Right food enables a person to refuse from medicine because it becomes medicine by itself. In many ways the curative action of food is caused by its taste. Since oldest times there are six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, burning and astringent.
Sweet taste is the strongest as for its curative activity on the organism. It strengthens the body, promotes digestion, cures wounds and helps prolong life. Food with sweet taste is especially useful for children, old people and weak people. But eating a lot of sweet food is harmful for your health, because it can make you fat and sick.
To stay alive our body needs energy, materials to build and regenerate its cells, and last but not the least, the microelements, which are vital for metabolism processes. If we want our body to function normally, we must know how to satisfy its nutritional needs, which have been already well recognized.
The essentials are as follows:
The amount of energy, or the calories, that we consume, must correspond to its actual expenditure. We must maintain our weight close to the ideal.
Our daily food ration must be diverse, not to interrupt the metabolism processes at some stages.
We should take our meals at fixed time evenly distributed during the day.
Our body must be provided with all the vitamins, fat acids and amino acids it needs.
Yin is the cold or cool energy. Cooling foods like aloe vera, honey, cucumbers and peppermint are examples of Yin foods.
Yang is hot or warming energy. Hot foods like chili, beef and cherries are examples of Yang foods. When your Yin and Yang are in balance, you skin and hair are at their best.
Oily skin, Yang.
A person with oily skin, a tendency to break out in pimples and a hot temper tends to have an excess of Yang, not enough Yin.
Pimple, boils and the like are due to toxic heat. Smoking and stress also aggravate the situation. Note that stress can lead to acne and dry skin at the same time.
If that sounds like you, the best food for you would be the cooling food. Food like carrots, cucumbers, peppermint, honey suckle, apples, bananas and chrysanthemum are great for cooling the ‘fire’.
What we eat has a profound effect on our outward appearance as well as on our physical well-being. An ideal diet should provide adequate quantities of all the nutrients essential to health and beauty. And don’t forget to nourish your mind! The nutrients which are of particular importance for beauty and their main sources are briefly examined here.
Vitamin A / Beta Carotene.
Vitamin A is essential for healthy hair and eyes. It is also important in the prevention and clearing of infections of the skin. Vitamin A counteracts dry skin, dandruff and wrinkle formation. It is needed for healthy blood circulation which gives a glow to the skin. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to eruptions or dry, coarse, wrinkled skin; dull and dry hair or dandruff; ridging or peeling fingernails; pimples or acne and visual fatigue.
Natural Sources of Vitamin A:
Cod liver oil. Dairy products. Eggs. Carrots.
Green leafy vegetables. Tomatoes. Papaya
Melon.
Vitamin C plays an important role in forming collagen in the bones as well as in maintaining healthy gums, teeth, skin, and blood vessels.
A powerful antioxidant, vitamin C also reduces allergies and heals wounds. Since it’s involved in collagen formation, vitamin C glues cells together and prevents foreign organisms from penetrating this first line of defence.
