If you have taken a Chinese  lesson, you may have heard about Chinese food therapy from your Chinese  teachers. Chinese food therapy 食疗(shíliáo) is a practice in  the belief of healing through the use of natural foods instead of medications. The  Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, also known as the Huangdi  Neijing, has formed the basis of Chinese food therapy which classified food by  four food groups, five tastes and by their natures and characteristics.

While learning  Chinese, you should also acquire some knowledge about health maintenance in  China which is prevalent in recent years and of great value for people all  around the world. One of the central ideas in food therapy is that certain foods have a  "hot" or heat inducing quality while others have a "cold"  or chilling effect on one's body, organs or "energy" levels. The idea  being that one's imbalance of natural "heat" and "cold" in  a body can cause disease or be more conducive towards sickness. For example, if  one had a cold, or felt he was about to get a cold, he would not want to eat  any "cold" foods such as a lemon, melon or cucumber. If one had a so  called "hot" disease, like Eczema, then he would not want to eat  "hot" foods such as garlic, onions, or chocolate lest the  "hot" disease is worsened. Indeed, it is thought by some that these  "hot" or "cold" properties of foods are so intense that  merely the eating of too many of one or another can actually cause diseases.  For example, the eating of too many "hot" foods like chili peppers or  lobster could cause a rash, or the eating of too many "cold" foods  such as watermelon, or seaweed could cause one to develop stomach pain or  diarrhea. In this way, this health system is in direct opposition to the germ  theory of disease and evidence-based medicine.

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