Zakaj superhrana ni tako super

Samo vtipkajte v Google ‘superfood’ (superhrana, op. prev.) in že boste dobili kar 123,000,000 rezultatov v 1,05 sekunde. Med temi živili so nekatera res smešna in bizarna, ki jih v življenju običajno nihče ne bi niti srečal, če ne bi živel v tej eksploziji informacij v globalizirani družbi. ‘Domorodno v deževnih gozdovih Južne Amerike’, ‘bližnji sorodnik marihuane’, ‘bogat z vitamini, proteini, omega maščobnimi kislinami’, ‘spodbuja imunski sistem’, ‘znižuje telesno težo’ in tako naprej, in to so le nekatere izmed supertrditev o superhrani.

Kot izvajalka kitajske medicine čutim neko odgovornost do te teme . Paciente pogosto seznanjam z živili ali zelišči za pomoč pri obnavljanju splošnega zdravja, ki jih večina ljudi niti ne bo vključila v svoj vsakdan. Smo kot neka skupnost, ki je vpeljala koncept, ‘da hrana lahko izboljšuje zdravje.’ Vendar to ne uvrsti nobenega izmed teh živil v kategorijo ‘superhrane.’

Zagotovo pa moram omeniti, da v TKM teoriji obstajajo nekatera živila in učinkovine, ki bodo obogatila vašo telesno energijo. Kakorkoli, v različnih telesnih sistemih, predelih in plasteh obstajajo različne vrste energije in polniti bi morali le tiste zaloge, ki jih dejansko potrebujemo. Prenatrpanje ali izločanje napačne vrste lahko spreobrne koristno snov v škodljivo.

Za primer vzemimo vzdrževanje avtomobila. Za zagotovitev gladkega delovanja potrebujemo različne vrste kemikalij. Vendar lahko vnašamo le določeno vrsto tekočine v pravi meri na določeno mesto. Preveč ali premalo je problematično v enaki meri.

Temu sledi vrsta vprašanj: ste prepričani, da vnašate prave snovi? Kaj pa če so napačne in kako jih lahko odstranite? Kako lahko zberete vse potrebne informacije? Imate pregled nad celotnim sistemom?

Pretežko je, da bi o vsakem posameznem živilu ali zelišču govorili v samo enem članku. Iskreno povedano tudi ne poznam vseh trenutno priljubljenih superživil. Nekatera izmed ‘zdravih’ so namreč tudi drugega izvora glede na to od koder izhaja moja zdravniška specializacija. Vse skupaj vzame več generacij znanja in časa, da se počasi razvije sistem, se preizkusijo vsi učinki sistema in se slednjega sčasoma izboljša. Obstajajo klasična dela in knjige o kliničnih primerih tradicionalne kitajske medicine, ki se jih lahko izsledi vse do 2500 let nazaj. Da sem se prebila skozi ogromen labirint znanja, je trajalo več let formalnega usposabljanja, temu pa je sledila klinična praksa. Še danes sem v fazi neprenehnega učenja.

Vrnimo se k temi superhrane. To je le mit. Morda obstajajo kakšni ‘znanstveni dokazi’ o njenih koristih, vendar smo soočeni tudi z znanostjo, ki prevlada samo znanost. Nekaj, kar je pred 20 leti držalo za pravilno, morda danes ne velja več.

Moje delo izvajalca kitajske medicine je odkriti brezčasne splošne principe, ki izvirajo iz naše teorije, in jih vpeljati v splošno prakso in naš vsakdanjik in najpomembenejše, v našo miselnost. Zavedati se moramo, da smo za svoje zdravje odgovorni sami. Vedno bo obstajalo neko pravo dejanje, s katerim bomo v svojem telesu dosegli ravnotežje. Nikoli pa ne bo bližnjic ali čarovnije za brezpogojno zdravje.

In še za konec, moje super zdrave smernice za super zdravo prehrano so:

• Izogibajte se hladni hrani in hladnim pijačam

• Zmanjšajte vnos mlečnih izdelkov in sladkorja

• Jejte žitarice

• Jejte redne tople obroke

• Jejte blago kuhano temno zeleno listnato zelenjavo

• Poskusite tudi oreščke (če nanje niste alergični)

Prevod: Tanja Topić

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Why superfood is not super

Just type Superfood in google and there are 123,000,000 results in just 1.05 second. Those food are some funny and bizarre items that one would never ever encounter in their whole life if we are not living in this information explosion and globalized society. “Native to the rainforests of South America”, “close relative to marijuana”, “rich in vitamins, proteins, omega oil”, “boost immunity”, “lose weight” and so on, these are the superclaims of superfood.

Somehow as a Chinese medicine practitioner, I have certain responsibility regarding this matter. I often introduce patients to certain food or substance to help with general health that most people will not include in their daily lives. We are someone who introduced the concept that “food can promote health”. But this does not make any of those items “superfood”.

For sure, in TCM theory, there are some food or substance that will enrich our energy. However, there are different types of energies in different systems, sections and layers of our body and we should only fill up those we actually need. Over filling or filling out the wrong type could turn one useful material into harmful.

Take car maintenance as an example. Our car needs different type of chemical to ensure smooth running. But we should only put the right type of fluid at the right amount to the right place. Too much or too little are both problematic.

Here comes a series of questions: Are you sure that you are putting the right substance in? What if it is wrong and how can you clean it up? How do you gather the necessary information? Do you have an overview of the whole system?

It is too difficult to cover every single food or herb in just one article. And honestly, I don’t even know every single trendy superfood. Some of the trendy “healthy” substance are from different origin to where I lived and where my specialized medicine originated from. It takes generations of time to slowly develop a system, test the effect from the system and improve over time. There are classics and books and clinic cases that can be traced back to as early as 2500 years ago in Traditional Chinese medicine. In order to be able to negative through the massive maze of knowledge, it took me years and years of formal training followed by clinical practice. On to the current date, I am still at a constant learning process.

So let’s go back to the topic of Superfood. Superfood is just a myth. There might be “scientific proof” of its benefits but we are also so familiar with science overruling science itself. What is true 20 years ago might not be correct anymore nowadays.

My job as a Chinese medicine practitioner is to find out the timeless general principles from our theory and put it into real practice and in our daily life, most importantly in our mind. We should know that we are responsible for our own health. There will always be some right thing to do to achieve the balance of our body. There will never be shortcuts nor magic for ultimate health.

Finally, my super healthy guidelines for food are

• Stay away from cold foods and iced beverages

• Cut down on dairy and sugar consumption

• Eat grains

• Eat regular warm meals

• Eat gently cooked dark leafy greens

• Get some nuts (if you are not allergic to them)