In China, medicinal diet has a long history. Ancient primitive society, mankind in order to survive, reproduce offspring, in the process of searching for wild food, found a variety of food and drug taste and efficacy, people gradually understand what is harmless, can be eaten as food; what is harmful, should not be eaten; what is beneficial, can be adjusted or treatment of disease, can be medicines; also recognize that many foods can be used medicinally, and many medicines can be eaten, it is very difficult to be strictly differentiated between them. It is also recognized that many foods can be used medicinally and many medicines can be consumed, and it is difficult to make a strict distinction between the two. With the accumulation of experience, medicine and food began to differentiate. At the same time when food and medicine began to differentiate, food therapy and drug therapy were also gradually differentiated, and it was believed that each kind of food had “four natures” and “five flavors”, which was also the theoretical basis of food therapy, and this kind of dual-use medicinal and food items was the material basis of “medicine and food of the same origin”. This is also the theoretical basis of food therapy, and these dual-use items are the material basis of “medicine and food from the same source”.
According to Huainanzi Xiuwu Xun, “Shennong tasted the flavors of the herbs and the sweetness and bitterness of the springs, so that the people would know how to avoid them. When this time, one day and met seventy poison.” It can be seen that the Shennong era of medicine and food are not separate, non-toxic can be on the poisonous when avoided. Huangdi Neijing Taisu” that ‘fasting food as food, patients eat as medicine,’ also reflects the ‘medicine and food are the same’ idea. One of the earliest pharmacological monographs in China, “Shennong Ben Cao Jing” recorded both drugs and food of many varieties, such as Coix Seed, jujube, sesame, yam, lotus seed, longan, lily, and so on, and recorded that these drugs have a “light and prolonged life,” the efficacy of.
As people’s living standards continue to improve, the average life expectancy has increased, and people are paying more attention to their own health. The medicinal diet is a combination of traditional Chinese medical knowledge and cooking experience, is based on drugs and food as raw materials, after cooking and processing made of a diet with therapeutic effects. It is a kind of diet with therapeutic effect. It is “medicine in food”, which not only uses medicine as food, but also uses food for medicinal purposes; good medicine is not bitter, and it tastes good, which not only has nutritional value, but also prevents and cures diseases, strengthens the body and prolongs the life.
Sun Simiao, the king of medicine in the Tang Dynasty, once said, “the upper doctor of medicine before the disease, the Chinese doctor wants to start the disease, the lower doctor has been sick of the disease”, then the use of medicinal dietary food, treatment, maintenance combined with the human body, conditioning, prevention of disease, is the upper doctor. The “Neijing” on food therapy has a very excellent theory, such as “big poison cure, ten to its six; often poison cure, ten to its seven; small poison cure, ten to its eight; non-toxic cure, ten to its nine; grain, meat, fruit and vegetables, food and nutrition to the end of the, do not make too much, injury to its positive,” which can be called the earliest principles of food therapy diet.
Chinese medicine believes that each food is like Chinese medicine, has a different flavor. The performance of food has more or less favorable or unfavorable effects on body balance and physiological functions. Therefore, we should pay attention to the dietary structure, variety and not partiality, to ensure the intake of balanced nutrition.
Medicinal diets are not ordinary food. The medicinal diet is not a general Chinese medicine prescription, but also different from ordinary food, it emphasizes the rational allocation of Chinese medicine and food, in the prescription of drugs or food, according to the nature of drugs and food, purposeful selection of the allocation of combinations, rather than randomly put together. It is to take the nature of the drug, with the flavor of the food, food with the power of medicine, medicine to help food Wei of a class of meals, to seek its appropriate, to avoid its taboos, “identification and treatment”, “the right medicine”, in order to play a good effect, which is precisely the essence of the medicinal dietary therapy.
The medicinal diet is not medicine. The medicinal diet emphasizes a dietary word, is based on food, with a small amount of drugs. Therefore, the medicinal diet should not be too much drug odor, it should be medicine through the food flavor, food to help the medicinal properties, change the “good medicine bitter taste” for “good medicine delicious” to meet the people “sick of medicine, like to food” of the Nature.
There are also provisions for medicinal diets. In the nearly 5,000 kinds of commonly used Chinese herbal medicines, the Chinese authorities are clear that both food and Chinese herbal medicines are only about 101 kinds of varieties.
Medicinal diet through the food effect and function to regulate all aspects of the body’s functions, food as medicine, food borrowing the power of medicine, medicine to help food, advocating nature, back to simplicity, now become a trend fashion, doubly favored. But in following the trend, enjoy the delicious medicinal food at the same time, should also pay attention to screening, if necessary, please consult a professional, doctor, not artificial intention to create some therapeutic functions or therapeutic methods, in order to avoid adverse effects.