THE FIRST ORDER OF QI CULTIVATION – DIET

Ok, so in order for food to have qi or vital energy in it, it must look at least a little like how it looked in nature. NO, protein bars and energy powders do not count. By the time many folks are desperate enough to try acupuncture, many of them are literally starving to death. This is not just dramatic license on my part! Proper nutrition is more than minimizing carbs, or the proper combination of vitamins and minerals. Many people go months or years without eating a single living thing.

How may servings per day?

The USDA recommends a daily serving of 4-5 vegetables and 2-4 fruit to meet our basic nutritional requirements. OK, that 9-10. Most of us are lucky to get one or two. But in order for the body to heal, there must be a surplus of qi and nutritional building blocks. Since food is how we provide the body with the building blocks needed for cellular processes including repair, missing even a few micronutrients can play make healing much more difficult. So begin to support the healing process by enjoying a balance of fresh foods that are in season. Please note that fresh does not necessarily mean raw. Many of us have digestion so compromised that even if we ate all those raw fruits and veggies, they would not be absorbed properly anyway. Fresh vegetables that are lightly steamed (not boiled to death) have plenty of qi and vitality in them, and are more easily assimilated by the body.



“You will be assimilated”

For those of you who may not understand what I mean by “assimilated” I find it helpful to remember the Borg in certain Star Trek episodes. It is the job of the body to absorb and process all the nutrients available in the foods that we eat. But how well the body is able to do that depends upon 1) the quality of the food we are eating and 2) our own ability to actually take in that nutrition. Our ability to absorb butrients from the foods that we eat decreases as we get older, and is affected by other helath conditions. Smoking dramatically decreases how well we absorb nutrients; individuals who are immuno-comprimised, suffering from chornic disease, or or undergoing chemotherapy or HAART find that their medications can damage the lining of the stomach and intestine so that it is more difficult to digest food.

Second, I think it is helpful to be realistic about diet: it is difficult, if not impossible to get everything we need from diet without a lot of work (e.g. shopping, chopping, scrubbing, cooking, chewing…Oy vey). Save yourself some anguish and find a good multi-vitamin, with additional herbs or supplements as needed. When determining which supplements to take, I cannot stress enough the importance (and ultimate cost savings) of working with a licensed practitioner to help determine guide you. All of us have yielded to, at one time or another, the temptation to try that one new supplement that our friend raved about thinking it might help. (Be honest, how many have an entire shelf or section of the counter devoted to various bottles, lotions, and herbal potions?) It all adds up. Secondly, for those folks who are taking a large number of western medications, indivisuals who are immuno-comprimised or undergoing chemotherapy, it is extremely important to work with someone who is competent in both eastern and western biomedicine.