| Chinese uses the terms 'heaty' or 'heatiness' to | | | | sugar, cherry, chestnut, chive, cinnamon twig, |
| describe the kinds of foods he/she would like to | | | | clove, coconut, coffee, coriander (Chinese |
| have or avoid, most Westerners would probably | | | | parsley), date, dillseed, eel, garlic, grapefruit peel, |
| have no idea what those concepts are or find | | | | green onion, guava, ham, leaf mustard, leek, |
| them strange. In Traditional Chinese Medicine | | | | longan, mutton, nutmeg, peach, raspberry, |
| (TCM), the notion of heaty (yang)(as opposed to | | | | rosemary, shrimp, spearmint, sweet basil, |
| cooling or yin) is related to the balancing of 'yin' | | | | tobacco, vinegar, walnut, jackfruit, durian, leek, |
| and 'yang'. To most people, especially the Chinese, | | | | shallots, spring onion, , apricots, blackberries, black |
| in Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, | | | | currant, mangoes, peaches, cherry, mandarin |
| Malaysia and Singaporeans, such concepts are | | | | orange, grape. How a food is prepared also |
| very much part of the indigenous culture and are | | | | matters. E.g Beef is considered as neutral, but if |
| commonly used as a form of expressing certain | | | | you have it deep fried or grilled, it would be |
| set of symptoms or sensations often associated | | | | considered as heaty. In addition, there are some |
| with emotional or physical reactions such as: | | | | interesting broad guidelines to determine whether |
| - Feelings of irritability; | | | | a certain food is heaty or cooling: |
| - Short temper; | | | | Heaty/yang foods: |
| - Fever; | | | | - grow under the hot sun; |
| - Constipation; | | | | - are sweet; |
| - Flushed face or cheeks; | | | | - have lots of fats; |
| - Dark yellow urine; | | | | - rich in sodium; |
| - Sore throat; | | | | - are hard, dry or spicy. |
| - Nose bleed; | | | | Cold/yin foods: |
| - Outbreak of pimples and acne; | | | | - grow in little sunshine; |
| - Rashes; | | | | - are salty; |
| - Mouth ulcers; | | | | - are lean; |
| - Indigestion. | | | | - rich in potassium; |
| Excessive "cold" energy in the body, on the | | | | - soft and wet; |
| contrary, will make us feel weak, lethargic, tired | | | | The heatiness and cooling effect of foods refer |
| and restless. | | | | to their capacity to generate sensations - either |
| The constitution of each person is influenced by | | | | hot or cold in our body. They do not refer to the |
| congenital factors as well as the acquired lifestlye | | | | state of the food but its effect on our bodies. For |
| (e.g diet, stress level, amount of exercise and | | | | example, tea is a cooling food. This means that it |
| sleep, living environment), and this varies from | | | | generates cold energy in our body. To seek a |
| person to person. In other words, different foods | | | | balance in diet, we can classify food as |
| act upon the human body in different ways and | | | | predominantly yin or yang. Hence, if you eat |
| affect our state of health. The body's metabolism, | | | | predominantly yin foods, your body will be capable |
| functioning of organs and organ structure all | | | | of producing only cold energy, in contrast, eating |
| combine to determine our susceptibility to these | | | | predominantly yang foods produces hotter |
| heaty and cooling effects of foods. Examples of | | | | energy. If a person suffers from cold |
| cooling and heaty foods: | | | | rheumatism, eating foods with a warm or hot |
| Cool (yin) Foods: | | | | energy would be helpful. If a person's acne |
| Bamboo shoot, banana, bitter gourd, clam, crab, | | | | condition deteriorate due to consumption of fried |
| grapefruit, lettuce, persimmon, salt, seaweed, star | | | | foods, it is beneficial to eat cooling foods to |
| fruit, sugar cane, water chestnut, watermelon, | | | | counter heatiness and relieve symptoms. Hence, |
| lotus root, cucumber, barley, bean curd, chicken | | | | to strike a yin-yang balance in the diet, it's almost |
| egg white, marjoram, oyster, pear, peppermint, | | | | natural for the Chinese to have a glass of a |
| radish, strawberry, tangerine, and yogurt, broccoli, | | | | lemon barley or winter melon (cooling) drink to go |
| cauliflower, zuccini, corn, tomatoes, pineapple, | | | | with a plate of (heaty) fried rice, or a bowl of |
| turmeric. | | | | (heaty) spicy noodle with some (cooling) fruits |
| Neutral (balanced yin and yang) Foods: | | | | such as star fruits or water melon. |
| Corn, abalone, apricot, beef, beetroot, black | | | | The concept of heatiness is not meaningful or |
| fungus, carp, carrot, celery, chicken egg yolk, | | | | relevant in the western medicine paradigm. |
| cuttlefish, duck, fig, honey, kidney bean, lotus fruit | | | | However, it is believed that there is some parallel |
| and seed, milk, olive, oyster, papaya, pork, potato, | | | | to Acid (heaty) and alkaline (cooling) balance, or |
| pumpkin, radish leaf, red bean, plum, sunflower | | | | protons and positive charges (heaty) and cooling |
| seed, sweet rice, sweet potato, white fungus, | | | | (electrons and negative charges). Medicine evolves. |
| yellow soybean, brussels sprouts, snow peas, | | | | Conventional medical doctors in the west has long |
| sweet potato, taro, dates, figs, raspberries, | | | | started to integrate and learn about alternative |
| raisins, sage, rosemary, thyme, brown rice, apple. | | | | treatments or medicines and incorporate them |
| Heaty (yang) Foods: | | | | into their practice. Today they believe that these |
| Pepper, cinnamon bark, ginger, soybean oil, red | | | | new medical approaches are beneficial and |
| and green pepper, chicken, apricot seed, brown | | | | effective in many ways. |