Eastern Nutrition

Concepts in Eastern Nutrition are rooted in the principles of Chinese Herbal Medicine that synergistically combine herbal components in medicinal formulas for therapeutic effect. These same concepts inform the combination of culinary ingredients - not only in the way that food is prepared, and in accordance to seasonal and regional availability - but also based on the properties of “taste and temperature” of individual ingredients. The properties and functions are assigned according to the specific effect a food ingredient has within the body, with an emphasis on a systemic rather than micronutrient effect.

Thus, food as the basic provision of the body’s material substance, can provide the basis of health and healing – in both how we maintain wellness and where we can intervene with illness. Selecting ingredients, including their preparation, combination and seasoning, as well as alignment with the cyclical rhythm - to the time of season, time of day, time of life - imparts therapeutic value to our dietary choices. Developing the palette in this way can help us achieve a healthful lifestyle aimed to balance and optimize the body’s functioning for overall physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

As conveyed through food traditions, many principles of Chinese medicine are embedded in family life, and considered practical or “folk knowledge.” Certain foods are prepared seasonally, designed to support the body through variations in climate, and are often region-specific in their origins – warming foods such as lamb and ginger are recommended during the winter, cooling foods such as watermelon and mung beans in summer, foods that moisten and nourish in the dry season or autumn, and foods that are nutrient dense and promote circulation to support postpartum recovery.

Consistent with strategies within all Chinese Medicine modalities, dietary therapy should also be tailored to our individual constitutional profile, and responsive to specific health needs and objectives.