WINTER NUTRITION EXCERPT

Winter is said to be the pure ‘yin’ season. The seasonal direction of energy is ‘sinking and centring’. In the natural world the warm, yang energy of nature is concentrated and preserved deep inside the earth, in seeds and roots. When the external world is cold and dark, our interior needs to be warm: this protects the core or, in biological terms, kidney Jing. In the farming cultures from which TCM originates, winter was the season of relative rest and recuperation. It was also cold and often damp and the diet was designed to protect people from this excessive cold and damp. This was achieved by the slightly drying late-autumn and winter diets of salty and bitter foods, and the relative higher intake of animal fats which were warming. In addition, the winter diet was designed to replenish the reserves that had been exhausted in the physically active spring-, summer- and autumn seasons, so to lay the foundation for a new round of physical activity in the year to come.

Today, the winter cold is much less invasive. Our houses are warm and comfortable. This means that our bodies need not crank up to keep us warm: the central heating system does that for us. In addition, our central heating systems prevents the build-up of climatic damp that must have been so prevalent in the unheated homes of the past. Thus, we are not only warmer, we are also drier. Winter Cold and -Damp is less of a problem now. In stead, we might suffer the opposite: winter dryness. So, if we live in centrally heated homes, drive in warm cars and work in warm offices, we need to diverge somewhat from the dictates of a TCM winter diet. We can do with less fat and drying foods and we can take more moisturising foods such as fresh fruit. The strict TCM diet prohibits raw fruit in the winter simply because it’s consumption is lunacy in cold and damp climatic conditions. But in our heated homes, some raw fruit is a bonus. However, raw fruit is always chilling and it should be taken sparingly. Local fruits are always better than tropical and –semi-tropical fruits, since these last categories are more cooling and dampening than the local varieties. Winter is, after all, still winter and we are exposed to it now and then, in spite of our warm cars, homes and offices. People working out in the open, or those living in unheated homes (with only one warm room in the house), should stick to the TCM guidelines for the winter diet, and they do well to avoid raw fruit. Naturally, people with a Spleen-Pancreas deficiency should avoid raw fruits and all raw foods at all times. This applies to the under-sevens and the elderly in particular.

In stead, you can cook, stew or bake fruit for a short period with cinnamon, vanilla, raisons, nuts, etc., etc.

Winter foods include drying foods such as pulses and preserved meats, salty products such as miso and soy sauce, bitter foods such as the skins of citrus fruit and chicory, oily sea fish and sea vegetables (seaweeds). In western terms, sea vegetables are a powerful source of minerals.

Herbs: cloves, fennel seed, aniseed, black pepper (white pepper is hot, black pepper is warm), fresh ginger, cinnamon, and the onion family.

Teas: fennel, anise, star anise, nettle.

Winter cooking methods

In winter you cook foods in their own juices, over a long time. This means that you bake, make casseroles and stews. When you use the top of the stove, you cook for long periods over a minimal flame and you use the hay box a lot. Use some salt (or soy sauce). In small amounts, salt foods strengthen the kidneys. Above all, food should not be cooling, therefore you do not serve raw foods, raw fruit and iced foods/drinks with meals. Fruit such as apples and pairs can be stewed, with some warming herbs such as cinnamon or vanilla and cloves. Use ordinary apples rather than cooking apples. Cooking apples require liberal additions of sugar. This is entirely unnecessary: applesauce made on ordinary apples tastes just as nice, if not nicer!

Winter lunch soup

Soups represent meals that are easily absorbed. They are particularly useful for people whose digestive system is under par (i.e. most of us). You can make soups in every season. In the winter I make soup for lunch nearly every day. I start to prepare this soup around breakfast. Since it is a ‘short-cooking’ soup (2 to 3 hours) I use lentils or split peas, winter vegetables and round grain rice. Lentils and split peas do not need soaking or extremely long cooking times, and I can use the haybox. The amounts are quite small, a tablespoon of peas and one of rice per person.

Marrow soup

You can, of course, alternate or combine (dried) beans with marrow or fish bones to make soup. The combination of black beans with beef marrow is extremely warming and nourishing. Always cook beans with sea vegetables, preferably kombu and add lovage and dill when you add the vegetables, at the end. But don’t forget that beans are drying and ultimately cooling: they promote urination. Therefore, you could add barley, in stead of rice, to your bean soups to counteract the drying effect of pulses.

And as an aside, you can take marrow broth for breakfast! Broth, of course, is ideal for ill people at any time of the year! It is the easiest way to absorb nutrients.

Buy marrow (and all meats) from a green butcher!

Breakfast

Though a marrow broth is an excellent winter breakfast, this is not feasible for many people. I myself make a miso and kombu broth throughout the winter which I take with bread. (from about the end of November to March).

Oat- (for cold and dry weather), spelt- or barley-gruel can also be taken (a ‘gruel’ is made on water rather than milk). (Do not give porridge or gruel to the under-sevens, their digestive system is not able for it yet.) But don’t forget that rice also makes an excellent breakfast gruel. In winter you use round grain rice, cooked with cinnamon, for example. Add dried fruits such as raisins or apricots to the finished dish.

Winter breakfast broth

Ingredients: kombu and miso, serves 2

Soak and wash 2 sticks of kombu. (Soak it over about 20 minutes, and wash very thoroughly)
Add to a pot of water, gently bring to the boil and, if necessary, skim.
Take off the boil and add a tablespoon of miso, stirring well.
Place overnight in the hay box.
In the morning, you remove the kombu.
Gently reheat, but do not allow it to boil.

Author Details: Leni Hurley