The ancients believed that during these three months of winter, a person's energy and vital energy should be "closed and stored firmly," a season where life force is dormant. Water freezes and the earth becomes extremely hard, and people should not disturb the conservation of vital energy. They should go to bed early and rise late to adapt to the characteristics of winter.
One should also pay attention to the storage and contraction of the body's vital energy, for example, by not letting the body sweat excessively and by keeping warm. If this principle is violated, the kidneys may be damaged, and in spring, a person may suffer from flaccidity and coldness (symptoms such as cold and weak limbs). The following year, it becomes difficult to maintain the body's health.
A health proverb says, "Nourish in winter, and be as strong as a tiger in spring." Winter is the season of the year most suited for nourishment. During this period, adding more "fuel" to the body has a multiplier effect.
Because in winter all things are dormant, the body's yin essence and vital energy also tend to be stored. At this time, supplementing yin essence and vital energy is easily absorbed and stored in the body, thereby enhancing the constitution and playing a role in strengthening the body's foundation.
However, nourishment does not necessarily mean taking supplements. For most people in winter, it is better to use daily diet to achieve the effect of nourishing the body, such as grains, fruits, vegetables, and livestock. The slow nourishment from three meals a day is more effective.
Less spicy, more sour
The focus of autumn is "less spicy, more sour," and this focus remains in winter.
Winter is a season of contraction, so it is best to eat less of all foods that promote growth, especially spicy ones like chili, pepper, and Sichuan pepper, which can easily cause dry and dehydrated skin. However, eating sour foods in moderation during winter is very beneficial. Because winter is a high-incidence period for cardiovascular diseases, sour foods can soften blood vessels and prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, sour foods can also beautify the skin. Women who love beauty should eat more of them. Sour foods contain a large amount of vitamin C, such as apples or oranges, and can also help the body improve immunity and resistance.
Fatty and rich foods
In winter, the body's digestive function is more active than in spring, summer, and autumn. Gastric juice secretion increases, acidity enhances, and appetite grows. This reflects the body's increased need for thermal energy in winter. When the body is in a cold environment, to maintain body temperature balance, it must increase the body's metabolic rate, that is, increase the need for food, especially the intake of fatty foods. The fat in food has a good anti-cold and frost-resistant effect, but it should not be excessive to prevent high blood pressure and high blood lipids. The elderly should not eat too many rich and heavy foods, but they can increase the proportion of high-quality protein, such as eggs, tofu, or various seafood. These are not only easy to digest but also rich in essential amino acids, have high nutritional value, and can also enhance resistance.
After the Lesser Snow, it is more suitable to eat foods with high heat energy, such as beef, chicken, turtle meat, mutton, and shrimp; vegetables include soybeans, broad beans, carrots, onions, garlic, chives, shepherd's purse, rape, and coriander;
Fruits include chestnuts, preserved apricots, oranges, and pomelos. Brown sugar, glutinous rice, sheep's milk, and pine nuts are also good winter foods.
Avoid dry and hot foods
Winter is cold, and people like to eat warm foods to resist the severe cold.
For example, people in northern China love to eat mutton in winter, and people in southern China love to eat soft-shelled turtles, both of which are warming foods. However, not all hot-natured foods are suitable to eat during the Lesser Snow season. Eating too many dry and hot things can easily lead to "internal heat" and even cause heat-related diseases. Therefore, from the Lesser Snow, you can eat more mutton, soft-shelled turtles, sea cucumbers, etc., but do not eat too many dry and hot foods, such as overly fried and roasted foods, foods with too much chili, pepper, and Sichuan pepper, or strong liquor. Too much salt is also bad for the body in winter. The salty flavor enters the kidneys and can make the kidney water colder, disturbing the heart's yang. Therefore, it is best to eat less salt in winter to avoid adding "fuel to the fire" and damaging the body's vital energy, especially for people with high blood pressure.
Appropriate consumption of some cool-natured ingredients
Winter is the season of the year most prone to "internal heat" because people wear thick clothes, live in warm houses, and have less activity, which causes heat to accumulate in the body and cannot be released in a timely manner. On the other hand, it is because eating too many hot-natured foods in winter can easily lead to excessive lung heat.
In fact, for people with good digestive health in winter, you can choose some "cool" foods according to your physical condition. This can help the body "reduce heat" and also improve the body's resistance to cold. Cool-natured foods that can be chosen in winter include: radish, lotus seeds, and century eggs.
Many people like to stew beef. You might as well add some radish to it. Because radish is pungent and sweet in taste, and neutral in nature, it has the effect of promoting qi, resolving stagnation, and reducing phlegm. It can balance the "dryness" of beef. It not only replenishes qi but also aids digestion, making it a good winter ingredient.
Early sleep, late rising
In winter, vital energy is stored, and yin energy is active. Plants wither, insects hibernate, and the activities of all things tend to cease. All living beings conserve their energy. The human body should also not randomly disturb its own vital energy in winter,破坏 the physiological function of yin-yang transformation. Therefore, going to bed early and rising late is very important in winter. Sleeping early can nourish the body's yang energy, and rising late can protect the body's yin energy.
Late rising does not mean staying in bed lazily. It means that the time of sunrise should be used as a scale to decide when to get up. The book "Shou Qin Yang Lao Xin Shu" says: "Only by sleeping early and rising late can one avoid the severity of frost." This also reveals another meaning of sleeping early and rising late, which is to pay attention to keeping the body warm. In winter, the weather is cold. Going to bed early and getting up a little later can help the body protect its "qi" and avoid harm from wind and frost. Winter is a season for storage and recuperation, and effective rest is the focus of this season.