Natalie Kringoudis is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and our proud ambassador at YourTea.

We strongly believe that a holisitc approach is needed to achieve optimum health and/or reach desired aethetic goals. This is why we asked Nat to create an eating plan for those of you wanting more advice when it comes to food intake.

The eating plan below may be followed for the duration of TinyTeatox, or can be incorporated into an every day lifestyle change.

All meals are designed to thoroughly nourish the digestive system.

Firstly, Nat will explain how the digestive system works from a Chinese Medicine perspective - 

"Imagine a pot of soup sitting on a fire.  Both the spleen and stomach are the organs responsible for digestion; they transform and transport to the body the essential elements of food and drink. The nutrients they draw from food are sent out around the body to nourish and the bad sent out as waste.  So with this pot in mind, the stomach is the ‘pot’ and the spleen is the ‘fire.’

Therefore you may like to understand that digestion is a process that requires warm energy.  You may also recognise that all foods have properties in how they behave energetically in the body.  Those which are warming and invigorating (think meat proteins, some legumes, chili and alike) and those that are cold (like most fruits and raw or cold foods) which can slow down digestion and lead to weight gain.  Raw foods tend to be very heavy on the gut and overconsumption may not only cause weight gain but also cellulite and upset guts.

From a Western sense, our bodies digest food at 37 degrees.  So when we consume raw and uncooked foods, not only does it have work like madness to digest, but it first has to get the temperature of the food up to 37 before it can effectively deal with it.  So consuming warm foods makes digestion is much more efficient.

Sugar is also avoided as it is rapidly converted and stored as fat.  You will notice uncooked fruit is on the out list as it is not only high in sugar but also raw which again leads to weight gain"

Now that you have an understanding of how the digestive system operates and why we endorse eating warm/cooked foods, let us enlighten you with some delicious meal ideas... but first...

Let’s talk simple portion sizes:

When it comes to protein – your fist size is the perfect portion size for your own body 

Vegetables: a large handful

Grains: a small handful