Daoist Dietetics
What one consumes and ingests, whether food, air, water, or energetic influences,
affects one's being. Daoists seek to understand, clarify, attend to, and modify such
influences. Daoist dietetics is far more complex than "food consumption." In addition
to the ingestion of food, Daoist dietetics includes herbology and minerology, fasting
regimens, ingestion of seasonal and locality influences, and absorption of astral
effulgences. Generally speaking, Daoists seek to ingest purer influences, to move
from materiality to subtlety. Still, Daoist dietary practice begins with food and
nutrition. One becomes aware of and attentive to the effects that various consumption
patterns have on oneself and others, both human and non-human.
On the most basic level, one must gain a deeper understanding of one's constitution
and tendencies as well as the qualities of various "foods." This centers, first and
foremost, on yin-yang qualities and characteristics. Yin substances tend to be cooling
and moistening. Yang substances tend to be warming and drying. "Cold foods" relate
to both temperature (ice cream, for example) and nature (bananas, for example). "Hot
foods" relate to both temperature (hot soup, for example) and nature (cayenne pepper,
for example). There are also "neutral" foods and drinks. Thus, one may think of food
along a spectrum: hot, warm, neutral, cool, cold. Yin-yang qualities also need to
be considered in terms of seasons. Spring is lesser yang (warm), summer greater yang
(hot), autumn lesser yin (cool), and winter greater yin (cold). By understanding
one's tendencies towards cold or hot, one can use and modify diet to relieve excess
or supplement deficiency. So, those with a tendency towards cold need to be especially
vigilant in the autumn and winter, and be careful with cold foods during these seasons.
Adding warming foods will help to change such conditions. Beyond these elemental
guidelines, the most important prohibition is not ingesting dead qi (eating rotten,
old, or stale food). The most important general guideline is moderation. Through
observation and experience, one gains a more nuanced sense of what is personally
beneficial.
