Week 5--The Chemistry of Color and Nutrition

Inert Gas of the Week: Argon

Argon has an atomic number of 18 and is one of the noble gases. It's the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, about 24x more common than the next most common atmospheric gas, CO2, and 500x more common than the next common noble gas, Neon.

As an inert gas, it is very stable and resistant to bonding with other elements.  It was the first noble gas molecule detected in outer space.

Argon is produced industrially by the fractional distillation of liquid air and is mostly used as an inert shielding gas in welding. Other industrial uses include argon in incandescent and fluorescent lighting, as a preservative in aerosol cans, as a fire extinguisher as well as its use in medicine for cryosurgery. In the poultry industry, it's used to asphyxiate birds as a means of slaughter and for mass culling after disease outbreaks. (that one surprised me!) As it is cheap to produce and abundant, about 700,000 tons of Argon are produced each year.

Colors of Food in my kitchen

The most abundant is green: kale, arugula, broccoli. Yellow/orange would include eggs, squash, sweet potato and spices like turmeric. Some bananas and persimmon, maca powder. Brown/red would be quinoa, sesame and garlic mochi, brown rice, various spices like coriander, cumin, cinnamon, himalayan sea salt, also beets, a pear, miso, and last but not least, chocolate and red wine.  Blue/purple is more abundant for me in the summer with blueberries, but sometimes my kale has the dark purple leaves. Nori and dulse in there, too. Butter, coconut milk, sauerkraut, kimchi and salsa round things out. I would say I have a variety of colors, I'm just missing bone broth and slow cooked meals with meat in the crock pot as I currently live in a vegetarian home.

Discussion thoughts

I totally relate with Medicine as Food and believe the need for most of modern medicine would vanish if we all had whole food based diets with better environmental conditions for living and growing food. I consistently educate my clients about the connection between diet and health and help them become healthier within the boundaries of their current lifestyles. Nutrition is one of the major pillars in Chinese medicine and eating for health and with the seasons is fundamental for great health and longevity.

As for TCM and Living Color, I find it interesting to notice what colors people wear, which helps me assess their moods, and overtime, their personality types with color to help keep them in balance.  I also associate Feng Shui with color and appreciate arranging living and work environments to enhance more Qi flow, ease, beauty and productivity.