There are many ways to think about food. Being mindful of what we eat enables us both to enhance our enjoyment and to make the most beneficial food choices. In Energetics of Food: Encounters With Your Most Intimate Relationships, Steve Gagné describes how each food has its own particular character and energy. When we eat and absorb a particular food, we become a little bit like that food.

Each food has its own temperament – a basic nature that can change to some degree, depending on how the food is prepared and with what other foods it is combined. Traditional Chinese medicine teaches us that all foods are a combination of either hot, warm, cool or cold and either dry or moist. For example, beef and duck are considered hot and moist, whereas pork is hot and dry. Buckwheat too, is hot and dry. Butter is considered warm and moist, chicken and lentils are warm and dry. Red snapper and blueberries are cool and moist, whereas mung beans and raspberries are cool and dry. Trout and yogurt are cold and moist, lemon and parsley are cold and dry. There are comprehensive lists of foods and their ratings in terms of these qualities. But for our purposes, simply try to remember that meat is often warm or hot, fish is mostly cool or cold, grains are warm or hot and dry, raw vegetables are cool, leafy greens and seaweeds are cold, fruits and lettuces are cool or cold, spices such as hot peppers, ginger and cinnamon are hot. The coldest fruits as a group are citrus fruits.

With that concept in mind, you can make food choices that balance heat or coldness and dryness or dampness – both as sensations within our bodies and as conditions in our environment. It makes sense to eat fresh raw vegetables, lettuces and fruits in the summer to cool down. It might not be the best idea to eat a lot of yogurt on a cold, damp November day, because yogurt would intensify the coldness and dampness in your body. You might want to look for a warming and drying food instead, such as buckwheat. In the winter, it might be more appropriate to eat a baked apple sprinkled with cinnamon than to bite into a raw and therefore cooling apple. For the same reason, the custom of eating a lot of citrus fruits in the winter might not make so much sense. Citrus fruits grow in the tropics, where their cooling effect is certainly needed year-round. It is preferable to eat citrus fruits during the summer. Vitamin C-rich foods suitable for the winter include parsley, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.

Foods can also be thought of as having a particular direction of energy. In the case of vegetables, it is easy to determine a particular vegetable’s energy direction by observing the direction of its growth. Broad leafy greens such as chard, spinach, lettuce and collard grow up and out. These plants literally uplift and enlighten us and give us a sense of expansion. Narrow leafy greens such as kale, dandelion greens and onion tops grow up and in. They help us expel mucus from our lungs. Round root vegetables like onions, turnips and beets grow down and out. They have a relaxing effect and they help our intestines to absorb, assimilate and eliminate. They are useful for reproductive disorders as well as bladder problems. Long root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and daikon grow down and in. They help us feel grounded and centered.

Another way to think about food is to sense where in the body the food resonates.

All leafy greens, because they absorb sunlight in order to produce oxygen, really resonate in the lungs, chest and heart center. We literally absorb oxygen and sun energy through these plants. Legumes resonate in the middle of the torso, and we can easily feel this after eating a bowl of satisfying bean or pea soup. Onions, turnips and beets resonate in the lower body, as they are beneficial for the intestines, reproductive organs and bladder.

Each food also has a certain rhythm, a particular combination of speed and regularity in its growth. For example, cabbage grows slowly and evenly. It takes many leaves and much time for cabbage to form a head. Potatoes grow slowly with occasional spurts. Zucchinis grow quickly and steadily – anyone who has grown zucchinis in a garden knows that they grow at an amazing speed. Mushrooms and asparagus grow quickly and irregularly. Asparagus are known to shoot up overnight after a long period of seeming inactivity. The same goes for mushrooms – one rain shower and mushrooms literally pop up from the forest floor.

Besides these categories, each food has its very own unmistakable unique character. A chicken, for example, is full of active energy. That is one reason why chicken soup is so revitalizing and is used as a home remedy to treat flus and colds. For a person who is very active, talkative and nervous in disposition, eating too much chicken might push him/her over the edge. It might be better for him to choose foods that are calming and relaxing. A person who is shy, introverted or sedentary might benefit from the chicken’s energy, as it might inspire he/himr to jump over their shadow. Tuna is a fish that never stops moving. Even when it sleeps, it keeps on propelling. You might choose a meal of tuna when you are the one who needs to keep moving in order to get things done. Strawberries push their seeds to the surface. They might inspire you to express yourself more openly, and they might have a similar effect on your body. For some people, that might result in a skin rash. Legumes are supportive of other plants, as they release nitrogen, a fertilizer, into the soil. They are a compassionate food and might bring out compassion in you as well. Grains are very productive – a single seed can produce a wealth of new seeds. They support mental and physical productivity as well as fertility.

Next time you pick up any type of food, try to get a sense of its character. Look at it carefully and contemplate how it grew and what effect it might have on your body or mind. Have fun with this!

Marika Blossfeldt
Author . Speaker . Coach
https://marikab.com/retreats/