Cultivating the Body through Food - Learn the Basics of Chinese Dietary Therapy

Chinese Dietary Therapy is one of the 5 main treatment methods of Chinese medicine. In contrast to traditional nutrition it focuses more on the immediate effect of the dish on the body in a way you can feel. If you have a tendency to feel cold, you can cook a dish that will make you feel warmer. If you are feeling dehydrated in the Summer, you can cook a dish that treats heatstroke, cools and nourishes fluids.

The essence of this approach is learning about flavour and nature. The 5 flavours of Chinese medicine are salty, sour, bitter, sweet and spicy. They each have specific effects in the body and blending them together in different proportions can have profound effects on our health. The nature of herbs is their temperature. Every food is classified in the range of cold, cool, neutral, warm and hot. When you combine these with different cooking methods, you can start to bring power and vibrancy into your food.

This talk will go into much more than a list of do's and don'ts. It will give you a foundation to not only taking control of how food makes you feel but also in how to make your cooking even more delicious! In contrast to the way we look at nutrition in the West, in Chinese Dietary Therapy, the more delicious it is the better the effect and vice versa!

Of course there will be dishes to sample and try as well!

Your speaker, Alex Jacobs is a Chinese Medicine practitioner qualified in all of its 5 healing methods (Acupuncture, Massage, Herbal Medicine, Chinese Dietary Therapy, Qi Gong). He practises in North London at West Hampstead Acupuncture. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he has spent his life training and developing in different traditional disciplines with multiple teachers. He is also the founder and current organiser of the London Chinese Medicine Meetup Group and a council member for the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine. Hi main inspiration is to find better more effective ways to empower people in their own health and personal development with Chinese medicine treatment and self-help.

If you have any questions or have trouble booking through meetup, you can contact Alex directly at alexjacobsacupuncture@gmail.com or on 07917610596.

Alex also teaches weekly Tai Chi and Qi gong classes at West Hampstead Community Centre (Mondays 10:30am to 11:30am - £11, Thursdays 7pm-8:30pm -£15. All levels welcome. Contact him directly if you would like to come along.