Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories (16 page)

2
. The Five Elements, the Five Pairs of Organs and the Five
Orifices.

In most cases the mouth seeks out sweet-tasting foods from among the options; breast milk is sweet, and that’s where it all starts; the mouth instinctively seeks out the bland macronutrient foodstuffs that fill the stomach and form the basis of a balanced diet. In the natural world, though, we have a resource that encompasses all the flavours, from sour fruits to bitter roots and from spicy scallions to salty seaweeds, and they all have an important role to play in toning the organs and keeping the body healthy. Our modern diet seems to offer tremendous choice but it is actually becoming increasingly limited as we tend to eat what is easily available or convenient to prepare, and to allow our mouth to follow their preference.

If we indulge in overly sweet flavours at the expense of the others, which are needed to tone the organs and keep them in balance, our digestive systems and waistbands get out of kilter, or, literally, stretched to their limits. And if one organ is out of balance, this upsets the equilibrium in our whole body. Obesity, according to Chinese medicine is just one manifestation of an imbalance that prevents the body from thriving. Totally interdependent, the organs are linked by meridians or lines of energy that transport the
qi
, or life-force. Good health depends on the smooth flow of
qi
around the body, and this in turn depends on the proper functioning of the organs. In a healthy body, the organs work in harmony; if one or more of them is not working properly then ill-health, or sometimes just that feeling of ‘being out of sorts’ which so many people in the West accept as a fact of life, will ensue.

3
.
The Five Flavours enter the Five Pairs of Organs.

So the seventh secret of the Chinese diet is that ‘sweet’ (or bland) foods need to be complemented by foods with other flavours in order to keep the body fit and in shape. Most food flavours are easy to detect: soy sauce is salty, as is seaweed; lemons are sour; ginger, garlic spring onion, chilli and pepper are all pungent; while vinegar is sour and bitter. The need to balance the flavours in the diet is yet another reason to eat a greater number of vegetables, and fruits too, since, unlike meats and carbohydrate foods, which have a tendency to be bland, they provide a range of flavours, often combining more than one. Asparagus, for instance, is slightly pungent and bitter, celery and lettuce are bitter and sweet, tomato, grapefruit and kiwi are sweet and sour.

I list below the flavours of some common foods. You should be able to grasp some general principles from the table (see page 98), but as a rough guide remember the following:

• Macronutrient and other bland tasting foods are generally sweet.

• Herbs and spices are generally pungent.

• Water-based foods are often salty.

• Many fruits are sour (and usually sweet too).

• Only a limited number of foods eaten regularly in the West are bitter (which is probably why most medicines are – to restore the balance).

• Balance can also be achieved during cooking, as you will see in the next chapter.

‘Wait a minute!’ you are thinking, ‘If you tell me that cakes and biscuits, ice-creams and chocolate bars are making me fat I might accept it, but your list of “sweet” foods includes lots of “healthy” ones: peas, mushrooms, walnuts – even rice. Surely I am not supposed to cut those out of my diet?’ But you might recall that up to this point I have not talked about cutting anything out of your diet. On the contrary, I have recommended that you enjoy your food and eat more, but I have also encouraged you to eat and learn to cook a much wider variety of foods. Under no circumstances should you stop eating peas, or mushrooms and certainly not walnuts or rice: all these foods can benefit health.

The nature of Chinese cooking is such that sweet or bland flavours are seldom served alone but always complemented by spices and seasoning that represent the other flavours. The Chinese palate expects a balance, so, until recently, had little taste for the overly sweet flavours of modern confectionery or ice-cream. Chinese cooking often features small amounts of sugar in recipes to bring out the intrinsic sweet flavour of an ingredient such as tomato, sweetcorn or even beef.

4.
The Five Flavours of common foods.

If you have been striving to achieve that feeling of satisfaction that I keep mentioning, but have not yet achieved it, your body may be telling you that it has not received everything it needs from your choice of foods. While it is quite acceptable for ‘sweet’ macronutrient foods to comprise the bulk of a diet, they need to be complemented by sour, pungent, bitter and salty foods, too. A diet that is balanced according to the flavours cannot fail to be one which is full of variety and packed with nutrients.

This may be why, after finishing Chinese-style meals, most diners do not have the same desire for a sweet course as we do in the West; the stomach has been satisfied, and, because of the mix of flavours in the meal, the other organs have been toned as well. This feeling of satisfaction and wellbeing is very different from the sensation of being full, or even ‘stuffed’, that often accompanies a large Western meal, where the stomach may be full but the body is not in balance. On the few occasions that Chinese meals do feature a dessert-style dish it is not served at the end but is just another element in a balanced meal. A delicacy particularly enjoyed during the lantern festival which takes place at the end of the Chinese New Year week is
tang yuan
, small balls made of glutinous rice flour and stuffed with all manner of delicacies, from sesame seeds to red bean paste to chocolate; another is
basi pingguo
, a sort of hot toffee-apple. My children love this, and never complain when it arrives on the table midway through a meal.

More about
Qi

To understand the importance of balancing the flavours we have to consider the flow of
qi
, or life-force. This comes in many different forms, but is essentially made up of the air we breathe, the food we eat, and an element inherited from our parents. It is not always easy to choose the air we breathe, though we can ensure that we exercise regularly. Nor can we alter our genetic make-up, though we can make the most of our strengths. In modern society, however, we have a large degree of control over our diet.

A brief description of how the organs work in traditional Chinese medicine may help you to understand how important it is to eat a balance of flavours, and why, in the Chinese mind, two foods would never be judged equal just because they have the same calorie content. The spleen and stomach work together to extract the
qi
from the food and to sort out pure
qi
, which can be used, from the impure, which has to be excreted. The lungs take in
qi
from the air, again separating pure from impure. The
qi
from the lungs then combines with the
qi
from the spleen/stomach and is sent to the heart,which is responsible for changing it into blood and then helping it flow through the body. In traditional Chinese medicine blood has a wider meaning than just the red stuff circulating through our veins because, among other things, it carries
qi
around the body. If your blood is weak or not flowing freely, which is quite likely if you have poor eating habits, it will be difficult for you to control your weight and you will be constantly exhausted.

The function of the kidneys in traditional Chinese medicine is very different fromWestern medicine as they are regarded as the source of a different type of
qi
, which is believed to be inherited and equated with genetic make-up. They are also the source of
jing
. A difficult concept to grasp, usually translated as ‘essence’,
jing
is the fundamental substance and source of living organisms and also produces bone marrow, which is associated with the brain.
Jing
underpins
qi
, especially the
qi
of the kidneys. The
qi
from the kidneys helps the heart change
qi
into blood, which in turn carries
jing
around the body as well as
qi
. The liver then regulates the amount of blood in circulation, thus influencing the flow of
qi
.

Recognizing the relationship between the Five Flavours and the Five Organs is the key to understanding why the Chinese diet is so satisfying. People who are overweight, or indeed underweight, often lack energy because their overloaded stomachs cannot do their job of extracting
qi
from food, resulting in their suffering a host of niggling ailments, bloating, indigestion, constipation, lethargy and, of course, obesity.

Why Chinese people hug trees

In the early morning Chinese parks are full of people taking in the morning air. Often you will see an old woman with her leg at right angles against a tree or a man doing pull-ups. Some use one of the exercise areas that now feature in every park, but they often prefer the connection with nature – wood, in particular, represents the liver, which needs to be kept toned so that it can ensure the steady flow of blood,
qi
and
jing
. It was only when I began to appreciate the Taoist view of the world as a living organism, where man is an integral part of a greater whole, that I began to see how every aspect of Chinese life is connected with nature and is manifest in the Five Elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

The relationship between the Five Organs is best understood against the background of the Five Elements which nourish each other and consume each other all the time in what is sometimes called the ‘cycle of promotion and consumption’. So the growth of
wood
is fed by
water
, but
wood
has to consume
water
to grow;
fire
is fed by
wood
, but
wood
is destroyed by
fire’s
flames;
earth
is nourished by the ashes from
fire
, but
fire
can be extinguished by
earth
;
metal
comes from the
earth
but when
metal
is extracted it robs the
earth
of its resources; and
water
is divined by
metal
, but
metal
can be diluted by
water
.

5. The Cycle of Promotion,Consumption (solid lines) and Control
(broken lines).

As well as this cycle of promotion and consumption, the Five Elements also have a control cycle whereby an element can ‘enter’ another to tone it.
Water
, in its role as controller, can dampen
fire
,
wood
can smother the
earth
,
fire
can melt
metal
,
earth
can absorb
water
, and
metal
can enter and cut the
wood
. All elements need to be toned to keep the balance of the cycle. But the controller must not be too strong or it will damage the element it enters.