or with hot syndrome. In other word, it can be associated with either an excess yang type or a deficient yin syndrome.

The function of the cool/cold food (or herb) is to disperse wind heat, clear heat or drain fire, cool blood or release toxins, and calm liver or descend yang, etc. The food nature of the cold type and that of the coolness type are consistent. But their temperature levels are different. Cold food is similar to cool food but it further helps in clearing fire and releasing toxins. It can be used to supplement treatment of the heat or fire syndrome.

Check out the following heat symptoms and see if any one fits those symptoms that concern you:

Cool Nature or Cold Nature food is suitable for the physically warm or hot type people. For example, the food can be suitable to conditions such as: fever, thirsty, irritable, like watermelon; others suitable to conditions such as: coughing, feeling chest tight or pain, expeling lots of phlegm, like pears; both types belong to the cool or cold foods.

Warm or Hot food

This type of food is good to people with a cold physical type or with a cold syndrome. People can exhibit either an yin excess or a yang deficient syndrome.

The main function for the warm or hot type food is to expel coldness with warmth, assist yang & benefit fire, invigorate blood & unblock channel, move qi & dispel stagnation, and spread aromatic perfume & open orifices, etc.

The warm or hot nature of food is opposite to the cool or cold nature of food. As long as the food is suitable to the cool/cold body type or symptoms of cold conditions, they can be lumped into the category of the warm/hot type of food. For example, ginger, scallion white, and cilantro are good for symptoms of wind colds, fever but aversion to cold, runny & sneezing, headache, etc.; dry ginger and black tea are good for symptoms of abdominal pain, vomiting, preference to hot drinks, etc.; spicy pepper, capsicum, and wine are suitable to symptoms of cold limbs, aversion to cold, and wind dampness type arthritis. All these foods belong to the warm/hot nature foods.

The nature of Neutral food is between that of the cool/cold and the warm/hot foods. It's suitable to the general body type, or people with both cold and hot syndromes.

It is used to promote nutritions and better health. Neutral nature foods are suitable to general body type with either cool/cold type or hot type symptoms. Neutral nature foods are general nutritionally healthy goods. Like rice, noodles, soybeans, Chinese yams, radishes (dai-kons), apples, milk, etc.

Analyzing 300+ most commonly used foods registered on the historical TCM Cookbooks, they found that most commonly found belong to the neutral nature type. The warm/hot nature type comes in second; and the cool/cold type is last. In general, every type of foods have both nutritional and health promotion value. A summary is listed below for your reference.