During the three months of winter, the temperature drops, it's cold and frozen, all things are bundled up, vitality declines, and it is a great season for nourishment. There has been a long-standing custom in Chinese folk culture to supplement during the winter. Moreover, people increasingly recognize that "medicine supplementation is not as good as food supplementation," paying attention to health preservation through daily diet to achieve the purpose of "supplementation." The admiration for winter supplementation also has scientific basis. One, there are more warm-natured tonics and supplements suitable for the low-temperature winter; two, greasy and thick-flavored nutritious foods are easier to digest and absorb in winter; three, nutritious foods are easy to preserve, which is conducive to continuous use without spoilage; four, objectively, the human body needs to adapt to the cold climate environment of winter, requiring increased nutrition and heat, and it is also necessary for people to resist aging and prolong life.
In addition, the severe cold weather in winter increases metabolism. Therefore, in winter dietary adjustments, more high-calorie thick-flavored foods can be added, such as braised meat, stewed fish, hot pot, etc.
(1) Characteristics of Winter Climate and Human Metabolism
As everyone knows, the climatic characteristics of winter are "cold." Cold is considered a yin evil, with external yin dominance. Influenced by the outside world, the yin in the human body relatively increases, harming the yang qi of the human body, making this time beneficial for the absorption of yin. Generally, there are the following symptoms: (1) Due to cold stimulation, peripheral small blood vessels such as the skin contract, increasing blood circulation resistance, causing poor flow of qi and blood in the human body; (2) Due to cold stimulation, the pores and skin contract without sweating, the blood vessels contract with less heat dissipation, causing muscles to contract and stretch slowly, commonly seen as pale skin, cold surface and limbs; (3) Due to the cold weather, outdoor activities decrease, and human metabolism is at its highest of the year. At this time, the human body consumes high energy, and nutrients are most easily absorbed and stored. According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, winter belongs to the kidney in the five elements, with the body characterized by internal storage of kidney essence. Therefore, in accordance with these features, focusing on nourishing yin and replenishing kidney essence can yield twice the result with half the effort.
(2) Principles of Health Preservation in Winter Foods
1. Replenish kidney essence, preferably warm-supplementing. Traditionally, it is believed that the cold weather in winter can easily harm kidney yang, so it is advisable to eat warm-natured foods to treat the cold with the heat of food. The kidney is the root of the human body, the source of life activities, nurturing the yin qi of the five zang organs and generating the yang qi of the five zang organs. Therefore, the primary principle of winter health preservation and diet should be to replenish kidney yang, cultivate the root and consolidate the origin, strengthen the body. Winter dietary intake should be warm-natured, avoiding cold and cool foods. Commonly consumed are deer meat, dog meat, mutton, sparrows, leeks, shrimp, chestnuts, walnuts, etc., for warming and replenishing kidney yang, and sea cucumbers, turtle meat, sesame seeds, black beans, etc., for filling essence and replenishing marrow. From the perspective of modern nutrition, winter tonic foods contain higher calories, are rich in nutrients, and have strong nourishing effects, with extremely rich protein, fat, sugar, minerals, etc. Generally, protein content is greater than 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight, fat content is greater than 1 gram per kilogram of body weight, and sugar content is greater than 6 grams per kilogram of body weight.
2. Continuous supplementation should be appropriate and moderate. Targeting one's own physical constitution type for dialectical application, one can appropriately supplement in winter to enhance physical strength and promote health. People with normal constitutions should pay more attention to choosing anti-aging and strengthening dietary plans, adhering to winter health preservation and supplementation, providing sufficient nutrition while protecting the body's yang qi. However, it is important to note that excessive consumption of greasy and thick-flavored nourishing items may harm the spleen and stomach, resulting in poor effectiveness and damaging health.
3. Warm supplementation requires attention. It is only applicable to people with a yang-deficient or cold-damp pathological constitution, not suitable for those with yin deficiency and fire exuberance or real heat symptoms, such as high fever, extreme thirst, constipation, and five-center irritability. If suffering from acute diseases, supplementation should be paused until the condition stabilizes and can be continued after differentiation.
4. Moistening to prevent dryness. Although winter is refreshing, it is too dry, inevitably leading to dry lips and tongue. The dry winter especially tends to cause coughing, and most of these coughs are due to dryness-induced coughing. The treatment method focuses on moistening, and people should "moisten" to prevent dryness. For example, eating some boiled old sugar water (using frozen water with tangerine peel and rock sugar boiled for about 2 hours), red carrot and water chestnut soup, Sichuanč“steamed apple, etc.
5. Emphasizing food supplementation and clever use of tonics. To strengthen the body, many people often take tonics in winter. Ginseng, deer antler, Ejiao, Astragalus, etc., certainly have various benefits for the human body, but if taken improperly, they often bring some side effects. Appropriate food supplementation is both economical and free from worries of side effects. Therefore, winter health preservation and supplementation should first follow the principle that "medicine supplementation is not as good as food supplementation."