Try to eat foods that are in season in your latitude. Avoid tropical
foods in the winter months. They are 'cold' in nature, and even
though we need a balance, in the colder weather we need energetically
warming foods such as root vegetables. In summer, salads made from
'cooler' foods such as large leafy or watery fruit and vegetables,
should be balanced by cooked meals.
Contrary to modern popular belief, uncooked food is not better for
you. Your body has to work much harder to digest raw food and whether
you have digestive problems or not, your body will react more favourably
to lightly boiled vegetables. I am not saying don’t eat salads,
I am saying don’t live off salads, because that will eventually lead
to problems (not necessarily digestive). If you cook in oil then
use olive oil that has been cold pressed.
Eat as varied
a diet as possible, with a maximum of four or five different foods
in one meal, and try to vary the flavours, energy and organic action
(see further reading below). If you dislike meat make sure you get
your protein from other sources such as nuts, beans and pulses.
If you eat a lot of meat (especially red meat which promotes aggression)
and you are not an Olympic athlete, then cut down to no more than
one or two meat dishes per week.
The primary
food in your diet should consist of cooked whole grains such as;
brown rice, whole wheat, barley, oats, rye, millet, corn, and buckwheat.
These represent the building aspect of nutrition and should constitute
40 to 60% (and up to 100% for short periods of time in the cold
months) of your daily intake.
The secondary
class of food in a balanced diet is vegetables. They supply important
nutrients and represent the eliminative aspect of nutrition and
should constitute 30 to 40% of our food.
Meat, nuts,
dairy and fruit can be viewed as the third class of food, which
is more of a supplement to grains beans and vegetables and makes
up no more than 10% of daily intake. If you are vegetarian it is
important that beans, pulses and dairy are included in this category.
Dried beans are easily available these days and can include aduki,
mung, lentils, peas, black, etc. (Add coriander, cumin or ginger
when cooking to counter flatulence)
Chew your food well before swallowing. Your mouth is designed to
pre-digest food. The more you prepare it in you mouth, the easier
your stomach will digest it and the more nourishment you will obtain
from it.
I suppose one could say that there are two basic balanced diets.
Firstly we need to select foods according to the above guidelines.
Secondly an individuals diet should be balanced according to their
needs and physical constitution. Although the oriental and occidental
schools would agree with that statement, the way each would go about
it and the resultant list of foods produced is unfortunately very
different. Personally I feel that while the vitamin and mineral
content of food is undoubtedly of great importance especially in
cases of severe deficiency, one cannot be guided by that alone.
The oriental view of the energetic values of food must be taken
into account when considering our daily nourishment.
As a post script the
following list is what I consider NO-No’s (or Serious moderation,
because 'a little bit of what you fancy does you good'): - Salt,
Sugar, Coffee, Tea, Alcohol, Tobacco.
However I stress that
it is an error to regard any food as inherently “good” or “bad”,
rather it is subject to each individuals needs and requirements,
for remember the proverb “one man’s meat (or vegetable) is another
man’s poison”.
Further Reading:-
Healing with Whole
FoodsPaul Pitchford (North Atlantic Books)
Chinese System
of Food CuresHenry C. Lu (Sterling Publishing)
Prince Wen Hui’s
CookBob Flaws & Honora Wolfe (Paradigm)
Nutritional MedicineDavies &
Stewart (Pan Books)
Food for FreeRichard Mabey (Harper Collins)
Recipes for Self-HealingDaverick Leggatt (Meridian Press)
Andrew
Sordyl is a well respected, highly qualified and experienced exponent
of his profession. After a very successful career in the computer
industry, he went back to full time education at the London School
of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. This was followed
by two years part-time postgraduate study at the London College
of Traditional Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He did post graduate
clinical training at the second affiliated hospital in Nanjing China
and in the Colombo general hospital in Sri Lanka, before setting
up practice in Surrey in 1994.
He has trained in, and mastered all the disciplines of Traditional
Chinese Medicine (TCM) including Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Tuina,
nutrition, meditation, Qi Gong, as well as Shiatsu, Yoga and western
massage. He has a background in Homeopathy and in 1997 he completed
training in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), which he uses as
an adjunct to his practice. Because
of his former extensive experience in business, and as a family
man, he brings great insight and empathy to his work.
