
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
~ Hippocrates
Proper nutrition is the cornerstone of health. You can nurture health and well-being or feed a disease with our food choices. The healing power of food is a central belief of Chinese Medicine. Chinese food therapy is one of the four major branches of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) along with acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and Tui-na (veterinary massage). As with the other TCVM modalities, the ultimate goal of food therapy is to restore and maintain balance in the body. A full TCVM evaluation to determine the proper TCVM pattern diagnosis and disharmonies within the body will guide preparing the proper diet for your pet. Diet plans are also tailored to individual patients based on their unique tendencies, age, species, geographical location, and personality. Food ingredients are chosen based on their energetic properties, which include both thermal energetic property and taste and are also developed according to TCVM theory (Yin-Yang, Five Elements, Eight Principles and Zang-Fu Physiology and Pathology) and are specific to particular patient types and health conditions. Finally, the planned diet is input into a computer program to help ensure it is properly balanced. When starting a Chinese food therapy recipe, it is important to remember the effects are slower compared to other modalities, but there are virtually no side effects when food ingredients are chosen correctly. It is also important to remember that the diet is being prepared and utilized as a form of holistic medicine. This means that re-evaluating the TCVM patterns are necessary to making changes to the diet and resolving the disharmonies within the body.