Take medical care in medieval Europe as an example. At that time, if the medical concept in Europe was to be described in two words, it was absolutely:
This is a photo of tooth extraction in medieval Europe.
This is a photo of their artificial delivery.
Medieval European doctors loved bloodletting, and different patients had their own diseases, but different doctors bled the same. For medieval European doctors, nothing can't be solved by bloodletting. If 400ml doesn't work, then 800ml, if 800ml doesn't work, just put 1200ml until you die.
1685, King charles ii of England suffered a slight stroke, and twelve doctors were called into the palace, ruining the king's last days with various crooked ways. First, the king's left shoulder and jugular vein were cut. First put 400 ml of blood, then add 300 ml of cupping bleeding. A total of about 700 ml of blood was released, nearly twice the current normal blood donation standard of 400 ml. Then, the doctor gave the king an emetic and laxative, and then made a potion with spices such as rock salt, cinnamon, cardamom and saffron, and enema was given to the king every two hours.
After five days of repeated bloodletting, vomiting and enema, the king finally died, and he may be relieved himself.
At the end of 1799, Washington had a sore throat after riding back. In fact, from the perspective of modern medicine, Washington is likely to be infected with streptococcus. However, doctors at that time made the same decision-bloodletting. After three bloodletting, President Washington's whole illness was out of control. In the afternoon, the doctors continued to bleed. At about 1 1: 30 in the evening, the tortured Washington died after being bled for 2300ml, which is almost equivalent to 1/3 of his whole body blood.
Although western science has successfully extracted penicillin, which has made indelible contributions to the world medical cause and saved hundreds of millions of lives, the absurd history of western medicine in the previous period cannot be erased.
Fortunately, our ancestors never experienced such a thing. When westerners are often cut off the inflamed parts and bled, our ancestors ate "extra meals" under the guidance of Chinese medicine, and these "extra meals" that can cure diseases are an important part of the concept of Chinese medicine-"dietotherapy". Today, we will go back to the Tang Dynasty to see how all kinds of people "dietotherapy" in this most powerful dynasty.
By the Tang Dynasty, the knowledge that dietotherapy can cure diseases and prevent diseases had been popularized, so the people who insisted on dietotherapy also spread to all walks of life. People are afraid of death when they are rich. The Tang Dynasty was so powerful that their emperors were afraid of death. Although many emperors in ancient times poisoned themselves with "longevity pills", the "diet therapy" of traditional Chinese medicine is very safe. The imperial court system of all previous dynasties has detailed provisions on this, and the Tang Dynasty is no exception. According to the Six Classics of Tang Dynasty:
The regular meals provided by Shang Grain Bureau for the emperor are suitable for five flavors, such as spring liver, summer heart, autumn lung and winter kidney, and the four seasons are forbidden. This month's spleen is inedible to the king; The five flavors are sour, salty, sweet, bitter and pungent. Be sure to taste it before eating. All the States in the world are distinguished by names and numbers, and they are willing to store them.
The above passage expounds that the Staff Sergeant's Bureau, as a specialized organization responsible for the emperor's diet, should prepare healthy food at an appropriate time and be responsible for tasting those tributes. The relevant specific content has been written in the previous article. If you are interested, please read:
Those who can try poison are leaders! Those things about the imperial chef in Tang dynasty
It is said that doctors in the Tang Dynasty need to refer to the Book of Food when preparing "dietotherapy" for the emperor. Although the specific content of the Book of Food can't be completely verified, some fragments of the Book of Food are left in some ancient books in the Tang Dynasty, so it should be very popular to analyze this book, and those "health foods" circulating in the Tang Dynasty may all come from this book.
For example, it is recorded in Shan Jia Qing Gong that Liu Yuxi cooked [chū] root wonton:
Take one or two chopped roots, take a sieve and screw the wonton together with flour. If the seeds of Gleditsia sinensis are large, boil them in clear water.
It is said that eating this wonton before and after beginning of autumn can prevent low back pain and diarrhea. Liu Yuxi's cooking of medicinal wonton is actually a reflection of the popular dietotherapy atmosphere among literati. In the circle of dignitaries in the Tang Dynasty, it was very popular to preserve health through "diet therapy". In addition to Liu Yuxi's wonton, nobles and officials in the Tang Dynasty also enjoyed sesame rice, such as Wang Changling's poem:
Baihua Xianyun can keep one guest, and a meal can last for several spring.
Scholars in the Tang Dynasty also had many similar works, which shows that this kind of atmosphere is very prosperous. Flax was originally an oil crop, which was used for cooking in the Tang Dynasty and was influenced by Taoism, because Taoism believed that flax was a drink of immortals, and eating it could prolong life.
There is also a popular food in the Tang Dynasty called black rice, also called green rice, which is a kind of food that is soaked in the juice of black rice leaves and then steamed on the stove.
This "Vaccinium bracteatum" belongs to Ericaceae, also known as beef tendon, black rice grass, Vaccinium bracteatum and so on. And it is an evergreen tree. Its leaves are good, strengthen bones and muscles, improve eyesight and stop leakage. This strange thing can be found and used as much as possible. I have to say that the ability of our ancestors to use plant leaves was really chinese odyssey.
Scholar-officials in the Tang Dynasty not only liked to eat black rice, but also shared it with others. They also derived a kind of pine pollen rice, which is a food made by mixing pine pollen and rice. This is mainly due to the fact that Taoists think that Songhua can beautify and keep fit, so they often add flowers to wine and rice.
The Tang Dynasty is a historical period of great development of Taoism, and it is also a period of increasingly far-reaching influence of Taoist culture. Taoism advocates the art of immortals and pursues longevity. Besides pills, there are many studies on diet. Many conclusions are scientific and have made great contributions to the development of dietotherapy culture in China. Sun Simiao, for example, is both a doctor and a Taoist, so the way to preserve one's health put forward in this capacity is certainly more convincing than those charlatans. Scholars with culture and style like Liu Yuxi and Wang Wei, influenced by it, followed suit one after another.
There are many ancient books about Taoist health preservation in the documents unearthed in Dunhuang, among which a cookbook is attached to the volume Breathing Clean, which is the concrete method of "fairy porridge". According to the judgment of scholars, it really should have medicinal value:
Steam the medicine, peel one catty and half a catty of chicken head, cook it, shell it, pound it into powder, and add half a liter of japonica rice; Cook porridge with slow fire and eat it on an empty stomach. It's still the end of leek seeds. No wonder. Drink three cups of hot wine after eating porridge. This porridge is beneficial to tonify deficiency, invigorate qi and ambition, strengthen yang and stop diarrhea. That's great.
This is a genuine prescription of Taoism 1000 years ago. Friends who ejaculate may wish to try it!
In addition to Taoism, Buddhism also pays attention to food supplement. According to Buddhist scriptures:
After years of hard work, Sakyamuni was emaciated and hard to persist. Later, after eating the chyle offered by two women in Tianzhu, he recovered and finally realized.
After Buddhism was introduced into Middle-earth, it was probably influenced by Taoism and began to pay attention to the art of health preservation. For example, according to records, monks in Dunhuang like to eat fried food, so they often eat a medicinal diet called "serous porridge". It is said that it can help digestion and relieve greasy, and it is an indispensable supplementary diet for them.
Under the background of the decline of the royal family, dignitaries as their agents, monks, Taoists and Confucianism, this dietotherapy trend naturally penetrated into the homes of ordinary people, such as the daily food porridge of the people in the Tang Dynasty, and many new types with dietotherapy functions were exhibited. According to the book A Physician's Heart Guide, there were dozens of porridge foods popular in the late Tang Dynasty, with different practices. Take "pear porridge" as an example, that is, three pears are squeezed into juice and added to porridge, which can cure dizziness and irritability of children. Other mung bean porridge, millet porridge, barley porridge, etc. , also have their own therapeutic effects. These are ordinary things that ordinary people can afford.
In addition to the daily porridge, people in the Tang Dynasty often have special dietetic foods at certain times, such as the lecture "Busa" held in the temple at the middle and end of each month. In addition to listening to the classics, people also eat "decocted medicine", which is a kind of food made of oil, noodles, pears, pears and crisp; Another example is eating "Laba porridge" on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year.
In a word, the widespread dietotherapy in the Tang Dynasty made the dietotherapy tradition in ancient China more extensive, greatly promoted the progress and development of dietotherapy research, not only enriched the connotation of Chinese medicine, but also developed into an important part of China traditional culture.
For the definition of dietotherapy, the little weasel thinks we should be objective. Modern catering is all about fish and meat. It is undoubtedly good for our health to make some adjustments with the light diet left by our ancestors. However, if we believe some malicious swindlers under the banner of dietotherapy, we may lose not only money, but also our health. Therefore, we must scientifically "preserve our health" and not be superstitious.