Review 2: The Asian Diet, White rice vs. Brown

Yogi Tea Proverb: "Bliss should not be disturbed by loss or gain"
Important Term: Whole food- simple foods or foods that have not been altered or processed.
Introduction to Asian View on Diet (some theory for you):
Asian medicine and philosophy is all about finding and maintaining balance as the goal of life.The three greatest factors that get us out of balance are our: Diet, lifestyle and attitudes. The typical Westerner is almost out of balance in all three areas. Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine wrote, "let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food." We have lost the sense of connection between what we put in our bodies and how our bodies then function.The body's needs are very simple, requiring primarily a plant-based, varied, and mostly cooked diet. The keys are balance and moderation. There is not one thing that we all need to eat or avoid, it is finding the proper balance of all things. (In other words, DO NOT DIET and DO NOT STRESS about Islands fries, everyone needs a treat. This way of thinking creates so much freedom and a healthy way of thinking about food.)
The Author continues to build on many interesting Chinese theories. He also digs deep into how our, American, government dictates what we get to eat. He brakes down the corrupt relationship between our government and the diary board. He is also ashamed of all Western med schools, "bc for the entire 6 years of schooling, the average doctor receives 21 hours of education in nutrition." All of this, is to drive the point home that we need to be responsible and take care of ourselves bc our government has failed to encourage people to be or eat healthy. In fact, they have made it hard and expensive to eat healthy. Bussell pleads with is readers to not argue that "poor nutrition is one of the sacrifices of a modern lifestyle." (I can relate this, I sacrifice a good attitude, sleep and having a loving time with friends or my husband for my career.)
Grains:
Most of our carbs should come from grains, fruits and veggies. Complex carbs come from whole food products and break down in our bodies. Refined grains, such as white flour, are stripped of their nutrients and deliver sugar too fast to our bodies.
Of the grains white rice is best (what!) White rice has been getting a lot of bad press compared to brown rice. Brown rice is white rice, with a thick coating or "shell" around it. When the shell is merely polished off of brown rice the product is white rice. Brown and white rice have roughly the same number of cals but brown has more fat. Eating brown rice can be compared to eating a walnut and not taking the shell off. A bit of brown rice can be good for some types of constipation- it bulks up stool due to the extra fiber; but too much can exacerbate constipation by slowing down the metabolism.
All foods and herbs have properties- some things are cooling, warming, moistening or drying, activating or sedating,etc. White rice is completely neutral, so you could eat it all day and it would not throw your internal energetic balance off. But like all things- we should never over consume. So white rice is best- but we should not eat it everyday.Every food has something that another cannot offer us. We need to eat a wide variety of foods and get comfortable with mixing up our diet and routines, for example, eating a salad for lunch and dinner everyday is not moderating your diet, it is not balanced and does not help your body to work for you. Too much of any one food is not a good idea. It is not surprising that gluten and wheat intolerance is a growing problem, in the US we are inundated with gluten and wheat. Also more and more products are using soy and wheat as fillers for processed foods, it is best to eat and cook with whole foods bc you know exactly what is in them.
General Rule: the more processed a food is , the more difficult it is the un-process. Rice is popped out of its shell and steamed; wheat it popped out of its shell, then ground, mixed, heated, kneaded, leavened and baked to make bread. You want to be aware of the amount steps that it takes for a food to be consumer ready. I cant imagine how many steps is involved in making a Twinkie or pasta.
Actions of Common Foods:
Banana
Sweet and Cool. Enters the lung and large intestine channels. Clears heat, moistens the intestine and counteracts toxins. Treats hemorrhoids, constipation, alcoholism and excessive thirst.

Have a great day! thank you for being patient and reading. Please remember that I am summarizing entire chapters and my paragraphs are going to be bit botched. Be the light and be joyful today!