Types of Food to Eat According to Your Body Constitution

Food is the way to the heart, we all know that saying. But here, we mean it quite literally. Having a healthy and balanced diet is important to maintaining a balanced body constitution. Not only does it prevent diseases, but it also enables us to live to our fullest potential as this enables us to have the energy and health to do what we want to do.

Food is medicine and medicine is food.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there’s the expression of Yin-Yang (hot and cold) and the Five Phases (sweet, acrid, sour, bitter, and salty) characterize both the person and the food. There’s also the 5 elements theory which outlines the relationship between the different elements in nature (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) and the life force, or qi, that flows through them. Together, these properties determine which foods are the most beneficial for each individual to achieve a balanced body constitution.

In this article, we’ll be guiding you to using the 5 elements in order to choose the food most suitable to bring your body back to a balanced state. If you want to understand more about your body type, we’ve written articles about it here and here. 

The 5 elements are: 

• Wood – Usually associated with the liver, gallbladder, tendons, and eyes 
• Fire – Associated with the heart, tongue, and pulse
• Metal – Associated with the lungs, nose, and skin 
• Water – Associated with the kidneys, ears, and bones 
• Earth – Associated with the spleen, stomach, mouth, and muscles 

Recommended diet for good health based on the elements and body constitution

For dampness/ heatiness

Recipe 1: Barley, Lotus seed, Red Bean soup 

Function: To remove heat and dampness

Ingredients:

• 100g Barley
• 50g Lotus seed
• 100g Red bean
• Sugar to taste

Cooking method:

1. Soak all the ingredients in water for 1 hour
2. Add a suitable amount of water and boil the ingredients together.
3. When this is almost done, add some sugar to taste. 

Recipe 2: Winter Melon, Barley, Chicken Soup

Function: 

• To remove heat, toxins, dampness
• Reduce blood pressure and fats, diuretics

Ingredients:

• 1 Winter melon
• 100g Barley
• 50g Euryale (Waterlily seed)
• ½ Chicken
• Salt to taste

Cooking method:

1. Blanch the chicken in boiling water.
2. Cut the winter melon into small pieces
3. Add all the ingredients into a pot to cook. When it boils, lower the flame and continue boiling for 2 hours on low heat.
4. When ready, you may add salt to taste. 

For blood stasis

Recipe: Hawthorn porridge

Function: 

• To strengthen the spleen and stomach function, improve digestion, remove blood stasis.
• Suitable for those with high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, high cholesterol, indigestion.
• *Not suitable for those with gastric problems.

Ingredients:

• 20g Hawthorn
• 100g Rice
• 10g Black dates
• Brown sugar to taste

Cooking method:

1. Add washed rice, hawthorn and black dates together into a pot with water to cover.
2. Cook for 30 minutes until it turns into a porridge.
3. When it is almost ready, add brown sugar to taste. 

For Qi stagnation

Recipe 1: Three flower tea

Function: To relieve stress, mental depression, insomnia due to qi stagnation

Ingredients:

• 7 Buds of Rosebud
• 10g Chrysanthemum
• 10g Roselle

Cooking method:

1. Put the 3 flowers into boiling water for 5 minutes. Consume twice a day.
   

Recipe 2: Jujube Porridge

Function: To relieve depressed mood and insomnia due to qi stagnation

Ingredients:

• 30g Jujube seed
• 100g Rice

Cooking method:

1. Boil the jujube seed in sufficient water for 20 minutes
2. Add water from the boiled seeds to rice and simmer for another 30 minutes.

For Intrinsic constitution

Food 1: Ume plum

Function: 

• To promote body fluid, relieve diarrhoea, nourish yin and reduce fever, anti-allergenic properties.
• Good for eczema and urticaria. 

Recipe 1: Red date, chicken, ginger porridge

Function: 

• Suitable for allergic rhinitis
• To enhance lung function.
• To relieve symptoms of nasal congestion, sneezing, runny nose.

Ingredients:

• 100g Rice
• 10 pieces of red dates (remove seeds)
• 100g Chicken (with the bone attached)
• 10g Ginger
• 10g Coriander
• 10g Green onion

Cooking method:

1. Bring 1000ml of water to a boil and add in the rice, chopped chicken, and sliced ginger. 
2. Simmer this over low heat for 45 minutes or until a porridge consistency is achieved.
3. Garnish with coriander and green onion. 

Recipe 2: Glutinous rice 

Function: 

• Suitable for asthma
• To nourish the lungs, soothe the airways and dissolve phlegm and relieve cough.

Ingredients:

• 50g Chinese almond or apricot kernels
• 20g Glutinous rice
• 30g Rock sugar

Cooking method:

1. Soak the kernels (or almond) and rice.
2. Grind with water and strain the juice out.
3. Pour the juice into a pot and cook it over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally.
4. Add in rock sugar and top up the water.
   

Recipe 3: Bitter gourd and pear Juice

Function: 

• Suitable for skin rashes.
• To clear heatiness, detoxify the body, and soothe the skin.

Ingredients:

• 1 Bitter gourd (frozen)
• 2 Pears
• 1 Tablespoon of honey (or to taste)

Preparation method:

1. Wash the bitter gourd and pear and remove the skin and seeds as necessary.
2. Cut these into small pieces.
3. Place into a blender with 500ml of water. (skim the foam from the juice)
4. Add honey and mix well. 

To be consumed twice a day, in the morning and evening.

For Healthy constitution

Stress-relieving food:

• Fish 

Function: Omega-3 mostly found in fatty fish may help reduce anxiety 

• Banana 

Function: Contains tryptophan which is a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin that uplifts the mood and reduces worries 

• Spinach 

Function: Leafy greens including Kale and Spinach are beneficial for depression and Alzheimer’s disease as it contains nutrients good for your brain such as folate, iron, calcium, and vitamins E and K. It also improves health as well as reduces anxiety. 

• Egg

Function: Egg yolks are rich in choline, a vitamin that helps brain cells communicate. Protein and heart-healthy fats found in eggs can improve concentration. 

• Grapefruit 

Function: Improves immunity as it contains vitamin C 

• Garlic 

Function: Reduces anger and tiredness as it contains anti-oxidant properties that help in reducing oxidative stress in the body

• Pumpkin

Function: Helps maintain vigour as it contains vitamin B, C, and iron 

• Walnut 

Function: Consume this twice a day to help with sleep as they’re a great source of melatonin, a hormone in your body that plays a role in your sleep 

• Lotus seed 

Function: Helps with sleep as it’s believed to have calming effects when eaten. They also contain isoquinoline alkaloids which help in the dilatation of blood vessels alleviating depression and anxiety and in turn, sleeplessness  

With all these in mind, how exactly would you know your body element and constitution? 

In TCM, our body constitution reflects our unique physical, physiological, and psychological attributes. It originates from our parents’ prenatal essence and the postnatal essence we gain in life. 

BaZi, or “Eight Characters” helps define this. Your BaZi analysis consists of Ten Heavenly Stems that represent Five Elements in their Yin and Yang polarity (Yang Wood and Yin Wood, Yang Fire and Yin Fire, Yang Earth and Yin Earth, Yang Metal and Yin metal, Yang Water and Yin Water). 

12 Earthly Branches are also included and appear as either Yin or Yang. Rabbit, Goat, Snake, Rooster, Ox, and Pig are the Yin ones, while Rat, Dragon, Monkey, Dog, Horse, and Tiger are Yang. 

In saying these, you can determine your own element by looking at the hour, day, month, and year you were born — also known as the Four Pillar birth chart, or Chinese astrology horoscope. Each pillar says something about your immediate and wider living environment as well as about you and your inner self. 

The Day pillar is especially important as it describes yourself, including your physical traits, psychological character, emotional status, lifestyle habits, and diet. It is the main reference point in the BaZi Chart. 

Once an individual truly understands themself, this will lead to a better understanding of their destiny and luck, or their life path, which results in a happier and healthier you.
If these seem confusing to you, or if you’re interested to know your life path, why not try a BaZi calculator?

Summing it up

A healthy, nutritious, and balanced diet is essential for good health. From what we learned, with each person’s unique body constitution, a different diet and type of food are recommended to bring the body back to balance. A balanced body is a healthy body, this makes a person achieve a happier state of well-being. For more information, you may visit your TCM practitioner. 

You can also try to book a slot in one of our workshops where we teach our students how to live a healthier, happier, and more purposeful life starting with your health. Contact us to find out more or even if you need help to calculate your life path!