Whether you are enthusiastic about or getting tired of dieting, there are always a few fad diets that appear every now and then. While some vanish, some stick around. In recent years, “Five-Element Diet” has been widespread in Asia’s cities like Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. Unlike most of the diets aim for weight loss purpose, this diet is for healthiness.
Five-Element Diet was invented by Dr. Tateishi Kazu, an expert in cytology in Japan. He first suffered from cancer of the duodenum and spreading. Although his stomach was removed, the cancer cells already had spread to his lungs. To fight for his life, he researched, studied, and tested over 1,500 types of herbs and plants. Finally, he discovered the right combination of ingredients and formulated a unique healing soup—Five-Element Vegetable Soup—with its own molecular powers.
In fact, this soup is based on the principle of Chinese Five Elements, the harmonizing balance of the forces “Yin” (the energy being accumulated, assimilated and stored for later use) and “Yang” (the energy being expended in order to create a manifest action), supplemented by the theory of acid and alkaline diet. In short, balance is the key to health as opposed to the imbalance that leads to illnesses.
The theory of Five Elements has long existed in China. It suggests that foods, seasons, human organs, and state of minds all connect with each other. To elaborate, the Five Elements in our environment (metal, wood, water, fire, earth) correspond to different aspects of the natural world and the body. For instance, wood corresponds to spring and wind in the natural world and to the liver, gall bladder, eyes, and tendons in the body. And for foods, bitter taste corresponds to heart, sourness corresponds to livers, sweetness corresponds to stomach and spleen, saltiness corresponds to kidneys and bladder. We need to adjust and balance their intake subject to our body conditions to retain healthy.
The specific vegetables that Dr. Kazu used are based on the individual color essence of the five elements: daikon/radish of white (metal), daikon/radish leaves of green (wood), dried black mushroom of black (water), carrot of red (fire), and burdock of yellow (earth), which also relate to the corresponding internal organs: lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, and spleen.
All in a natural form, these vegetables are rich in amino acids, calcium, chlorophyll, iron, and phosphorous. After all, plants grow in an active and vibrant environment in a balanced soil, which make them an excellent source of health supplements and even natural remedies for diseases.
“From which, we shall appreciate that the gospel of health is not to keep ourselves off the nutrients from the nature,” Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioner said.
Some food examples of Five Element Diet are:
- Foods in Metal group and pungent in taste: Daikon/radish, ginger, etc.
- Foods in Wood group and sour in taste: Mature vinegar, vigna umbellata/rice bean, etc.
- Foods in Water group and salty in taste: Dried black mushroom, kelp, etc.
- Foods in Fire group and bittersweet in taste: Lotus seed, spinach, sweet potato, water chestnut, walnut, chestnut, pine nut, etc.
Image by 10ch
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