Different constitutions require different diets: Dietary therapy for the five constitution types in Traditional Chinese Medicine

39. Different constitutions, different diets

Traditional Chinese medicine's approach to health preservation is actually quite simple, encompassing nothing more than diet, exercise, mood, and lifestyle. The human body is a vast microcosm; to maintain good health, one must understand their own body and master a correct set of health preservation methods.

Human constitutions are mainly divided into five types: Yin deficiency, Yang deficiency, Qi deficiency, Qi stagnation, and phlegm-dampness. If different dietary therapy and health maintenance measures are adopted according to one's own constitution, the effect of half the effort can be twice as good.

Characteristics and Diet of Yin Deficiency Constitution

(1) Physical characteristics - Dehydration: flushed face, thin body, irritability, dry mouth and throat, insomnia, hot palms and soles, yellow urine, dry stool, preference for cold drinks, intolerance to spring and summer, red tongue with little coating, and thready and rapid pulse.

(2) Dietary therapy: One should preserve yin and nourish yang, avoid dry, spicy, greasy and rich foods, and eat light foods. One can eat more light foods such as glutinous rice, sesame, dairy products, honey, fish and sugarcane, while eating less spicy foods such as ginger, scallions, leeks, garlic, peppers and scallions.

Characteristics and Diet of Yang Deficiency Constitution

(1) Physical characteristics - fear of cold: pale complexion or white and plump body, fatigue in the limbs, usually afraid of cold and prefer warmth, loose stools, clear and copious urine, often sweating, pale lips and mouth, pale and swollen tongue, and weak pulse. When this person is sick, he is prone to coldness, cold limbs, fear of cold and curling up, or prefers warmth and pressure, and has a dull pain in the abdomen; or difficulty urinating, edema of the body and face; or diarrhea with undigested food, cold pain in the waist and spine; or cough, wheezing, palpitations, and severe pain in the chest and back; or urinary incontinence and frequent urination at night.

(2) Dietary therapy: Eat more foods that have aphrodisiac effects, such as dog meat, mutton, chicken and venison. According to the principle of “nourishing yang in spring and summer”, you can eat mutton and aconite soup once during the three hottest periods of summer to make your body’s yang energy more abundant when the yang energy of heaven and earth is at its peak.

Characteristics and Diet of Qi Deficiency Constitution

(1) Physical characteristics - shortness of breath: The body is either overweight or underweight, with a pale complexion, fatigue and weakness, frequent spontaneous sweating, weak voice, palpitations and poor appetite, which are exacerbated by exertion, weak blood vessels, pale tongue with white coating. If the patient is ill, the symptoms will worsen, or be accompanied by weak cough and wheezing, shortness of breath and reluctance to speak; or loose stools, poor appetite and abdominal distension; or mental fatigue, palpitations and anxiety; or frequent urination, and soreness and weakness of the waist and knees.

(2) Dietary therapy: You can regularly eat glutinous rice, japonica rice, millet, yam, barley, oats, indica rice, jujubes, potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, chicken, tofu, silver carp, rabbit meat, goose meat, beef, quail, grass carp, and dog meat. If the condition is more serious, you can consume ginseng in moderation.

Characteristics and diet of Qi stagnation constitution

(1) Physical characteristics - Depression: The body is either fat or thin, the complexion is sallow or dark, the person is usually easily agitated, has a quick temper and is easily angered, or has chest tightness and discomfort, is melancholy and unhappy, often sighs, has a white or pale red tongue coating, and a wiry pulse. If the person is ill, there will be radiating or distending pain in the chest and ribs; or goiter in the neck; or obstruction in the throat as if there is a foreign object; or distending pain in the stomach, hiccups and belching, regurgitation of sour water; or loose stools, abdominal pain and borborygmus; or fainting, vomiting blood, headache and dizziness, and qi rushing upward.

(2) Dietary therapy: You can drink a small amount of alcohol to improve your mood and promote blood circulation. Eat more foods that can promote the flow of qi, such as oranges, citron, Buddha's hand, buckwheat, tangerine peel, fennel, leeks, ham, garlic, sword beans, sorghum husks, etc.

Characteristics and Diet of Phlegm-Dampness Constitution

(1) Physical characteristics - obesity: fondness for fatty and sweet foods, obesity, lethargy, fatigue, drowsiness, sticky mouth, feeling heavy as if wrapped in a cloth, or a soft and slippery pulse, loose stools, greasy tongue coating, and a swollen tongue. If ill, there may be cough with phlegm, chest and epigastric fullness; or loose stools, nausea and vomiting, poor appetite; or cloudy or difficult urination, edema of the limbs, pitting edema; or heaviness and fatigue of the head and body, numbness of the skin, and pain and swelling of the joints.

(2) Dietary regulation: Alcohol should not be consumed in excess, and rich, fatty, and sweet foods should be eaten sparingly. Eat more fruits and vegetables, especially those that have the effects of resolving phlegm, strengthening the spleen, and removing dampness, such as water chestnuts, cabbage, white radish, jellyfish, seaweed, loquat, onion, jujube, ginkgo, Job's tears, lentils, broad beans, and red beans.

There's a famous saying, "No two leaves are the same." Just as leaves can't be identical, everyone's constitution is different. Therefore, it's essential to create a diet tailored to your individual constitution. In daily life, don't we often hear the saying, "You won't gain weight even if you're soaked in oil, but you'll gain weight even if you just drink water"? Diet must be adapted to one's constitution; otherwise, the effect is often counterproductive.