Taoist principles of wellbeing, and wellness through exercise, diet and the four seasons.
Modern “diseases of affluence” largely stem from overnutrition and excess fat. This article explains how high blood lipids burden the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and kidneys, identifies mental tension causing qi stagnation and blood stasis as an inner cause of disease, and advocates the Taoist natural way of simplicity, light vegetarian food, and grain avoidance.
A speech given by a yoga teacher at the 1997 European Vegetarian Congress. Drawing on the yogic understanding of chakras, glands, and hormones, he argues that the food we eat shapes our mental tendencies, and uses the three energies—sentient, mutative, and static—to explain why spiritual practitioners choose a vegetarian diet.
Ten everyday dietary essentials advocated by Taoism: follow nature, avoid picky eating, cut back on high-sugar and high-fat foods, get enough protein, supplement calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12, avoid over-refined foods, choose fresh ingredients, limit artificial seasonings, and eat less pickled and salty food.
Porridges can dispel wind, clear heat, nourish the stomach and spleen, and moisten dryness, and suit the middle-aged and elderly especially. Here are seven moistening porridges recommended by Taoists—black sesame, white wood ear, apple, chrysanthemum, carrot, goji, and potato—with ingredients, methods, and uses.
Red dates help nourish the organs and replenish qi and blood. Taoist medicine recommends five ways to eat them for health: red date and wood ear soup, red date and honey paste, red date and rice porridge, red date and ginger tea, and red date and Job's tears soup, with methods and benefits.
Pharyngitis is a common inflammation of the throat. This article presents four homemade drinks that can help relieve pharyngitis and a dry, itchy, sore throat—monk fruit tea, water chestnut and pear soup, platycodon and licorice decoction, and fresh ginger and radish juice—with how to make each, its benefits, and cautions.
Peanuts are nutritious and can be eaten in many ways. Here are five healthful peanut recipes—boiled peanuts, black sesame and peanut soy milk, red date and peanut soup, papaya, fish tail, and peanut soup, and peanut and pig's trotter soup—each with ingredients, method, and benefits.
Dendrobium, recorded as early as Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica, benefits the stomach, promotes fluids, nourishes yin, and clears heat; modern research finds it aids digestion and slows aging. This article covers dosage, decocting, and soup-making, and cautions certain groups against it and against long-term use.
This article introduces dietary health cultivation in Tang Taoism: food as the foundation of nature and life, eating in accord with the Tao and virtue and with proper etiquette, harmonizing the five flavors and treating with food before medicine, methods of drinking water such as well-flower water and talisman water, and the Shangqing practice of swallowing saliva.
Many Taoist priests do not eat meat and urge others to eat less. Starting from the Taoist teaching that “the way of immortals values life” and Sun Simiao's admonition against killing for medicine, this article lists the harms of meat and explains how vegetarians keep a balanced diet through protein complementation and calcium, iron, and vitamin B12.
Beginning with a personal case of an “unexplained high fever,” this article presents the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic on diet, emotions, and the five organs: the phase, nourishing flavor, causes of injury, and signs of excess and deficiency of the lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, and spleen, and urges balanced eating and a calm mind.
A plain-language retelling of Sun Simiao's teachings on diet and health: eat warm food in small, frequent meals, rub the belly and stroll after eating, avoid eating at night, do not favor any one flavor, and drink in moderation, with sayings of Zhang Zhongjing and Bian Que on treating with food before medicine.
Wheat is sweet and neutral, and the ancients called it “the most precious of the five grains” because it holds the balanced qi of all four seasons. This article describes its benefits for qi, blood, heart, and spirit, and how to use wheat, floating wheat, and raw malt for restlessness, sweating, and weaning.