It is often said, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a commoner, and dinner like a pauper." Professor Gao Qingshun, a renowned senior TCM physician and Chief Physician at the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, adds that to eat breakfast like a king, it's not just about eating well, being full, and having sufficient nutrition; there is one more thing: breakfast must be hot.
The reason for eating hot food for breakfast is that in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the stomach's function is described as "receiving and ripening grains and water." This means that besides accepting food, the stomach must also grind it down and perform preliminary digestion. To "ripen" the food, sufficient temperature is essential. Therefore, TCM teaches that "the stomach prefers warmth and dislikes cold." Furthermore, from the perspective of meridians, the Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian is a Yang meridian associated with the stomach. Thus, consuming warm food for breakfast is highly beneficial for boosting stomach Qi and supplementing Yang energy. It not only nourishes the stomach but also aids in digestion.
Professor Gao Qingshun explains that at high noon, the Yang energy of nature is at its peak, and so is the human body's Yang energy. Therefore, it is acceptable to eat some cold foods like ice cream and chilled drinks at midday. Dinner, on the other hand, is usually lighter, so the demand for stomach Yang is relatively less.