Dietotherapy Of Chinese Tibetan Medicine
The importance of diet therapy is highly stressed in Tibetan medicine. It has been emphasized that once a man falls ill, it is highly recommended that the method of regulating the diet is the first choice for treatment, together with a well maintained regimen. It is only when diet therapy fails to cure the disease: that other remedies should be pursued. This emphasis may be closely related to the influence of Han traditional medicine during the Tubo Dynasty. The above
therapeutic idea can be seen in the Precious Essential Recipes for Emergency written by Sun Simiao of the Tang Dynas'ty.
It is claimed in Tibetan medicine that there is a close relationship between food and drink and bodily health. All sorts of food and drink are definitely interpreted for their role in the treatment of diseases. Traditional Tibetan medicine differentiates food as grains, oils, meats, green vegetables and drink (beverage).
Grain can be divided into two categories, awns and pods, referring to cereals and beans respectively. Awns include rice, millet, buck wheat, wheat, barley, and highland barley. All these grains increase the essence in the body because they are of sweet taste and easily digested. Highland barley, for instance, is heavy and cool. Its main action is to increase bodily strength; and increase excreta at the same time. Rice, meanwhile, is light and cool. It increases the
body essence, decreases rlung, mkhris pa and badkan and can be applied for treatment of muscular flaccidity. Patients with a bone fracture should consume more millet, although this also has a tendency to aggravate the inflammatory process.
Pods or beans (including sesame) are light, cool, and sweet and are capable of increasing blood, mkhris-pa, and fat. They are used for treatment of diarrhea. They also have an external function, being used in powder form to rub the body. Sesame is cold, increases the spirit of the body, and is applied as an aphrodisiac, and a remedy for rlung disorders, and is also used as aphrodisiac.
