Winter supplementation is one of China's traditional methods of self-care for preventing illness, strengthening the body, and supporting the weak.
Winter is a cold season. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that winter supplementation is closely related to balancing yin and yang, unblocking the meridians, and harmonizing qi and blood. Due to the decline of bodily functions and low resistance, the elderly are more suitable for dietary supplementation during the cold season. This is more effective in improving nutritional status, enhancing the body's immune function, and promoting recovery from illness, showing effects that cannot be replaced by medicine.
Winter supplementation should follow the natural course, focus on nourishing yang, and be primarily restorative. According to the TCM principle of "deficiency is supplemented, and cold is warmed," the diet should include more warm and hot foods, especially those that warm the kidney's yang, to improve the body's cold resistance. For "dietary supplementation" in winter, one should consume foods rich in protein, vitamins, and that are easy to digest. Recommended foods include: grains and legumes like japonica rice, indica rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, and peas; vegetables like chives, coriander, garlic, radish, and daylilies; meats like lamb, dog meat, beef, chicken, and eel, carp, silver carp, hairtail, and shrimp; and fruits like oranges, coconuts, pineapples, lychees, and longans.
Dog meat and lamb are excellent supplements for the elderly in winter. The elderly can drink a small cup of ginseng wine or astragalus wine every morning to prevent wind, resist cold, and invigorate blood. For the elderly with a weak constitution, regularly consuming stewed hen, lean meat, and tendon, and often drinking milk and soy milk can strengthen the body. Cut an appropriate amount of beef into small pieces, add yellow wine, scallions, and ginger, and stew in a clay pot until tender. Eating the meat and drinking the soup has the effects of replenishing qi, quenching thirst, strengthening muscles and bones, and nourishing the spleen and stomach. For the elderly with insufficient yang, lamb can be cooked with radish, then the radish is removed (to eliminate the gamey smell of the lamb), and 15 grams of Cistanche, 15 grams of Morinda officinalis, and 15 grams of goji berries are added and cooked together. Eating the lamb and drinking the soup has the effect of invigorating yang and warming the body.
Modern medicine believes that winter supplementation can improve the body's immune function, promote metabolism, and alleviate the feeling of cold. Winter supplementation can also regulate the body's metabolism, allowing nutrients to be converted into energy and stored to the maximum extent in the body, which helps the rise of yang in the body and lays a foundation for good health in the coming year. As the saying goes, "Supplementing during the coldest days of winter ensures no illness or pain for the whole year," which is the principle behind this.