Taoist monks perform a ritual at the Sau Mau Ping Memorial Park in Hong Kong in 1972. An ancient Taoist practice called “bigu” is a form of fasting similar to modern low-carb diets. Photo: SCMP
Opinion
Opinion
Reflections
The low-carb diet is no recent fad. China’s version dates back over 2,000 years
- ‘Bigu’, or ‘grain avoidance’, is an ancient practice in Taoism that involves abstinence from the ‘five grains’: various cultivars of rice, wheat, soybeans and so on
- An early reference to bigu, in an ancient Chinese text, describes a man who ‘did not eat any of the five grains, but inhaled the wind and drank the dew’
Taoist monks perform a ritual at the Sau Mau Ping Memorial Park in Hong Kong in 1972. An ancient Taoist practice called “bigu” is a form of fasting similar to modern low-carb diets. Photo: SCMP
