Chinese medicine divides foods and herbs into five essences: Warm, Hot, Cool, Cold, and Neutral. Over several millenia, masters perfected the art of using essence to help prevent illness and disease and to heal a range of conditions. Ginger and cinnamon are two examples of warm essence. No matter how you incorporate them into other foods or change their physical composition—even when they are turned into ice cream—they will always carry a warm essence.

Year-Round Warmth

The body loves warmth. For a healthy and smooth-flowing digestive system, it’s important to feed the body warming foods throughout the year, but especially in Winter. Raw vegetables, salads, dairy, and meats have a cold essence. If the digestive system receives too much cold, it will start to send signals, such as bloating, burping, or a white coat on your tongue. But by roasting or sauteing your vegetables, or adding them to a pot of soup, the Stomach won’t have to use up its precious Qi to warm up and process the food you eat. Instead, it can reserve this Qi for healing.

The Qi and healing messages you gain from food are more effective than its nutritional or physical components.

Healing Foods for Winter

Winter is the season associated with the Kidney, your energy foundation. The Kidney stores all of the Qi you inherited at birth. This Qi sustains you throughout your life.

Foods to support your Kidney function:

Bean curd (tofu)

Black beans

Bone soup

Cauliflower

Cinnamon

Cloves

Nuts (walnuts, walnut oil, pine nuts)

Seaweed

Seeds (black sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame oil)

Shellfish (shrimp, squid, lobster, clams)

A Higher Level of Healing

The foods we eat help to replenish our bank of acquired Qi. As we acquire new energy, we use this Qi to support our daily functions and activities. However, we often do too much—and blow through more than our bodies can acquire in a given day. The Kidney is often referred to as your body’s energy tank. When other organs are low on Qi and cannot perform their functions, they draw from the Kidney.

As important as food is, it is the lowest level of healing. At a higher level, we look at emotions and the relationship and communication that takes place between the organ systems. Everything we do—from moving to eating to sleeping, and all that takes place in between—requires Qi. Every emotion we experience is Qi. Holding onto emotions is an energy zap!

As Grand Master Lu has shared, “Think of your life as a candle. Some candles are small, some are large. How wisely you burn your flame will determine how well you live your life.” Note, it does not determine the length of your life, but how well you live it.

We all want to live healthy, happy lives. Preserve your inborn Qi by discovering how you waste your energy. Don’t spend unnecessary time lingering over emotions, or arguing about things that won’t mean much in a few years. Live in the here and now. Enjoy every little moment.