According to traditional Chinese medicine, health preservation should correspond to the four seasons and follow the rules of nourishing the liver in spring, nourishing the heart in summer, nourishing the lungs in autumn, and nourishing the kidneys in winter. The health condition of the body is closely related to the alternation of the four seasons. "Spring gives birth, summer grows, autumn harvests, and winter stores" is the natural rule of the four seasons. It is also the rule of human metabolism. The diet therapy for health preservation not only needs to understand the constitution and physical signs of the body, but also needs to adapt to the changes in the seasonal qi.
Spring
Everything is recovering, the spring river is warming up, and the temperature gradually rises. The yang qi of the body also gradually rises, so the diet should naturally transition from nourishing and sweet in winter to light and nourishing in spring. The principle of early spring diet is to avoid coldness, so you can eat some warming foods such as bamboo shoots, spinach, shepherd's purse, scallions, ginger, garlic, and leeks. If you only eat warm and hot tonics like ginseng, when the temperature rises in spring, it will aggravate the internal heat and damage the body's righteous qi. Of course, in early spring when the qi is relatively low, you should also avoid eating cooling foods such as cucumber, winter melon, and green beans.
The second month of spring is called mid-spring. You can choose to eat some foods that nourish the stomach, such as red dates, yam, honey, and celery. Mid-spring is often the peak period for various infectious diseases, so it is also important to take sufficient vitamins to improve the body's immune system. However, because the liver qi is excessive in spring and sour taste harms the liver, it affects the generation of yang qi and the smooth flow of liver qi, which can easily damage the spleen and stomach. Therefore, acidic foods should be avoided.
In late spring, the temperature has risen and is approaching summer. "Spring fatigue" often occurs at this stage. Therefore, the diet should tend to be light and gradually transition to summer. You can eat some nourishing foods such as sugarcane juice, lily, duck meat, kelp, seaweed, and nori. At the same time, avoid spicy, greasy, and sticky cold foods.
Summer
Summer is the season when yang qi is the strongest and the body's energy consumption is the highest. The body's metabolism is most active in summer. The principle of summer diet is to focus on light and refreshing food. It should clear heat, relieve summer heat, and increase appetite. Vegetables such as cucumber, celery, bok choy, bitter gourd, cilantro, bamboo shoots, cucumber, winter melon, lotus seeds, and rice are good choices. Fish such as catfish, tilapia, and carp, as well as meats like duck, are also good options. These foods have the effects of clearing heat, invigorating the spleen, promoting diuresis, cooling blood, and eliminating fatigue. They have certain preventive effects on intestinal diseases and heatstroke.
Due to the increased loss of bodily fluids from excessive sweating in summer, it is advisable to replenish qi and nourish yin. You should eat more foods such as carrots, spinach, longan, lychee, peanuts, and lotus root, which have the effect of nourishing yin and replenishing qi. In addition, it is important to consume coarse grains and fruits. However, excessive consumption of raw and cold fruits in summer can easily damage the spleen and stomach. Warm tonics, greasy foods, and cold and sticky foods should be avoided in summer.
Autumn
The autumn season referred to in traditional Chinese medicine usually refers to the period from the beginning of autumn to the day before the beginning of winter. The famous ancient book on health preservation, "Dietary Therapy for Health Preservation," states: "Autumn is dry, so it is appropriate to eat foods with a sesame flavor to moisten the dryness." "Dryness" is the main qi of autumn, so you should eat foods such as sesame, walnut, millet, sugarcane, honey, and milk in autumn, which can nourish yin and moisten the lungs and blood.
In autumn, the body's bodily fluids are easily attacked by dryness, leading to discomfort in the lungs. Therefore, the principle of autumn diet therapy is to nourish yin and generate fluids. Foods such as Ophiopogon, pear, ice fungus, tremella, sand ginseng, lily, and duck have the effects of nourishing yin and generating fluids. Foods such as cuttlefish, squid, and turtle have the effect of nourishing lung qi. They are all excellent ingredients for autumn diet therapy.
In early autumn, when the heat of summer has not yet dissipated, it is best to eat sweet and moisturizing foods such as lily, white fungus, yam, pear, soy milk, sesame, pig lung, crab meat, and olives. Spicy and dry foods such as onions, ginger, and garlic should be consumed less to avoid harming lung qi. At the same time, sour foods such as apples, pomegranates, grapes, mangoes, pomelos, and hawthorns can be eaten appropriately to prevent dryness and enhance the body's immune system.
People often feel tired in spring and autumn. In fact, autumn fatigue is a self-adjustment of the body after the hot summer. You can eat foods such as milk, eggs, lean meat, and soy products to effectively relieve fatigue and depression.
Chinese medicine emphasizes that autumn is the best season for nourishing and replenishing. To avoid the situation of deficiency in winter, it is necessary to replenish the body's needs in autumn, relieve fatigue, and enhance the body's immune system. Foods such as Ophiopogon, Fritillaria, sand ginseng, lily, almonds, and walnut are ideal ingredients for autumn nourishment and fatigue relief.
Winter
Winter is the season when everything is dormant, but it also carries the hope of spring. According to traditional Chinese medicine, in the cold and frozen winter, when everything is withering, the yang qi of the body is the weakest and most susceptible to the cold pathogenic factors of winter. This can lead to poor blood circulation in the body, resulting in symptoms such as headaches, nausea, sore throat, and body aches. Therefore, winter health preservation should focus on supplementing heat.
We have the habit of eating lamb and drinking mutton soup on the day of "Dongzhi" to expel the cold. In fact, there is a reason for this. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the basic principle of winter diet therapy is to follow the condition of the hidden yang qi in the body and protect yin. Therefore, you can eat foods such as lamb, chicken, shrimp, longan, chestnut, walnut, turtle, etc. to supplement heat. In addition, you should also eat more cruciferous vegetables rich in vitamins, such as cabbage, white radish, carrots, soybean sprouts, mung bean sprouts, and rapeseed. Sweet potatoes and potatoes can also be eaten appropriately.
As the saying goes, "nourish in winter and fight tigers in spring." If you have a proper nourishment in winter, not only can you get through the winter smoothly, but you can also strengthen your body and enhance your immune system. Ingredients such as Ophiopogon, Fritillaria, sand ginseng, lily, apricot kernel, and turtle are ideal for winter nourishment and relieving winter fatigue.
Which groups of people need to pay special attention to winter nourishment?
People with various acute and chronic diseases, those who have just recovered from illness, and the elderly with weak constitution should pay attention to winter health preservation.
In conclusion, individual differences are a major principle of traditional Chinese medicine. The principle of "one person, one prescription" fully reflects this principle. Different living habits, occupations, ages, and regions will produce different constitutions, and naturally different methods of conditioning. Therefore, we need to objectively look at our own body and adjust according to our actual situation.
