Keep yourself happy, healthy and ready for spring by working with the winter cold…

Following last month’s blog about the energy of winter – as promised! – we’re giving you more tips for aligning with winter’s elemental energy this January. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), winter represents the element of Water according to the 5 Element Theory. Things are wetter, colder and the Yin energy is rife.

Ready for spring, the Water element nourishes the trees and plants, ready for bloom. Similarly, we must nourish and fortify our vital essence. Building our reserves and recharging well is the best way to prepare ourselves for the bloom of the following season.

Modern Life and Our Health

The winter holiday season – full of lights, busy crowds, and constant events – often feels completely at odds with the true energy of this time of year.

Instead of slowing down, staying grounded, and supporting our wellbeing, we tend to pack in more activity than ever. Many of us burn the candle at both ends, whether by overindulging in the celebrations or getting swept up in stress, worry, and anxiety.

This is also when we’re more prone to catching colds or the flu, turning what should be a joyful season into a challenging one. Ultimately, how vulnerable we are depends on our overall health and vitality, which is why strengthening our natural defences is so important. Thankfully, nature offers plenty of ways to support us.

How Can We Do This?

It’s extremely important to look after our digestive system. One of the best ways to do this is to consider what we’re putting into our bodies – and how.

During a time of overindulgence, our guts can take the hardest of hits. The gut stokes the fire of our whole body’s systems. If it’s malfunctioning in any way, all of our other organs get taxed and their function becomes impaired.

We need to support and feed our microbiome – the community of beneficial and harmful bacteria and yeasts in our gut – because it forms the backbone of our immune system.

Although it’s tough at this time of year, keeping processed sugars to a minimum can sustain  our levels of good bacteria.

We can benefit further from this bacteria by including probiotics and fermented foods in our diets. These can include kimchi, fermented vegetables, raw sauerkraut, kombucha and kefir. A good quality multi-strain probiotic supplement may also help.

What Other Ways Can We Support Our Bodies?

Here are a few tips for supporting our bodies during the cold, and allowing us to better align with winter’s elemental energy:

Make a Homemade Bone Broth

This is rich in collagen and has natural probiotics and protein. Click here for our medicinal stock/broth recipe.

Eat Foods That Can Help Strengthen the Lungs

Firstly, cut out foods that can cause dampness or phlegm in the body. Dairy products, wheat/gluten, bananas, artificial sweeteners and concentrated juices are commonly known to do so.

If you can’t stay away from cheese, goat and sheep dairy is more digestible and can be known to create less dampness.

Then, focus on including foods that can strengthen the lungs, such as celery, red dates, ginger, liquorice, yams, sweet potato, squash, and shiitake mushrooms into your diet.

Make Homemade Cough, Cold & Flu Prevention Tonics

Yes, that’s right – even if you haven’t yet caught a nasty bug! Prevention can be one of the best ways to make it through the with peak health. Your future self will thank you.

Make sure to check out our recipe for a cough, cold and flu prevention tonic, which also includes an instructional video.

Align with Winter’s Elemental Energy Before Spring Arrives

Before we know it, spring will be around the corner. Until then, we hope this guide on aligning with winter’s elemental energy helps you push through January in good health.

If you find yourself in need of more information on how to best align with the change of season, feel free to make an appointment any time and we’ll be happy to help!