(1) A moderate diet with five flavors.
The ancients thought: "Eat moderately, and don't rest until you are 100 years old", which reflects the ancients' understanding of the importance of controlling diet. "Thrift" means moderation, moderation and not eating or drinking. For example, Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty once pointed out: "People who are good at keeping in good health can't eat and drink enough" and should "eat all fruits and vegetables, not overdo it".
The ancients also thought that "the five flavors are harmonious and cannot be partial to food." Food has four flavors of "cold, hot, warm and cool" and five flavors of "sour, bitter, sweet, spicy and salty". Each of the five flavors has its own taste, and each takes its favorite dirty; Each has its own prohibitions, and it also hurts the five internal organs. As Bing Wang said, zang-fu organs are "born of five flavors, but also damaged by them". Five flavors are used to harmonize diet and balance yin and yang, so as to adapt to the changes of yin and yang of qi, blood, zang-fu organs in human body. If the five flavors are out of balance, it is easy to hurt the five internal organs and get sick. It is believed that "acid hurts tendons, bitter hurts bones, sweetness is bad for meat, bitterness is bad for qi, and it promotes life." Explain the benefits of reconciling the five flavors.
To achieve a moderate diet and reconcile the five flavors, the daily diet should be regular and quantitative, and should be light. "Eating at dusk is not like eating in the morning". "A bowl of porridge in the morning doesn't teach enough at night." Punctuality and Baoyuan pointed out: "If you are thirsty, you don't drink much, and if you are hungry, you don't eat much." "Dr. Stupid Child" said: "Even if eating Molang is palatable, only eight points is enough." Zhang Gao's medical theory in Song Dynasty pointed out that the taste should be "fat-free, sour and salty", that is, the daily diet should be mainly light vegetarian, and less fatty, sweet and sour dishes should be eaten. Neijing also recorded that "salty heart disease is forbidden". Modern medical research shows that the incidence of hypertension is 10% for people who eat10 grams of salt every day, and it is twice as high for people who eat twice as much salt every day. It can be seen that the emphasis on light diet in ancient times coincides with the idea of controlling salt and animal fat in modern medicine to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
(2) the diet is regular, and things are suitable for me.
Diet is regular, and "regularity" is routine, which has certain regularity and standardization. The viewpoint of "five grains are the nourishment, five fruits are the help, five livestock are the benefit, five vegetables are the filling, and the smell is combined" embodies the life characteristics of ancient Chinese people-vegetarian food is the mainstay, fruits and vegetables are the supplement, and five flavors are mixed and eclectic. If this law is violated, it will lead to the imbalance of Yin and Yang, qi and blood in the body and cause diseases. For example, Neijing says: "The change of paste beam is enough to make a big decision." Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "fat is sweet to help dampness, and phlegm is biochemical heat". Nowadays, it is believed that the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases is related to excessive partial eating of animal foods, and the increase of cholesterol and triglycerides, while appropriate vegetarian diet can reduce the incidence. This explains the importance of the diet rule of "five grains for nourishment" in health preservation from one side.
Another important viewpoint of "regular diet" is "things suit me", that is, the taste of food should be adapted to the yin, yang, qi and blood of the human body, and what kind of food should be decided according to the needs of the human body. If people's physique is divided into cold and heat, it is advocated to eat according to the principle of "heat is cold, cold is hot, deficiency is tonic, but actually diarrhea, dryness is moist".
(3) Diet should be timely and supplemented in four seasons.
Under the guidance of the idea of "correspondence between man and nature", the ancients in China attached great importance to the relationship between diet and seasons, and put forward a diet regimen of "four seasons and five supplements". In other words, with the change of seasons, the diet should be adjusted according to the health status of the human body to make up for the deficiency of Yin, Yang, Qi and blood: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
The ancients advocated the harmony with the four seasons in health care, and the view was that "saints nourish yang in spring and summer and yin in autumn and winter", and "wise people must adapt to cold and heat in four seasons". This view is regarded as the purpose by later health experts, who pay attention to eating different flavors of food in different seasons, climates and times to adapt to the four seasons changes of the environment and human body's yin, yang, qi and blood. For example, "Eating Right" expounds the foods suitable for the four seasons. "In spring, it is advisable to eat wheat and enjoy the cool; It's hot in summer, so eat glutinous rice to cool down; Autumn is dry, you should eat hemp to moisten; It is cold in winter, so it is advisable to eat dates to get hot. " The Book of Longevity for the Aged records in detail the diet and health care of the elderly in the four seasons: "In spring, it is advisable to reduce acidity and increase sweetness to nourish the temper, and it is not advisable to drink too much wine, and the water mass is also sticky and hurts the spleen and stomach; Summer diet should reduce bitterness and increase spice to nourish lung qi, and the diet should be warm and soft to avoid satiety, especially those who are cold and greasy; In autumn, the diet should be less spicy, more sour and nourish the liver-qi, and the new grain should not be eaten, while the exercise is chronic; In winter diet, it is advisable to reduce salt, increase bitterness and nourish the heart. " These four-season tonic health principles are of great benefit to health and longevity.
(4) Clean diet and avoid eating.
Food hygiene is also an important viewpoint of ancient people's health preservation, which holds that food should be fresh, clean and full of vitality; If necessary, fashion should distinguish whether it is toxic or not, take it from the mouth and be careful.
For example, to eat diet, it is necessary to advocate that pigs and sheep should not eat when they die of epidemic diseases, that raw materials should not be eaten when they are smelly, and that rice should not be eaten when it is old. Herbal Dietotherapy also states that turtles are inedible when they are barefoot, and dogs are inedible when they are dead. "Fun Life Diet Spectrum" also states that "the liver, liver and blood of puffer fish are particularly poisonous".
Different physical properties have opposite commandments; There are different diseases, such as proper diet, to avoid. In Jia Ming's Notes on Diet in Yuan Dynasty, 325 kinds of dietary properties and taboos were discussed. The so-called "fitness" is to treat diseases with food suitable for eating; And "taboo" means that inappropriate food should be fasted, also known as "taboo". Compendium of Materia Medica lists 63 dietary taboos.
"Life Taste Diet Spectrum" contains: "Glutinous rice is too sticky to melt. Children and patients should especially avoid it. " Such things are recorded in ancient medical books, which forms a major feature of China's diet health theory.