by Kirby Lindsay, posted 13 March 2013
On Thursday, March 21st, at 6p, Dr. Benjamin Apichai will give a talk, as part of the on-going, free ‘Living Naturally’ lecture series at the Bastyr Center for Natural Health, on ‘Eating with the Seasons in Chinese Medicine.’
Dr. Apichai, a clinical faculty member at Bastyr since 1995, teaches several classes in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) along with acupuncture, qigong and tui na (see a web-inar of his introduction to these latter two on the YouTube Bastyr Channel.)
His one-hour lecture (which includes time for questions) on March 21st will only be able to give a brief glance at what Dr. Apichai teaches his students over several weeks, about eating with the seasons for health and nutrition.
A Balance Of Yin & Yang
“The Chinese diet is different from the Western,” Dr. Apichai started, when we met to discuss his up-coming lecture. “We talk about the temperature,” he explained, “the taste, and the yin / yang. We eat to tonify the yin / yang.”
Health comes from a balance of the yin and the yang. To tonify is to balance, reinforce or make level the yin and the yang, Dr. Apichai said. Yin is associated with cold and water, while yang is heat and fire, and in balancing them, we also balance the zang fu organs of the body, and our whole system.
In Chinese Medicine, the four seasons can be condensed into two – fall/winter (yin,) and spring/summer (yang.) Eating seasonally can simply mean a menu of foods to warm the body in cold weather and, in spring and summer, “we need to cool the temperature down,” Dr. Apichai observed.
Some of what Dr. Apichai teaches, through TCM, is common sense. Think back half-a-century in the U.S. and the foods we most ate in our climate achieved the same balance: in winter we ate lamb stew, and in summer we feasted on watermelon.
Problems have developed, in part, due to our modern wealth of options. “Now we can grow all the time,” Dr. Apichai said of fruits that used to be exclusively summertime fare, “we have tropical fruits everywhere.” In Chinese Medicine, this can lead to imbalance – and illness.
‘Eat According To Health’
When yin and yang get out of balance, it is possible to eat back to health. Night sweats, dry skin, dry hair and the symptoms of menopause can be addressed by eating yin foods – pork, turtle, oysters, etc. “Yin is water,” Dr. Apichai said, and these symptoms can indicate the person has, “no water to cool the fire.”
More foods that benefit the yin include:
- proteins – cheese, milk, chicken eggs, mussels, yogurt
- grains/legumes – barley, corn, soybean, tofu
- fruits – apples, bananas, blueberries, melons, peaches, strawberries, pomegranate
- vegetables – alfalfa sprouts, asparagus, cucumbers, potatoes, string beans, tomatoes
- nuts/seeds – almonds, peanuts, pine nuts, sesame seeds
- misc. – brown sugar, coconut milk, honey, olive oil, sesame oil
On the reverse end, someone with cold hands & feet, low sex drive, fatigue, anxiety or diarrhea might need to, “eat shrimp to tonify the yang,” explained Dr. Apichai. Eating beef and/or spicy foods can heat the system and restore the balance.
More foods that benefit the yang include:
- proteins – kidney, lobster, oxtail, sardines, trout
- grains/legumes – oats, spelt, sweet rice, quinoa
- fruits – cherries, crab apples, dates, raspberries
- vegetables – cabbage, chives, garlic, onions, parsley, parsnips
- nuts/seeds – chestnuts, pistachio, walnuts
- misc. – peppercorn, cinnamon, dill seed, ginger, peppers
Children tend towards more yang (heat and fire,) where the older we get, the more yin we tend to be (water and cool.) In Chinese medicine, “we eat according to the health,” Dr. Apichai explained, but also according to age. Low fiber foods stay in the body longer – they take longer to digest – where high fiber foods clear the system quickly. The older a person is, he explained, the more quickly they want foods to be digested. Foods low in sodium, and vegetables, can be better for older adults. Also, “some fruits are too ‘hot’ for the elderly,” Dr. Apichai observed.
As to eating to lose weight, Dr. Apichai told me, “if you are not healthy, no matter what you eat,” you will have trouble losing. He recommended eating healthy, and exercise. Dr. Apichai moved to Seattle in 1994, and he observed that, “China used to be poor, with not enough food for the people. Now you look at China, many people are overweight.” In China, prosperity has brought more food choices, and less exercise as people use cars instead of walking or taking a bicycle.
Lessons To Learn
On March 21st at the Bastyr Clinic on Stone Way Dr. Apichai will also introduce the zang fu organs, and the ‘spleen’ (not the Western organ) which absorbs nutrition. The spleen and the kidney also manage weight, and water. As he pointed out, in Chinese medicine, weight can be about what is taken in – and what is expelled.
His talk will also touch on other factors of eating seasonally, according to Chinese Medicine, including the five temperatures and the five tastes of foods. In one hour, Dr. Apichai can help educate us back to balance through common sense as well as wisdom for the West that comes from traditional Chinese medicine.
Attend the free lecture at the Bastyr Center for Natural Health on Thursday, March 21st, at 6p. Also, find out about other free lectures in the ‘Living Naturally’ series on the Bastyr website.
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©2013 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.