MOST PEOPLE DON'T approach a visit ot the doctor with much relish, so the idea of volunteering to see your physician when you feel fine may seem a little odd.
But those who follow traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) routinely visit their doctor at the start of every season. Patients seek advice about diet and health in an attempt to prepare for whatever the changing weather may throw at them.
'It's preventative medicine,' says Vivien Chou Mei-mei, executive director of Integrated Chinese Medicine (ICM), a company that runs a website to educate people about TCM and sells products and supplements. 'I tell people that, if you have a good doctor, you should never get sick. The idea is to stay well and not wait until symptoms of sickness appear.'
A fundamental principle of TCM, developed over thousands of years, is that people's health and happiness are linked to nature. The aim is to balance a body's opposite tendencies: the yin and yang. These are affected by daily and seasonal cycles of nature, which are broken down into the five elements of water, wood, fire, earth and metal.
An imbalance in opposing conditions, such as the body's natural state of heat (fire) and cold (water), blocks the qi, or vital energy. TCM seeks to redress imbalances with a range of treatments such as acupuncture, medication, massage and qigong (a form of exercise that promotes healing through movement and meditation).
Many TCM principles are ingrained in local culture. The requirement that the five elements of taste - sour, bitter, pungent, sweet and salty - should be balanced manifests itself in the preference for many dishes rather than a surfeit of one. There's also the change of menu according to season - not just because of availability, but because TCM recommends particular foods for different times of the year.
