What Is Cooling Food?
To understand cooling food, you first much understand some of the basics of Chinese food therapy.
In Eastern food therapy, the terms warming and cooling don’t necessarily refer to a food’s temperature or spiciness.
Instead, it refers to the food’s energy. In Chinese medicine, food energy is a very powerful tool.
In fact, Chinese medicine experts say food has the power to heal and harmonize the body, mind, and Qi (life force).
The theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine Food Therapy classify food into the categories of:
- Warming Food (Yang)
- Cooling Food (Yin)
- Neutral Food
In this article, we are going to discuss foods in the cooling category.
Food in the cooling category help counteract the effects of excess heat.
For example, a cooling diet:
- Clears heat
- Drains fire
- Cools blood
- Nourishes Yin
A cooling diet is especially helpful with:
- Excess Heat patterns
- Damp-Heat skin
- Inflammation
- Yin Deficiency
- Issues with Fire/Wood Constitution Balance
Use caution when feeding a cooling diet to pets with Excess Cold and Yang Deficiency.
Food List
Cooling Meat & Dairy
- Turkey
- Duck, Duck eggs
- Cod, Conch
- Clam, Mussel
- Crab, Oyster
- Scallop
- Rabbit
- River Snail
- Chicken Egg White
- Alligator
- Turtle, Frog
- Shark
- Yogurt
Cooling Grains & Beans
- Millet
- Barley
- Brown Rice
- Buckwheat
- Wheat Flour
- Wheat Bran
- Barley Sprouts
- Job’s Tears
- Tofu
- Mung Bean
- Sesame Seed
Cooling Vegetables & Fruits
- Spinach, Broccoli
- Celery, Tomato, Eggplant
- Kelp or Seaweed
- Alfalfa, Amaranth
- Cucumber, Watermelon
- Bitter Melon (Gourd)
- Dandelion, Lettuce
- Pear, Banana
- Strawberry
- Bamboo Shoot
- Persimmon
- Kiwi, Cranberry, Orange
- Mango, Mushroom
- White Radish
Cooling Herbs
- Gingko
- Peppermint
- Green Tea
- Chrysanthemum
Others
- Sesame Oil
- Flax Seed Oil
- Soybean Oil
- Honey
- Sauce (Wheat)
- Salt
- Green Tea
Want to try cooking a cooling diet for your dog or cat?
Get Slow Cooker Recipes and Learn More About Food Therapy for Pets
