Doctors in China Swear By These 4 Healing Foods

Did you know that in ancient China, the best doctors were paid not when their patients were sick, but when their patients stayed healthy? And that's because they believed food was the very first medicine. And even today, in clinics all across China, doctors still prescribe everyday foods to heal digestion, calm anxiety, boost energy, or prevent disease. So, in this video, I'm going to share four healing foods that Chinese doctors swear by. Foods that aren't exotic or hard to find, but can transform your health when used the right way. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Dr. Alex Hine, a board licensed doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book Master of the Day. Let's get it. In the West, we usually separate food and medicine. We eat food when we're hungry, and we take medicine when we're sick. But in China, these two things have always been connected. You know, there's a saying in Chinese medicine that says medicine and food come from the same source. For thousands of years, doctors weren't just writing prescriptions for herbs. They were also teaching their patients which foods to eat and which to avoid depending on the season and their condition. Now, if someone had weak digestion, they were told to eat warm kanji made with rice and ginger. If someone was aging too quickly, doctors recommended black sesame seeds and walnuts to nourish their blood and kidneys. When a family wanted to protect themselves from epidemics, they would simmer a stragalus root, hang in, and chicken soup. The very first Chinese medical texts written over 2,000 years ago contained just as much about diet and lifestyle as they did about acupuncture or herbs. Because the idea was simple. If you eat correctly, you prevent disease. If you eat incorrectly, no medicine in the world can save you. That's why even today in clinics across China, you'll still hear doctors telling patients, "Start with your diet." So, let's look at four specific foods that Chinese doctors still swear by today. Let's start with one of the most famous goji berries or gocha. In Ningsha, a small region of northern China, they're actually villages where people regularly live past 100 years old. And when scientists went to study why, they found that one of their daily habits was drinking tea infused with goji berries. So, in traditional Chinese medicine, we say goji nourishes the liver and kidneys, builds blood, and brightens the eyes. So, doctors often give it to patients who are fatigued, have dry eyes, or signs of fluid or yin deficiency. Now, modern research confirms that too. Goji berries are packed with antioxidants, carotenoids, and polysaccharides that boost immunity and protect against aging. So, the simplest way to use goji is literally just to get a handful, put it into hot water as tea, or you could put it into soups and also some stews. Now, medicinal herbs and medicinal foods are just one of the healing practices and longevity practices coming out of Asia and Chinese medicine. And in my clinic, I see so many people who are burned out. They're exhausted. They're wired but tired. They can't sleep. They're anxious. But the weird thing is their labs all come back normal. And here's the interesting part. In traditional Chinese medicine, they've been describing this exact pattern for over 2,000 years. And that's why in a few weeks, I'm hosting a free live online event called the Lost Chinese Practices quietly helping people conquer chronic burnout and chronic fatigue. So, this resonates, click the link below to register. Spaces are limited and I'm going to be there live for you. So, come asking your questions. come just to say hi. Come and I would love to see you there alive. Now food is medicine number two. The next up is ginger or shjang. Now there's a Chinese proverb around ginger that says every family should have three pieces of ginger. That's how important it is. You know doctors use ginger to warm the stomach, stop nausea, and dissolve flem and throat clearing. It's considered basically the number one herb or food for cold digestive issues like bloating, nausea, morning sickness, or when you catch a chill. Ginger reduces inflammation, improves your circulation, and can even help with your blood sugar. And it's been shown to reduce nausea from chemotherapy. So whether you're going to drink the ginger as a tea, you plan to cook with it, or you plan to add it to soups, ginger is a foodgrade medicinal that every household doctor in China relies on. Now, the third food is one most people overlook. It's called black sesame seeds or hija. In traditional Chinese medicine, we say black sesame seeds nourish your liver and your kidneys, build blood and essence, and moistens dryness. That's why older doctors in China often tell their aging patients, "Eat more sesame seeds." Actually, it's also in one of the most famous formulas for constipation, especially when the bowel movements are dry and the person's older. Now, they're used for things like hair turning gray too early, dizziness, constipation from dryness, or weakness in your lower back or knees. And the modern nutrition research on it shows us why. Black sesame is rich in healthy fats, vitamin E, iron, and calcium. It supports hormone balance, skin health, and longevity. And I think the easiest way to consume hydrama is just use it in a kanji. Put in your oats or put it into your kanji in the morning. You can ground it into a powder, mix it with honey, or even just sprinkle it over vegetables. And finally, food is medicine number four, a true doctor's secret, is called hangi or arragalus. This is one of the most prescribed herbs in Chinese medicine, but in China, it's also used as a food, like a folk medicine. Families put slices of hangi, argalas, in their chicken soup to build the body's energy and defenses. Doctors give it to patients who are usually chronically fatigued, who catch colds often or who are recovering from long illnesses and it's considered one of the most powerful immune tonics in the Chinese pharmacopia. Modern studies show that it enhances your white blood cell activity. It protects your heart and it supports the immune system during chemotherapy. So commonly in terms of integrative medicine in China, pongchi is one of the most common herbs used uh when a patient's undergoing chemotherapy. So if you want to make your soups healing, this is sort of a fun thing you can do at home. Add a few slices of argalus, hongchi. It's like adding an immune shield directly into your meals here. Now, what's amazing about these four foods, goji, ginger, black sesame, and argalus, is that they're not fads. These have been used for centuries across generations of doctors and families in China because they work. And they work because the philosophy is simple. Don't wait until you're sick. Use food daily to strengthen your body's chi and resources, nourish the organs, and prevent disease from ever taking root. So, here's my challenge for you this week. Just add one of these healing foods into your routine. Brew some goji tea and sip on it throughout the day. Grate ginger into your meals. Sprinkle sesame on your breakfast. Or add a stragalus into your next soup. Now, if you guys want to go deeper, I'm hosting a free live online event in a few weeks called The Lost Chinese Practices: Quietly Helping People Conquer Burnout and Chronic Fatigue. If you've been feeling exhausted, anxious, wired, but tired, maybe your labs are even normal, but you don't feel well, this event will show you how these ancient practices can restore your energy and balance. So, the link right below is the link to register. Now, I don't know if I've ever shared this here, but I got incredibly sick about 5 years ago. And I got incredibly sick because of burnout. I was wrapping up my doctorate. I was also working to put myself through school so I didn't die in debt. And eventually, I started having heart palpitations and an arhythmia that lasted 5 years, severe insomnia. And after that insomnia became so severe, I developed clinical anxiety and ultimately chronic fatigue syndrome. Now, I wrecked my thyroid. I couldn't even work for about a year. I was so exhausted and I destroyed my health. What I didn't know then that I know now because I didn't have the skill to see it was that I had a really serious case of burnout. And if only I could learn to have spot the whole pattern way at the beginning, my 5-year illness could have just been like 6 months. So in this live workshop, I'll go into my story, the herbs and medicinals and minerals I recommend and supplements, chiong and energetic or breath work practices, as well as how this is treated east versus west. So come join me live. spots are limited. I would love to see you there. And then in terms of healing foods, start with small daily steps. And you might be amazed at how much your body will actually end up healing by introducing maybe one of these principles you do for a couple weeks. Now, people often ask me, well, according to traditional Chinese medicine, what diet and what food should I eat every single day for my body type? Well, I shot a really in-depth video on this exact question right up here.