1. Laying Stress on the Whole and Selecting Medicated Diet on the Basis of Differential Diagnosis

By " Laying Stress on the Whole and Selecting Medicated Diet on the Basis of Differential Diagnosis ", we mean that when prescribing medicated diet, we should first make an overall analysis of the patient's physical and health condition, the nature of his illness, the season he got ill in and the geographical condition, etc, to form a judgment on the type of syndrome£» then decide on corresponding principles for dietetic therapy and select suitable medicated diet. Take a patient with chronic gastritis, as an example. He should take Galangal and Cyperus Gruel (Liangfu Zhou) if he suffers from chronic gastritis of stomach-cold type, but he can take Drink of Fragrant Solomonseal Rhizome, Dendrobium, Black Plam and hawthron Fruit (Yu Shi Mei Zha Yin) if he suffers from chronic gastritis due to deficiency of the stomach-yin.

2.Suitable for both Prevention and Treatment, and Outstanding in Effect

Medicated diet can be used either to treat diseases or for healthy people to build up their health and prevent diseases. This is one of the characteristics in which medicated diet is different from treatment by medicine. Although medicated diet is something mild, it has a notable effect on the prevention and cure of diseases, health building -up and health preserving.