“In my own practice, diet and nutrition can be at the very center of what I’m doing with someone, but not necessarily with everyone.
“If someone comes with an acute injury and is otherwise in perfect health, I would interview them about their diet and their nutrition, but it wouldn’t necessarily require an intervention or an alteration of those habits.
“Many people in this culture that we live in are not eating the right foods for them, and the fact that they’re not eating the right foods for them is causing them discomfort, pain and suffering. We can’t proceed until we begin to deconstruct what they’re doing, experiment with other ways to eat, and see what effect that has. “
All of medicine is detective work. When I’m working with someone I’m entering into a partnership to do that detective work with them in the context of their life and their body.”
Harriet Beinfield is a founder and co-director (with Efrem Korngold) of Chinese Medicine Works, a clinic in San Francisco, California that offers acupuncture, herbal medicine, and nutritional counseling and also serves as a full service traditional Chinese pharmacy. Together Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold have pioneered the practice of Chinese medicine in America for more than 30 years as authors, educators, and practitioners. They are the co-authors of the best-selling book, Between Heaven and Earth (Ballantine 1991).
