As the Start of Winter has passed, especially in northern regions where heating has begun, the dry indoor air often leaves skin feeling rough and lips chapped and peeling. Some people try to drink large amounts of water, but dryness injures the body's fluids, so whatever water is consumed is quickly expelled, making this method ineffective. In fact, we can replenish "water" through our diet to keep the body hydrated.
Eat more fruits and vegetables
Professor Yang Li from Xiyuan Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences explains that during autumn and winter, dryness injures the body's fluids, causing much of the water you drink to be excreted through urine. At this time, dryness can also lead to internal "heat." It's a good idea to eat more fruits and vegetables, as they can help retain moisture and nourish the yin to moisten dryness.
Looking at a food composition chart, it's easy to see that vegetables and fruits generally contain over 70% water. Even if you only eat 500 grams of fruits and vegetables in a day, you can still get 300-400 milliliters of water from them. Furthermore, daily meals should include a balance of dry and wet foods, making it not difficult to get 1500-2000 milliliters of water from your three meals.
Therefore, you should make full use of your mealtimes to rehydrate. Besides drinking water, choosing fruits, vegetables, and unsalty soups or congee can be very effective for hydration.
"Pale-colored foods" can prevent dryness
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the primary method to relieve dryness and heat is by using moistening foods. According to the Five Elements and Five Colors theory, it's beneficial to eat more "pale-colored foods." When cooking, you can choose white radish, cabbage, winter melon, lily bulb, tremella, lotus root, and lotus seeds. Among these, the common vegetables cabbage and radish are the most effective, making them the most economical and affordable nourishing foods. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" even calls radish "the most beneficial among vegetables." White radish contains a variety of vitamins and minerals, with its vitamin C content being 8-10 times higher than that of pears and apples. Cabbage is rich in vitamins C and E, which can prevent skin dryness caused by dryness and heat, and its fiber can also promote intestinal peristalsis and prevent constipation. However, people with a "cold" digestive system should eat less of these in winter. When eating fruits, the pear is the "king of hydration." It not only increases water intake but also helps supplement vitamins.
In terms of cooking methods, you can prepare more juicy liquid foods, such as snow pear congee. Boiling snow pear, tremella, and lily bulb together with some lotus root powder has the effects of clearing heat, generating fluids, resolving phlegm, and moistening the lungs. A lily bulb, lotus seed, millet, and red jujube congee can nourish yin, moisten dryness, nourish the lungs, support the heart, strengthen the spleen, and generate fluids, making it suitable for consumption during the dry autumn season. Additionally, you can make soups like winter melon soup, lotus root soup, white radish and peanut soup, or cabbage soup. Yang Li also reminds everyone that it's best to drink a glass of honey water upon waking in winter, or add some honey to your soy milk or breakfast milk, which can effectively alleviate symptoms of skin dehydration and oil deficiency, as well as internal heat and dryness.
Eat more sour foods, less salt
When hydrating in winter, you should also pay attention to two things. First, reduce pungent and increase sour foods. The diet should focus on strengthening the spleen, nourishing the liver, and clearing the lungs. Eat more clear, moist, sweet, and sour fruits like hawthorn, grapefruit, pomegranate, and apples. The tannins, organic acids, fiber, and minerals they contain can stimulate digestive secretions, accelerate gastrointestinal motility, and thus moisten yin and dryness. Second, eat less salt. If your food is too salty, it will reduce saliva secretion, which is beneficial for various bacteria to survive in the upper respiratory tract. A high-salt diet can also reduce the mucous membranes' ability to resist disease, allowing various pathogens to take advantage and cause pharyngitis. Furthermore, you should eat less roasted and salted snacks like melon seeds and peanuts, as these salty and dry foods are also major enemies of the throat.