Eating Practices: Eat food with a lot of qi

So what then should we eat exactly? I recommend two principles to help figure this out. Because that’s what each of us needs to do: figure out for ourself what is the optimum diet for our body. What works for some doesn’t work for others. And no one knows your body better than you do. The first principle is to eat food that has a lot of qi. In Chinese medicine, qi is the life-force energy, and it is central to life. It is that invisible force that sets life in motion, and connects everything.

It is the energy for walking, talking, moving, thinking, etc. It creates and sustains life and without it we wouldn’t be here. According to Chinese medicine, one of the main ways we take in qi is through the qi of food. So when it comes down to choosing what to eat, eating food that has a lot of qi is food that is alive, or was alive right before preparation.

To illustrate this, I like to ask people to imagine an apple that has just been picked off a tree at optimum ripeness, and compare that to a cracker made of processed, refined flour that has been sitting on a shelf for several months. Which one has more qi in it? The apple obviously! This is what I mean when I say eat food that has a lot of qi.

At a very basic level, applying this principle means eating fresh food versus processed or packaged food. To most of us it is fairly obvious that apples are better for us than crackers. But there are many different levels in between the apple and cracker, and using the qi metric can help us make better choices.

Let’s take another example. This time let’s imagine an apple that was just picked in your back yard, and an apple that was bought at the supermarket. The apple in the supermarket came from South America and was harvested weeks before optimum ripeness so it could survive the long journey to that supermarket produce aisle. Which one has more qi here? The backyard apple, of course,but both are still better than the cracker.

Invariably, the more we seek out foods that are alive and have lots of qi, the more interest we take in food, learning where it came from, and ultimately the closer to home we will look for it to be grown. Food that is grown in our local environment contains the nutrients that help our bodies adapt to that environment at that time. So what’s in season in your local environment is what’s best for your body at that time.

So whatever your dietary habits may be, try to look at your food as qi, and choose foods with more qi! Tune in next time for the second principle! And thanks for reading!

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