The Yin and Yang of Food (1)

Yin or Yang, it's context dependent

I have always been tempted
to discuss about the Yin and Yang of our diet
on my blog,
but in the past ten years,
I have been delaying it.

Simply, it's a not an easy topic to clarify everything
over a few articles
and
it's difficult to simplify many 'bulky' concepts on blog series
for the ease of digestion by readers...

But I think I should try and see what happens here.

Should this series of blog posts do not make enough sense,
please do attend The Veg Nutrition Courses in Singapore or in Kuala Lumpur
where Yin and Yang Concept of Food is discussed in great depth :)

Now,

What is Yin and Yang?
Most people reckon that
Yin and Yang are
to label things
in accordance to their traits/behaviors/functions
by the philosophy of duality.

In other words,
by Yin and Yang concept,
we categorize entities into 2 exclusive categories
which are of opposite traits/behaviors/functions.

For example,
Animals could be categorized into males and females;
Ions into Cations and Anions
pH into Alkaline and Acidic
Time into Day and Night
etc.

Up till this point,
it's very simple to comprehend,
but exactly the over-simplification of
the Yin and Yang concept,
a lot of misinformation comes by...

Misinformation I:
Static view of Yin and Yang

Yin and Yang labeling is dynamic
i.e. one thing can be Yin in one situation, but Yang in another situation,
depending on the context and the perspective we are assessing.
The labeling changes.

For example,
Durian is labeled Yang when we assess it under the context of calorie,
because it produces a lot of heat after consumption.
But, it is labeled Yin when we assess it under the context of texture
because it is soft and moist (and helps to relieve constipation).

Or

A carrot is labelled Yin when we assess it under the context of exposure to the Sun,
because it is hidden under the ground, and never get exposed to sunlight.
But it is labelled Yang when we assess it under the context of mineral content,
because it stocks up a lot minerals which are responsible for life sustaining functions.

So, it's extremely dangerous,
if we call a thing being Yin and
decide to label it a Yin entity forever.

This misinformation causes a lot of troubles
when one decides on what to eat to balance their own body constitution.

If the Yin and Yang is assessed wrongly,
because of adopting an irrelevant context/perspective,
it will make the body condition become worse.

For instance,
a lady thinks she has a Yin body constitution,
because she always feel the lack of energy
(she can't carry heavy things, she always feels cold etc),
and would like to consume more Yang food.

She decides on eating more flowers and leaves because
she was told that flowers and leaves vegetables are Yang entities
after being exposed to the Sun.

Unfortunately, her decision will make her even more weak after consuming
the flowers and leaves vegetables,
because she assessed Yin and Yang by the irrelevant context/perspective.

What she needs to improve her body condition,
is food that will increase her life force,
food that provides the life force nutrients e.g. minerals and good fats.

Under such context, the relevant Yang foods that are high in life force,
would be grains, seeds and roots vegetables!
-- whether they are exposed to the Sun or not, is not relevant in this situation.

Many a time,
people like to debate whether a food should be labeled Yin or Yang
and persist that they are right with their labels.

They will always be right,
given their own perspectives.

But what truly matters,
is whether they adopt the relevant context/perspective when they do the labeling.


Next, we will explore another piece of misinformation of Yin and Yang concept,
and it is going to get messier! -.-


Happy digesting,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

I# Yin Yang
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{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}