Yin properties of grains/carbohydrates?

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

If I’m understanding your question, I think so, yes… In general the stomach takes food and sends that energy upwards to the spleen and the lungs. Excessive carbs (and other things) that violate the spleens preference for dryness contribute to dampness in the body. Dampness does not rise and spread well, if at all. Adding warming foods that distribute qi can at least combat dampness, potentially fostering improved digestion and assimilation. But as with everything in Chinese Medicine, there is always balance and very few if any hard and fast rules. So a “dry” person will do well to have more yin and qi nourishing foods and will do poorly adding pungent herbs, a “damp” person will need to avoid adding too much heat. While possibly mildly helpful, this heat in a damp person will create more trouble.

If I’m understanding the general idea of your question, it is generally helpful for most people to balance carbs with something that helps the body digest and assimilate them. So, in my mind, at least there is a world of difference between, for example, oatmeal with raisins, bananas and milk, vs. oatmeal with apples, ginger and cinnamon on what the body will get from that and the inherent balance within those meals.

Hopefully, that is somewhat helpful. But please let me know if I’m missing what you asking…

Comment by Archived User

Thanks for your reply,
That answers most of what I’ve been thinking about, though I hadn’t considered dryness and dampness initially. My understanding of the stomach/spleen in food and qi distribution is that the two separate the ‘turbid from the clear’, the turbid being sent ultimately out of the body as waste and the clear being sent to the lungs as qi, hence my assumption of carbs settling lower in the body being the most yin.

In terms of efficient digestibility, according to Paul Pitchford’s Healing with Whole Foods, carbs digest best when eaten alone with non-starchy vegetables, though I would agree that when carbohydrate content of a meal might be over balanced, balancing it with something pungent that stimulates digestion could help (with the person’s constitution in mind).

I think my whole idea was to try and find a solution to too much matter settling in the lower body rather than between the lower and upper body, but considering yin (matter) is lower and yang (energy) is upper could matter settling in the lower body just be natural?