Editing Chinese food therapy (section)

==Main tenets==
Although the precepts of Chinese food therapy are neither systematic nor identical in all times and places, some basic concepts can be isolated.{{sfn|Anderson|2013|pp=259–260}} One central tenet is that "medicine and food share a common origin", and that food materials can therefore be used to prevent or treat medical disorders.{{sfn|Huang|2000|p=571}} Like medicinal drugs, food items are classified as "heating" ({{zh|s=热|t=熱|p=rè|labels=no}}) or "cooling" ({{zh|s=凉|t=涼|p=liáng|labels=no}}).{{sfn|Anderson|2013|p=259}} In popular understanding, "heating"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tnp.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/health/keep-cool-avoiding-heaty-foods|title=Keep cool by avoiding 'heaty' foods|newspaper=The New Paper|date=8 July 2019}}</ref> food is typically "high-calorie, subjected to high heat in cooking, spicy or bitter, or 'hot' in color (red, orange)", and includes red meat, innards, baked and deep-fried goods, and alcohol.{{sfn|Anderson|2013|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dtsYe0ZFORcC&q=heat 259–260]}} They are to be avoided in the summer and can be used to treat "cold" illnesses like excessive pallor, watery feces, fatigue, chills, and low body temperature caused by a number of possible causes, including [[anemia]]. Green vegetables are the most typical "cooling" or "cold" food, which is "low-calorie, watery, soothing or sour in taste, or 'cool' in color (whitish, green)". They are recommended for "hot" conditions: rashes, dryness or redness of skin, heartburns, and other "symptoms similar to those of a burn", but also sore throat, swollen gums, and constipation.{{sfn|Anderson|2013|pp=259–260}}

In more systematic understandings, each medicine or food item has one of five flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, pungent (or "acrid"), and salty.{{sfn|Buell|Anderson|2010|p=139}} Besides describing the taste of food, each of these "flavors" purportedly has specific effects on particular [[Zang-fu|viscera]]. The sour flavor, for instance, has "constriction and emollient effects" and "can emolliate the liver and control diarrhea and perspiration", whereas "bitter" food can "purge the heart 'fire', reduce excessive fluids, induce diarrhea, and reinforce the heart 'Yin'".<ref name="zou"/>

One common saying among proponents of Chinese food therapy is "medicine and food, same origin" ({{zh|s=[[wikt:药食同源|药食同源]]|p=yàoshí tóngyuān}}; [[Japanese language|Japanese]]: {{Nihongo krt||[[wikt:医食同源|医食同源]]|ishokudōgen}}), where certain food items are given medicinal properties, and where certain herbal medicines are deemed acceptable in food.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=三成 |first1=由美 |last2=徳井 |first2=教孝 |last3=朱 |first3=根勝 |last4=郭 |first4=忻 |title=中国医学と薬膳 |journal=日本食生活学会誌 |date=2001 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=109–114 |doi=10.2740/jisdh.12.109 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jisdh1994/12/2/12_2_109/_article/-char/ja/ |trans-title=Chinese medicine and Chinese medicated diet |language=ja}}</ref>