Whatever you eat determines whatever you are. Food as prerequisites for survival also defines how the person would be, which means for food to be a key condition to form human as material and spirit both. It is a common view among the ancient medicine from East and West. Therefore we need to cultivate wisdom about diet for the purpose of desirable human design. I find the useful clues and policy for diet in ancient medicine.
肝藏血, 肝藏魂
Blood in the liver and liver hides soul(spirit)
The liver (肝) has the function of storing blood and regulating blood volume. According to the ancient Chinese medicine, blood is produced from the refined substances of food and stored in the liver, which supplies blood to the whole body through the meridians as needed. And the liver (肝) holds the soul, which means that it has a certain relationship with mental activity.
Galen also mentioned that four humors are formed from what we eat.
Humoral theory, based on the work of the ancient Greek physician Galen, holds that good health relies on a balance of four fundamental fluids: blood, choler (yellow bile), phlegm, and black bile. An ideal proportion (one quarter as much phlegm as blood, one sixteenth as much choler as blood, and one sixty-fourth as much melancholy as blood) is difficult to sustain since humors are continually influenced by what people eat and drink. The Four Humors: Eating in the Renaissance
I found an interesting article which explains the digestion process of food by cross-interpretation between Eastern and Western ancient medicine.
Left This diagram illustrates the Physiology envisioned by Galen. Food is digested in the Stomach, Chyle is absorbed by the Portal Vein and carried to the Liver to form the 4 Humors and Natural Spirit, the Best Essence of Food ingested. Natural Spirit passes to the Heart to be infused with Air in the Lungs, this fusion forming Vital Spirit, or Qi. The finest part of Vital Spirit forms Animal Spirit (Spirit) in the Brain.
Right Ayurveda recognises 7 Bodily Constituents or Tissues. This effectively represents Digestion, from Chyle, to Blood, to the formations of Muscles, Tendons, Bones and Marrow, eventually leading to formation of Sperm. The remainder becomes Essence. This effectively represents the end result of First, Second, and Third Digestion in the Galenic system.
Three Spirits is defined as three treasures of body in Taoism. So to speak, Animal Spirits(神) as a representative of mental activity, Vital Spirits(氣) as energy of dynamic activity, Natural Spirits(精) as essence of body formation. As long as life is on going, these three are also inseparable one.
