Wǔ Xíng Food Therapy — Five-Phase Dietetics
Wǔ Xíng Food Therapy — Five-Phase Dietetics is a Chinese / Dietetics — wǔ xíng food therapy body system as transmitted through the lineage Chinese dietetics uses five-phase correspondences to relate food flavour and colour families to the five zang: Liver/Wood/green, Heart/Fire/red, Spleen/Earth/yellow, Lung/Metal/white, and Kidney/Water/black. The Yuan Yinshan Zhengyao supplies a dietetic source for the food-therapy frame, while the Neijing supplies the broader organ, phase, flavour, and colour correspondence context.. This page lists every point in the system with sourced placements and links to cross-tradition correspondences curated for The Body Spiritual.
Open in interactive explorerPrimary sources
- Yinshan Zhengyao (飲膳正要) (Hu Sihui; trans. Buell, Anderson & Perry, A Soup for the Qan, Brill 2010) — The Yuan court dietetic manual gives food preparation, regimen, and therapeutic diet guidance; its food classifications ground the food-therapy frame used here, while the five-organ colour layout is an editorial synthesis with Neijing correspondences.
- Huangdi Neijing · Suwen (黃帝內經素問) (Han redaction; trans. Unschuld & Tessenow, University of California Press 2011) — Suwen ch. 23 (Xuanming wuqi) discusses the five qi and five flavors in relation to the zang; ch. 5 supplies the wider five-phase correspondence frame. This is the canonical basis for the flavor-to-organ affinities represented here.
- Bob Flaws, The Tao of Healthy Eating (Blue Poppy Press 1995) — A modern English-language food-therapy guide that organises dietary choices through TCM pattern and food-property language; it is used for the accessible explanatory layer, not as a classical anatomical map.
Known lineage variants
- Food colours and flavours are teaching correspondences, not stable biomedical classifications; clinical food therapy varies by pattern, preparation, season, and practitioner lineage.
- The body loci are TARGET-ORGAN projections of a food classification, not an anatomical map, and no point should be read as a stand-alone dietary prescription.
Related systems
No other systems share this tradition label.
Points
- Gān 肝 — Wood / green foods — Sour and green food affinity
- Xīn 心 — Fire / red foods — Bitter and red food affinity
- Pí 脾 — Earth / yellow foods — Sweet and yellow food affinity
- Fèi 肺 — Metal / white foods — Pungent and white food affinity
- Shèn 腎 — Water / black foods — Salty and black food affinity
Frequently asked
What is Gān 肝 — Wood / green foods?
TCM food-therapy tables associate the Liver and Wood phase with a green colour family and sour flavour tendency. The upper-abdominal point is a target-organ projection for food classification, not a claim that green foods anatomically travel to the liver or that colour alone determines therapeutic effect.
What is Xīn 心 — Fire / red foods?
The Heart and Fire phase are conventionally paired with red foods and the bitter flavour in five-phase dietetic correspondences. The chest point supplies an editorial target-organ projection and does not substitute for pattern diagnosis, dose, preparation, or biomedical nutrition evidence.
What is Pí 脾 — Earth / yellow foods?
The Spleen and Earth phase are conventionally paired with yellow foods and sweet flavour in the five-phase food-therapy frame. The middle-abdominal point represents the digestive target system in TCM theory, not the anatomical site where sweetness is processed or a universal dietary prescription.
What is Fèi 肺 — Metal / white foods?
The Lung and Metal phase are conventionally paired with white foods and pungent flavour in the five-phase correspondence system. The thoracic point is a target-organ projection for visual indexing and is not a claim that white foods directly treat lung tissue.
What is Shèn 腎 — Water / black foods?
The Kidney and Water phase are conventionally paired with black foods and salty flavour in the five-phase dietetic framework. The lower-trunk point marks the classical target-organ association with substantial uncertainty and does not support unrestricted salt intake or a biomedical treatment claim.