Chinese food logic - any clues?

[Lotus Eater]

There is an elaborate system for categorising foods as 'warm' and 'cool'. I keep being told - oh don't eat that food now - it is cool, or that is a warm food - you should eat it at night not during the day. I would love to be able to sort out the logic behind 'cool' and 'warm' foods. Why is dog meat a warm food and some other meat 'cool'?

Anyone with inisde information on this - please advise.

[Mr Nobody]

There is no reason why according to logic or western science.

The rationale for it in chinese medicine escapes me.

Edit: an afterthought; i do have a few "good" books on chinese medicine at the school. i will have a look and see what it says there.... anyone want any secret shaolin recipes?

Further edit:
found this.

The Four Energies of Food. The Four Energies (Si Qi) of Chinese herbal medicine are Cold, Cool, Warm and Hot. There is also a category of "Neutral" for foods which have no energetic temperature property. For practical purposes, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners classify Chinese foods into three energetic groups: Cold/Cool foods; neutral foods; and Warm/Hot foods. Cold/Cool foods, such as watermelon and salad greens, have the medicinal functions of clearing heat and fire, cooling the blood, and eliminating toxins. Warm/Hot foods such as garlic and chicken have the medicinal functions of warming meridians, strengthening Yang, invigorating Blood, opening collateral meridians, and eliminating cold. Neutral foods are used to serve as bridges, harmonizers, or neutralizers to bring about a balanced state.

It is easy to see how the Four Energies of food can be used to achieve balance in the body. If a person suffers from a Cold-induced condition, he will be advised to avoid cold (and raw) foods, and to eat warming foods. The opposite advise would be given to a person with too much Heat in his system.

One of the commonest conditions a Chinese medicine practitioner sees is a pattern called Spleen Qi Deficiency. It can produce symptoms of fatigue, poor appetite, poor concentration, loose stools, cold hands and feet, and is often accompanied by weight gain and water retention. The natural fire and "cooking ability" of the Spleen has been overwhelmed by cold and dampness. To treat this condition, the Spleen must be gently warmed and drained of dampness. The worst kinds of food to eat in this case are cold and raw foods and liquids because they force the Spleen to expend its dwindling reserves of energy on the process of warming and "cooking" the food inside the body. Lightly-cooked, warming foods, and liquids that are room-temperature or warmer are what the Spleen requires to regain its strength.

Four Energies theory also explains why alcohol, sugar, and greasy fried foods are so bad for us. These are very Yang foods. When they are consumed in excess over a period of time, they deplete the Yin of our bodies, drying up the body fluids and producing a pattern called Yin Deficient Empty Heat.

??

On the face of it, it looks insane. There is nothing of any use here at all to understand how things work.

[Lotus Eater]

Does that mean plenty of garlic will cure a hangover?

[Mr Nobody]

According to the logic above:

If i have correctly followed the logic, garlic is warming. I would imagine hangover is overheating, so hangovers would be best treated with salads and raw foods by this logic. Watermelon for example.

But being overweight should never be treated with chicken or any other hot or warming food. Salads, etc. Or anything raw. Garlic will make you fat, since it is warming.

Hmm. Partially relevant, like most "home grown" theories, if you consider some of the points. Eg salads for "cooling" an "overheating" system, whether from booze or too much food. But lean chicken is great for dieting, but is considered a warm food. And raw whale blubber is unlikely to help, no matter how frozen.

And none of the above has explained WHY something is hot warm cool cold etc.

I think i will stick to real medicinal theory.

Oh, yeah, here is where I got the above info from. I don't know how accurate it is: www.herb-king.com/c-tcmdiet.html

Edit: I have now read the relevant chapters of "The web that has no weaver" supposedly one of the good books on this thing. No wiser. Something to do with Yin Yang theory but doesn't say WHY.

[Raoul Duke]

I don't know, Lotus, but I for one am willing to engage in frequent bouts of heavy drinking, followed by eating heavily-garlicked foods, if it will advance the cause of science.

[Mr Nobody]

Raoul said:

I don't know, Lotus, but I for one am willing to engage in frequent bouts of heavy drinking, followed by eating heavily-garlicked foods, if it will advance the cause of science.

Sorry, Raoul, it would be drinking to excess followed by salads, raw foods, and watermelon. I can draw up a list if you like . . . .

Thought not. Doesn't sound like something i would inflict even on a frenchman. And some sacrifices should not be made, even in so noble a cause as heavy drinking.

"oh the suffering. oh the humanity"

[Lotus Eater]

I see - I was equating Spleen Qi deficiency with the hangover, and to balance my poor little spleen I was going to eat loads of garlic and bring plenty with me for the May weekend
But I shall confine myself to watermelon and lettuce. Will the watermelon lozenges work too?

Maybe we should spend the week testing the theories - a control group for no 'cures', one group for great gobs of garlic and warming foods, another for watermelon and lettuce. By the end of the week we should have reached a definite conclusion of one sort or another.

I hereby hypothesise that the great gobs of garlic group will become the least popular, even if they are sober faster than the rest of us. (Another reason for us to not like them!)

[Mr Nobody]

Sounds more like an out-of-control group to me.

I suggest a control group of people taking traditional western hangover cures - water during the night; bloody marys or bullshots upon awakening, and bacon and egg brekkies with lots of coffee.

And maybe we should start pool on which method is preferred?

(water for it's cooling properties, bloody mary is yin to counter the yang of the beer the night before, coffee will strengthen the speen cold yin imbalance for the dry warm heaves, and bacon and eggs cause it tastes fantastic.

[Lotus Eater]

Mr. Nobody - your persona is highly unstable - are you going through a paranoid or schizophrenic phase?

Please stabilise before the May week. I'm not certain I can cope with so many changes in the flesh

The western methods should be another group (at this rate we will have groups of 1 - certainly not capable of producing valid and reliable statistics - we may have to do the experiments all over again ).

The control group still has to have no 'cure'.

(Why does my computer insist on writing grope when I try to write group? - maybe it is trying to warn me about the weekend )

[Mr Nobody]

sorry, much to my sadness i will not be able to be in china by may, although possibly by the end of it. If i am lucky.

Yes, i am still trying to find my avatar identity. I think Alfred E Neuman is great, a famous nobody. But way too handsome for me. I like arnie, then remembered that he was governer of california, so cannot be a nobody, so i got this wireframe from an artistic site. Do you have any idea how bleeding hard it is to find something that is both nobody AND funny? And another thing is that i suffer from avatar envy, especially of Raoul. So i have to keep trying.

I have known you all such a short time, but i sincerely wish i could be there in the flesh by may, but i cannot.

We could set up all the people NOT in china as the western group, and all those in china, but NOT able to attend as the "no cure" control group. Would that satisfy the conditions of the experiment?

But please please please tell me the results of this experiment.