Zhang Yi Zhong's Thoughts on Diet
Zhang
Yi Zhong believes that in order to have a strong. energetic basis for the practice
of internal martial art one must maintain a well managed diet. He feels the
the foundation for qi in the body is diet, and thus those who are practicing
the "qi arts" should be very concerned about diet. The strength of your energy
and the health of your body will be a direct reflection of your diet. Zhang
maintains a very strict diet which he has devised base on years of personal
research and experimentation. The following are some guidelines that he recommend
concerning diet (this is an excerpt taken from a "Dietary Information Guide"
printed in the Tai Chi Natural Healing Club Newsletter which is produced by
Zhang Yi Zhong group in Santa Cruz, California):
- Eat whole, natural, unprocessed foods.
Whole foods are found in
as close to their whole natural state as possible. Vegetables, grains, nuts,
seeds, legumes and fruits can be prepared with very little altering or processing,
retaining nutritional benefits. These foods can be creatively and attractively
prepared to please the most discriminating palate.
- Eat for Minerals and Vitamins.
The vitamins and minerals
obtained from the foods you eat work to maintain the proper functioning of
the internal organs. They are essential for normal metabolism. The relaxation
and rotation of the waist and abdomen in the Tai Chi practice nurtures the
internal organs. Vitamins and minerals also nurture the "vital organs." Good
food sources for minerals and vitamins are vegetables (especially green),
whole grains, sea vegetables, seeds, nuts, and unrefined salt.
- Eat early in the
day. Give
your system a little time to wake up before you "breakfast." A main meal of
the day around 10-12:00, or "brunch" will give you the nourishment you'll
need to move through the day. A lighter meal later in the day should be sufficient
for the evening "wind down." Eat several hours before you go to bed. This
gives the organs time to rest and regenerate during your sleeping hours. If
you eat right before bed much of your body will still be working all night
digesting food.
- Eat lightly, chew
well. No
matter how wholesome your diet is, it is important to not over eat. Overeating
burdens the organs, making digestion, assimilation, and elimination inefficient
as well as uncomfortable. Chewing well not only lets you savor the taste of
good food, but aids in the digestion and assimilation of food The enzymes
in the saliva mix with the food and start the digestive process immediately.
- Eat Alkaline.
Clean blood and good circulation
are important factors of preventative and abundant health The pH of the blood
is slightly alkaline. Keeping the acid/alkaline balance of the blood relatively
stable and slightly alkaline provides the best environment for the cellular
building blocks to function effectively. Foods that lean toward acid in the
body are meat and refined foods, especially refined carbohydrates. See #2
for foods that lean towards alkaline.
Make any
changes in your diet gradually. Be sensitive to your body. Understanding why
and what you're doing and experimenting slowly and carefully is the most sensible
and safe way to make lasting changes!"
The Dao adheres to simplicity, that
which is complex does not follow the
Dao.
Most
of the above mentioned information is not news to anyone who has read or studied
any number of health food diets. However, after reading the above guidelines,
I wanted to find out more about Zhang's ideas on diet for two reasons: one,
I knew that his personal diet was much stricter than the guidelines listed above
would indicate, and two, I was very interested in this alkaline versus acidity
concept alter Zhang had mentioned it to me several times during our interview.
In order to discover more about Zhang's Ideas on diet, I met with his student
Joe Deisher to explore the diet theories in more detail.
Joe told
me that in order to fully appreciate Zhang Yi Zhong's study of diet, the story
really needs to go back to his life in Shanghai before World War II. Prior to
WWII, Shanghai was becoming, in many ways, a very Westernized city. Visiting
Shanghai today, one will notice that many of the buildings that were constructed
early in this century have a Western style architecture. When Zhang Yi Zhong
was a young man living in Shanghai, it was popular to eat Western food, study
Western science, and visit Western doctors when one got sick. Zhang Yi Zhong
studied Western science (chemistry), visited Western trained doctors, and ate
Western food, however, even when he was in his twenties, he was careful about
what he ate. His friends in Shanghai would tease him and say that he was going
to grow up to be a dietitian.
Even though
Zhang was careful about what he ate as a young man, his deeper study of traditional
oriental diet did not begin until years later after Zhang had moved to Taiwan
and had children. When one of Zhang's children was very young, the child became
ill. Like most educated people in Taiwan, Zhang and his wife took the child
to a Western trained doctor. The doctor could not find the source of the child's
illness and could not help the child get better. The problem continued for three
months and then suddenly went away. Zhang was curious about how the illness
could have just disappeared. When discussing the situation with his family,
his mother-in-law admitted that three days prior to the child's recovery, she
had taken the child to a traditional Chinese Medical doctor. Zhang said, "How
could this man cure in three days what the Western doctor could not cure in
three months!" Determined to find the answer, Zhang went and visited with the
Chinese doctor. What the Chinese doctor had done was simply alter the child's
diet according to the theories of Chinese medicine.
Prior to
this event with his child, Zhang, like many of the Chinese of his generation,
had written off the old Chinese ideas as being less advanced than Western science.
The incident with his child and the discussion with the Chinese doctor made
him wonder. At that point in his life he decided to begin studying the old Chinese
traditional theories on diet and health maintenance. However, instead of simply
reading about the old theories and believing them, he used Western scientific
research, personal experimentation, and his background in chemistry to try and
figure out why the old theories worked. He wanted to discover the underlying
chemistry for the ancient dietary advice. For instance, in one source book Zhang
read that "the sages do not eat the five grains." Through experimentation and
research, Zhang found that the chemistry of seed crops is such that they are
very energy rich. Individuals who are older, or not physically active, do not
engage in the amount of physical activity that is required to burn this energy
and thus they waste strength in digesting these foods. It would he analogous
to running your car with the carburetor mix set too rich.
Zhang discovered
that for older people, or people who do not do a lot of hard physical labor,
high carbohydrate food weakens the qi because of the extra energy needed for
digestion. This is what the classics meant by "the sages do not eat the five
grains." Zhang is not alone in his pursuit of modern day explanations to ancient
dietary concepts. A number of Western trained doctors and scientists in Japan
have also merged technology and science with tradition and there are many published
works in Japanese pertaining to these topics. Zhang, who is fluent in Japanese,
studies all of the documented results of this research in Japan that he can
obtain.
Zhang's advice
for those studying the internal martial arts is to eat a mineral rich diet because
minerals manage the body's electrolytes. When Zhang began to study the body's
biochemistry and its re]ationship to food and internal energy cultivation, he
was interested in exploring the electrical side of body chemistry. He discovered
that if the body is kept a slight bit alkaline, it runs an abundance of electrons.
The abundance of electrons in the body keeps the body energetically charged
instead of energetically depleted. Things that tend to create an acidic state
in the body are diets high in meats and refined carbohydrates, tension, stress,
and bad moods. Things that keep the body alkaline are mineral rich diets, and
a relaxed, clear mind. Zhang believes that the internal martial arts practice
aids in keeping the body relaxed, posture correct, and the mind clear while
the proper diet helps maintain a biological foundation for the practice.
The problem
most individuals have in following a diet which is high in minerals is that
the majority of mineral rich food, such as seaweed, is not very tasty. Zhang's
answer to this was to study ways of preparing the mineral and vitamin rich foods
so that they would taste good. He says the study of culinary arts is the same
as the study of martial arts. The crude aspects of the art are easy to learn,
while the highly refined and subtle aspects are very difficult to master. In
martial arts it is very easy for someone to learn how to use brute force and
club their opponent with their fist, however, it is not so easy to learn the
refined and subtle motions and applications of internal boxing. But in the end,
practice of internal boxing will be much better for one's health and longevity.
Zhang is fond of using a similar analogy in the use of weaponry. He says that
the straight sword is called the "sages weapon" because it takes a great deal
of skill in order to be able to wield one correctly and effectively. The broad
sword is called the "peasants weapon" because it is very easy to learn how to
hack at someone with a broad sword. Cooking Is the same. It is very easy for
someone to throw a slab of meat on the grill and have it come out tasting good.
However, it is not so easy to make a meal of seaweed and raw or pickled vegetables
and have it be as palatable. Zhang has learned how to eat very simply and still
enjoy the food he eats.
In addition
to the dietary guidelines outlined previously, Joe Deisher adds the following
suggestions to those wanting to try to explore Zhang Yi Zhong ideas on food:
- Make changes gradually.
Give your biochemistry
time to adapt. Life tends to be a conservative phenomena: don't hurry, don't
hesitate.
- Begin thinking
about food and eating: Do
you eat to live or live to eat? Do you eat for your palate or your stomach?
What are the internal and external consequences of what you eat? Do you eat
for your bones? your brain? your consciousness? your beliefs?
- Abandon eating
chemicals. Eat
organically.
- Make sure
your water source is clean and mineral rich.
- Move away from eating meat, fish, and
animal products (milk, eggs, etc.); protein
and fat are way overrated as dietary necessities.
- Include sea
vegetables in your diet and whole sea salt for flavor: there
are no better source's of organic minerals.
- Breathe as though your life depended
on it; deeply,
unhurriedly, steady.
- Recognize fruits
as entertainment for the mouth, they
are mostly sugar and water.
- Let go of heating your food.
Take a look at pickling
foods. Heat changes the enzymes and diminishes the food value.
- Eat lightly,
live lightly. Fleshy
bulk, be it muscle or fat, is a burden to the qi.