Liu the Imperial Physician said: All medicines have three. All medicines have three.

Author: Liu Hongzhang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-01
Features: The court physicians of feudal China, especially those after the Ming Dynasty, were a special class in the medical community. They adopted methods such as dietary regulation, food therapy, and cautious medication to ensure the health of the nobility while avoiding penalties like dismissal, beating, exile, execution, or even the annihilation of three generations for inadequate prevention. Although many Chinese emperors died young despite the advice of court physicians, many nobles lived long and healthy lives, particularly many concubines who even reached a hundred years old. Additionally, many eunuchs, maids, and guards died without illness, which has sparked great interest among modern people.
The Liu family is a descendant of the Jin Dynasty medical scholar Liu Wanxun and also a lineage of the Ming Dynasty court physician Liu Chun. It is one of the few historically long-standing traditional Chinese medicine families in China. Liu Chun's theory of health preservation and the "three parts treatment, seven parts nourishment" principle has become a common saying among Chinese people worldwide and remains a cornerstone of traditional Chinese medicine in preventing diseases and treating chronic conditions. The Liu family has been practicing the "three parts treatment, seven parts nourishment" method since 1457 to treat various illnesses and has gained fame for its expertise in cancer treatment, making it China's only specialized family in tumor medicine.
Many chronic diseases are self-inflicted, so we must use "seven parts nourishment" to overcome lifestyle missteps. However, we cannot rely solely on dietary therapy, physical therapy, and psychological therapy to combat severe illnesses, which is why medication must be added. But since drugs lack selectivity, using any medication may lead to drug-induced diseases. Therefore, we must learn how to choose medications to prevent poisoning. "All medicines are toxic to some extent" because drugs are not as essential for survival as air, water, or food—they are merely tools to combat diseases.
In this book, we will expose the so-called "treasure trove of Chinese medicine" as nothing more than a (general store). According to the categorization of court physicians, Chinese medicine is divided into six types: acute toxins, chronic toxins, non-medicinal herbs, debilitating herbs, similar herbs, and usable herbs. As a result, very few herbs are actually suitable for patient use. Therefore, everyone must remember the principle "that which harms the stomach qi is called poison" to prevent drug poisoning, rather than waiting for liver and kidney damage to occur and then crying out about drug toxicity.
Based on the principle that "all medicines are toxic to some extent," we have repeatedly emphasized the concept of "three parts treatment, seven parts nourishment" through dietary regulation, food therapy, and cautious medication. Perhaps you will agree with this approach to preventing and treating diseases. If you stop using medications indiscriminately in the future, your health and longevity will no longer be an issue.