Winter health preservation must emphasize diet therapy. As the saying goes, "all medicine has some toxicity," making food supplementation a better alternative to medicinal supplements. Dietary therapy is not only healthy and beneficial for wellness but also the best substitute for drug treatment! The editor will teach everyone about dietary therapy for winter health preservation—eat more salty foods, and hopefully, everyone can stay away from minor illnesses during the winter!
Begin with gentle tonification to allow the digestive system time to adapt. It's best to start with a gentle approach. You can first try beef simmered with Gordon Euryale seeds, or a stew of Gordon Euryale seeds, red dates, peanuts, and brown sugar. Alternatively, you can drink some ginger, red date, and beef soup to regulate the spleen and stomach functions. When tonifying, avoid raw, cold, and greasy foods to prevent hindering the spleen and stomach's digestive functions and affecting the absorption of the supplements. Tonification should be tailored to the individual and their location. Although it is winter, the climate in Northwest China is vastly different from that in the Southeast coastal areas. In the cold winter of the Northwest, it is advisable to consume large, warming, and heating foods such as beef, mutton, and dog meat.
In the regions south of the Yangtze River, although winter has arrived, the temperature is much milder than in the Northwest. Therefore, tonification should focus on light, clear, and sweet-warm foods such as chicken, duck, and fish. In high-altitude and mountainous areas with less rainfall and a drier climate, it is better to opt for sweet, moistening, and fluid-generating foods like fruits, vegetables, rock sugar, and other similar products.
In addition, the approach should also vary from person to person. If one frequently experiences symptoms like fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, abdominal bloating, and loose stools, it indicates a deficiency of the spleen and qi. In this case, one can choose foods that strengthen the spleen and boost qi, such as glutinous rice, red dates, hyacinth beans, Chinese yam, carrots, and chestnuts.
If you feel cold limbs and a fear of cold, you can eat more lamb, dog meat, chicken, red dates, and longans. For the elderly, children, or the sick, it is best to use gentle tonification rather than strong tonification. Foods like deer antler and dog meat should be consumed as little as possible.
For winter health preservation, eat more congee. Winter diets should avoid sticky, hard, raw, and cold foods. It is better to eat more hot congee, such as wheat congee to nourish the heart and alleviate vexation, sesame congee to benefit essence and nourish yin, radish congee to aid digestion and resolve phlegm, walnut congee to nourish yin and secure essence, Poria cocos congee to strengthen the spleen and nourish the stomach, and red date congee to replenish qi and nourish yin.