Healthy Foods for Winter Months

Healthy Foods for the Winter Months by Dr. Hugh A. Jenkins, N.D., D.C. 

In Chinese medicine, the yin principle is emphasized this time of year causing us to become more receptive, introspective, and storage-minded.  People who practice this ancient form of healing believe it is important to cool the surface of the body and warm the body’s core during the winter months.  Salty and bitter foods are seen as appropriate now, since they promote a sinking, centering quality that increases the capacity for storage.  Foods should be cooked longer, at lower temperatures and with less water.   

During this season of rest, meditation and reflection, we may seek warm hearty soups, whole grain breads and hot roasted nuts to combat the cold, dark days.  Besides imparting a warm, inviting aroma and stimulating the appetite, these comforting foods entice us to linger just a few minutes longer over a cup of hot herbal tea contem-plating our life’s purpose.  This inner journeying takes us deeper inside to the heart region and allows us to center spiritually and rest.  

What better foods to enjoy than dried beans and grains, seaweeds, steamed winter greens and bitter, salty foods. Use salt with caution, however, as an excess tightens the kidney and bladder which are the water organs in Chinese Medicine and can cause coldness and over retention of water.  This weakens these organs and affects the heart as well.  It is important to protect the heart-mind in the winter.  This can be done with the addition of a few bitter foods.  Their flavor is said to “enter the heart”.  

Bitter foods include lettuce, watercress, endive, escarole, turnip, celery, asparagus, alfalfa, carrot top, rye, oats, quinoa and amaranth.  The bitter flavor is also part of the protective coating of some foods, such as, citrus peels and the outermost leaves of cabbage.  Most stores throw them out, so ask them to save them for you.  The strongest bitter qualities however are in the herb family: chicory, burdock root, horsetail and chaparral.   

Consider adding some of these foods to your diet this season to improve and enhance your health.