In the cold winter, in addition to strengthening physical exercise and wearing more clothes, consuming more warming foods in daily life can enhance the body's ability to resist cold. Common warming foods in daily life include:
Meat: Dog meat, lamb, beef, and venison have relatively good warming effects. They are high in protein, carbohydrates, and fat, and are beneficial for strengthening the kidneys, warming the yang, warming the middle and lower parts of the body, and supplementing qi and promoting blood circulation. Eating these meats can speed up the metabolism of individuals with yang deficiency, enhance endocrine function, and thus achieve a warming effect.
Root and tuber vegetables: Medical researchers have found that a person's sensitivity to cold is related to a lack of inorganic salts in the body. Lotus root, carrots, lilies, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, and Chinese cabbage are rich in inorganic salts. These foods can be mixed with other foods.
Spicy foods: Chili contains capsaicin, ginger contains aromatic volatile oils, and pepper contains piperine. Eating these spicy foods can dispel wind and cold, promote blood circulation, and increase body temperature.
Iodine-rich foods: Iodine-rich foods such as kelp, seaweed, sea salt, fat choy, jellyfish, clams, Chinese cabbage, spinach, and corn can promote the secretion of thyroid hormones in the human body. Thyroid hormones have a thermogenic effect; they can accelerate the oxidation process of most tissue cells in the body (except the brain, glands, and uterus), increase heat production, raise the basal metabolic rate, and enhance skin blood circulation to resist cold.
Iron-rich foods: Researchers from Pennsylvania State University found that an iron deficiency in the blood also makes people more sensitive to cold. Women with anemia have a body temperature 0.7°C lower than women with normal hemoglobin levels and produce 13% less heat. After increasing their iron intake, their cold tolerance significantly improved. Therefore, women who are sensitive to cold can consciously increase their intake of iron-rich foods, such as animal liver, lean meat, spinach, and egg yolks.