The Four Temperament Medicine
Everyday Food and Herb Temperament Guide
Every food has a nature.
In the old tradition, every food and herb is warm or cold, moist or dry. Not to the touch, but in what it does inside the body. This guide brings that knowledge to your table.
150 pagesThere is no healthy food.
According to the four temperament tradition.
No food is good or bad on its own. Fruit is called healthy almost everywhere. Yet for a body that is strongly phlegmatic, cold and moist, many fruits can push it further out of balance.
It is not about the food. It is about your body.
Warm is not hot.
A cucumber is not cold because it came from the fridge. Ginger is not warm because it was cooked.
Each one’s nature is what it does to you. Some foods warm the body, some cool it. Some moisten, some dry.
Warm and dry
Cold and moist
Measured in four degrees.
A food is not only warm or cold. It is warm or cold to a degree.
The guide gives every food and herb its nature and its strength, on a scale of one to four.
- 1Mild
- 2Clear
- 3Strong
- 4Very strong
Galen first measured temperament in degrees. Arabic and Islamic physicians, from al-Kindi to Ibn Sina, turned his scale into a precise, mathematical science.
Inside the guide
The foods you already eat, and the herbs you already know. Each with its nature and its strength.
- Grains and breaddaily staples
- Vegetablesraw and cooked
- Fruitsfresh and dried
- Meat, fish and eggseveryday proteins
- Milk and dairyfrom milk to cheese
- Spices and herbskitchen and garden
How to use it
- 01
Know yourself
Find your temperament with the Temperament Profiling System.
- 02
Look it up
See the nature of what you eat and drink every day.
- 03
Find balance
The old rule is simple: opposites balance. Too warm? Choose what cools. Too dry? Choose what moistens.
Herbs can be strong. If you take medication, are pregnant, or have a health condition, ask your doctor before using herbs.
Also from Chylos
Everyday Food and Herb Temperament Guide
Bring the tradition to your table.
Leave your email. We will tell you the day the guide opens.