Chang Ming Taoist Diet

It is an old saying in China that “Old age is inevitable, but there is no excuse for senility”. As we have already seen, illness is absolutely unnecessary and is caused by bad eating and drinking habits. In China, where the normal diet is much healthier than in the West, many of the illnesses most prevalent in the West are scarcely known.

Chang Ming (Cháng mìng 长命), the Taoist Long Life therapy has played an important part in Chinese eating and drinking habits for thousands of years. Derived from the basic principles laid down by the “Sons of Reflected Light” (Fǎnguāngzǐ 反光子), which are incorporated in the foundations of the “Five Elements” (wǔxíng 五行)in reference to the Yin and Yang aspects affecting the human body, it has been handed down from family to family throughout the vast expanse of China, and has become a natural part of the average family way of living, so that it is now second nature to them.

Most people never think of their health while it remains reasonably sound, but they may be so abusing it in so many different ways that sooner or later the system is bound to break down and succumb to illness. The vitality of youth may conceal physical weaknesses, and if a child does complain continuously about various aches and pains and other upsets it is usually put down to “growing pains”. As age takes its normal course through life, then degeneration and the natural deterioration that goes with it starts to take place, and it is then that the real weaknesses within the framework of their physical structure starts to become more and more noticeable. The body, not having the necessary strength to fight back, will slowly wilt under the strain and become racked with illnesses. If you allow the foundations, the walls, and the roof of your house to deteriorate, then eventually it will collapse and you will have nothing left but a pile of useless rubble.

That is exactly what many people in the West do to their own bodies, and then they wonder what has gone wrong, and put the blame everywhere but on themselves, which is where it belongs. We will give you a good guideline to good health—if you catch one cold or lose your temper once in your lifetime, then you are sick, and you must do something about it AT ONCE.

There is no excuse for undermining the health of the human body, the most wondrous creation of the Supreme Spirit. Perfect in every detail, with working parts that replace themselves constantly, built-in thermostats to guard against the cold and changes in the atmosphere, an automatic cooling system that refreshes you in the extreme heat, and essential organs that work for twenty-four hours every day and never go on strike, unless you overload them, and they all do their own particular jobs to the very best of their ability without thanks or recompense.

No engineer could ever design a machine that could do the same job over and over again throughout such a long period of time, no heating expert has ever devised such a marvellous automatic system, and look at the wonderful way everything within this physical structure, called the human body, can not only look after itself, arrange its own maintenance, but also renew its own parts.

It has within itself a huge work-force, which it feeds, houses, and, if they die, replaces them at very short notice. It has the most efficient power and sewerage systems ever designed. This wonder of wonders, this miracle of miracles, this treasure beyond all treasures, and yet, many constantly abuse it every day. Sending the workers on strike, killing off the army of protectors, severely overloading the power and sewerage systems, and packing out the warehouses with useless rubbish, so that there is no space left for the essentials.

If you owned the greatest treasure in the world, what would you do? You would make sure that it was fully protected in every possible way, you would see that it was kept at the right temperature, regularly cleaned every day so that its beauty could be admired by everyone, and you would be proud to put it on show for the whole world to see.

Well, you do own the greatest treasure in the world; it was given to you by the will of the Tao, and you gained possession of it in your mother’s uterus, so why not be sensible and learn to guard and protect it properly every day of your life, wrap it up well in the cold and help to keep the warmth in, just as you lag your water tanks, and give it air when it’s hot, just as you open the windows of your home to let the air circulate. Then you will be able to tell the world what a wonderful treasure you own, and show it off with pride.

Chang Ming is based on very sound biological principles, proved and tested over 10,000 years of history. The early Taoists, recognising that “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, used their own bodies to test it over many centuries, sometimes eating only brown rice, sometimes only meat, at other times only fruit, during other periods only seafood, and so on. No other art has been so thoroughly proved, and no medical organisation has practised their knowledge and skill over such a long period. So that today millions enjoy the benefits of Ch’ang Ming, which is based on just a few simple rules:

1. Eat only when hungry, and not just out of habit.
2. Eat only natural foods
3. Eat more grains and vegetables.
4. Chew all your food really well.
5. Don’t over-eat at any time.
6. Keep your liquid intake down to the barest minimum.
7. Take deep breaths whenever you get the opportunity.

Because Chang Ming was based on such simple rules it became necessary to know the fundamental biological foundations of all food that was grown, plant, flower, fruit, root, and all other living matter, and to understand what long term effect each one had upon the human body. So it came to be that after 10,000 years of study and practice, practitioners of this art in China had a very deep insight and understanding of the laws and principles of the universe, and they were all very competent dieticians and herbalists, based on the Taoist experimentations on themselves in their search for physical and spiritual alchemy.

Naturally, Chinese herbal therapy (Cǎoyào 草药) is an intimate companion of Chang Ming, and together they have led to some wonderful discoveries, not only in the field of plant life, but also in the area of minerals, ores and liquids. Did you know that the shell of the tortoise can be used to cure malaria and infantile convulsions, that your own hair, when carbonised, can stop a nosebleed, that the centipede is good against lockjaw and snake-bites, that the poison in potatoes can help cure arthritis, and that pepper, when used as a medicine, can cure dysentery and food-poisoning? Chinese herbal therapy details thousands of recipes for health, but they would not be needed if everyone learnt to eat and drink sensibly, and in accordance with the laws of nature.

Nearly ninety years ago, Chan Kam Lee, in all his illustrious wisdom, allied the Taoist rules and recommendations to foods and drinks normally consumed in the West, and, by balancing the Yin and Yang intake, came up with the following suggestions:

Chang Ming health diet

Foods that are NOT to be eaten

1. Refined and processed foods. If any colourings, preservatives, flavourings, or other chemicals are included, don’t touch it.
2. Any grain foods that have been processed, especially white bread and anything made from white flour.
3. All deep-fried foods.
4. Coffee, alcohol, tobacco, chocolate and other sweets.
5. Spices, rock salt, mustard, pepper, vinegar, pickles, curry.
6. Meat such as pork, beef, mutton and lamb.
7. Salmon, mackerel, shark, swordfish, tuna and whale.
8. Sugar.
9. Ice cream, artificial jellies, synthetic fruit juices.
10. Potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, rhubarb, spinach.
11. Concentrated meat extracts, soups and gravies.
12. Milk, cheese, butter, dairy yoghurt, boiled or fried eggs.
13. Lard or dripping that comes from animal fats.
14. Any bird or fish that has a lot of fat tissue.

Foods that may be eaten.

1. Anything made from natural whole grain, that has not been refined, e.g. brown rice, buckwheat, wheat, barley, millet, rye, maize and includes bread, cakes, puddings, biscuits, breakfast foods etc.
2. All locally grown vegetables that are in season, especially root vegetables, excluding those items in the previous list, No. 10.
3. Soya-bean and mung-bean shoots.
4. Seaweed.
5. Locally grown fruit and berries (moderately).
6. Nuts, preferably roasted—but not salted.
7. Low-fat natural yoghurt.
8. Honey (sparingly).
9. Cottage cheese or vegetarian cheese.
10. Herb teas and China teas.
11. Vegetable margarine and oils (e.g. sesame, sunflower, safflower).
12. Eggs, but only scrambled or in omelettes—better still eat the yolks only.
13. Natural sea salt, sesame seed salt, soya sauce.
14. All dried fruits—cherries, raisins, currants etc.
15. All grain milks, rice milk and coconut milk.
16. Wild vegetables and herbs.
17. Fruit drinks made from locally grown fresh fruit—ideally, make your own.

Utilise the following, if necessary.

1. Non-fat fish excluding those in the previous list, No. 7.
2. Seafood—shrimps, prawns etc. But be wary of crab.
3. Wild birds—pheasant, pigeon etc.
4. Wild or free-range chicken, turkey etc.
5. Skimmed milk or powdered skimmed milk.

The average Chinese has only two meals a day, and over the entire history of China this has been found perfectly adequate. This enables the body to digest the food intake from one meal, to distribute it properly about the system, and then have sufficient time to rest until the next intake of food.

Now what are natural foods? Mention natural foods to the average person and they will immediately think that you are a quack or a faddist, but in so doing, they have overlooked the fact that natural food has been the lifeline of humanity for thousands of years, and it is only in the last few decades that chemicals have become more widely used in pesticides, fertilisers, bleaches, additives, colourings, preservatives, flavourings, and in most food, especially the highly refined and pre-packed foods. Even many imported fresh fruits are automatically sprayed with preservatives before shipment (to get rid of these, the fruit should be placed in hot water before it is eaten).

Most people do not realise or appreciate how detrimental this huge intake of chemicals is to their systems and to their own health. Only a few years ago, it was said that the American nation had turned into nutritional illiterates and that it was an irresponsible act that the development of fabricated foods contained nothing but calories. How true those words turned out to be, but no more, for there is now becoming a new outlook on nutrition as the millions of Chang Ming eaters testify, through their awareness of the Tao, their understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe, and through this consciousness, they now recognise that ill health is absolutely unnecessary, and it is the fault of the ignorant if they become sick, or have their children born mentally retarded, or have physical deformity as part of their heritage. In addition to this, there are now many more children being born underweight, because of the weight consciousness of the mother.

To be truly fit to eat, food should be organically grown, without the aid of pesticides or artificial fertilisers, and should be completely unprocessed, so that it retains its natural nutritional constituents. This is how food was in the time of your great-grandparents, and in their day there were fewer cases of serious disease, and cancer had not been heard about. So start eating natural wholesome foods, making your diet consist of whole-grain foods including brown rice, and vegetables preferably locally grown, and you will be amazed at the changes that come over you in so many different ways, and all to your personal benefit.

Get into the habit of chewing every mouthful of food at least fifty times, and more if you can. Let every mouthful turn into water before you swallow, and not only will you taste and appreciate the true flavour of the food that you are eating, but you will save your bowel systems a great deal of work. By so doing, you will get less acidity in the stomach, and your intestines will not need to take so long to do their work. If however, you gulp your food, then it will remain in the system for long periods whilst it digests and rots, and this rotting process creates a lot of harmful bacteria. If you have ever smelt a dung heap that has been standing for a long time, you will appreciate what your guts are like when the food has lain there a long time.

Never eat too much, and don’t let your eyes be bigger than your belly; for this is a sure way of upsetting your system by overloading it. If you eat moderately this will show through in personal forbearance and attitudes, and this change in disposition will lay the foundation for continual emotional equilibrium.
Reducing your liquid intake is also not an easy thing to do, because everything you eat contains fluid. Vegetables, for instance, are about 80 per cent water; rice is about 70 per cent water; and even toast has about 10 per cent moisture in it. When you consider that your body also consists of about 75 per cent fluid, it is obvious that a large intake of fluid is completely unnecessary.

Too much liquid will swell the tissues in the kidneys to such a degree that they will not be able to filter properly; this in turn will reduce or stop the amount of fluid that can pass through; and so the kidneys will become blocked. To help your kidneys, DRINK LESS of the obvious liquids such as teas, soups, fruit drinks etc., and your health will certainly benefit.

If at any time your mouth or the back of your throat feels dry, just adopt this Taoist habit, put the tongue against the roof of your mouth and in a few seconds you will find that your mouth fills up with saliva, which, when swallowed gently, will ease the dryness. If you get into this Taoist habit of keeping your tongue in this position, you will never feel dry and thirsty, and again, your health will receive the benefit.
The average person uses only two-thirds of his lung capacity each day, and by so doing, this helps to create the risk of lung troubles, headaches, worry, tension, insomnia, constipation and swelling around the stomach, and as oxygen is vital to the continual purification of the blood, you will appreciate the importance of correct breathing.

In the Taoist arts we have many specialised breathing exercises (basically, eight Yin breaths, eight Yang breaths, and four Yin-Yang); but there are also many more, some of which are used in healing, others to activate the Ch’i and others to promote good health. However, you do not have to be so particular, just get into the habit of breathing deeply through the nose at all times. This will relax the system, reduce tension, and encourage deep sleep.

A good barometer of health is how long you need to sleep. If you are truly healthy, four to six hours each night should be enough for you to have all the vitality you need; you should also be able to wake up at any pre-determined time that you want, without using an alarm clock; and you should be able to fall asleep within thirty seconds, at any time of the day or night, and in any position. If you dream, snore or talk in your sleep, then you are unhealthy.

Food is the natural life-line of the human body and by eating the correct foods, suitable to the environment that we live in, we can ensure that the health of our anatomy can remain constantly good, and that we can maintain the vitality and energy within it so that it will be strong enough to fight off all bacteria that might try and breakthrough its natural defence system.

Not only can Chang Ming help to keep everyone in good health all the time, but it will help the very thin person to put on weight, and the fat person to slim without the necessity of starving themselves or counting calories. It can combat disease and also heal the sick and suffering, by the simple process of making the body strong enough to cure itself. After all, the Supreme Spirit made the human body in such a way that it should be able to repair itself continuously, and Chang Ming is a way of making sure that the body does the job as efficiently as it was made to do, no matter whether the person is young or old.
Even the most serious complaints can be beaten and subdued, so that the person involved can be brought to a stage of permanent good health. Unfortunately, there is one proviso—the body must not have been allowed to depreciate or to have deteriorated to such a low degree that it can no longer be aided to fight back in the space of time available—but there is always hope. In other words, it is like the house that was left to rot, it has almost become a pile of useless rubble. Two of the worst means to attain a useless and worthless body is to take drugs and to have unnecessary operations, both of these are only used in China when all other methods have failed, or in the case of broken bones and fractures etc. The warning is plain, if you are ill, or suffering from any complaint whatsoever, change to a Chang Ming diet straight away.

In the first ten days after starting a Chang Ming health diet, you will begin to notice slight changes and certainly start to feel much better. However, between about ten days and a month of starting the diet, there may, in a few cases, be a few symptoms of change that may cause you to worry.

For instance, you may suffer diarrhoea or constipation. The diarrhoea signifies that the body is ridding itself of water, fat, carbohydrate, sugar and excess protein, and through this discharge, you will lose weight even though you are eating well. This is nothing to worry about, for the body is making a natural adjustment, and it will eventually settle down to its natural weight level for its size.

Constipation may occur where the former diet included a large amount of fluid, and the condition may persist for two or three weeks. What happens is that when there is a large intake of fluid the intestines become expanded and loose, and getting rid of the fluid causes the intestines to contract (rather like a balloon going down). As a result, peristalsis (the rippling effect of the muscular tissue of the intestines that passes the motion along to the anus) does not occur, and therefore constipation results. However, whereas constipation normally causes the mind to become a little slow and dull, it is not so in this case, and the mind becomes clear, and even sharp, because of the clearance of the waste and toxins.

If, during the first month of a Chang Ming diet, you feel some aches or pains, make a note of them, for these show the various weaknesses that were in your body but which were hidden from you by the toxins. Once these toxins are drawn away there are contractions of the tissues and this creates a little tension, but the tension soon disappears and the aches and pains go with it.

In rare cases, women may find that their menstruations seem to go haywire and even stop for some months. Again, however, it is a case of the body healing the weaknesses first, and this may take some time. Once the weaknesses in the organs have been repaired, those in the bowel systems will be tackled, then those in the tissues, and then the sexual organs. As this process, of healing all the way through, is a slow procedure, it may take time to cure and heal every part of the body, especially if there happen to be many weaknesses—but remember, all these signs are an indication to you that the body is doing its dynamic work of healing within itself.

Grains (Gǔwù 谷物)

Always eat natural, unrefined whole grains such as brown rice, barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, wheat, rye, maize, but you should always make sure that you chew all grain food really well, as it contains fibre, which takes a lot of digesting, and you should help it to pass through the system as easily as possible. It also contains a lot of nutrition, and that is why it is excellent for the body, and it can be eaten in a variety of different ways—raw, creamed, fried, boiled and even baked so that there can be variety at every meal.
Brown rice is excellent for the nervous system; barley has a high energy level and is good for people suffering from various allergies; buckwheat is rich in Vitamin E, which is excellent for strengthening the tissues of the body and is beneficial to the kidneys; maize is another energy cereal and it is excellent for the blood; millet, on the other hand, is very beneficial to the spleen and especially for those people who suffer from acidosis; oats also have a high energy level, and are very good for people who have thyroid-gland troubles; rye is good for the tissues and muscular systems, and aids the endurance of those who perform strenuous activities; and wheat has long been known as an excellent tonic for the brain, is high in protein and gluten and is beneficial to the liver. So eat grain as often as you can, for it will give you excellent nourishment and will provide you with more than a quarter of the energy and nutrients that your body requires.

Here are a few ideas on how to prepare grain foods for the table.

Rice milk (Mǐ nǎi 米奶).

All grains can be turned into milk, but rice milk is really excellent for babies, the old, those people who have weak constitutions, and those with intestinal troubles.

Cook one cup of brown rice with ten cups of water for at least two hours, ensuring that you stir it continuously. Then place in a cloth and squeeze out all the juice. Boil the rice water again for fifteen minutes or longer, if you wish. For babies and people who are very weak the rice milk can be diluted to a weaker consistency, but for healthy folk they can have it stronger, by using less water. The rice pulp can be used when making bread. The same procedure holds good for the preparation of other grain milks too.

Millet cream (Xiǎomǐ yóu 小米油)

Warm one teaspoon of corn oil (or sesame or sunflower oil); add one cup of millet flour and stir until the mixture is a light brown; then let it cool. Put it into a pan and add four cups of water; boil; then allow it to simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a little soya sauce or sea salt to taste. Other grains may be used in place of millet.

Buckwheat herb (Qiáomài cǎoběn 荞麦草本)

Cook the buckwheat in water and make a sauce from two dessertspoonfuls of any grain flour; then add some herbs, which should be chopped finely. Add the buckwheat, some steamed or baked onions and add a little oil; then cook until the grains are soft. Serve. Other grains may be used in place of the buckwheat.

Saute buckwheat (Chǎo qiáomài 炒荞麦)

Follow the instructions as for the buckwheat herb, then add garlic and marjoram, cut into the shape required, and saute on both sides until they are a nice golden brown.

Vegetables (Cài 菜)

Vegetables, by which is meant not only the cultivated ones, but also wild ones such as dandelion, burdock and watercress, etc. which most people accept as herbs, are excellent for the bloodstream for they assist in the health of the red globules which carry the oxygen throughout the body. Vegetables can also supply appreciable quantities of various nutrients, including Vitamin C; but if the vegetables are allowed to wilt then there is considerable loss of this vitamin. So always ensure that you use fresh vegetables whenever you can, and, to obtain the maximum benefit from them, eat them raw or saute them as we do in China.

Soya beans (Dàdòu 大豆)

The most valuable of vegetables is the soya bean, for it is a source of dynamic goodness and excellent nutrition, and it is not for nothing that the Chinese have cultivated it for thousands of years. It is the only vegetable that contains complete nourishment and protein, such as Vitamins A, B, E, and plenty of Vitamin C, copper, iron, calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, zinc, phosphorous, potassium, sulphur and in addition to all these it is very rich in lecithin.

Lecithin is essential for tissues of the nervous system and the brain, as it aids the development of internal energy, and it is therefore important to help strengthen the nervous energy within the body. In addition to all this, it helps break up excess fat in the body, so it is an excellent food for all those people who are carrying too much weight.

At home you can easily grow soya beans in a bottle in a few days, and they can either be used as a cooked vegetable, or eaten raw as part of a salad.

Soya bean flour (Dàdòu fěn 大豆粉)

It might surprise you to know that you can get Soya bean flour, and it can be used in bread, cakes, and biscuits, and it makes them very tasty, and it can also be used to mix with other flours, where an added flavour is required. It can also be added to soups and gravies for the same reason.

In addition to the soya bean being used as a nutritional flour, here are a few more of its uses either as a good or as a drink.

Soya Sauce (Jiàngyóu 酱油)

This is a fermented preparation from soya beans, and has been in China for at least 4,000-5,000 years. It adds to the flavour of food if used in reasonable quantities, and whilst it is rich in vitamins and minerals it also contains about 18 per cent salt.

Soya bean sweet (Dàdòu táng 大豆糖)

Boil the soya beans in syrup, drain, and then serve as a sweet.

Roasted soya beans (Kǎo Dàdòu 烤大豆)

Soak the soya beans overnight, then roast them in a dry pan.

Roasted soya bean sweets (Kǎo dòu táng 烤豆糖)

Roast the beans, then boil them in syrup, drain and serve.

Soya sauce pickled vegetables (Jiàng Cài 酱菜)

Pickling vegetables in soya sauce not only gives them a wonderful flavour but gives them further nourishment.

Soya milk (Dòujiāng 豆浆)

This has been used in China for thousands of years, and would always be used in preference to cows’ milk, even to feed young babies. You can make it yourself, by the same method as grain milk, or you can buy it in powder form. It is cheaper than other milk, and your health shop may already stock it. Go and ask.

Soya bean curd (Dòufu 豆腐)

This is one of the very old traditional foods of China and is also rich in protein. It can be used raw or added to soups and gravies and other dishes. This is the way you can make it yourself.

You will need half to one pound of soya beans, a little milk, some yeast, and sea salt to taste. Cook the beans; then, when nearly done, drain off most of the water into a bottle and seal it so that it is air-tight. Continue cooking until beans are tender, then empty them into an earthenware dish and leave overnight. Reheat the next day and drain off the rest of the fluid. Add this to the liquid you had drained off the previous day. Pass the beans through a fine-mesh sieve; add the puree to the liquid; and add a little milk, and some of the yeast, to aid fermentation, and add a little salt to suit your own taste. Divide into the sizes that you prefer, and allow it to set.

Soya bean curd is also used as a compress to relieve aches and pains in areas of the body that are inflamed.

Seaweed (Hǎicǎo 海草)

Another excellent vegetable is edible seaweed, for not only does it contain many vitamins, but it is also the best source of iodine, which is essential to the health of the body, and should be a part of everyone’s diet as it is in China.

Poisonous vegetables

There are a number of vegetables that contain poison and so are best left alone. These are potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines (egg-plants), spinach and rhubarb which contain solanine or oxalic poison and these are harmful to the nervous system, create apathy, reduce the efficiency of the mind, and have other ill effects. In China herds of pigs were fed potatoes, and after a while they became upset and very aggressive, and finally many of them developed arthritis and gout, and many died. So all these are best left out of your diet, if you want to keep fit and healthy.

Meat (Ròu 肉)

The consumption of meat has more disadvantages than benefits. It can supply quick energy and a large amount of calories, but once it has been swallowed it starts to decompose through the action of bacteria (throw a piece of meat on the ground and watch what happens to it), and this in turn creates toxins in the system. If the body cannot eliminate these quickly enough, the toxins have to be stored within the body, and this can cause fevers and many illnesses of the organs and the blood including blood stagnation.
Taoists do not eat red flesh, the reason being that thousands of years ago they went through a period when they ate only meat, in their quest for physical alchemy. They learnt dearly then, and appreciated the devastating effect and cost was to human lives—namely themselves, and they will never put themselves in that situation ever again.

When man first roamed the earth he had no weapons, and he had to live quite naturally on grains, vegetables and fruit; and he was at peace with the rest of the animal kingdom. When he began killing for flesh to eat, and wearing skins, animals and birds instinctively began to shy away from him, for their instincts told them that man was no longer a friend of nature, for he had become a killer. Since then, time has proved how right the animal world was, for man not only kills for food, but kills for pleasure, kills other humans, and in some cases kills himself by committing suicide—all of which can be seen as a state of degeneration. The red flesh of man is exactly the same as the red flesh of animals, so man has turned into a cannibal by eating flesh, and whereas animals do not think and survival comes only through their inborn instincts, man does not have the same excuse, for he is slowly losing his capacity to think clearly and to use his judgement sensibly.

If he carries on at this rate of deterioration then he will eventually become lower than the animals he despises and hunts, then he will become the hunted and not the hunter. When will man understand that if you lower yourself down to the level of an animal then you will eventually become one yourself. Just look at local governments, for instance, every day they sit and make new laws, purposely to restrict and harness their fellow men. no animal does that, for it is an inborn instinct to seek continuous freedom, and not perpetual shackles.

Therefore if everyone raised their standard of eating and drinking according to the divine laws of the universe, then they will eventually raise themselves to the heights of the teachers, philosophers and sages, and become an example to ail their fellow men. Then will come peace, happiness and harmony amongst all humanity, and war, robbery, mugging, and rape will be things of the past.

Milk (Nǎi 奶)

We have already noticed the old Chinese saying, “If you want your child to grow up to look and act like an animal, then feed it on cows’ or goats’ milk from the day it is born”. For this reason, the Chinese generally do not feed animal milk to their babies, and it is not unknown for Chinese mothers to breast-feed their children for as much as three to five years. Children fed this way tend to have a more adaptable mind, more flexibility in the body and a calmer and stronger spirit.

It is simply not true that cows’ milk is the complete food for man, for it is deficient in iron and Vitamin C and D, and if bottled milk is left on the doorstep exposed to the sunlight for an hour or more, a substantial amount of its Vitamin C and riboflavin is destroyed. Cows’ milk also contains an appreciable quantity of carbohydrate, in the form of disaccharide lactose.

In Great Britain most milk is pasteurised and this treatment destroys about 10 per cent of thiamine and Vitamin B and about 25 per cent of Vitamin C. In sterilised and evaporated milk the losses are much higher amounting to 60 per cent of Vitamin C and 20 per cent of thiamine. In some countries they even add chemicals in the form of preservatives to milk, and these too destroy some of the vital nutrients.
So it is well worth remembering that: COWS’ MILK WAS MADE FOR CALVES, HUMAN MILK WAS MADE FOR HUMAN BABIES. You wouldn’t feed human milk to animals, so why feed animal milk to humans? Everything in nature has its rightful place, so let it stay that way, as the Supreme Spirit intended it to be.

Salt (Yán 盐)

Ordinary rock salt does more harm than good to the human body, for it causes the retention of too much fluid, which in turn can cause the body to put on surplus weight and it can lead to heart trouble, high blood pressure, ulcers, fatigue, insomnia as well as a violent and aggressive nature. It contains very little goodness, as most of that evaporated in the far distant past; so today its main constituent is sodium chloride.

Sea salt (Hǎiyán 海盐), which contains many minerals from the sea, is far more beneficial to the human body, but it should be used in moderation. However, in China we find it an even greater advantage to the natural good health of the body, to use salt in other forms, such as Soya sauce (Jiàngyóu 酱油) and Sesame seed salt (Zhīma yán 芝麻盐), and these help to make the food more tasty and supply sea salt in a way that it is more acceptable to the human body, but remember—moderation at all times.