Chinese dietetics: When this is not the answer

What gets referred, not adjusted

Some findings are not corrected by changing dinner. In front of any of them, the conversation stops being dietetics and becomes a referral.

Unintended weight loss

Investigated medically, not adjusted with diet

Difficulty swallowing

Referral, always

Blood in stool or vomit

Referral, always

Vomiting or diarrhea that will not settle

Dehydration risk: medical assessment

Pain that wakes you at night

Not a meal-timing problem

Common mistake: Trying two weeks of dietary adjustment “just in case” before referring. Those two weeks are the harm.

Can you keep adjusting, or does this need a referral first?

• Raw vegetables have digested worse for a monthKeep adjustingRefer first
• They have lost seven kilos without tryingKeep adjustingRefer first
• Food sticks when they swallowKeep adjustingRefer first
• They sleep badly if they eat very lateKeep adjustingRefer first
• Daily diarrhea for three weeksKeep adjustingRefer first
• Cucumber repeats on them, other vegetables do notKeep adjustingRefer first

A pregnant woman asks about a list of “warming foods” she found online. What do you do?

1. Confirm the list and add the ones that are missing
2. Tell her Chinese dietetics does not apply during pregnancy
3. Point her to individual guidance, which is what this case needs
4. Suggest trying it for two weeks and seeing

A patient on long-term medication wants to change their diet drastically all at once. What do you tell them?

1. That food and drugs do not interact
2. That a big change on long-term medication is checked with whoever prescribes it
3. To separate meals from doses by two hours and that is that
4. To start by removing one food group each week

Parents want to apply to their four-year-old what worked for them. What do you tell them?

1. To halve the amounts
2. To start with neutral foods only
3. That childhood needs individual guidance, like pregnancy and illness
4. That Chinese dietetics does not apply at that age