Chinese dietetics: Thermal nature

A scale of five, with a crowded middle

四气 Sì Qì

Cold, cool, neutral, warm and hot. What matters is where the majority sits: almost everything eaten daily is neutral or one step from the center. The extremes are few, and that is why they are noticeable.

Neutral

Rice, egg, carrot: the back of the pantry

Cool / cold

Cucumber, watermelon, tofu, mint

Warm / hot

Ginger, cinnamon, lamb, walnut

Almost everything, near the center

A diet of extremes is not a more precise diet

Common mistake: Reading the scale as a recommendation. It describes an observed tendency; it does not say what to eat.

A pear is eaten poached and hot. What has changed compared to the raw pear?

1. Texture, digestibility and context; the basic classification is still the same
2. Nothing: cooking changes nothing about a food
3. Its nature goes from cool to warm because of the heat of cooking
4. Its flavor changes from sweet to pungent

Sort these six by nature

• Fresh gingerWarmNeutralCool
• LambWarmNeutralCool
• RiceWarmNeutralCool
• Chinese yamWarmNeutralCool
• WatermelonWarmNeutralCool
• TofuWarmNeutralCool

Another round, this time with no obvious extremes

• WalnutWarmNeutralCool
• Sweet potatoWarmNeutralCool
• Daikon radishWarmNeutralCool
• Red jujubeWarmNeutralCool
• Shiitake mushroomWarmNeutralCool
• BarleyWarmNeutralCool

Someone builds their whole week out of warm and hot foods because they “feel cold”. What is wrong?

1. Nothing, if they really do feel cold
2. Bitter foods are missing
3. They should alternate cold days and hot days
4. The scale is for fine-tuning, not for building a whole diet