The development of modern agriculture and transportation allows people to buy fruits of all seasons at will. However, from a health preservation perspective, people with different constitutions should choose their fruits according to the season.
After entering winter, many people often experience dry skin, dizziness, drowsiness, and reduced reaction ability. At this time, eating fruits that promote fluid production, quench thirst, and moisten the throat can make people feel refreshed and comfortable. So, what fruits are good to eat in winter? Fruits with health-preserving and medicinal properties in winter are pears and sugar cane.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that pears contain malic acid, citric acid, glucose, fructose, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and various vitamins. Pears have functions such as moistening the throat, promoting fluid production, moistening the lungs to relieve coughs, and nourishing the stomach and intestines. They are most suitable for patients with fever and internal heat during winter and spring. They are particularly effective in relieving lung heat cough, pediatric wind-heat, dry throat and sore throat, and constipation. Modern medical research suggests that pears can also lower blood pressure and have a heat-clearing and sedative effect. For patients with high blood pressure who experience dizziness, blurred vision, palpitations, and tinnitus, eating pears regularly can alleviate symptoms. Pears are rich in sugar and vitamins and have liver-protecting and digestion-aiding effects. However, because pears are cold-natured, people with a weak spleen and stomach, poor digestion, or postpartum blood deficiency should not eat them in large quantities.
Sugar cane has the effect of nourishing and clearing heat and is rich in nutrients. As a cooling tonic, it has a certain therapeutic effect on treating low blood sugar, dry stools, difficult urination, nausea and vomiting, deficiency-heat cough, and high fever with thirst. However, due to its cold nature, people with a weak spleen and stomach or stomach and abdominal pain should not eat it.
Fruits suitable for winter also include apples, oranges, bananas, and hawthorn. Apples can promote fluid production, quench thirst, harmonize the spleen, and stop diarrhea; oranges can regulate qi, stimulate the appetite, aid digestion, and resolve phlegm; bananas clear heat, moisten the intestines, lower blood pressure, and prevent hemorrhoids; hawthorn can dilate blood vessels, lower blood lipids, strengthen and regulate the heart muscle, and prevent coronary artery sclerosis.
There are also a few other points to note when eating fruit in winter: People with excess stomach acid should not eat fruits rich in organic acids such as plums, hawthorn, and lemons. People with dry stools can eat more peaches, bananas, and oranges, as these fruits have a relieving effect. Persimmons contain a large amount of persimmon gum, and eating too many can worsen constipation. People with heart disease and edema should not eat fruits with high water content, such as watermelon and coconut, to avoid increasing the burden on the heart and worsening edema. People with diabetes should not only eat less sugar but also eat less fruits high in sugar, such as pears, apples, and bananas. Patients with nephritis and hypertension should not eat too many bananas, as they are cold and slippery in nature but high in potassium.
In addition, due to the aging of internal organs in the elderly, various physiological functions weaken, such as poor digestion, reduced intestinal motility, atrophy of the gastric mucosa, and excess stomach acid, and they often suffer from various diseases. Therefore, they should not eat a large amount of fruit at once and can adopt a method of "eating small meals frequently."