Dietary Tips for a healthy Winter

The organs associated with Winter are the Kidney and Urinary Bladder; it is the season of the Water element. It is a time for peaceful contemplation and a time to spend with close friends and family. Winter is a time for regeneration and renewal; a time for building your base line energy so you are ready to spring into action.

Strong kidneys are associated with longevity; as we grow older taking care of your kidney energy assumes greater importance; they are responsible for our bones, teeth, hearing and memory. Menopausal symptoms and a lack of sexual potency relate to insufficiency of the kidney system in Chinese Medicine.

A healthy kidney system is essential for our reproductive system too; infertility is closely associated with the energy of the kidney system.

To counteract the cold of winter, the focus is on eating warming and slow cooked foods that build your baseline energy. Hearty soups made from slow growing vegetables e.g. carrots, beetroot, potato, pumpkin; stews made from pulses, beans, fish and meat cooked on the bone.

To counteract the cold of winter, add warming spices and herbs to your food e.g. cinnamon, cloves to fruit deserts, rosemary, thyme, ginger, pepper to savoury dishes. Avoid eating salads, raw and cold foods and drinks.

Your body contracts with the cold, restricting the flows of fluids e.g. blood to tissues and bones. When this happens, the tissues and bones in our body are not properly nourished. It can cause pain and aches in our back, muscles and joints. Tendons become more brittle and more prone to injury.

Weakness in your baseline energy shows up as either too much water e.g. incontinence, oedema, bloating or too little water e.g. constipation, dryness e.g. mouth, throat, hair To build your baseline energy in winter eat walnuts, chestnuts, and pinenuts. If you are prone to dryness include salty foods in your diet e.g. seafoods, anchovies, pork, soy sauce, millet, barley, seaweed; salt holds moisture inside the body.

Weakness in your kidney system can also affect your emotions as fear and insecurity. Fear blocks love. Stressed kidneys become waterlogged; to try and rebalance the kidney system, they off load the excess to the heart which is often at the root of heart disease and hypertension.

Dietary tips for a healthy Autumn

The organs associated with Autumn are the lungs and the large intestine; they enable our bodies to eliminate toxins through our breathing, and passing stool.

These organs also control the skin which is important in expelling toxins through the pores by sweating. If the lungs, large intestine and skin do not function properly, our bodies are weaker entering the winter months and are more susceptible to infections and blockages e.g. phlegm, stool, bloating

The autumn diet can prepare our body for winter by eliminating the drying heat of summer and moving residual summer dampness.

With the onset of autumn, gradually replace cold foods like salad with warming foods like soups and steamed vegetables.

Also by including carrots, beetroot, turnip, oranges and beans in the diet, it can help to build the internal warmth to help us through the cold of winter.

Dryness causes irritating coughs which effect our ability to breath and cleanse our lungs; it can dry our skin making it itchy and reducing its capacity to control sweating; and it can effect the regularity and ease of passing stool.

To nourish and moisten the yin of these organs eat pears, apples, grapes, eggs, nori seaweed and small amounts of dairy; honey in warm water moistens the throat and bowels; nuts ( peanuts, almonds, pine nuts, walnuts and chestnuts)  and seeds (sesame, linseed and pumpkin) moisten and assist the movement of bowels. Increase the volume of warm fluids in the diet.

When the summer has been wet, dampness lingers, causing our bodies to feel heavy, our stomach bloated, our joints stiff and sore, and a lack of hunger. Pungent foods help to eliminate dampness, excess fluid retained in our bodies and encourage flow.

Pungent food include cinnamon, cardamom, onions, garlic, fennel, leek, ginger, cabbage, wheat germ and nutmeg. The flavours are dispersing rather than drying.

Blockages effect us not only on a physical level, but also on a mental and emotional level. Autumn is the season to let go of emotion and create the space to move forward.

When we are unable to let go our minds become blocked and depressed. Pungent moving food helps to move our thinking forward.

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