Medicinal Food: The Forgotten Wisdom of your Ancestors

Georgia Gibbs, Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine 

In a world of fads, turning food and our bodies into trends let’s turn back the clock.

In my opinion, if it’s been around for a millennia and trusted by our ancestors then it may not be “peer reviewed” but it is history proven and time is the greatest test.

Medicinal food

Part of every culture is the foods they have always consumed, food carries the stories within years of dining room conversation. The foods most interesting to our modern society are those consumed by cultures worldwide, one of the best examples of this is bone broth or bone soup. Recorded throughout later history on every continent. In Japan it is known as "Osumashi", in Korea "Gomtang", Italy as "Brodo", Spain as "Caldo" and France as "Bouillon.” Clearly cultures worlds apart saw the same benefits in consuming this golden broth. 

Marrow, beyond medicine

If we rewind a little further and dive into the world of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a school of thought thousands of years old we can gain a deep understanding of the history of Marrow. I remember when I first learnt TCM and the concept of “jing” explained to me so beautifully. Jing is your deepest essence, the foundational life force you inherit from your parents and cultivate throughout your life. Jing is the most vital substance in your body, known as “the essence of life.” So where is this vital life giving energy stored in our bodies? It’s stored in our Kidney system and this system governs the bones and bone marrow. This concept is what makes bone marrow a sacred life giving substance, the home of our jing, our deepest life force.

When our Jing is strong and nourished it looks like:

• Healthy reproduction
• Strong resilient bones, hair & nails
• Healthy growth and development in children
• Steady and graceful aging in adults 
• Strong willpower (in TCM we call this ‘Zhi’, think of it as your get up and go!)
• Cardiovascular stamina
• Having a strong lust for life

When our Jing is depleted it can look like:

• Premature aging: greying, hair loss, brittle nails, skin changes
• Low libido, reproductive challenges
• Weak bones & teeth
• Fatigue that rest doesn’t quite fix
• Memory fog & poor concentration
• Soul level, deep burnout
• Loss of willpower and ambition
• Feeling disconnected from your inner fire
• Renourish your essential life force

Most commonly I see jing depletion after long term illness or chronic symptoms, chronic stress and overwork, after a significant trauma, after birth and multiple pregnancies. When I hear someone say something like “I am just not lit up about life, I don’t have any drive, I’m just blah, I’m soul level exhausted” I straight away think of the medicinal foods to ground them and deeply renourish their body and rebuild their essential life force, the best thing about these foods is they have the ability to prevent this depletion helping to support a long, vibrant life.

Foods in order of their ability to rebuild the Jing

• Bone marrow
• Bone broth (long simmered, gelatin rich)
• Egg yolk
• Beef Liver
• Black sesame seed
• Goji berry
• Oysters
• Collagen & Gelatin
• Royal Jelly
• Medicinal mushrooms like Cordyceps & Reishi
• Herbs life Shilajit, He Shou Wu & Rehmannia

I'm convinced that so much of what we have learnt is here for us to unlearn and so much of what was known a thousand years ago is today’s vital information. Eat like your ancestors.