Natural Nutrition
It is said “With the wrong diet, no medicine can help. With the right diet, no medicine is necessary.” This is the foundation of food therapy in holistic medicine. Food is the most effective and simple medicine as it is naturally part of our daily life. Sadly, the old saying “we are what we eat” is too often ignored when feeding our beloved animals.
A body’s building components are cells, tissues, organs, muscles, nerves, and bones. For optimal functioning, a dog or cat’s body needs to be nurtured well. Proper nurturing can only be achieved with a fresh, healthy, and balanced species-appropriate diet. Animals cannot replenish the high quantity of water that they are composed of by only drinking water, but must also consume the water that is inside fresh, natural food rich in vitamins and enzymes. To nurture all of their building blocks dogs and cats need to eat high-quality proteins, healthy fats, and fresh vegetables which are all rich in essential amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, and most of all, whole fresh food is rich in Qi and essence that in Chinese medicine is what nurtures the body. Many of our pets’ health problems can be traced directly to deficient diets.
Food Therapy
In the western world food is seen as a combination of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals; in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine food therapy is seen as an integral component of treating and preventing disease in animals as food has inherent, energetic properties that strongly impact the healing process.
The four energetic properties of food are:
Thermal
Hot, warm, neutral, cool, cold
Organ association
A food can affect specific internal organs
Flavor
Sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty
Meridian affiliation
Food has a definite effect on particular acupuncture meridians. Meridians are each associated with a specific organ
Traditional Chinese Veterinary Food Therapy follows the same diagnostic and treatment principles as acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Based on the four food properties (listed above), a TCVM-certified veterinarian creates a specific food combination. This combination is unique to the individual based upon age, personality, geographical location, and current disharmony or disease pattern. A personalized diet is designed to return the animal’s body to balance and work synergistically with other TCVM modalities to maintain the dog or cat’s optimal health.