Healing with Whole Foods, Third Edition - Softcover

Pitchford, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556434308 ISBN 13: 9781556434303

Publisher: North Atlantic Books, 2002

Synopsis

A comprehensive, personalized path to whole-body health—for more than 20 years, Paul Pitchford's Healing with Whole Foods has been the bestselling go-to resource for readers seeking real answers about nutrition, wellness, and longevity.

This landmark book bridges ancient food wisdom with modern science—including Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, and nutritional science concepts—and presents them in a way that's practical and accessible for everyday use.

At its core is a powerful premise: Food is “foundation medicine.” And when you learn how to make nourishing, nutritious choices that are aligned with your own individualized constitution, a whole foods-forward diet can prevent illness, address degenerative disease, support physical health, and bring your mind-body wellness back into balance.

Drawing on the eight principles of diagnosis—yin, yang, and the six divisions of heat/cold; interior/exterior; excess/deficiency; and qi vitality, Pitchford teaches you to recognize patterns of imbalance and guides you to choose foods that restore harmony and vitality. This book is grounded in the simple but potent truth that your health isn’t a one-size-fits-all prescription: it’s a dynamic equilibrium shaped by age, climate, season, environmental factors, and your unique needs.

Pitchford also uses a five-element system—earth, fire, metal, wood, and water—to map connections between organs, emotions, seasons, and physical symptoms, offering targeted dietary guidelines for managing blood sugar, enhancing your immune system, and combating infections and degenerative conditions.

Comprehensively researched and deeply practical, Healing with Whole Foods has sold more than 650,000 copies worldwide and continues to serve as an enduring classic for readers wishing to build common-sense strategies for a healthy, holistic life.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Pitchford is a teacher and nutrition researcher. In his healing work with individuals, he develops rejuvenative plans based on awareness and dietary practices. His early training, following ancient traditional practice, was primarily through apprenticeships and private instructions with masters of meditation and East Asian medicine. For more than three decades, he has applied the unifying wisdom of Far Eastern thought to the major dietary therapies available in the West to create a new vision of health and nutrition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Part I, Chapter 2: The Principle of ExtremesWhen the excessive principle reaches its limit, the extreme yin or yang transforms into its opposite. This is known as the “Principle of Extremes.” This principle is readily observed in warm-blooded animals, when a fever is produced in response to an exposure to cold, or when chills result from an excess of summer heat.Other examples: 1. Extreme activity, such as hard physical work, necessitates rest. 2. If activity is very fierce and yang (such as in war), death (which is very yin) can be the result. 3. People frequently become more child-like with extreme age. Also, with advancing years, a person gradually exhibits less physical strength but, if healthy, greater wisdom. This represents the loss of bodily attachment to earth and the shifting of focus toward heaven, an example of extreme yin changing to extreme yang. 4. As internal heat and blood pressure become higher (yang), a stroke resulting in paralysis (yin) becomes more likely. 5. Extremely energizing substances such as cocaine cause utter debility later. One also is eventually weakened by stimulants such as caffeine and refined sugar.6. In meditation, proper concentration on a single object ultimately results in universal awareness.The process by which phenomena change into their opposites may be described graphically with spirals, a very common pattern in the universe. These cycles of change are progressively quicker while contracting, slower while expanding. Such cycles are balanced by opposing cycles. For instance, when the national economy slows toward stagnation, cycles of emotional anxiety become ever more intense. Another pair of spirals illustrates the way in which metabolic cycles in the body take longer to fully repeat with age, with a simultaneously greater need for nutrients. For this reason, we need less quantity but more nutritionally concentrated food as we grow older.

Edition details

• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1556434308
• ISBN 13: 9781556434303
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 784