Thanks to quantum physicists, we know that when we peer into matter deeply, there is only energy. In this infinite energy network, everything is connected in one dynamic web of interrelationships. Particles can act as waves or energy patterns. This concept can be applied to food as well. Food is far more than physical matter. Each food is an individual expression of Qi, or vital energy. Its deeper reality is comprised of activity and processing. Ancient practitioners applied the energetic aspects of food and herbs many millennia ago.

Nature’s Messages

Qi is not just measurable force or power; Qi is also intelligence with an ability to carry messages. It encompasses consciousness and purpose. Food contains life itself, which is connected to the vitality of Nature. Without Universal love, food cannot grow. We too are connected to Nature and the unconditional love of the Universe. Through food and Nature, we can connect to the purpose of life.

When a particular food is ready to eat, we say it has reached its “peak of perfection.” It has received all the necessary messages from Nature to fulfill its purpose in this reality. Without unconditional love from Nature and the Universe that gives a plant or an animal sunlight, moonlight, starlight, air and water, food could never grow. This is the ultimate secret behind healing with foods. It is not just food’s chemistry, but the intelligent messages and many levels of cooperation it has processed that make natural foods so powerful for healing.

Often, patients with chronic conditions want to talk about metabolic function. They believe focusing on food might be the way to alleviate many of their long-standing health issues. They ask “Which foods can help me heal? Which should I stay away from?” While foods by nature are healing, this focus is much too small. It only takes the physical processing of metabolic function into account: take in food, break it down, harvest energy, eliminate waste. Metabolism function is a far more complex process. It looks at the digestive process from the multidimensional level of body, mind and spirit.

Full Body-Mind-Spirit Potential

Even if you focus on eating only organic food, you have to ask yourself, “Can you find any place that has organic air?” The amount of air you have the capability of inhaling is one of the fundamental connections to food to consider. The Lung directly connects to our external world. Can you really sustain a pure body by concentrating on external aspects you have no control over? All spiritual practices tell us, “The answer is always within.” Once you build up the body, it will be able to activate its inherited wisdom to cooperate with Nature and its changes. You have this power in your genetic code. To be truly well, all three aspects of an individual—body, mind and spirit—have to operate at their full potential.

We have all been trained to believe food is the answer. Some of my patients spend much of their morning preparing fruits and vegetables for their juicing program. They put all their hopes into one glass of juice thinking it might help them solve their chronic health issues. Some people do derive benefit from food-focused programs, but for how long? Do these programs really deal with the root cause of the problem? Without a healthy metabolism function, you can’t derive the visible and invisible benefits of food.

Mind-Body-Spirit Preparation in the Energy Field

To receive all the levels of nutrition and energy that food has to offer, you must be prepared at the body, mind and spirit levels. Once your body is energetically strong, digestion happens smoothly. If you can’t digest what you have agreed to receive, your metabolism function will only work at a minimal level. Today, so many experts and diets focus on food. They break down nutrition to get inside the ingredients and analyze chemical components. But when we apply modern science theories, we see everything is energy.

We ourselves are energy beings. When we penetrate down through the tiniest particle of any food or nutrient, what’s essential is its interrelationships in the energy field. Therefore, it’s more relevant to talk about energy transfer than nutrition. In TCM, we continually ask, “How can the body perform at its highest Qi level? How can we use the highest Qi of foods to rebalance the body to help it heal itself?”

Food is energy that can be separated into different energetic frequencies. These individual frequencies allow the essence of the food you digest and your organs to communicate with each other. It’s an incredible matching game!

Energy Distribution, Thanks to the Lung!

We are now in the season of Autumn, which matches the energetic frequency of the Lung–Large Intestine. This pair is energetically very important to digestion. The Lung’s responsibility is to distribute the nutritive essence, or frequencies, of foods that you’ve processed to the other organs. As the master distributor of the body’s Qi, the Lung speaks the language of energetic frequencies very well.

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From the TCM perspective, food is viewed as medicine.