For some of us, “winter eating” means Christmas cookies, creamy drinks and heavy meals - hey, a baggy sweater can hide all manner of sins! This kind of eating is totally normal and seasonally appropriate, but there are a few tips and tricks to keep you feeling well throughout the cold, dark Winter and help keep the blues away.
Winter Self-Care
Winter represents Yin within Yin - the utmost darkest time of the year before Yang begins to rise again in the Spring. Lean into the season and take things slow: practice gentle movement without over exertion (like one of Jessica’s yoga classes), meditate, journal regularly, or lose yourself in a book. Winter is the perfect time to engage in self-care practices like going for regular maintenance Acupuncture and Massage Therapy treatments.
Five Element Acupuncture, TCM and our Emotions in Winter
Five Element Acupuncture is a contemporary framework for understanding how our inner workings interplay with the universe around us. Each element has a season associated with it - for the Winter, we turn to water. Five Element also offers us an emotional resonance, and for Water, it’s fear. Fear can be a place of deep growth and healing, but can also stir up anxiety and low mood.
If you struggle with anxiety and depression in the Winter, our upcoming Acupuncture and Yogassage workshop will help you transition between the seasons. Click here to book and learn more.
The organ associated with Winter is our Kidneys. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Kidneys are the source of our essential Qi, the spark that gave us life and keeps us going. It’s important to eat with our Kidney’s well-being in mind as we transition into the winter to prevent burnout. Did you know acupuncture and Chinese medicine can treat adrenal fatigue? It’s real and translates to Kidney Yang deficiency from a TCM perspective!
Cooking for Your Kidneys
You can turn your kitchen into an at-home treatment space by following some TCM food therapy guidelines:
Cook foods at a lower temperature, for a longer period of time.
Enjoy foods that are in abundance in the fall and winter: squashes, root vegetables, dark leafy greens.
Always keep some bone broth on hand. The collagen from broth is so nourishing and replenishes Qi and Yin we so desperately need during the winter.
Think dark: the colour associated with our Kidneys is black. Try to incorporate dark-coloured foods like black beans, blueberries and blackberries, black sesame seed, miso soup, and sea vegetables.
Take care to avoid certain foods that are taxing to the Kidneys during this time of year. This includes anything high in salt or containing added salts, MSG, or excessively watery, damp and cold.
Our west coast Winters are dark, rainy, and cold but remember, this too shall pass.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Acupuncture can help treat adrenal fatigue, hormone imbalance, anxiety or low mood, book an initial consultation with one of our Registered Acupuncturists in Victoria, BC.