Indigestion: low digestive fire.
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 00:46:40 GMT
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Subject: Re: Chronic diarrhea
: >Warm foods support the Digestive Fire. It is a simple and obvious effect. It has nothing to do with the foolishness being promoted by many of 'enzymes.'
: Would that also mean that cold foods are indicated for chronic constipation?
Nope. But Cooling, Damp foods like fruit will relieve constipation due to Heat or Dryness.
Cold foods can CAUSE constipation due to weakening the digestion (this constipation will usually be followed by loose stools, though). Hot and Cold aren't the only factors in health. It is more complicated than that, but that lifestyle guide remains true.
--Paul || p_iannone.pop.com
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 18:41:44 GMT
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Subject: Re: Digestion
>Please tell me about the foods that promote digestion. I have colitis.
>John
No skipped or delayed meals, no stimulant drinks, no sweets or fruit or fruit juice within one hour of meals either way--warm, low fat, grain-based (not necessarily whole grain) meals.
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 03:41:52 GMT
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Subject: Re: "Local" definition
: At 12:31 PM 6/30/95, Paul Iannone wrote:
: >You'll never see it from me. As I have stated, the locality theory utterly fails to be demonstrated. East-Asian Traditional Healing ignores it as an issue--it is a Macrobiotic concern strictly. You can harm your health as much with a bowl of cherries as with a guava.
: Is it your position that humans should not eat fruits at all? If so, could you give a brief explanation, please.
No, it is my position that humans NEEDN'T eat fruit. The consumption of fruit in the quantity current to medical thinking and convenience is only one hundred years in the making. Access to fruit was never as broad as it is now. At the same time, modern society places massive demands on the digestion (it takes digestive energy to think and puzzle things out, and look how much of that you do that you didn't do a hundred years ago). People simply don't have good diets--most skip or delay meals, or eat them on the run. Under those circumstances, it is important to foster Digestive Qi by eating a predominately Warm diet, avoiding the consumption of fruit with meals, and avoiding the daily consumption of fruit altogether--unless your lifestyle is exemplary.
Most people do better if they only consume fruit as an occasional snack food.
--Paul || p_iannone.pop.com
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 03:42:36 GMT
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Subject: Re: "Local" definition
Roy Collins wrote:
: Robert Lamons wrote:
: > Local fruits usually means fruits that are grown in your local climate. That would limit pinapple, kiwi, mango, etc. Stick with apples, pears, cherries, peaches, etc.
: Which also means if you live in hot, tropical climates you can eat the fruits that grow there also (but still in moderation.) The importation of all foods (including herbs) decreases one's natural ability to adapt to the climate they live in. The plants in one's own environment are perfectly balanced to endure the climate in that particular region. When one eats what is grown locally, the adaptive habits of the consumed plant is imparted to the person eating the foods.
Of course, it would be nice if this was borne out in practice, but in fact the importation of foods has been one of the basic causes of the thriving of the human race. Two (and three) season rice, a hybrid native to Vietnam, when imported north to Southern China fostered what is now the world's largest society. There are many such examples.
A second type of counter example is the banana. One would think that such an excessively Yin fruit (following Roy's lingo) developed in the tropics, and that is essentially correct. What theory does not predict is that the yellow banana is 150 years old. Prior to that time the presumably rather more Yang green banana or plantain was all the banana there was on the planet. Same plant, same climate--two utterly different results. Is yellow more Yin than green? Then what of yellow and green squash, which surely have the same energetics?
On the nightshade issue--it is true that many Solanaceae are quite toxic, but compared to the panoply of toxic plant substances, it is an exaggeration to say that the 'most' toxic plants come from that family. Fabaceae, the bean family, contains many, many toxic plants--the kidney bean and several others that are commonly eaten, are highly toxic if uncooked. The mustard family, including the Brassica cultivars (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.), are all toxic if overconsumed. Is this because they are too Yin?
In East-Asian Traditional Healing, the concept is one of Yin/Yang, not a substance named Yin. It is a continuum, not an objective view of substance. All fruit are Yin, then, and some may be more Yang or Yin, but that doesn't make a 'Yang' fruit particularly less Yin (if you follow). It makes it less Yin compared to other fruits, perhaps. But not less Yin in terms of deranging the Digestive Fire.
--Paul || p_iannone.pop.com
