eating for qi

[三江源]

ha, Hagar. I never massaged pasta before either, but I could imagine something nice from the image. Thankyou for outlining the practice. it actually seems so eminently pragmatic that I cant believe I didnt have the initiative to think of it myself..

 

It is a really nice practice. I found it working today as I tried it - wanted to do it before responding to your post -

merely by intention alone. As I walked along the road thinking about it I could feel my insides relaxing and smoothing.

 

I am always surprised by how much burping it is possible to do during practise. I wonder sometimes if it is air I swallowed years ago, or something.. because it is always there, every day!

[Bum Grasshopper]

I heartily agree that attitude is important, but respectfully, eating only by color is terrible advice.

 

Coffee does affect the Kidneys - as a diuretic. More important is to examine it's bitter, slightly sweet flavor and warming property. Bitters tend to affect the Heart network, meaning many bitters are stimulants. They also affect the Small Intestines Network, making them purgatives. Bitters also often act as diuretics, and assist drying what Chinese Medicine refers to as Dampness. Coffee is a stimulant, purgative, and diuretic. It is indicated for individuals who consume rich, greasy, heavy diets - which tend to cause both the build up of stagnant food in the intestines, and general symptoms of Dampness (heaviness, lethargy, acne, etc). Excessive Coffee use will deplete the Kidneys/exhaust the adrenal glands. Simply put, Coffee, like most stimulants, imbalances the water (jing) / fire (qi) axis, pushing towards fire and exhausting water. Use in moderation.

 

And that's just one example.

 

Ice-cream similarly does no favors to the lungs, bones, or joints though it will create phlegm. And white bread, though true it will digest very quickly, it does so at the expense of delivering any actual nutrition. Additionally, the excessive consumption of white breads, ice-cream, sugars, sodas, and other simple starches and sweets cause an radical insulin spike, the sugar high, followed soon after by the sugar low. Over time, this dramatic insulin dose will can to Type II Diabetes insulin resistance.

 

Admittedly, whole grains can be hard to digest for someone who already has impaired digestion. But consumption of more simple starches, white breads, etc can further impair digestion, contributing to Dampness and Candida overgrowth in the intestinal tract. In these cases, cooking / stewing vegetables and whole grains with spices is indicated. Spices will stimulate digestion, and the complex carbohydrates will deliver long lasting energy.

 

Also, chewing your food does wonders for digestion. The process begins in your mouth after all. When eating, don't drink. You want to keep those salivary enzymes in your mouth. If you absolutely need some liquid, try tea, and then only taking small sips once in a while. Definitely don't drink cold beverages with your meals. You need your stomach to cook the food for a second time, don't douse the fires. And avoid cold drink while digesting too, especially if you consumed fats or oils. Drink too much cold water and it will cause those fats to congeal in your intestines making digestion drastically more difficult. You wouldn't believe some of the ancient sh*t found in some people's intestines.

 

That all said, eating should be a joy not a worry. I have taken to seeing foods as medicines, they're all good (the natural stuff anyways) if you know when to use them. Basically, eating a combination of the five flavors - sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, and salty - at every meal, and keeping things more bland than overly flavorful will give you more Qi than you'll know what to do with. An example meal: mixed veggies (bitter/sweet), garlic and onions (spicy), meat (salty/sweet) or beans/tofu (sweet), stir fried in Ghee or Olive Oil (sweet) and maybe a little soy sauce (salty), with a side of Sauerkraut (sour), Kimchi (spicy/sour) or something else fermented (sour).

 

Most people eat too much sweet and salty foods and not enough bitter and sour foods. Flavor should be your first guideline, not color. The five colors are used for medical diagnosis and internal seeing. There may however be some merit to eating food that looks like the organ you want to strengthen. IE broccoli for the lungs, walnuts for the brain, tomatoes for the heart (both have four chambers) etc. Amazingly enough, modern research backs up a lot of these folk claims.

 

This is very Aurvedic. Such practice has specific diets to boost or pacify the doshas mainly vata, pitta, or kapha. Balancing the diet means getting all of the tastes (there are only 5 tastes your tongue can recognize, flavors are a combination of tastes and smells and are in the thousands).

 

It also preaches that if you keep a clear mind, your body will naturally crave what it needs.

[froggie]

If you have reached a sufficient level of "Gu" transformation ability, you can transform the hot energy of the drink and not be affected by it's negative aspects.

 

where can i get more info on this?