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far from ideal: “I estimate I spent, you know, tensof thousands — maybe $100,000 — on differentkinds of diet products, diet services," says WendyShanker. "And I was still fat." The main problemlies in the fact that diet industry makes peoplebelieve the weight loss is easy and they don’thave to change their lifestyles in order to regainfitness.“The Taoist diet relates the five basic flavorswith an element of nature: sweet (earth), salty(water), sour (wood), bitter (fire), spicy (metal).They believe that becoming greedy and puttingone flavor on a pedestal above another causesyou not to taste at all, so it is important to balancethe flavors in order to reach internal harmony.”Daoist diet offers its own philosophy to everyonewho is open to use it in their daily life. It does notrequire expensive food ingredients or a radicallifestyle change in order to become healthier. Themain focus lies on consuming home grown, seasonalingredients: “Each individual generally becomesadapted to the climate; foods that areeaten in a hot country may not be suitable for acolder climate. It is advisable to eat food that isgrown locally and in season. Food that comesfrom a distance may not be fresh or may havebeen stored, but above all it is probably out ofseason.” It is also essential to enjoy food slowly sothat each different taste can be fully appreciated.The art of mindful eating includes the knowledgeof when to stop. Yangsheng practitioners suggestthat stopping before being full is the best way incontrolling one’s portion size and preventingovereating. It comes as no surprise that Daoistdiet has already sparked some interest aroundthe world.from around the world.” Unfortunately, nowadaysmany countries produce and consume largeamounts of the same type of food which can bethe cause of health related issues. These patternscan be changed with sufficient knowledge thatcan be readily provided by Daoist Yangsheng foodphilosophy.“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercisewill sooner or later have to find time for illness.”Regular exercise is one of the modern selfcare’scorner stones. Exercise has the ability tostrengthen the body and immune system, improvewellness and physical fitness. It has alsoproved to help with mental disorders, such as depression.Daoist Yangsheng exercise includesTaiji, Qigong, Daoyin, Daoist breath regulation,Five Animal Frolics and others. Daoist exercisesfocuses not only on the body itself, but also themind and spirit. Kevin W. Chen in his essay onYangsheng points out: “These exercises focus onthe integration of body-mind-spirit, cultivate onenessor emptiness through regulating breathing,body and mind, and intend to eventually achievea state of harmony and peace within, or reach ahigh level of spirituality.” These exercises areused to relieve tension, stress and anxiety in thebody and mind. There has been much researchdone on the subject and the outcomes demonstratethe potential benefit Yangsheng exercisecould bring to the modern self-care movement.One such research was conducted in the UnitedPeople were born to eat different types andvarieties of food. Daoists agree that having smallamounts of different food is essential in the questfor long and healthy life. Niraj Naik in his essay‘Twelve longest living cultures in the world’points out that: “Long living cultures tend to eat awide range of foods everyday. Japan recommendseating 30 different varieties of food daily. Macauand Singapore have some of the world’s largestports providing a richly diverse range of cuisine28 Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) Volume 3, Issue No. 3