Food as medicine

Not a new idea at all. Food is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine as a means to bringing the body and spirit into balance. As are herbs, acupuncture and other practices.

Herbal remedies are generally prepared by cooking herbs in water and then administering the ‘tea’ to the person being treated.

So I got to thinking: Here in the West we generally cook our vegetables, like potatoes, carrots and beets in water and then discard the liquid before serving up the now, soft vegetables.

In Chinese cooking the wok is generally used to stir fry vegetables quickly at high heat with spices added, which kills off harmful bacteria, but does not deprive the veggies of essential nutrients that are leached into the cooking fluid here in the West.

Accordingly, as someone who likes to preserve vegetables in jars for the winter, I use a small amount of vinegar added to the water and do not discard this liquid when I use the veggies. Instead I mix it with other juices, like orange juice and consume it as a cold drink.

Trying to adapt Western practices to Eastern smarts.