Hello,
Yin – centrifugal, expansive, rising, cold, relaxing - I'm confused about this. How can yin be expansive, rising, and relaxing when it is simultaneously cold? In my opinion, this is nonsense because cold descends and constricts.

This macrobiotic specification of the meaning of the terms yin and yang is related to the influence of diet on metabolic behavior. It does not entirely correspond with the original meaning defined by Chinese culture, which was intentional on the part of the founders of macrobiotics. Here, yin is perceived as a tendency that supports releasing processes in the body (= consumption of foods/recipes with a predominance of yin supports the release of tension, intestinal peristalsis, thermal energy, neuromuscular coordination...). Since yin and yang are interconnected, one transitions into the other and intertwines, leading to situations where a predominance of yin energy in the diet results in manifestations that homeostatic principles try to "oppose" by triggering a counter-reaction (= the system's attempt to maintain balance). A typical example is the consumption of alcohol as a food with an immensely strong yin influence. We know that alcohol relieves tension, dilates blood vessels, slows reactions, and releases thermal energy, which also leads to cooling of the body (the risk of freezing in winter after alcohol consumption is always greater...). For foods that are situated at the extreme ends of the macrobiotic scale of energetic tendencies (salt, alcohol, some drugs...), there is a different interpretation in the perception of their thermal effects between Chinese medicine and macrobiotics. In literature, you will encounter different categorizations (warming vs. cooling); unfortunately, there is no consensus here because it is an exactly unmeasurable parameter, the behavior of which is evaluated only subjectively (back to the example of alcohol - its consumption creates a short-term feeling of warmth, which, after a certain time, changes to cold due to the loss of thermal energy, blood vessel dilation, and slowing of cardiovascular activity - and here it depends on the observer at what time interval from consumption this characteristic is evaluated).

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