Feng Shui & Food III

In this age where diets have become a fad, people who are looking to stay healthy and active can choose from a menu of many types of diets, like the Atkins diet, the Zone diet and the South Beach diet, just to name a few. With increasing new age preference and the influence of China around the world, more and more people are opting to practice the principles of yin and yang for health and well-being.

The Chinese believe that each type of food can be categorized into yin (food with cooling properties) and yang (foods that are heaty) and any imbalance between yin and yang can produce destructive forces. For example, having too much of one element and not enough of another can lead to inharmonious vibrations. But how will you know what energy polarity is dominant within you?

A simple fashion is to find out your Chinese Zodiac which consists of a 12-year cycle, each year of which is named after a different animal that imparts distinct characteristics to its year. Many Chinese believe that the year of a person's birth is the primary factor in deciding that person's personality traits, physical and mental attributes and degree of success and happiness throughout his/her lifetime.

Each zodiac year has an energy polarity (yin or yang) that might have a direct or indirect influence on one's health.

The food we eat and our bodies vital energy, or chi, are interrelated and influence each other. By knowing the elements that govern the Chinese zodiac year we are born in, we can maintain our health by a balance in chi through the types of food we eat. As a generalization, yang foods tend to be dense in food energy, especially energy from fat, while yin foods tend to have high water content.
People with a heavy yang polarity (i.e. Rat, Tiger, Horse) who indulge on yang heavy foods are more susceptible to heat related problems such as fever and nose bleeds. The best thing to do when you get these symptoms is to immediately balance it with yin or cooling foods such as fruits, dark green vegetables and barley. People with a yin polarity are more prone to be lethargic or anaemic, and to counter this, take in a balance of yang foods such as mango, meats and dairy products. The gist of it is that what you eat and drink has an enormous impact on your health and on the condition of your chi depending on whichever element has the strongest influence in your year of birth.

No matter which method and lifestyle you choose to follow, the rule of thumb is to keep to a balanced diet and an active lifestyle. Use the food pyramid as a guide if you're unsure of which diet to follow - eat more fibre, fruits and vegetables and have only watchful portions of meats and dairy products. Eat well-proportioned meals, and if you must snack to maintain sufficient energy levels, choose biscuits and crackers that are have the right levels of fat and are rich in vitamins and minerals.

Complement your healthy eating style with meditative exercises such as Tai-Chi and Yoga or even simple exercises such as walking 30 minutes will help to keep your energy levels balanced and are recommended to counter the volatile energy levels throughout most of the year of the Red Boar.