For many years I have been hearing recommendations from dietitians and naturopaths to relieve digestive problems.

I see that the recommendations are very similar to those of Chinese medicine, but Chinese medicine has one emphasis that other treatment methods do not mention and which I think is very important:

The temperature and method of preparing the food.

According to Chinese theory, cold food/drinks (and I'll explain what that means) make it difficult for our digestive system.

When talking about cold food/drinks, it is important to know a few things:

1. This refers to both food/drinks that are in the refrigerator and food that has not undergone a cooking/steaming/sautéing process. Therefore, vegetable or fruit salad is also considered cold even if they have not yet come out of the refrigerator.

2. There is a lot of evidence that a Mediterranean diet consisting of lots of vegetables is a healthy diet and even good specifically for digestive problems. I spoke with a gastro dietitian who specializes in a Mediterranean diet (I hope she will write us information about such a diet in our group in the coming weeks) and she explained to me that in her opinion a Mediterranean diet does not have to be "cold". You can eat a lot of vegetables, but it is important that they are cooked or prepared in another way.

3. Chinese medicine also refers to the time of eating. From their perspective, our digestive system is at its peak at noon, so it is easier for it to digest during these hours. If we choose to eat "cold" things - it is better for this to happen at times closer to noon and not as soon as we wake up in the morning (no yogurt in the morning, please...) or in the evening (note that the stomach often swells more in the evening, which indicates a weakness of the digestive system at these times).

By the way, according to Chinese theory, cold food is not recommended for anyone because Chinese medicine understands the importance of the digestive system to the body. Even if there are no symptoms of improper digestion, it is still important to maintain the digestive system because it is our foundation, which is why in China there is no such thing as vegetable salad or cold drinks.