Fire Element

Balance your FIRE element:

When the Fire element is in balance you find great joy in living and loving. You have an amazing sense of humor, are very dynamic and spontaneous.  Communication is very important when developing relationships and friendships and the balance of the fire element allows us to love, laugh and connect with others.  The communication aspect of the fire element may even leave you finding public speaking very easy.

When the Fire element is out of balance you may become impatient easily, have inappropriate or nervous laughter and communication can become rambling jabber. An imbalance can make relationships become inappropriate flirting and very selfish.  Emotionally, sadness can take over leaving us feeling fearful of rejection, loneliness, anxiety and may lead to self-destructive behaviors.

FOOD RECOMMENDATIONS

We all have parts of each element within us so when one organ of an element starts to be affected eventually another element or all elements will show signs of not being in balance. The more out of balance an element is, typically the more symptoms one will have.  Western Medicines approach to treating disease is to either kill the pathogen or suppress the symptom.  These approaches tend to drive the illness/disease even deeper into the body.  Chinese Medicines approach is to support the body and its organs so that it can overcome the pathogen and increase the body’s own healing potential. Let’s get your elements in balance!

Here are some foods that Nourish the Fire Element:  Corn, amaranth, quinoa, Asparagus, Brussels sprouts, chives, endive, okra, scallions Beans, red lentils, chickpeas, strawberry, persimmon, peaches, cherries, tomatoes, red dates, apples, cucumber, mung beans, mushrooms, mulberries, lemons, basil, chamomile

Avoid or Minimize: Caffeine, coffee, alcohol, tobacco heavy meats, excessive consumption of nuts

General Chinese nutrition recommendations:

1)      Eat small frequent meals

2)      No Iced drinks while eating and only small sips of liquid during meals

3)      Chew thoroughly

4)      Relax, focus and be mindful.  If you are eating, then just eat; not eating and watching TV, reading, studying, surfing the web etc.

5)      Generally the best way to prepare foods is by steaming, stir frying, baking or soups