A friend and I started seeing a doctor from China that practices Oriental medicine in downtown Los Angeles.  My friend has stage 4 cancer and heard about him from her roommate.  I started going because of pain throughout my body that had become so debilitating, I could barely walk anymore.  A month ago we went to see Dr. Teng, a skilled acupuncturist and herbalist. I was shocked by his dietary recommendations, but was willing to have treatments and do the diet for 6 weeks to see if it helped. It has been less than 4 weeks and I am sold on acupuncture, and the diet.  I am a new woman.

It’s All About Balance

Chinese medicine is all about restoring balance to the body.  All pain and disease comes from an imbalance.  Once the imbalance is restored, the body will heal itself.   A key factor to recovery and maintaining the balance is the diet.

Stop Eating Raw and Cold Food

Forget about everything you know (or think you know) when it comes to what we should be eating.  Most “diets” we follow in North America are relatively new compared to the Chinese diet which has been eaten for thousands of years.  There are few raw or cold foods and beverages in a traditional Chinese diet.  Food must be close to body temperature before the body can begin to break it down and extract the nutrients.  Raw food may have a higher nutritional value, but that is undermined by the loss of energy to heat the food and assimilate it.  Heating the food inside your body strains your energetic resources, and over time weakens you.

Stop Eating Dairy

The Chinese eat a wide variety of food except dairy.  Milk is for baby cows.  No grown mammals (except humans), eat their mother’s milk when they become an adult.

Dairy is considered a “dampening” food.  We do not want to eat food that create dampness within our body.  Dampness hinders the free flow of energy, creating blockages which can cause pain and disease.

The only other dietary recommendations that Dr. Teng emphasized were avoidance of GMO foods and sugar.

Eating a completely cooked and warm diet is not as easy as you think.  Most health-oriented people have been conditioned to eat “live” foods.  I know, I was.  I have attempted to eat a raw food diet a few times in my life (both vegan and animal). I  felt terrible and weak on both kinds of raw food diets, attributing it to detox, when in fact I was draining my body of energy.

I live in Southern CA.  It is not easy giving up cold beverages and salads in the heat. The loss of pain I have experienced in 3 weeks is astounding. I realize this may not be the right diet or alternative therapy for everyone, but for me it worked. I am now a huge fan of Chinese medicine.

To your Health!

Peter Gillham