Chinese Food and Health

Chinese people are not only interested in the foods they eat, but they also try to balance these foods at meals to maintain optimum health. This philosophic balance, or duality, involves always having some grain, or yin, at every meal, with some cai (tsai), or yang, foods. Yin is considered cold, mild, and bland while cai (tsai) is yang, or hot, rich, strong, and spicy. Foods and conditions or illnesses are classified by the duality of yin or yang. When one has a yin condition, the Chinese recommend eating a yang food, and vice versa. In the United States, immigrant Chinese cannot always verbalize which disease or which food belongs to one or the other of these dualities, yet they use many traditional pairings.