For years, whenever I spoke of or ate a lychee in front of my Chinese friends, they would always say, “Be careful! Lychees are very hot; you shouldn’t eat too many.” They didn’t mean that lychees are spicy to taste but rather, in the world of yin and yang, lychees fall on the extreme side of yang.
In Chinese culture, yin and yang represent the opposites inherent in nature and are integral to feng shui and Chinese medicine. With respect to food – and bearing no relationship whatsoever to temperature – yin represents cold and yang hot. Yang foods are assumed to increase your blood flow and body heat while yang foods are associated with cool and calm. Everything one consumes is yin, yang or neutral, and when you eat something on the extreme end of spectrum – such as lychee – you must achieve a balance, in this case, with something cold.
To complicate matters, everyone is, himself, either yin or yang. When I questioned my friends about how one finds out his status, they responded simply, “It’s something you just know – from childhood.” I persevered, “So, do your parents take you to a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and he tells you?” It turns out (of course!) that it’s much more subtle.
Take my friend, Vera. She knew early on she was yin because her mother never let her eat watermelon, considered very cold. Vera’s yin status also precluded her parents from serving her a popular children’s soup comprised of radish, carrot, and water chestnut (all cold) often consumed to balance the intake of fried food (hot).
My friend Gabby, on the other hand, is yang. She doesn’t remember when she found out but says that those with eczema or asthma of often hot and must eat accordingly (cold). In Chinese culture, determining whether you are a yin or yang can help maintain a healthy body and augment its hot or cold deficits.
At our dinner table the other night, we decided that – based on Gabby’s criteria – Elisa and I were yang. Erik, for reasons of his own, decided he was yin. At least we’re balanced.
Here are some examples of yin, yang and neutral foods:
Yin (cold):
Daikon
Mineral water
Watercress
Anything that grows on water
Sugarcane
Water chestnut
Yang (hot):
Ginger
Lychee
mango
Neutral:
Longan
Rice
Peach
You may see other photos on DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday.