Dietary Therapy and Exercise
Diet and exercise are two very important components of Chinese Medicine, this is because these two lifestyle factors help prevent illness and disease – and prevention is better than cure! Therefore in your treatment plan there will be a diet and lifestyle advice component and we’ll work together to help you achieve your goals.
Food affects our health much more than the medicine we take. Our everyday diet can be the root cause of our diseases. Chinese medicine classifies food according to its energetic effects rather than its component parts. Some foods are considered warming and nourishing while others are cooling and eliminating. Some foods can be used to build up energy, while others have blood nourishing proprieties. It is very different from western medicine that specific food always has the same nutritional value to everyone. In Chinese medicine, the same food may be seen as beneficial for certain patients but detrimental to others. Diet, in Chinese Medicine is a key factor to maintain health or recover from illness. Patients are always advised to eat healthy foods according to their constitution
Exercise is another key component in Chinese Medicine as our bodies derive energy from activity and movement. Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong are commonly recommended in TCM nowadays along with other exercises like swimming, walking, jogging and going to the gym. TCM considers the type of exercise and the environment in which exercise is carried out all promote different aspects of energy flow. That is why we advise different types of exercise base on the individual patient’s constitution. Sometimes certain exercises should be avoided until the body has returned to a balanced state. For example weight-bearing exercise can be too strenuous for deficient type patients, and therefore exercise such as walking or Qi Gong are more suitable.