Winter diets should be aimed at warming the body and strengthening Kidney energies.

Choose foods that are salty, slightly bitter, or dark in color; and vegetables that are “in season.” Cook foods at lower temperatures over longer periods of time. Avoid foods that are energetically cold or watery in nature.

Recommended foods include: Sea salt, millet, soy sauce, miso, barley, seaweeds, roasted nuts, kidney beans, kelp black berries, black mushrooms, black wood ears, black sesame seeds, black beans. For people who are feel particularly cold or sluggish in the winter, add:

Anise seeds, chicken, chives, cinnamon bark, cloves, eel, fennel, garlic, ginger, lamb, onions, scallions, walnut, white wood ears.

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