Fast Food Qi

So this might come across as a free pass to eat badly, but it actually takes a LOT of self control!

Many years ago, at a Chinese Medicine conference, one of the speakers blew our minds by asserting:

“You can produce Qi from any food, you know? You can make Qi from MACDONALDS, even!”

I do believe there was an audible gasp in that auditorium.

We all knew how digestion works, how Qi is made, how important food is to our health - how could this possibly be true?

“Qi is produced,” she explained, “when you get that spark of pure joy. When you taste that deliciousness and think and feel - I LOOOOOVE this!!! You can get that from ANY food! It’s fantastic! But the thing is, if you pay attention you will realize that THAT sensation only actually lasts a few bites. After that, you continue to eat that greasy burger or deep fried french fries out of habit or necessity or guilt at not wanting to be wasteful, or whatever. But you are no longer benefiting from it.”

For then the properties that are NOT good for you in those foods (the phlegm production, the food stagnation etc - more on those another day!) will overtake that spark of pure joy / Qi that you gained from those first delicious bites.

So have those bites! Savour those bites! LOOOOOVE those bites! And then try paying attention to how your body and mind feel, and see when you have finished producing Qi from joy and now need to switch to producing Qi from healthy eating.

(Aaaand, let’s be honest here: pretty much ANYTHING eaten at a brew pub or local restaurant deck or cozy neighbourhood cafe surrounded by friends and family and pleasant servers who could pass us our food and top up our drinks would bring a vast abundance of joy and love right now… )

Photo: Jonathan Borba - https://unsplash.com/@jonathanborba