Kidney Yang Foods: Foods that Build Yang Energy

Kidney Yang Foods, ie those that boost Kidney Yang, are not the only way to help Kidney Yang. But diet – long-term – is really important.

Unfortunately, Losing Kidney Yang energy is all too easy! Please read about this under Kidney Yang deficiency! Deficiency implies – for example – adrenal exhaustion.

Recovering Kidney yang can take months. If you start when older, it may be impossible to regain the vigour you enjoyed when you were young, but even so, with time you may achieve much.

By the way, if all this yin-yang stuff makes little sense, try reading balancing yin and yang.

Kidney yang depends on Kidney Yin reserves so …

If fostering yang, be sure to keep warm, to keep moving, and to avoid getting over-tired. Physical exercise is vital, and our bodies reap long-term benefits if we start young.

Passion and Kidney Yang foods

Yang energy also appears at inspiration, enthusiasm and passion.

Do what you enjoy and turns you on! Keep up your spirits!

Join others with similar interests and benefit from the group’s energy and drive.

Strategy for Kidney Yang foods

Kidney yang reserves depend on Kidney Yin reserves so usually you would start by dealing with the causes of Kidney yin deficiency:

• Manage /remove stressors. This might be a tense atmosphere, or it might be constant anxiety or impossible deadlines to meet. Illness itself is stressful and for this, you must start with training your Mind. Even if you have to keep taking some medication, if it gives you time to train your Mind, it will be worth it. See Meditation, below.
  
• Gentle relaxing massage may help.

• Sleep! Early bed, pre 10pm. Get used to a different rhythm of life. Early to bed, and then only if necessary early to rise. But certainly, going to bed, to sleep, before 10pm is good. Even earlier, say before 9.30pm is better. Read Insomnia for more.
• No late eating ie just before bed. Preferably allow at least three hours to elapse after your last meal before retiring to bed. Ideally, during those three hours, you will have moved around a bit: taken a short walk perhaps. (Not vigorous exercise! That would speed up your metabolism too much just before trying to sleep.)
• Sleep in a cool, quiet, dark room. Try to arrange a blind or curtains to cut out all light.
• No stimulants – stop all coffee, chocolate etc. A little green tea is ok. (Stopping coffee is difficult, I know! But read why you should try to stop coffee! It may help to increase the number of bitter-tasting foods as you try to reduce the coffee!)
• Meditation: Cultivate a calm mind.
• Sharing worries may be a way to take their weight and worry off your chest.
• Avoid low fat diets: fats are needed for hormones and Kidney yin health. Eat fats that arise naturally in nuts and organic animal products. A little butter and cheese may suit some people, unless it produces too much phlegm for them.
• Ensure healthy Stomach/Spleen digestion: everything depends on that. Take Warm not cold food/drinks.

Preserve your Digestive powers!

These come under your Stomach and Spleen energies in Chinese medicine. Very important to preserve your Stomach Yin and Stomach Qi energies by avoiding cold and chilled foods and drinks. Read more about this under Nutrition.

Get in the habit of eating Clogstoun Congee regularly to preserve your Stomach Yin and keep you properly hydrated: much better than drinking lots of water.

Ensure healthy Stomach/Spleen digestion: everything depends on that. Eat Warm not cold food and drink.

Factors that support Kidney Yan

• Maintain a heathy weight.
• Maintain a healthy blood pressure – preferably without medication. Try exercise and sensible foods – see this page and our page on Nutrition.
• Don’t smoke! Smoking inflames your lungs which then need yin actions to cool down. You are short of both yang AND yin.
• Exercise!

• Keep warm: don’t get cold. If you get cold, take a warm bath or sauna to recover your body’s natural warmth. Balancing yin and yang takes experience.
• Limit alcohol to very small amounts. Alcohol is temporarily warming but doesn’t improve your digestion or help your body to improve its metabolism.
• Limit medication and drugs esp NSAIDS, A/B, dyes, ulcer medications. These are all anti-inflammatory in one way or another, the effect of which is to cool you. If you want to increase your yang energy, don’t eat cold foods or take anti-inflammatory medicine because they work against what you want.