How to choose nourishing foods
The rational selection of health foods plays a crucial role in preventing and treating common and frequently occurring diseases in the elderly, enhancing physical fitness, and prolonging life. However, improper consumption can lead to counterproductive results and adversely affect the body. Therefore, the elderly should adhere to the following principles when consuming nourishing foods.
(1) Adapt to individual characteristics. Due to differences in gender, age, physiological condition, body shape, and personal lifestyle, dietary requirements vary. Therefore, health foods cannot be chosen uniformly. The same food may have significant effects on some people but the opposite effect on others. For example, milk is an ideal nutritional food for most people, but a small number of people lack the lactase enzyme, leading to discomfort and diarrhea after consumption. Similarly, eating the same amount of longan pulp may help some people sleep soundly, while for others, it may cause "heatiness" and insomnia.
(2) Select foods based on the nature and manifestation of the disease. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, dietary therapy should follow the principles of "warming the cold," "cooling the heat," "tonifying the deficient," and "purging the excess." For diseases, depending on their severity and urgency, the principle of "treating the acute symptoms first and the root cause later" should be followed. The "symptoms" are the clinical manifestations and signs of the disease, while the "root cause" is the mechanism and pathogenesis of the disease. Generally, chronic diseases are treated by addressing the root cause, while acute diseases are often treated by first addressing the symptoms, followed by the root cause, or by treating both simultaneously.
(3) Pay attention to the nature and flavor of foods. The "nature" of food refers to its four properties: cold, hot, warm, and cool. The "flavor" of food refers to its five tastes: sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty. Generally, cold-natured foods have the effects of clearing heat, reducing fire, detoxifying, and reducing inflammation, making them suitable for consumption during the spring and summer seasons or by people with heat-related diseases. Examples of such foods include grains, mung beans, red beans, pears, bananas, and persimmons. In contrast, hot-natured foods have the effects of warming the middle, tonifying deficiency, and dispelling cold, making them suitable for consumption during the autumn and winter seasons or by people with deficiency-cold diseases. Examples of such foods include glutinous rice, meat, crucian carp, and ricefield eels.
(4) Flexibly choose foods according to the season and location. The constant changes in climate throughout the year—spring warmth, summer heat, autumn coolness, and winter cold—have a certain impact on the body's physiological functions. TCM believes that diet following the changes of the seasons can nourish the body's yin, yang, qi, and blood, ensuring that "vital energy resides within, and pathogens cannot invade." Generally, in spring, when the climate is warm and all things are full of life, a light diet is recommended, with more vegetable congee, such as shepherd's purse congee. In summer, the climate is hot and rainy with heavy dampness, so it is advisable to eat sweet and cooling foods, such as mung bean soup, lotus leaf congee, mint soup, watermelon, and winter melon. In autumn, as the climate turns cool and dry, it is suitable to eat foods that generate body fluids, such as lotus root congee. In winter, the weather is cold, so foods should be warm and nourishing; one can eat eight-treasure rice, hot pot lamb, longan and jujube congee, etc., to warm and tonify the body's vital energy.