Tonifying, or "Bu" in Chinese, involves consuming foods or medicines that have the effect of nourishing or regulating the balance of yin and yang in the body, with the aim of strengthening the physique, preventing illness, treating disease, and extending life.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has accumulated extensive experience in how to use food and medicine to regulate and tonify the human body. TCM believes that the human body, like everything else in the universe, is always in a state of relative dynamic balance. Once this balance is disrupted, and yin and yang become imbalanced, leading to excess or deficiency, illness will occur in the body. At this point, various appropriate methods are needed, including consuming certain medicines, foods, and other means, to help yin and yang restore dynamic balance. The "Huangdi Neijing" (The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine) states: "Whenever diagnosing an illness, one must ask about diet and living conditions," "When treating an illness, one must seek its root," "Use medicine to dispel it, and food to follow it," "Humans are based on the five grains," "Heaven nourishes people with the five qi, and earth nourishes people with the five flavors," and so on. The above quotations clearly indicate that food (including grains, vegetables, fruits, etc.), like medicine, plays an indispensable role in treating and preventing diseases and maintaining the dynamic balance of yin and yang in the human body.
Each person's age, gender, and physical constitution are different, so the approach to tonifying also varies. Some people are usually prone to yin deficiency and should consume foods and medicines that nourish yin, are gentle and moistening, and clear heat and reduce fire, such as Rehmannia (Shu Di), Adenophora root (Bei Sha Shen), and Solomon's Seal (Yu Zhu). Cold and cooling foods should be used with caution. For those with excessive yang qi, warming and drying foods should be used with caution. Infants and young children are considered to have a "tender yang constitution," with an abundance of yang heat, so warming tonics should be used sparingly. Postpartum women often suffer from qi and blood deficiency, so they should pay attention to timely qi and blood tonification. Older individuals often have kidney deficiency and should constantly tonify and consolidate their kidneys.
In summary, when people use food or medicine for tonification, they must consider the overall picture, taking into account seasonal characteristics, individual constitution, and the properties and flavors of foods and medicines, to achieve the fundamental goal of regulating the yin and yang of the human body and restoring dynamic balance. If this principle is violated, it will not only be unbeneficial to the body and fail to achieve the goal of tonification, but will also harm health.
Authored by: Zhang Yong, Founder of Shang Yi Tong, Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioner, highly trusted and supported by celebrities and wealthy individuals, specializes in treating pain, urban diseases, etc.
Column: Celebrity Imperial Physician
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