Food Therapy

Food Therapy is one of the five branches of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine. It is a practice of healing using natural foods along with, or instead of, pharmaceuticals. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine (Huang-di-ni-jing) was written around 300 BC, around the same period of Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, who said, “Let food be thy, medicine, and medicine be thy food.” 

The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine classified food by Yin and Yang energies, five tastes, and by their natures and characteristics. For example, Yang foods are believed to warm the body’s Yang, tonify Qi, dispel Cold, move Qi and Blood, resolve Stagnation, and stop pain. Yin foods nourish the body’s Yin, cool Blood, clear Heat, and detoxify. Therefore, Yang foods (e.g., mutton and pumpkin) are used for conditions associated with Cold and weakness - Qi/Yang Deficiency, Qi-Blood stagnation, Wei syndrome (weakness), Lin syndrome (incontinence), and immunodeficiency. Yin Foods (such as turkey and tofu) are used for conditions associated with Heat and inflammation -  Yin Deficiency, skin itching, autoimmune diseases, Cushing's disease.

The practitioner uses selected food ingredients to:

1. Promote Health and Prevent Disease — to improve health and to prevent seasonal climate-related problems.
2. Treat Active Disease — to treat many clinical conditions
3. Adjunct Therapy — to complement the primary treatment of diseases 

Plus, it's fun to cook for your animals!  Subscribe to Dr. Ying's blog for more info on food therapy and some simple ideas to start incorporating home-cooked food into your animal's diet. 
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Whole, fresh foods should be a big part of your animal's diet. Processed foods and vitamin isolates lack the phytonutrients, enzymes and building blocks of whole foods. The first step to good nutrition is a variety of quality whole foods.

When clients start home cooking for their dogs and cats, I recommend feeding a basic supplement like Platinum Performance for support as a good adjunct to your home cooking.

Here is the link to Platinum Performance, use code YIN when checking out. 

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