Each category also has its graduations, and sometimes more expansive foods of one category are on the same level as more ontractive ones of another. For example, although plant foods are more expansive than animal foods generally, some fish can be more expansive than cooked grains. Read the chart on this page horizontally as well as vertically. Please note that this listing of foods and drinks is not a static list. Any one food or drink will have various expansive and contractive features. For example, there are upward-growing large leaves with a bitter taste( Swiss chard), or downward-growing large roots with a sweet taste( carrots), and so on. For this reason you may at one time experience a foodstuff as more expansive, at another time as more contractive. But on the whole the list should provide you with solid guidelines and is generally applicable. *