Traditional Chinese Medicine Nutritional Counseling

TCM Nutritional Counseling empowers you to find a good balance for your own constitution and your present condition, so you can do something to be as healthy as you wish. Based on Taoist nutritional theory, yin yang theory and food energetics, I assist you with the tools to make your own choices for your own situation.

TCM nutrition is an approach to using food as fuel or in the case of humans, medicine. Meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and grains all have different energetic properties. Sugars, spices, herbs, even different alcoholic drinks have different energetics. Depending on your constitution, your activities, your environment, the time you sleep and if you are exercising, your nutritional needs will vary and it’s good to be aware of how your decisions affect how you are feeling mentally and physically.

You may come to see me for chronic shoulder pain or for belly discomfort, or for sciatica, which may be treated with bodywork. When appropriate, I often help you to explore what the source of the pain may be offering a complete treatment approach to bring you more comfort and energy. This may take changing your morning routine or reviewing your shopping list. Your treatment will be far more effective if I can offer you something to help you make informed decisions about how you nourish yourself. People tend to eat exactly what is exacerbating their problem.

Common scenarios:
A young woman complains of feeling cold all the time, especially at night. She also suffers from feeling bloated and lacking energy, but she is so happy to be keeping her weight low she eats lots of salads and yogurt and cold vegetarian fare. I may suggest adding in more spice to her diet, more cooked foods, and less dairy products.

Someone with sciatica for instance may realize during our session that they are in fact a little angry about one thing or another. They might find that decreasing their intake of coffee and other dehydrating foods and increasing a green leafy dish to their menu might be helpful to reduce tension and tightness in their tendons.

The body and mind find a harmony between pure yang and pure yin. This state of equilibrium can be balanced with food and drink when we understand more about food energetics which traditional chinese medicine offers.