Eating For Your Body Type: Pale

Different body types have different dietary needs. Over the past few weeks I've been giving some nutritional advice for common body types based on a Traditional Chinese medical perspective. While you could show symptoms of more than one body type, usually you'll tend towards one the strongest. This week: the Pale body type.

 

Pale Body Type

A Pale person, according to Chinese Medicine, is considered to have blood deficiency, which can reflect anemia or more minor undernourishment. Symptoms of this category of person might include a pale complexion, brittle nails, hair loss, vision problems, fatigue, women tend to have very light or missed periods (although sometimes a history of very heavy periods can result in a Pale body type), undernourished, and physically inflexible.  

30% protein, 30% complex carbohydrates and 40% fruits and vegetables is a good recommendation for this body type. Iron rich foods, such as eggs, lentils, watercress and lean meat are important for the Pale type. Make sure to include nutrient dense sources of Vitamin C to help assist in efficient iron absorption in the body. Vitamin C can be found in dark leafy greens like kale, chard, mustard greens and spinach, as well as broccoli, citrus fruits, papaya and strawberries.

 

Advice

  • Eat regular meals of nutritional foods

  • Increase iron and protein from plant and/or animal sources

  • Get foods rich in vitamin C to help absorb iron

  • Supplement with Floradix (a liquid iron supplement)

  • Supplement with wheat grass or liquid chlorophyll

  • Supplement with L-carnitine

 

Bone Broth for the Pale Body Type

Within many cultures, bone broths are considered the ultimate healing food. Gelatin from the bones have excellent benefits such as reducing internal inflammation and healing the intestinal lining of the digestive system. It also boosts the collagen in your skin, bones, ligaments and joints. I recommend making a large amount so that you can freeze it and have it on hand. You can sip it as a broth, make it into a more hearty soup or stew, or use it to cook other foods such as whole grains and veggies.

From a traditional Chinese perspective, bone broths build blood, nourish kidneys and support one’s vital essence. In Western terms, this means that our immune system and adrenals are boosted. 

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Bone Broth Recipe

  • 2-3 lbs bones (beef, poultry or fish)

  • cool filtered water

  • 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar or lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  I like to place the bones (without liquid) in an oven safe stockpot or Dutch oven and roast bones for an hour.

Pull the pot from the oven and fill the pot with filtered water.  Place on the stove-top, bring to just under a boil and reduce to a low simmer.  Add a bit of acid (vinegar or lemon juice) to further draw minerals from the bones into the stock as it simmers. Skim any rising foam from the top of the stock with a fine mesh strainer as it cooks.  Allow the broth to cook on a low setting for several hours, a minimum of three hours for fish, six hours for chicken and a minimum of eight for beef.  Think in terms of the longer, the better, relative to the size of the animal from which the bones are sourced.

Remove from heat and allow the broth to cool on your counter. Once cool, again skim off any excess fat.  The cooked broth will likely be more gelatinous than liquid until it is warmed again.  Fully chill in the refrigerator overnight and then divide into smaller containers if you would like to then freeze. 

To use, simply remove from freezer and put in refrigerator to defrost. Then place over low heat in saucepan until warmed through. 

NutritionSarah JohnsonEastern Medicine, Wellness, AcupunctureComment