Chinese dietotherapy is based on the theory of Chinese medicine, combined with the weather, region, people's physique, diseases and other conditions, to formulate the principles of conditioning, and on this basis, select appropriate food and Chinese herbal medicines homologous to the original family medicine and food, and make meals suitable for daily consumption through reasonable collocation and moderate cooking, so as to achieve the purposes of conditioning the body and mind, preventing and treating diseases, and living a long and healthy life. Chinese dietotherapy is one of the unique health care methods of Chinese medicine. Dietotherapy "combines medicine with food" and changes "bitter medicine" into "delicious medicine", which satisfies people's nature of "being disgusted with medicine and enjoying food". It is a delicious food that can give full play to the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine and has the functions of nursing, conditioning and prevention. The production and application of traditional dietotherapy medicated diet in China is not only a science, but also an art.

Dietotherapy in China has a long history, and its origin can be traced back to ancient times. During the Warring States period, rich academic thoughts and practical experience of Chinese medicine dietotherapy were formed.

Mawangdui Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, excavated in 1972- 1974, is the tomb of Li Cang, the prime minister of Changsha in the early Western Han Dynasty, and his family. A well-preserved female corpse, as well as more than 3,000 cultural relics with great historical research value, such as silk fabrics, silk books, silk paintings, lacquerware, pottery, bamboo slips, seals, clay prints, bamboo and wood products, agricultural and livestock products and Chinese herbal medicines. , has been unearthed, including the silk book "Fifty-two Sick Prescriptions" unearthed from Mawangdui No.3 Tomb.

Fifty-two Diseases Prescription is the earliest existing Chinese medicine prescription in China. The book 99 1 1 is copied in the back 5/6 of a long scroll about 24 cm high and 450 cm long. There are 283 prescriptions and 247 drugs. The name of the diseases mentioned in the book is 103, including internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, five senses and other diseases. In addition to oral administration, there are moxibustion, ironing, smoking and other external treatments. At the same time, the book is rich in diet.

The book records 25 dietotherapy prescriptions, involving nearly 60 varieties with the same origin of medicine and food, including ginger (including dried ginger), onion (including dried onion), sugarcane, green rice, tillering rice, glutinous rice and millet (including American millet and aged millet). Millet, wheat, red beans, glutinous rice (including glutinous rice juice and glutinous rice), glutinous rice, glutinous rice (raw soybean), black glutinous rice, glutinous rice, salt, Yan Rong, almonds, almonds, etc.