Maintenance of health was of utmost importance for the ancient Chinese people to such a degree that their healthcare was not something achieved by going to a doctor; for them, it was a way of life. To maintain health and heal illness, these people performed tai chi, acupuncture Bellingham, herbal medicine, used massage, and meditated regularly. Aside from these therapeutic modalities, the Chinese deemed every meal they consumed as a kind of healing treatment for their bodies.
They found that each food had different effects on their energy. They came up with a sophisticated ingredient recipe classification system to help them select the most appropriate foods for any given disharmony within the body. This modality known as Chinese nutritional therapy can now be administered to pets to improve or restore their health as well.
The complications inherent in Chinese nutritional therapy can make the treatment difficult to administer. Fortunately, about 80% of the worth of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) food therapy is simply based on balancing bodily heating and cooling functions.
Based on TCVM perspective, foods can be warming, cooling, or neutral. Someone stating that a food is warming does not necessarily mean that it brings about a hot or warm sensation in the mouth. The Chinese learned that certain foods generated a warming effect in the body while some foods produced a cooling response. Using warming foods to offset cold conditions, foods that are naturally cool are used to neutralize a hot condition; neutral foods, on the other hand, are given when nothing is too hot or warm or too cold or cool.
Hot conditions can vary in magnitude. Some canines tend to pant a lot and look for cool surroundings. A pet that feels “hot” may feel hot to the touch and easily overheat. In more extreme instances, the heat may appear as red eyes; smelly red rashes in the skin; diarrhea with blood; or yellow or green discharges. The tongue of the animal is often dry and red. If your pet has any of these signs, you may need to feed it with cooling foods.
Pets that are “Cold” may shiver a lot and often seek warmth. Their skin might feel cold and they stay away from the cold. Their tongue and skin may be pale and discharges. Their discharge, if any, appear whitish or clear. These pets thrive when fed with foods that are naturally warm.
One needs to take into account that the concepts used in Chinese medicine were established for people. Unlike Westerners, they have different dog breeds that were bred in different climates. It does not mean your husky has an internal problem if you live in Houston, Texas if he or she pants all day long; it simply means the environment he is living in is affecting his body very much. Chihuahuas were bred in Mexico and if you have a pet Chihuahua and you live in Maine, your pet may shiver throughout the winter. While these behaviors are common for the breeds under those circumstances, the animal can well adapt to its conditions if it is fed food that can counteract the temperature stress being placed on it. Furthermore, an ordinary mutt with a neutral constitution may feel better if it’s fed cooling foods in the heat of summer and warming foods in the cold of winter.
As useful as food energetics concepts are, you need to understand that the ultimate outcome is likely to be subtle. TCVM nutritional therapy works best when it’s used as a component of a healthy lifestyle. If you have pet that is seriously sick, it’s vital that she is seen by a holistic veterinarian. Still, regardless of what your pet’s health problem is, you can avail of TCVM food therapy combined with any other modality to help give your pet a significant advantage. The importance of TCVM can be gleaned in this ancient Chinese proverb, “The skill of the physician is wasted if the patient takes medicine but neglects his diet.”