Personalized Dietary Nourishment Based on Constitution
Personalized Dietary Nourishment Based on Constitution
1. Qi-deficient constitution arises from insufficient qi and blood, primarily characterized by fatigue. Consume qi- and blood-nourishing foods such as lotus seeds, longan flesh, lean meat, chicken, pigeon, red dates, maltose, cow milk, and honey. Avoid cold-natured and qi-dispersing or blood-breaking foods such as bitter melon, eggplant, winter melon, cold drinks, and white radish.
2. Cold constitution results from insufficient vital energy (yang), especially sensitivity to cold. Eat warming, yang-tonifying foods such as lamb, chicken, shrimp, walnut kernels, leeks, loach, sea cucumber, and cinnamon bark. Avoid cold-natured, yang-damaging foods such as watermelon, mung beans, bamboo shoots, chrysanthemum, loofah, cucumber, duck, frog, and crab. Absolutely avoid cold drinks.
3. Heat constitution stems from insufficient yin, especially sensitivity to heat. Consume cooling, yin-nourishing, heat-clearing foods such as yam, pear, pomelo, banana, malva, clam, and lean pork. Avoid heating foods such as lamb, shrimp, five-spice powder, walnut kernels, chili peppers, black pepper, lychee, longan flesh, chicken, and all fried foods.
4. Damp constitution results from accumulation of metabolic waste in the body, leading to dysfunction of the zang-fu organs. Consume foods with dampness-resolving properties such as red adzuki beans, coix seed, winter melon, white radish, and bitter apricot kernel. Avoid dampness-retaining foods such as wheat flour, honey, red dates, and alcohol. Ginseng and American ginseng also retain dampness—avoid them.
5. Blood stasis constitution results from sluggish blood flow or increased blood viscosity. Consume foods with blood-activating and stasis-resolving effects such as garlic chives, black fungus, hawthorn, safflower, vinegar, and shiitake mushrooms. Avoid foods that promote blood clotting such as peanuts and pomegranate.
6. What about the balanced constitution? Can one eat freely? No. Long-term excessive intake of cold or hot, overly sweet or salty foods will eventually cause constitutional imbalance and lead to disease.