To truly understand the Taoist diet you have to first understand a little bit about Taoist beliefs.
Taoists are egoless humble people that emphasize compassion, humility and moderation – the latter of which is stressed through their minimalistic eating habits.
The common Taoist term Yin and Yang refers to the positive and negative energies of the Universe.
Tao Te Ching, Part 12 Historically, the Taoist diet has consisted of mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, with little meat and no grain – as they thought during the digestive process demon like creatures would be released from the rotting grain and attempt to eat them from inside out.
The Taoist diet relates the five basic flavors with an element of nature: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy.
Historical In much of the classic Taoist literature, a lot of mention is made of the sagacious men of old – or, people who existed in pre-history.
The earliest Taoists are believed to have had a diet that reflected this notion of sagacious and enlightened masters from before history – and also before the development of agriculture.
The minimalist approach is often used to explain it, stating that Taoists live off more than food alone and subconsciously gain energy from the cosmic.
Since longevity for continued cultivation is one of the primary goals of many Taoist practices, the object of the diet was to “Starve off” the 3 worms, by lowering your intake of grain, or eliminating it completely.
To strive for complete avoidance of all death Keep your intestines free of excrement!” While many ancient Taoists practiced abstention from grain, this is not absolutely true.
There are many accounts of Taoists who ate, or who literally begged for rice.
Although there are some radical people who claim to never eat, they are often ridiculed by the media and later found out to be “Starving” for attention rather than being a true ancient style Taoist.
The modern Taoist diet essentially follows the basic yin-yang and 5 elements theory, and relies heavily upon un-processed whole grains, fresh vegetables and very little meat.
The Modern Taoist relies on moderation in their eating habits, and should try to avoid consuming anything too pungent and stay away from as many preservatives as possible.
Differences Between Taoist And Modern Western Diets In the west, the life style and dietary habits have contributed to the dramatic rise in such problems as heart disease, obesity, stress, cancer, arthritis and so on.
The Modern Taoist diet, in contrast to the modern western diet is: Low Fat High Energy Vitamin and mineral enriched Easy for the body to digest Unrefined and processed This means daily western items like bread and milk, which we think are perfectly healthy are considered almost toxic to strict Taoists.
The “Ground Up” Approach Qigong: refers to the set of Taoist exercises used to maintain and move with the qi.
Generally, in many types of Taoist Qigong, energy is drawn from the earth, upward.
The concept of “Rooting” is the base of tai chi and many of the Chinese and Taoist martial arts, so historically, and within the Taoist context of power, from the ground upwards was thought of as the best way to get vital energy from food.
As with Taoist Qigong, Taoist diet also generally stresses a “Ground up” approach to the consumption of vegetables.
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