In recent years, the concept of treatment of disease is very “fire”, “therapeutic food”, “medicinal diet” and other concepts all over the world, is a lot of people as the “Golden Rule! “This has a scientific basis? How can “medicines and food” be safely and rationally applied in the “treatment of chronic diseases”?

Clarify the concept of medicine and food

“Medicine and food” refers to drugs and food are derived from nature, its external shape, color similar to the role of the human body performance, and “gas”, “taste”, “rise”, “fall”, “tonic”, “diarrhea” also has the consistency, there is no absolute dividing line between them. Thus, the theory of “medicine and food have the same origin” is formed.

Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, Su Wen – Zang Qi Fa Shi Lun: “five grains for nourishment, five fruits for help, five animals for the benefit of five vegetables for filling.” It means that grains (staple food) are the fundamental for people’s survival, while fruits, vegetables and meat are used as auxiliary, complementary and supplementary to staple food.
According to Huainanzi Xiuwu Xun, “Shennong tasted the flavors of all kinds of grasses and the sweetness and bitterness of water springs, so that the people would know what to avoid. At that time, he encountered seventy poisons in one day.” Visible Shennong era of medicine and food are not separate, non-toxic can be on the poisonous when the avoidance.

As Sun Simiao said, “with the hunger is called food, to heal the disease is called medicine,” it can be seen that a lot of food to play the role of food can be medicine, medicine and food dual-use.

Avoid the abuse of “drug food”

The concept of “therapeutic food” and “medicinal food” is widely popular, and in some areas there is a tradition of adding self-seeded Chinese medicines in food, and some people believe that “medicines and food are from the same source”, and take inappropriate Chinese medicines, blindly pursuing therapeutic food. Some people believe in “medicine and food are the same” and take Chinese medicine inappropriately, blindly pursuing the therapeutic effect of food, resulting in cases of damage to health from time to time.

Chinese medicine has the characteristics of four qi and five flavors, elevation, floating and sinking, attributing to the meridian, and toxic and non-toxic. “It is a medicine three poisons”, long-term Chinese herbs as food to eat, easy to lead to adverse reactions and the risk of organ failure, need to be in accordance with the theory of traditional Chinese medicine identification, identification of the body to identify the medicinal properties, mastery of compounding, in order to achieve the desired results.

The two principles of “medicine and food together” in the treatment of future diseases
Two major principles of utilization

Seasonal implementation principle
Spring is to nourish the liver and prevent the wind, and it is appropriate to regulate the qi and warm the middle; it is not advisable to eat too much spicy and hot products, drink too much alcohol, and eat cold, greasy and sticky food, so as not to damage the spleen yang and the rising qi.

Summer is to regulate the heart and prevent summer heat, and it is advisable to clear away heat and dispel summer heat; it is not advisable to over-eat cold and raw foods, hot foods and thick and fatty foods. Long summer is to regulate the spleen and stomach and prevent dampness; it is advisable to clear summer heat and promote dampness; avoid nourishing and greasy food, and eat less spicy and warm food such as mutton, leeks, ginger, chili peppers, pepper, peppercorns, and hot pots, cooking and frying, barbecue, and so on.

Autumn main adjustment of the lungs, preventing dryness, it is appropriate to nourish yin and moisten dryness; avoid eating spicy stimulating food and warm hot products, such as chili peppers, ginger, cinnamon, garlic, mutton, dog meat and so on.

Winter is the main collection, prevent cold evils, it is appropriate to warm the yang and tonify the kidney; tonic moderate, to prevent indiscriminate tonic or deficiency not subject to tonic.

Regional implementation principles
China’s vast area, people’s dietary habits are not the same, the application of medicinal diets also have differences. The southern region is hot and humid, it is advisable to eat more hot and humid products; the northern region is dry and cold weather, it is advisable to eat more nourishing and warm food.

Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the reference to the human body in the region, according to the person diet; or according to the season in the region, according to the time diet.