Do you know how to take part and help your dog's relationship with food? Do you want to know a better starting point when introducing foods to your dog?
It can be very frustrating when you want to give your dog a treat (or any food) and they have food allergies, especially if they are unknown. It can almost feel like we are missing out on being able to share specific fun with the. Even more so when the majority of interactive toys revolve around food.
With the help of the charts in this post, you should gain a better understanding of what foods to either try or avoid depending on how sensitive your dog is. Do note that this is not saying that certain foods are either “good” or “bad” but are judging how a dog will generally handle and respond to the specific foods.
Yin Yang Food Energies
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) they look at food energies. TCM shows us how allergies, among all other medical conditions, are an underlying disharmony within the body. To then address the problem you must address the disharmony responsible for the allergy. When a dog (or person) who has an allergy is exposed to said allergen, the body begins to respond by having its defenses overreact. This is also when the body begins to overheat. Other visual symptoms are red skin, itching, panting and restlessness. It is the combination of warm (heat from allergies) and cool (dog’s temperature) that create a condition of “wind” within the body which then in turn causes the itchy skin.
Where Yin represents cool then Yang represents heat. With a balance of the forces you are left with a healthy being. When you adjust your dog’s diet based off of TCM’s food energy categories, you are addressing the root of the imbalance to restore harmony instead of just treating the symptom of the allergy.
How Does Cooking Tie Into Category?
The way you prepare each food item also plays into how the body responds. Serving food items either raw, chilled, steamed or poached is cooling. Boiling the food is neutral. Baking is considered warming. And finally, roasting or grilling classifies it as hot.
Preparation Method | Raw, Chilled, Steamed, Poached | Boiled | Baked | Roasted, Grilled |
Each table shows a visual representation for the most common foods and how many of the top searched sites categorized each item as either cooling, neutral, warming or hot. Otherwise find a written summary of all items each site mentioned and their categoric Yin Yang label. Some foods will be in multiple categories.
Meat
Cooling: Alligator, beef, duck, goose, pork, rabbit, turkey
Neutral: Beef, bison, goose, kidney, kidney (pork), liver, liver (beef), liver (pork), pork, pork feet, quail, squid, turkey
Warming: Beef, chicken, goat, ham, kidney, kidney (beef), lamb, liver, liver (chicken), liver (pork), mutton, pheasant, sheep, turkey, venison
Hot: Chicken, Emu, goat, kidney, kidney (beef), lamb, liver, mutton, pheasant, sheep, turkey, venison
Meat | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Aligator | 1 | | | |
Beef | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
Bison | | 2 | | |
Chicken | | | 4 | 1 |
Duck | 4 | | | |
Emu | | | | 1 |
Goat | | | 1 | 2 |
Goose | 1 | 1 | | |
Ham | | | 1 | |
Kidney | | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Lamb | | | 1 | 4 |
Liver | | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Mutton | | | 1 | 2 |
Pork | 2 | 1 | | |
Rabbit | 4 | | | |
Sheep | | | 1 | 2 |
Squid | | 1 | | |
Turkey | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Venison | | | 1 | 3 |
Fruit
Cooling: Apple, banana, blueberry, cranberry, kiwi, mango, melon, orange, pear, persimmon, strawberry, tangerine, watermelon
Neutral: Apple, lemon, papaya, pineapple, pomegranate, raspberry
Warming: Blackberry, cassia fruit, cherry, coconut, date, longan, peach, raspberry
Hot: None listed
Fruit | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Apple | 4 | 1 | | |
Banana | 4 | | | |
Blackberry | | | 1 | |
Blueberry | 1 | | | |
Cherry | | | 1 | |
Coconut | | | 2 | |
Cranberry | 3 | | | |
Date | | | 1 | |
Kiwi | 1 | | | |
Mango | 3 | | | |
Melon | 2 | | | |
Orange | 2 | | | |
Peach | | | 1 | |
Pear | 3 | | | |
Pineapple | | 2 | | |
Pomegranate | | 1 | | |
Raspberry | | 1 | 1 | |
Strawberry | 3 | | | |
Watermelon | 2 | | | |
Vegetable
Cooling: Asparagus, bamboo, broccoli, button mushroom, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, dandelion lead, dandelion root, eggplant, jobs tears, kelp, lettuce, mushroom, seaweed, spinach, squash (summer), swiss chard, tomato, turnip
Neutral: Avocado, beet root, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, corn, green bean, peas, potato, pumpkin, shiitake mushroom, string beans, sweet potato
Warming: Bay leaves, bell pepper, brussel sprout, kale, parsley, parsnip, pumpkin, squash, squash (winter), sweet potato
Hot: Kale, parsley, parsnip, squash, sweet potato
Vegetable | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Avocado | | 1 | | |
Bell Pepper | | | 1 | |
Broccoli | 3 | | | |
Carrot | | 3 | | |
Cauliflower | 1 | 2 | | |
Celery | 2 | | | |
Corn | | 1 | | |
Cucumber | 4 | | | |
Green Beans | | 3 | | |
Kale | | | 2 | 1 |
Kelp | 3 | | | |
Lettuce | 4 | | | |
Peas | | 2 | | |
Potato | | 2 | | |
Squash | | | 3 | 1 |
Pumpkin | | 1 | 1 | |
Seaweed | 3 | | | |
Sweet Potato | | | 4 | 1 |
Yam | | 2 | | |
Seafood
Cooling: Clam, cod, crab, fish, herring, mussel, scallop, whitefish
Neutral: Carp, catfish, herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, sturgeon, tripe, trout, tuna
Warming: Anchovy, lobster, mussel, prawn, salmon, shrimp, sturgeon, trout
Hot: Anchovy, prawn, shrimp, trout
Seafood | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Anchovy | | | 3 | 1 |
Carp | | 2 | | |
Clam | 1 | | | |
Cod | 1 | | | |
Crab | 1 | | | |
Herring | 1 | 1 | | |
Lobster | | | 1 | |
Mackerel | | 2 | | |
Mussel | 1 | | 1 | |
Prawn | | | 1 | 1 |
Salmon | | 3 | 1 | |
Sardines | | 2 | | |
Scallop | 1 | | | |
Shrimp | | | 1 | 1 |
Sturgeon | | 1 | 1 | |
Tripe | | 2 | | |
Trout | | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Tuna | | 2 | | |
Whitefish | 3 | | | |
Dairy
Cooling: Cottage cheese, yogurt
Neutral: Cheese, milk (cow), milk (goat), yogurt cheese
Warming: Milk (goat)
Hot: None listed
Dairy | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Cheese | | 2 | | |
Cottage Cheese | 1 | | | |
Milk (cow) | | 1 | | |
Milk (goat) | | 1 | 1 | |
Yogurt | 2 | | | |
Yogurt Cheese | | 1 | | |
Poultry (eggs)
Cooling: Chicken egg, Chicken egg white, duck egg
Neutral: Chicken egg
Warming: None listed
Hot: None listed
Poultry | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Chicken Egg | 1 | 3 | | |
Chicken Egg White | 1 | | | |
Duck Egg | 2 | | | |
Legumes
Cooling: Mung beans, soy beans
Neutral: Aduki beans, broad beans, kidney beans, red beans, soy beans (black)
Warming: Black beans
Hot: None listed
Legumes | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Aduki Beans | | 1 | | |
Black Beans | | | 1 | |
Broad Beans | | 1 | | |
Kidney Beans | | 1 | | |
Mung Beans | 1 | | | |
Red Beans | | 1 | | |
Soy Beans | 1 | | | |
Soy Beans (black) | | 1 | | |
Grain
Cooling: Barley, buckwheat, millet, wheat, wild rice
Neutral: Brown rice, lentils, rye, white rice
Warming: Oats, sorghum, sweet rice, walnut
Hot: None listed
Grain | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Barley | 1 | | | |
Brown Rice | | 2 | | |
Buckwheat | 2 | | | |
Lentils | | 1 | | |
Millet | 1 | | | |
Oats | | | 2 | |
Rye | | 1 | | |
Sorghum | | | 1 | |
Sweet Rice | | | 1 | |
Wheat | 1 | | | |
White Rice | | 2 | | |
Wild Rice | 1 | | | |
Nuts
Cooling: None listed
Neutral: Peanut
Warming: Cashew, chestnut, pine nut, walnut
Hot: Walnut
Nut | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Cashew | | | 1 | |
Chestnut | | | 1 | |
Peanut | | 1 | | |
Pine nut | | | 1 | |
Walnut | | | 2 | 1 |
Other
Cooling: Chia seeds, chlorella, flaxseed, flaxseed oil, honey, marjoram, nori, peppermint, salt, sesame oil, spirulina, tofu, wheat grass
Neutral: Chlorella, honey, pumpkin seed, spirulina, tofu
Warming: Basil, brown sugar, cayenne, cinnamon, clove, coconut oil, dill seed, fennel seed, ginger, ginger (dried), molasses, nutmeg, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, turmeric, vinegar
Hot: Cayenne, cinnamon, coconut oil, ginger, turmeric
Other | Cooling | Neutral | Warming | Hot |
Brown Sugar | | | 1 | |
Chia Seeds | 1 | | | |
Cinnamon | | | 2 | 2 |
Coconut Oil | | | 2 | 1 |
Flaxseed | 1 | | | |
Ginger | | | 2 | 1 |
Honey | 1 | 2 | | |
Molasses | | | 1 | |
Nutmeg | | | 1 | |
Oregano | | | 1 | |
Peppermint | 2 | | | |
Pumpkin Seed | | 1 | | |
Rosemary | | | 2 | |
Sage | | | 1 | |
Sesame Oil | 2 | | | |
Spirulina | 1 | 1 | | |
Thyme | | | 2 | |
Tofu | 1 | 1 | | |
Turmeric | | | 3 | 1 |
You are your own dog's advocate and have the final say as to what you do or do not give to them. This page is designed to save you the time of reading through multiple different sites and seeing how their information compares. Consult with your veternarian if you have questions in regards to your pet's diet.
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