Many of our patients are really conscientious about what they eat. They know not to overdo it on sweets and processed foods. They grab a salad at lunch, but they wonder why bloating and discomfort remain an issue for them.
It’s hard when you feel like you’re doing everything right, but you don’t want to feel pain after eating something. Raw foods can be difficult to digest. Raw and cold foods like ice cream or salad can increase bloating and fatigue because they are harder for the body to break down.
Sometimes we just can’t absorb nutrients as well if they are not cooked.
Table of contents
- Humans Evolved to Cook Foods
- What Digestive Dysfunction Looks Like
- The History of The Spleen School
- The Middle Burner in Traditional Chinese Medicine
- What to Eat for Breakfast instead of a Smoothie
- Break Up With Your Salads at Lunch
- Recipes to Support your Middle Burner
- How You Eat Matters
- Ready for Digestive Support?
Humans Evolved to Cook Foods
Some scientists such as Richard Wrangham in his book “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” argue that cooking food was an essential part of the physiological evolution of human beings. When you cook foods, you break down some of the molecules which allows your body to absorb nutrients more easily, without overtaxing your system.
Warm foods relax the digestive tract allowing food to flow more freely. In addition, cooking foods gave humans an evolutionary advantage because cooking killed many pathogens and parasites.
From the evolutionary standpoint, research suggests that modern humans have adapted to eat cooked foods and absorb nutrients best from a cooked diet. This is why fatigue and amenorrhea are common side-effects of a raw food diet.
What Digestive Dysfunction Looks Like
Digestive dysfunction can lead to symptoms like abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and loss of appetite. It can also increase anxiety and worry for some people.
They have known this for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory but now we can also see a gut brain connection that strongly affects mental health in the serotonin produced by the gut. There is a link between digestive function and mood.
The History of The Spleen School
If you’ve been a patient in our Washington, DC acupuncture clinic, you’ve probably been advised to eat more warm, cooked foods–especially in colder months. This wisdom has become doctrine in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Digestion is so important in our field and so emphasized that there is even a school of thought called The Spleen School which started in the 12th Century. The Spleen School is dedicated to healing digestion and The Spleen and Stomach (the center of digestion in TCM) first and foremost.
The thinking is that if the Spleen is happy, the rest of the body will function well.
The Middle Burner in Traditional Chinese Medicine
The Spleen and Stomach make up the Middle Burner in TCM. The Middle Burner is the digestive strength of the body, you can think of it as a fire that is burning, ready to help you digest food.
The Stomach receives food and begins to break down nutrients eventually sending them to the Small Intestine. Then, The Spleen distributes the nutrients and fluids throughout the body making sure that the body is nourished and has energy needed to fulfill all tasks.
What to Eat for Breakfast instead of a Smoothie
If you eat cold, raw foods, you run the risk of dampening the Middle Burner and making it harder to digest food. If a fire goes out, it’s hard to get it going again. That’s why you want to eat regular meals and start the day with a warm, cooked meal full of nutrients.
Think of it this way, the fire went down overnight and it’s just embers now, so you want to stoke it with some kindling rather than just putting a huge log on the fire. So you want to eat a medium-sized breakfast of something like oatmeal, congee, or a poached egg and toast. This is easier to digest than a cold smoothie for breakfast.
Break Up With Your Salads at Lunch
A very common time that people tend to eat a fully raw meal is lunch. This is because eating a salad at lunch with all raw vegetables has become quite popular. Salads are convenient and easy to throw together, but they have some unintended consequences.
For example, if you often eat a salad for lunch and have a major energy slump at 2:00 or 3:00pm, consider swapping your salad for a warm, cooked meal such as stir fry or a soup. If you love the complexity of a salad, try a grain bowl. You can make a cooked grain base with quinoa or rice and then put cooked vegetables on top, add a cooked protein, and then finish with salad dressing. This should help the afternoon energy slump that many are prone to.
Recipes to Support your Middle Burner
How You Eat Matters
If you’ve been feeling a bit tired, overwhelmed, overly worried, or have been having bloating and loose stools, consider increasing the amount of cooked foods you eat. Sometimes people are eating the right foods in the wrong way. Tweaking your diet to incorporate mostly cooked foods can have an amazing impact on your overall health.
Make your meal times a time to slow down. Try eating in good company, or if you’re by yourself, without reading anything or looking at your phone and just savor the nutrients you’re putting into your body. Take time to chew and enjoy every bite as this often helps improve digestion as well.
Ready for Digestive Support?
If you’re ready to try something different to support your mood, energy levels, and digestion then give acupuncture and herbal medicine a try. Your acupuncturist will use your tongue, pulse, medical history, and current symptoms to create a custom treatment plan that is just for you — because you deserve to feel better.
To get started, head to our booking page and schedule your first appointment. If you’d like us to check your insurance benefits, we’d be happy to take care of that for you. Our acupuncture clinic in Washington, DC is in-network with CareFirst/BlueCross and Aetna.
About the Author
Hi! I’m Elyse, the go-getter who founded Cherry Blossom Healing Arts. I’m 100% a healer who loves to help people feel better! I absolutely love practicing acupuncture in Washington, DC.
