Here are a couple old Posts that discuss the FLAWS in this BOGUS Philosophy as it relates to our Food...

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Re: Yin/Yang-Eastern "cold/hot" foods
Robert (---.bctel.ca)
Date: 07-17-02 08:50

To get into dietary yin/yang as a lifelong pursuit is to lose our sensibilities. It should be obvious right from the start that the human being doesn't need a complex set of rules to determine what it needs or doesn't need to eat. Any program that doesn't lead to simplicity is a program that is false. In the end, we have only our senses to guide us, and if those are not enough, then, boy, are we ever in for big trouble. If it is so that each of us cannot use our natural senses to guide us to our ideal foods, then it certainly is true that the human race has only the hope of the damned. Pretty soon we're gonna have to be reading a book on proper birth procedures even before we are born.

It’s a truth of life that the more complicated a pursuit becomes, the more evident that it is false in the first place. If a dietary system is true and worthwhile of consideration, it must naturally lead to a simple understanding that even a baby can naturally follow. Nature would not create a dietary system that would not and could not be understood and followed by the young of a species.

Dietary yin/yang is about correcting imbalances that were created by following the yin/yang system in the first place, which demonstrates that it is a therapeutical, symptom- managing system which lacks a fundamental understanding of the biological principles that govern nature. The human body operates perfectly when given the nutriment that it needs in its proper form. No correction or strive-for-balance is needed, as the body automatically attains balance as it eats its desired natural foods. This is so for every species on the planet.

This yin/yang system includes cooked and processed foods in its dietary plan and so exposes itself to the deleterious consequences of these foods. Dietary yin/yang makes no attempt to remove these disease and imbalance causing elements from its program, and thus exposes itself for the sham that it is. It is a program of disease management, not health creation. It is an un-natural human mind created system, that represents a futile and misguided attempt to overcome uncorrected bad habits.

Nature did not write her laws down for us, or for anyone else, animal, plant, or rock. Instead, she did a much more wise and reasonable thing, so that EVERY organism could easily prosper. She gave us SENSES and the ability to DEMONSTRATE ourselves. And that's all we have to do to benefit from natures plan, because we ARE nature. By eating our natural foods and following our natural habits, we demonstrate our natural senses and behaviours, from which follows the demonstration of our good health. That's it. No balancing, no charts, no theories, or any other human-created systems needed.

But, of course, seeing as how the practice has been so deeply rooted in cultures for so long, why not try fooling around with it for a bit, for a kick. After all, what more possible harm could be done to a person who belongs to race that has no more hope than the damned.

I hope everyone was taking this lightly, even as I meant it.
robert
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Yin/Yang foods
Posted by: Bryan (IP Logged)
Date: September 12, 2007 12:31AM

I like the concept of yin/yang as a means to describe our reality, especially where humans are involved. It seems part of the human condition to divide things into 2 (or opposites), always creating duality, with concepts like hot/cold, light/dark, masculine/feminine, duality/non-duality, etc. The Tao goes on to say that the reality is neither one aspect or the other of any duality, but a harmony between those elements.

While the Taoist were ingenious, a lot of the ideas of TCM are an attempt to create balance in humans who are eating an unnatural diet based on foods grown during the civilized period of man. These civilized foods have unbalanced humans, and the TCM (and Ayurveda) attempt to restore balance by providing a counter balance to the unnatural foods that man is eating. The raw approach is quite different in that there is no attempt to provide counter balance to unnatural foods like grains or meat, but instead to remove the unnatural foods and replace them with foods that are congruent with the human anatomy, physiology, and digestive system. If you were to compare the human digestive system with all known animals, the closest digestive system to the human digestive system are those of the great apes, and those animals are frugivores, not granivores or carnivores.

For my own personal tastes (and body), if I were to classify foods by either balanced/yin/yang, here is how I would classify them:

Balanced: Fresh fruit. Non-bitter greens
Yin, dulling foods: raw plant overt fats
Yang, stimulant food: all the rest (meat, grains, milk, alcohol, etc)
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Peace and Love..........John





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2015 03:37PM by John Rose.

Yin and yang is a truth, not a theory.
The post written here is one aspect of yin and yang, comparing raw to cooked, but yin and yang can be applied to anything, even within strict raw foodism.

In fruit :
-watermelon is yin
- chili peppers are yang (the fruit of a plant)

Cold bitter greens are yin (like kale)
Spicy pungent greens are yang (like arugula)

Dampness is yin
Dryness is yang

Even raw foodists should strive to maintain the balance of yin and yang in their bodies. I am sure they do naturally without using the terms yin and yang, otherwise they would have poor digestion.

In Chinese medicine, we strive so hard to balance the left kidney (yang) and the right kidney (yin)

I could write pages and pages and pages, but I don't have time.

Then Chinese must be mostly Yang at least the ones I see.
Walk into a Chinese restaurant and you can feel the peppers, the garlic, sauce, and seasonings all over the place.

<<<Yin and yang is a truth, not a theory.
The post written here is one aspect of yin and yang, comparing raw to cooked, but yin and yang can be applied to anything, even within strict raw foodism.>>>

There is a Major FLAW with the I Ching and it has to do with the 8 Trigrams.

Take a look at those 8 Trigrams, Tai, and tell me what is missing.

John Rose wrote:
There is a Major FLAW with the I Ching and it has to do with the 8 Trigrams.

Take a look at those 8 Trigrams, Tai, and tell me what is missing.

Tai:
John, you tell me what is missing in the I Ching.
The theory of yin and yang transcends the I Ching, far exceeds the I Ching. I used to be very attached to the I Ching and had a certain skill with it, but my teacher made me let it go. But I still have to maintain the balance of yin and yang in my body, irregardless of the I Ching!

RawPracticalist wrote:
"Then Chinese must be mostly Yang at least the ones I see.
Walk into a Chinese restaurant and you can feel the peppers, the garlic, sauce, and seasonings all over the place."

Tai:
If you ever go into an area where there is a huge population of Chinese, you will find Chinese vegetarian restaurants and they usually are buddhist. Usually buddhists don't use onion or garlic, so some of their dishes might have ginger and chili, but no garlic and onion, but more of them are just plain. They usually have a big vegetable and greens selection. Holistic vegetarian buddhists would never eat the fake meat they serve in vegetarian restaurants.
But I am not touting even those buddhist vegetarian restaurants as healthy, as some still use msg, fry in oil and of course, they are non-organic.

The Korean temple diet, which is vegan, has been used clinically to help detoxify. Everyone knows their kimchee is spicy, but a lot of their veggies are plain.

But some of my Chinese medicine teachers who ate/eat meat and used herbal medicine...the ones who paid attention to yin and yang, hardly seemed to age. You would not find them eating at those Chinese restaurants you mentioned.
But ultimately, I could never follow their meat path or guide my clients in that direction. I only give vegan protocols.

Thanks for the clarification Tai
If someone is eating mostly microgreens is that more yin or yan and what should he do to counter balance?

>But some of my Chinese medicine teachers who ate/eat meat and used herbal medicine...the ones who paid attention to yin and yang, hardly seemed to age

Interesting.

I guess fruits are yan and micro greens are yin?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2015 04:38PM by RawPracticalist.

RawP wrote:
If someone is eating mostly microgreens is that more yin or yan and what should he do to counter balance?

Tai:
Microgreens have a range between yin and yang. They cannot be classified as yin, except if you compare them as a whole to say meat or cooked food.

Each herb is unique. Radish, daikon, onion, garlic, arugula microgreens are yang and pungent. The microgreens that tend to cause nausea in weak people are more yin than yang, but each microgreen can be more yin than another one. When I get more into growing them and juicing them regularly, I will research a bit more and attempt to classify them.

Some people have yang deficiency and some have yin deficiency. It does make a difference. Some who have too much heat and fire in their bodies should avoid the pungent foods until they balance out. Some people who are too yin will not do well with excessively yin foods.

But going back to your question about how to counterbalance...it is beyond yin and yang. Microgreens are usually green. Green relates often to the liver and gallbladder. There are five major colors of food: red, orange/yellow, white, black/blue and green. These five colors relate to the five major yin organs. If you are having eye problems, consider that you are getting enough green, but maybe not enough blue/black foods. All meridians go to the eyes. Also, isn't it interesting that I read somewhere that vegans/raw vegans are sometimes low in carotenoids? Have you tried juicing garnet yams? Goqi berries also help the eyes.

Raw P wrote:
I guess fruits are yan and micro greens are yin?

Tai:
I think it is a fallacy to make such a generalization. Avocado is a fruit and it is quite yin. It is more yin than radish microgreens. Things are relative to one another.
Some fruit is quite yin. I would classify sapote as more yin compared to an orange. Look at its fat content...higher than the average.
But I don't want to be stubborn here. Yes, tree ripened fruit in general is more yang than the average strong yin grass juice.

But I think you are asking something deeper here...but you may not like my answer. In the herbal world, there is seeds, roots, root bark, tree bark, twigs, mushrooms, berries, etc. Sometimes to achieve balance, one needs more than just the average fare. But I don't want to step on anybody's toes on this forum. It would be nice to hear how Natural Hygiene is able to heal aging issues, like eye weakness, within their limited diet.

That's why I think a daily regimin og Tonic Herbs is a must on raw foods and vegan diets. I read a quote somewhere that "a vegan diet is insufficient without the tonic herbs" but unfortunately did not save the source. I think the great mistake of purists like the NH movement is that discredit all supplements across the board...

Tai thank you for your informative and inspiring posts.
We are blessed to have you on the forum.

You should write a book especially on yin yan for raw fooders, many of the other info deal with cooked foods and not appropriate for us.

For my eyes issue it is not clear if there a problem or not. I do not feel any deterioration in my eyes, just that when I went for my annual test, I was asked to do a Perimetry test for glaucoma check. The test showed that I missed some of the moving lights with the left eye, but it may be due to the way my chin was positioned on the machine or may be not. The doctor suggested that I go back for further tests to see if the nerves in my left eyes are not getting damaged, given that my father had glaucoma. But it does not hurt to improve the eye sight or keep it from deteriorating so I am open to any suggestion for improvement. For colored foods or blue foods, blueberries are among my primary fruits when they are in season, even when they are not I got to Costco and buy a 10 lbs bag for daily use. I like colored foods such as beets, pomegranates,cherries, red onions.

I have started to add some ginger into my juice recently. I always try to stay away from foods that cannot be eaten as a mono meal, for me they are not foods, I think natural hygiene is correct on that principle. But I wanted to give ginger a try and the results are very good so far. These non foods are fine as a medicine to restore a situation but not as a daily use, I would not want to keep shocking my system on a permanent basis. I could be wrong.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2015 03:50PM by RawPracticalist.

Raw P wrote:
You should write a book especially on yin yan for raw fooders, many of the other info deal with cooked foods and not appropriate for us.

Tai:
Yes, I am writing a book. It is not only for raw foodists, but it is vegan. Parts of it will be published in a newspaper, so it has to have a more general appeal.

Once people understand more about yin and yang and the five elements, they can apply them to their own personal diet.

You are a blessing on this forum, too.

Thank You Tai and keep us posted when the book is published or let us know in any way we can help.

>It would be nice to hear how Natural Hygiene is able to heal aging issues, like eye weakness, within their limited diet.

not sure what you're saying but i presume you have evidence of healing eye weakness using yin/yang principles

John have you ever heard of macrobiotics? Isnt that what yin and yang foods is, part of their philosophy? Some food is too much yin others too little yang, for ying personalities...etc And they say certain foods is right in the middle and thats all you can eat.

An online test shows that I was Yan. [www.allthetests.com]
I did not know
I guess I need more Yin foods, more microgreens.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2015 08:50PM by RawPracticalist.

Raw Pr wrote:
An online test shows that I was Yan. [www.allthetests.com]
I did not know
I guess I need more Yin foods, more microgreens.

Tai:
That test very incomplete, and a bit silly. Please don't take it seriously.


When I went to visit the north east in the winter with lots of snow, I brought a lot of sweaters. But everyone had the heat going full blast, so I couldn't wear them. I was in a place that was very cold (yin) and very refreshing outside, but I was mostly indoors and it was dry and hot. My constitution was very aggravated by the dry heat of space heaters and the smoke of fires. So I had to use even more raw fruit and fresh raw juices to balance out. The cold outside felt so amazing, so wonderful to me and I would have been so happy to have no heat indoors and just wear sweaters. The sweaters are warm (yang). Instead, the yang of the artifical heat overpowered my yin. My skin was very irritated.

Here in California, the heat can be very intense sometimes. The yin of green leaf juices and even microgreens is NOT enough yin for me given the intense heat (still very good and useful, just not enough). Raw living cactus and raw succulents (their very special enzyme-rich mucilage) really helps to nourish the proper yin for me. Some people scoff at aloe. But I am sharing how it helps me to balance out from the inside out, especially in intense heat. Sometimes intense sun irritate my eyes. Picking fresh aloe, blending and drinking immediately really soothes my eyes from the sun. Yes, Markus found the two essential things to achieve balance in Las Vegas: nopal and aloe. It's good anywhere, but vital for those in the crushing heat.

Yin and yang principles are most useful applied when examining the health of the organs: kidney yin and yang, spleen yin and yang, stomach yin and yang, liver yin and yang, etc. I don't have time to explain everything, but I get your point Raw p, about explaining this in a book.

Tai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I went to visit the north east in the winter
> with lots of snow, I brought a lot of sweaters.
> But everyone had the heat going full blast, so I
> couldn't wear them. I was in a place that was
> very cold (yin) and very refreshing outside, but I
> was mostly indoors and it was dry and hot. My
> constitution was very aggravated by the dry heat
> of space heaters and the smoke of fires.

Tai, aside from not getting enough vitamin D that dry indoor heat is the other thing that makes living up north extremely difficult for me and many, many others. I've found the answer to the dry heat is to invest in a whole house humidifier which is connected up to the HVAC system. It makes a world of difference in health and comfort to be able to breath the humid warm air. I also use several HEPA filter air machines in the house to remove things like natural gas fumes and neighbor's chimney smoke.

And yes the freezing cold winter air outside is very therapeutic! Cold air holds much more oxygen than hot air does.

So I had
> to use even more raw fruit and fresh raw juices to
> balance out. The cold outside felt so amazing, so
> wonderful to me and I would have been so happy to
> have no heat indoors and just wear sweaters. The
> sweaters are warm (yang). Instead, the yang of
> the artifical heat overpowered my yin. My skin
> was very irritated.
>
> Here in California, the heat can be very intense
> sometimes. The yin of green leaf juices and even
> microgreens is NOT enough yin for me given the
> intense heat (still very good and useful, just not
> enough). Raw living cactus and raw succulents
> (their very special enzyme-rich mucilage) really
> helps to nourish the proper yin for me. Some
> people scoff at aloe. But I am sharing how it
> helps me to balance out from the inside out,
> especially in intense heat. Sometimes intense sun
> irritate my eyes. Picking fresh aloe, blending
> and drinking immediately really soothes my eyes
> from the sun. Yes, Markus found the two essential
> things to achieve balance in Las Vegas: nopal and
> aloe. It's good anywhere, but vital for those in
> the crushing heat.
>
> Yin and yang principles are most useful applied
> when examining the health of the organs: kidney
> yin and yang, spleen yin and yang, stomach yin and
> yang, liver yin and yang, etc. I don't have time
> to explain everything, but I get your point Raw p,
> about explaining this in a book.

Yin/Yang chart [www.gregsamples.com]
I wish there was a chart on raw vegetables

Posted by: RawPracticalist ()
Date: April 08, 2015 11:48AM

Yin/Yang chart [www.gregsamples.com]
I wish there was a chart on raw vegetables

Tai:
There are so many mistakes in this chart, I don't have time to correct them. Traditional chinese medicine uses the traditional 5 element model and the traditional Chinese view of yin and yang. Then macrobiotics came along and used a different concept of yin and yang for their foods that sometimes is opposite to traditional Chinese medicine.

This chart seems a mish mash of macrobiotics and Chinese, with the end result as confusion. Case in point, marijuana is hot and dry in TCM, which would make it yang. Whereas they list it here as yin. So far from what its nature really is. I took a course in balancing the side effects of marijuana in chronic users and it is all about restoring the yin and essence, which marijuana depletes.

One reason I suspect this is macrobiotic driven is the reference to radish as yin. In TCM, spicy things are definitely yang. The spicier, the more yang, the less spicy, the less yang. But as I said, macrobiotics reverse a lot of things.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2015 05:17PM by Tai.

Thanks Tai

That is what I learned from your earlier posts, that spicy veggies were Yang.
I eat mostly yin green so I tried to add more of the like of radish to my diet