When it's cold, you must nourish! Nourish! Nourish! However, why is it necessary to supplement during winter? According to the "Neijing" (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor): "If one fails to nourish in autumn, one cannot store in winter, and will inevitably suffer from many illnesses in spring," highlighting the greater importance of winter health preservation. Winter supplementation is a method in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for regulating individuals with weak constitutions. It is also an excellent time to warm the body to cope with the cold and to store physical energy for the following year, a practice that has endured for thousands of years. Especially for supplementation, men and women are very different. Besides relying on individual constitutions, it is recommended to follow the principle of "women should take warm-tonifying supplements, while men should take gentle-tonifying supplements."
Winter Dietary Health Preservation: Master the 3 "No" Principles
In particular, winter supplementation allows the body to convert nutrients into energy and store it to the maximum extent, nourishing the five organs and six viscera, as well as the limbs and bones. The TCM theory of "if one fails to store essence in winter, one will suffer from warm diseases in spring" also explains that winter supplementation is a good time to regulate the body, warm up to cope with the cold, and store physical energy for the following year. Therefore, winter supplementation is a traditional health preservation method used for thousands of years to prevent diseases and strengthen the body.
Basically, winter supplementation should follow the "3 No" principles: "Don't supplement if you are not ill, don't over-supplement if you are ill, and don't use one part of the body to supplement another." It is recommended that individuals with a yin-deficient constitution, who experience symptoms such as tidal fever, red lips and a dry mouth, dry stools, and short yellow urine, can eat more yin-nourishing foods, such as sesame seeds, glutinous rice, dairy products, vegetables and fruits, and fish. For those with a yang-deficient constitution, who have symptoms like fatigue and weakness, shortness of breath and reluctance to speak, aversion to cold with cold limbs, spontaneous sweating, and a pale complexion, they can eat more yang-warming foods, such as chives.
Supplement Based on Body Heat and Constitution: Big Differences Between Men and Women
Generally, the principle of "women should take warm-tonifying supplements, while men should take gentle-tonifying supplements" is followed for winter supplementation. This is mainly because the cold winter requires more heat to maintain physiological activities, so appropriately supplementing heat can enhance the body's ability to resist diseases.
However, Chen Chaozong, a TCM physician, emphasizes that because everyone's constitution is different, not all women have a cold constitution and not all men have a hot constitution. In fact, in TCM, constitutions can be further subdivided into many different types. Before supplementing, it is best to first consult with a qualified TCM physician to understand your personal constitution, and then choose a dietary supplementation method that suits you, so as not to use the wrong method due to a misjudgment of your own condition.
3 Major TCM Supplementation Methods: Gentle Supplementation is Suitable for Most People
1. Gentle Supplementation: Suitable for most people, such as Si Shen Tang (Four-Ingredient Soup), lotus seeds, Chinese yam, and Poria.
2. Cool Supplementation: Suitable for those with a constitution偏向于热 (偏向于热), with deficiency fire, or who are prone to getting angry. It is also commonly used for children and adolescents, with medicinal materials such as Ophiopogon japonicus, Dendrobium, Rehmannia root, and American ginseng.
3. Warm Supplementation: Suitable for those with a cold constitution, weak qi and blood, poor physical strength, or malnutrition. Examples include sesame oil chicken, chicken wine, ginger duck mutton hot pot, Angelica sinensis soup, Ba Zhen Tang (Eight Treasure Soup), Shi Quan Da Bu Tang (Ten Great Tonifying Decoction), cassia bark, star anise, Astragalus root, and Angelica sinensis.