka: Raghavendra Giri

Food is one of the most important factors that contributes to our overall state of wellness. If you think about it, we eat at least three times a day! The quality and quantity of our food plays a major role in our physical and psychological state of health & wellbeing. Psychological??? Yes, mentally.

It has been determined for example that most crimes have taken place when the criminal's blood sugar level was either too low or too high. Also, there are major studies nowadays on how the quality of foods have dramatically improve the condition of kids with autism and other mental problems.

Let me ask you...Have you ever paid attention to how your mood changes depending on the type of foods you eat? I encourage you to become more aware about that. One way of doing this is by simply keeping a food diary; you write what you eat and later on, 1-2 hours, you write how you are feeling. You will be amazed...

You may think "How is this related to the Tao?" Well, Tao cannot be defined, it can only be experienced through awareness and meditation. Awareness allow us to realized what is happening. The Tao of Food then, can be understood as a way to experience the energetics of foods in our body by being fully aware of their effects.

Over the course of several millennia, countless experiences were gathered using food for prevention and healing of disease. This treasure was passed along as an important Healing art, within the body of information known as Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The Energetics of Foods

In modern times, we understand foods in terms of their biochemical nature or nutritional content. Yet, during ancient times in the classical Chinese way, people thought about their food as more than simply material or fuel for the body; they thought about food quality in the energetic layer - Qi.

Food is also considered a type of herbal medicine that contains different energetic properties. There is a saying in China " Yao Si Tong Yuan " which means " Medicine and food have the same source"

Each type of food has its own particular shape, color, flavor and smell. These characteristic belongs to one of the Five Elements. They connect with Universal Qi from different directions and with our body system. A good practitioner of Chinese Healing Arts can help a patient recover from disease through the energetics of the food; warming, cooling, lubricating & drying and through the color, flavor and smell.

By carefully studying an individual's imbalances, one can choose appropriate foods to bring about a balance state of health. For example, an Excessive individual who is exhibiting conditions of Heat in the body could use Cooling foods. For a Deficient individual who tends towards Coldness, Warming foods would be chosen. In this way health is achieve!

A good dish should have three key elements: Wei (flavor) Xiang (smell) and Se (color). Through the mouth, we taste the flavor; through the nose we smell the aroma and through the eyes we see the color. Ancient Chinese sages knew that these three key elements are associated with the body. From the perspective of Chinese Medicine, there are three key components in our body; Jing (Essence), Qi (Vital energy) and Shen (Spirit). Jing relates more to flavor, Qi more to smell and Shen more to color. Thus, we use the flavor, smell and color of foods to nourish our life!

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