According to traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, you can increase your vital energy, or qi, by eating complex carbohydrate foods such as whole grains and vegetables. Warming and sweet foods, including cherries, coconut, tofu and winter squash, are especially recommended to build qi. Before starting a new diet, discuss it with a registered dietitian.
Qi Deficiency
Qi, pronounced "chee," is the Chinese term for life force energy. According to registered nurse and acupuncturist Debra Betts, subtle pathways called meridians circulate qi through your body. The amount of qi you carry can depend on your genetics, lifestyle, air quality, environment and food intake. Qi deficiency can show up in symptoms such as exhaustion, unexplained perspiration, loss of appetite and diarrhea, notes the Yin Yang House website. Common specific qi deficiency diagnoses involve the spleen and liver systems.
Sweet Foods
If you have qi deficiency, you may be craving sweet foods. Betts explains that TCM divides sweet foods into two groups, empty sweet and full sweet. Empty sweet includes raw sugar, honey and fruit juices, which are fine in small quantities. Full sweet refers to nutritious foods with a warming effect on the body, and emphasize complex carbohydrates and high-quality protein. These include shiitake mushrooms, beef, lentils, potatoes, figs, herring, mackerel, oats and yams, explains the Meridian Press website. Other good foods include trout, mussels, eggs, ham, almonds and dates, notes Betts.
Foods for Spleen Qi Deficiency
Primary signs of a qi deficiency in the spleen system include fatigue, loss of appetite, water retention, nausea, a heavy feeling in your extremities and mental confusion or vagueness. Warming and nutritive foods such as oatmeal, brown rice, millet, winter squash, Brussels sprouts, lamb, steamed vegetables and dried fruit compote can increase your store of spleen qi. Avoid cold, over-processed foods and beverages. Herbal teas that nourish spleen qi include ginger root and fennel caraway teas, according to Anusuya Batliner, a TCM nutritionist, writing in a 2004 issue of "Nutrition Professionals Quarterly."
Foods for Liver Qi Deficiency
If you have liver qi deficiency, you may experience anxiety, depression and rumination, or the constant cycling of negative thoughts. If left untreated, it can develop into muscle weakness, stomach pain and hernia, according to the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies website. Increase your intake of cooling foods, such as cucumber, melons, lemons and spearmint tea, suggests an article on liver qi stagnation in "Nutrition Professionals Quarterly." Ginger root tea is invigorating to the liver, as is a tea made from fenugreek and caraway seeds.
References
- The World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies; Treatment and Experience on Liver Qi Deficiency and Liver Yang Deficiency; Jianbang Yu et al.; June 2008
- "Nutrition Professionals Quarterly"; Liver Qi Stagnation and Diet; Anusuya Batliner; 2004
- Debra Betts: Qi Deficiency
- Yin Yang House: TCM Diagnostic Patterns
- Meridian Press: Qi Deficiency
- "Nutrition Professionals Quarterly"; Spleen Qi Deficiency: A Nutritional Perspective; Anusuya Batliner; 2004
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