Typically they eat foods that slow digestion and the ability to burn fat. Symptoms of spleen qi deficiency include difficulty losing weight, fatigue and carbohydrate or sugar cravings. Changing one's eating patterns to strengthen digestion allows excess calories and body fat to be more readily burned. The following popular dieting strategies are actually counterproductive to weight loss. These weight loss strategies can weaken spleen qi, or digestion, and slow metabolism.
Chinese doctors say that excess raw vegetables and fruits weaken digestion and spleen qi.
Too many raw foods are cooling and slow digestion. Cooling in this sense has little to do with the actual temperature of the food and more to do with the action of the food on the digestive system and metabolism. This cooling property can lead to indigestion, including gas and abdominal bloating as well as fatigue, cravings and weight gain. We need a balance of warming and cooling properties in the foods we eat. Lightly cooking vegetables, including stir frying, steaming or grilling vegetables reduces their cooling effect and makes them more easily digested.