Eating ‘qi rich’ vegetables

An interesting report has just been released called ‘Health of Britain in 2008 – Perspective on Nutrition 2008’.  In the report the spending habits of 25,000 households were analysed.  It was found that although people are snacking less and eating less salt, at least one in eight people are not eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.  Five portions is the minimum we need for a healthy diet.  From a Chinese Medicine perspective vegetables and some fruits should provide at least 40 – 45 per cent of our daily food intake! 

I’ve noticed from talking to patients that vegetables are probably the most neglected part of the Western diet and some people, especially young teenagers, can go for days without eating any at all.

An interesting study shows the importance of vegetables.  It took place in Japan between 1966 and 1982 and 270,000 people were involved.  The participants ate green or yellow vegetables such as carrots, tomatos, chicory, spinach, broccoli, leeks, turnip leaves and pumpkins every day.  The results of this study found that merely adding vegetables to the diet substantially reduced the risks of cancers, heart disease and many other terminal illnesses. At the same time aging slowed down by a huge 10–15 years! Fatigue was also considerably lessened, as were other stress disorders such as insomnia and irritation. 

Many other studies have also researched the reduced risk of many cancers and other diseases from eating vegetables and fruit.

These studies show that the long-term positive ramifications could be considerable when we make this simple switch.  I often take cooked vegetables into work in a pot to eat at lunchtime but find it difficult to get well-cooked vegetables if I go out to eat at lunchtime. 

What’s on your wish list that would make it easier for you to eat well?

The way we eat vs. what we eat

Which is most important the way we eat or what we eat?   Until the other day I would have said what we eat.  But now I’m not sure that’s always true.  A few days ago a patient told me that she had woken in the night with excruciating abdominal pain.  It was so sharp that she was doubled over in agony – an emergency.  Her husband was thinking of calling an ambulance.  They thought it might be serious, even appendicitis.  Finally she passed a lot of wind and it was better! 

We discussed what had happened.  Recently, to improve her diet, she had started bringing in a hot meal for lunch.   She had eaten organic vegetables, rice and duck with miso soup in a pot that day.  Better than the salad (too cold) and sandwich (too much wheat) she had previously eaten in a café. 

She now stayed in the office to eat.  Although the food was better, she no longer relaxed when she ate as she had in the café.  When eating in the office she ‘threw’ the food down her and got on with work.  There wasn’t enough time to digest the food and she was tense when she ate it.  This caused the wind.

Her meal might have been organic and nourishing but was it better for her?  Maybe the break and relaxation was just as important?  She’s now thinking about how she can get both.  he wonders if a relaxing sandwich and salad was better?  What are your thoughts about this?