Live in the Balance

Book excerpt: Learn how to balance who you are with what you eat -- and how to maintain your ideal state of balance even as your body ages and your dietary needs change For over three thousand years, practitioners of Chinese medicine have known that food is health-giving. Now path-breaking nutritionist Linda Prout synthesizes the basic principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with the science of western nutrition. With a clear focus to help readers achieve balance, Prout introduces the concept of balance and describes the signs and symptoms of various patterns of imbalance from a TCM perspective. She provides simple self-assessments readers can use to determine their own tendencies toward imbalance, and recommends foods, cooking methods, and lifestyle changes to balance each pattern. Fats, proteins, carbohydrates and sugars are each discussed from a western nutrition and eastern perspective, with beneficial and potentially unhealthful choices given for each body pattern.