Foods have energetic qualities: once ingested they provide us with more heat, cold, moisture or dryness in the body. The consumption of more "extreme" foods can alter our energetic balance. Some health problems can come from consuming excess pungent and hot foods, which consume stomach Yin, for example. It is necessary to find out about the patient's diet and sometimes recommend that they avoid a food they consume and replace it with another, to help them with their energetic balance.

Classification of foods

• There are food charts classified by temperature, according to whether they are hot, warm, neutral, cool or cold. This nature can change according to cooking style and how it is consumed.

• Foods can also be classified by their flavors. The five flavors are: salty, bitter, sweet, pungent and sour. The flavors are related to the five elements and the Zang Fu.

• We can also apply the five elements theory to diet through color: red, green, white, yellow-orange and dark foods will favor the Zang-Fu of their element. For example black sesame, adzuki beans and seaweed (dark) nourish Kidney (element water, black color). Squash and carrot (orange) balance Spleen (element earth)

• Foods, as well as Herbal Medicine materials, have properties that generate therapeutic actions in the body such as: tonifying, dispersing, antibiotic, astringent (dries and contracts), moistening, purgative (stimulates evacuation).

• The actions of foods can be directed to parts of the body: there are foods that direct energy to the upper part while others descend it to the lower part of the body.

Knowing the natures of foods and the actions they produce in the body can help us indicate to the patient, not only which foods to avoid because they harm them, but also to propose dietary guidelines that help them resolve a pathological state.

General dietary indications

• Hot, sweet and pungent foods tend to tonify Yang, move energy outward, upward and toward the surface. They cause sweating, so they help disperse pathogenic energies from the surface.

• Cold, bitter, acidic and salty foods tend to tonify Yin, decrease Yang, move energy downward, concentrate it inward. They favor evacuation of urine and stools and calm an agitated Shen.

• Excessive consumption of cold and raw foods and cold drinks causes the Yang of Spleen to work excessively to warm and process them. If this happens regularly, the Spleen Yang weakens, weakening the transportation and transformation function. Dampness forms as a result of this. In China, cooked foods are usually consumed.

• Excess salt damages the kidney. Some salt is necessary, the salty flavor helps activate Kidney Qi.

• Excessive consumption of fatty, fried foods, alcohol and hot drinks leads to excess Yang, so it is recommended that people with Full-Heat, Damp-Heat, phlegm, excess of Yang or Yin deficiency avoid them.