The Five Elements Nutrition
In traditional Chinese medicine, food is considered medicine. Every food has its healing properties that can be used specifically in therapy to support recovery. Try to examine your eating habits from a TCM perspective, I'm here to advise you.
Classification by taste
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Bitter (Fire) foods are generally cooling (yin) and encourage contraction and the descending of energy
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Sweet (Earth) foods are generally strengthening (yang) and encourage energy to expand upward and outward
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Pungent (metal) foods are generally warming (yang) and encourage energy to expand and move outward
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salty (Water) foods are generally cooling (yin) and encourage energy to move in and down
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sour (Wood) foods are generally cooling (yin) and encourage energy to contract and collect
Thermal Effect of Food
Within each categorization foods have differing temperature qualities which, while generally good for that element, may not be used for certain disorders or individual constitution types. For example, if you had a common cold (Metal, Lung) disorder you would decrease your intake of some of the foods which are generally cooling within the Metal element such as the fruits. Also you may benefit more of pungent foods if you are a wood type.
