Hello Everyone, I just dug up this article.
Greenwich Times: Healthy Tips For The Winter
Published on: 2/25/2003 Last Visited: 2/25/200
Spring is a time for cleansing and winter a time for resting, agrees Drew DiVittorio, founder of the Healthy Living Center in Norwalk and a nutritional consultant who holds a degree from the School of Classical Taoist Herbology. According to DiVittorio, in Asian countries, people wear belts around the kidney area when the
weather is cold, much the same way we wrap scarves around our
necks. That's because in traditional Chinese medicine, every season has a correlating organ in the body. In winter, that organ is the kidney, and we must produce warmth to nourish and protect it, he says.
We crave more fatty foods because fat creates warmth. We also long for comforting teas and tend to favor root vegetables such as cooked beets, potatoes and turnips over cold salad greens. DiVittorio recommends eating foods that protect the "yang" or essence of the kidneys, such as walnuts, chicken, lamb, salmon and shrimp, as well as warming spices like clove, ginger, fennel, fenugreek and cinnamon bark.
When the kidneys are yang deficient, he says, the result may be a sluggish immune system, poor digestion, and cold hands and feet. "We're trying to avoid foods such as tropical fruit, white flour, white sugar and fruit drinks, which clear heat from the body," DiVittorio says.
In winter, he says, the body's energy retreats inside to nourish the kidneys. If we're eating junk food, keeping a marathon schedule and not getting adequate sleep in the winter, we're not giving our immune systems time to rejuvenate. "The body is in a hibernation state of sorts, trying to restore and rebuild itself," DiVittorio says. "People who fail to follow the cycle of nature and nourish their kidney system in the winter often end up with severe spring allergies.
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