Yin and Yang Cooking
Our everyday spices that we use in our cooking can be used in combination to enhance our health according to Chinese principles of yin and yang. Cooking with herbs and spices in specific balances for our energy can help to protect against illness and fatigue. Certain spices are categorized as warming because they stimulate digestion. Other spices are considered to be cooling and have anti-inflammatory effects.
Some examples of the more common spices that are in the warming category are allspice, basil, bayleaf, sage, garlic, ginger, onion and cinnamon. The cooling spices include dill, chicory, lemon, licorice and peppermint. There are many more spices in each category and they are too numerous to mention all or them here. The health of the individual determines the herbs selected and the energetic effect of that herb.
A person who is hot tempered with a chronic thirst and bloodshot eyes would want to add cooling herbs to their dietary intake to correct the imbalance. For a person who is fatigued and lethargic, warming herbs, which are stimulants, can help increase their energy level. The warming herbs can improve the appetite and stimulate the brain and improve memory.
Often, in Chinese cooking and in Chinese herbal remedies, a combination of both warming and cooling herbs are used to establish a balance. An example of balancing the yin and yang in Chinese cooking would be preparing green vegetables with hot spices such as pepper and ginger. Green vegetables are considered yin, that slows digestion, and the hot spices are yang that speeds digestion.
By carefully combining hot and cool foods and spices in your cuisine and taking your predisposed health issues into consideration, you can achieve a balance of energy nutritionally.
