I’ve had a few questions about Chinese Medicine/Ayurveda (Traditional Indian Medicine) lately. More specifically the diet part of it. And anytime I bring up any sort of diet/health-related topic on the blog at least one person will comment or message me trying to counter my views with thoughts about Chinese Medicine. So I thought maybe it’s time that we have a chat about it.

I am not, at all, one of those people that thinks I know everything. I can say with certainty that I know A LOT about specific topics and experiences. And I can say with certainty that I’m learning new things every single day. I thrive on learning and gaining new knowledge in the world. I’m a constant work in progress and have turned myself into a self-made science project, constantly testing new theories and ideas on myself. Some health concepts have worked. And some didn’t. So I’m never going to say, I know 100% what is the right way to eat or strive for optimal health– I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows. I’m just here to share what I know works in MY body from my personal experience 🙂 Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda are definitely health topics that I dove deeply into in the past and still use bits and pieces of now.

I don’t want to dive into the science of Chinese Medicine or Aryuveda. For one, there is endless information on both. And secondly, they’re totally different views of healing, medicine, and lifestyle.  If you’re interested in either of those topics, there are a lot of great resources out there to learn more (I’ve definitely linked books in the past), but I do want to address my personal thoughts and experience on both since you guys asked.

I think both Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, while different, have a wide, wide range of similarities. The principle idea in both is the same: Use herb, food, and one’s natural body to bring a person back to baseline homeostasis. If you’re too much yin– you need more yang. If you have too much fire, you need to realign with foods for your body’s constitution, etc, etc. Both systems, especially Aruyveda believe in cleansing (some more gentle, some more extreme) to clear out blockages. Ayurveda also has a huge focus on meditation and breathing (awesome) which is necessary for a healthy mind/body connection. I’m into it.

But when it comes to the food aspect of it, a lot of people seem surprised or even offended that I don’t think it’s the optimal diet/plan in healing. I don’t. I know what ‘they‘ say. I know they say that lightly cooked foods are easier to digest– and will help you heal. I know that someone of my constitution is told to avoid raw foods– yet here I am promoting a high raw, mostly fruit diet. People who have strong personal feelings toward Aryveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine, (or any sort of anything related to food, haha) don’t like to hear that their diet might not actually be the optimal one for our human body.

Well, I’m here to say that if you’ve personally found healing through either form of *medicine*, then I VERY happy for you!  I want everyone to find optimal health— and however they can do that (without harming others), is amazing. For me, neither TCM or TIM was able to offer healing. I tried forms of both diets, for years (two and a half if you want to be specific) after being sick. But eating to my bodys type and constitution didn’t get me out of bed and functioning.

I mean, so much of the system(s) sounded sensible. 2,000+ years of medicine? I mean, that’s a lot of time and practice in one study. And damn, so much knowledge of how the body is connected is really spot on and crazy accurate. I think many parts of both can be beneficial to aid a person when ill. Reflexology, face mapping, detox, and meditation are my personal favorites. Acupuncture is great too (but not my favorite).

But as far as diet, I healed when I stepped away from the belief that I had a specific body constitution or state that needed cooked foods to heal and fat to purge and detox. I found healing when I went the most natural route possible: eating foods as they are found in nature. You know, the food we would be eating if we humans still lived within nature. Once I started eating foods in their natural state, I started to return to my natural state. I started to find healing and stepping toward optimal living again.

I say it all the time, but switching to a high carb (mostly fruit) low fat/low protein diet was the best thing I ever did for myself in healing. It was the lifestyle change that got me out of bed within a week and brought me true healing. It’s what makes me feel good today, over a year and a half (or longer??) years later. And there is no denying if we look at diet in the most basic form: eating raw foods, especially fruit makes the most sense– it’s what we would eat in our most primal and most importantly: unconditioned state.

If you’re well, I think you might find some level of homeostasis in the diets offered, but our bodies are far more overburdened now than were 3,000+ years ago, ya know? So for optimal healing, I’ve completely stepped away from the idea that cooked, fat heavy, oily, foods and grains will provide true optimal health.

So yeah, I’m happy to talk about all the parts of Ayurveda (It’s amazing. I’m officially addicted to yoga and meditative breathing) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Herbs and body points are important!), but if we’re going to talk about diet, then I have to say true healing can best be found in true, raw food. While both systems are amazing, neither one can truly cleanse the body like nature-found fruit can.

Anyway, this obviously isn’t a well-researched and credited article on Vedic culture or Chinese Medicine. We can save that for another day when we have hours to spend together discussing amazing ancient systems, cultures, and practices, haha 😉 These are just my short thoughts and personal opinions gained through my own experiences. I’m more than happy to hear your ideas if you have them 🙂 I just wanted to share mine in the meantime since I’ve had a few people bring it up and ask questions– ya know?

Again, the best mode of healing is the one you find that works specifically for you 😉

Cheers friends!

4 Comments

  1. This is the BEST POST EVER….been there done that…until i truly how to detox my body proper and learn the power of fruit did i heal all my heath issues….high fruit…low fat and salads are what truly heals people. Its hard to throw away all you are taught about diet and nutrition but we live in a society brainwashed regarding what is good for us and what our body actually needs. Like you i will never preach to anyone, you must find your own path towards optimum health…but if people only knew….the TRUE POWER OF FRUIT….it really is that simple:)

  2. I agree. We al have to find foods that wrk for our own personal bodies and it takes time.
    Also, our body’s needs change depending on our female cycle, emotions, sleep or lack of sleep, levels of stress or lack of stress, travel or home bound. I don’t think there is one magic diet for any one person. And that’s part of the problem. People want a magic bullet and to say if I follow this diet I am healed and cleansed. They don’t want to do the hard work – and it is hard work- of trying different things like you have done to see what works for your personal body. I personally know I could not eat nearly as much fruit as you do because of the sugar content and digestive side effects of lots of diarrhea. But it works for you and that’s commendable that you did the hard work. I personally need a lot of protein to mentally and physically function optimally and I don’t understand how you don’t need as much protein, but that’s your body now.
    It will change I am sure as we get older too.
    Thank you always for your transparency and sharing al you do!
    Love you 😍

  3. Hey! I’m one of those people who have brought up TCM/Ayurvedic medicine in a comment before 🙋🏻‍♀️ tho I hope not…combatively? Lol. At least, as I recall I wasn’t talking about food, just wondered if you had looked into the systems in general for certain symptoms you mentioned. And clearly you have! I agree that so much of it seems spot on, it’s pretty awesome sometimes. But I also agree that however you find healing that works for you, that’s the best path for you personally 🤷🏻‍♀️ But that’s also what makes it hard to heal yourself sometimes- wouldn’t it be sooo much simpler if there was one (same) perfect answer for everybody 😬
    ~Megan

    • No one has brought it up combatively– so you’re good 😉 haha! It’s def. pretty awesome at times. Reflexology blows me away every single time. 🙂