Nutritional Counseling in Broward County
Eastern Acupuncture and Wellness provides nutritional counseling in Plantation and Wilton Manors, Florida to develop food habits that will yield positive results while encouraging food choices that will enhance good health. Here at Eastern Acupuncture and Wellness we use a combination of western and eastern nutrition to develop protocols that are simple to follow and extremely effective. When it comes to the eastern approach, there is always a diagnosis involved, even with nutrition. This is to ensure that you’re not only eating the right foods but taking the right supplements to balance your internal systems, or what we like to call yin and yang.
What are the Flavors of Food?
In TCM there are five flavors of food.
Pungent – used to act on the lungs and large intestine
Sweet – used to act on the stomach and spleen
Salty – used to act on the kidneys and urinary bladder
Sour – used to act on the liver and gallbladder
Bitter – used to act on the heart and small intestine
Foods that are considered pungent are mustard, scallions, garlic, ginger, peppermint, a variety of colored peppers, etc. These foods have the function of promoting circulation and inducing perspiration. Different foods can have more than one flavor, therefore having multiple benefits.
Sweet foods are not only sugary snacks and fruit but goji berries, dates, pumpkin, etc. Believe it or not, sweet foods improve digestive functions. Both Eastern and Western practitioners agree, with varied explanations, that sweet foods help with weight gain.
Salty foods consist of things like seaweed, crab, pork, duck, and human milk, as a few examples. Salty foods can soften nodules like tumors or hardened muscles and glands.
Next, we have sour foods such as lemon, vinegar, mango, olives, tomatoes, and the list goes on. The function of sour foods is to, “obstruct the movements”, which in other words is beneficial for helping with diarrhea and limiting excessive sweating.
Lastly, we have bitter foods. Bitter is made up of foods like lettuce, asparagus, and vinegar, which have a number of functions from reducing body heat to fighting against bacteria, viruses, and cancers, along with improving constipation, and broadening or opening up the vessels against cardiovascular disease.
What is the Nature of Food?
When it comes to nutrition from a TCM perspective it isn’t just the flavors of the food that are considered but also the nature of the food, which is also known as the temperatures, and the movement as well. The temperatures are broken down into five categories:
Cold foods – watermelon, banana, crab, water, lettuce, salt
Cool foods – apple, cucumber, mango, peppermint, sesame oil, and spinach
Hot foods – Chicken, black pepper, red pepper, dried ginger, and green pepper
Warm foods – brown sugar, shrimp, garlic, ginseng, fresh ginger, and wine
Neutral foods – pork, carrot, celery, sweet potato, pumpkin, and pineapple
All of the foods listed are just a small number of examples that go in each category. The list of foods for each temperature, flavor, and directions they follow is endless.
Important Food Movements to Consider in Protocols
Outward – from inside to outside – this is why certain foods can cause perspiration and reduce fever such as, dried ginger, cinnamon bark, and cucumber
Inward – from the outside towards the inside – foods that induce this movement can help ease bowel movements and abdominal swelling such as clams, crab, salt, and seaweed
Upwards – from the lower body to the upper body – these foods push energy up, therefore reducing diarrhea, and prolapse of organs and include things like apricots, beef, grapes, and honey
Downwards – from the upper body to the lower body – these foods push energy up stopping vomiting, hiccups, and constipation like peaches, spinach, strawberry, and watermelon
When the movements, temperatures, and flavors are all considered in a treatment protocol they have the ability to treat multiple things at once. For example, “when you combine warm and hot foods that have a pungent and sweet flavor it tends to perform the movement of going upwards and outwards”, which we know can cause perspiration and reduce fevers.
How Does Our Broward County Nutritional Counseling Work?
Diagnosis and the constitution of an individual are so important in nutritional counseling. If a person is eating the wrong things for their body it could have a terrible response. For example, if someone already has an excess of cold in their body and eats a lot of foods that are cold in nature, symptoms such as excessive pain can occur. Nutrition and dietary needs are about being healthy from the inside out. Our prerogative is to strive to help each patient reach their health goals.
Given proper nutrition, the human body has an amazing ability to heal itself. In order to do so, we need to intake healthier foods, exercise, and take high-quality supplements made from whole foods. Whole food supplements supply our bodies with nutrients we are not getting from our diet or in some cases able to metabolize. Depending on the individual, sometimes our bodies aren’t able to digest and break down certain nutrients. This is why we encourage lab testing to better help us understand exactly what each body in front of us is lacking.
Whole food supplements, when processed correctly, supply a multitude of plant components to the human body. Foods provide nutrients that work synergistically. The two work together to provide you with optimal nutrition for good health. When our bodies are not able to break down a certain nutrient found in the supplements we’re taking, we are still able to get it from the foods we are consuming. There are many different kinds of supplements on the market, and it can be very confusing to determine the true value of a supplement. Understanding the label will help you know if you are taking a quality supplement. Our TCM physicians are equipped to help educate you on exactly what to look for.
That’s why Eastern Acupuncture and wellness chose to collaborate with certified organic farms that grow their own ingredients thereby giving them the ability to control the quality of the ingredient from seed to supplement.
Benefits of Nutritional Therapy
Some benefits that you’ll see on your nutritional counseling journey at Eastern Acupuncture and Wellness are an increase in energy, a better quality of sleep, reduced symptoms of any triggering ailments, a lesser range of negative emotions, an increase in longevity, a strengthened immune system, help with symptoms of menopause, and the list goes on.
During each nutrition session not only what you’re eating, and the supplements you’re taking will be assessed, but also the effect they have on your body. Each time things will be adjusted from your grocery list down to the dosage of supplements to ensure optimal health.
What to expect at your Nutritional Consultation in Plantation or Wilton Manors, Fl
You can expect to learn about portion control, the best times to eat, what foods will trigger inflammation, what will give you natural energy, and more. When it comes to the TCM portion of nutrition we always emphasize eating for the seasons. These include summer, fall, winter, and spring. We believe it’s healthiest to eat foods that are in season not only for those months but for the part of the world that you live in as well. Since this is a Florida-based practice, things that are in season here may not be in other parts of the country or even the world.
Every person has a different biological makeup, which means that some foods and supplements that work for you may not work for someone else. It is extremely important to be aware of your body, what you’re putting into it, and how that is not only making you feel but how it affects your insides. That’s where our team at Eastern Acupuncture and Wellness comes in. We’re here to keep track of your wellness journey and help you make the best choices on your holistic path.
Book your appointment today to learn more about food being medicine and get your individual protocol created by our Nutritional Counseling Specialists.
