🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Spring brings renewal and vitality—a golden season for children’s growth and development. During this wonderful time, children’s digestive and absorptive abilities improve, increasing their food intake and accelerating physical growth. Nutrition is the foundation of children’s development. Parents should seize this critical window to reasonably increase nutrition, helping their children grow taller and stronger.
According to WHO data, children grow fastest in spring. To meet the significantly increased demand for multiple nutrients during this period, mothers should adopt scientific and rational spring tonification. However, seasons vary: spring is warm, summer hot, autumn dry, winter cold. Children’s diets should differ accordingly. In spring, as weather shifts from cold to warm, children’s diet should become lighter and more moist. During spring tonification, mothers should follow these strategies:
Strategy 1: Choose Nutritious Foods
In diet, select "medicinal and edible" foods such as jujubes, longan flesh, mushrooms, shiitake, and black fungus. These are rich in various nutrients, sweet and neutral in nature. When consumed in moderation, they serve as natural, safe, and effective supplements to strengthen children’s bodies and boost immunity.
Special Note: For healthy children, dietary supplementation is the safest and most effective way to meet growth needs. For weak or sickly children, tonification should be guided by a doctor based on specific conditions.
Strategy 2: Increase Calcium-Rich Foods
Children grow rapidly, increasing their calcium needs. Include more calcium-rich foods like tofu, bone broth, fish and shellfish, sesame, and seafood. To ensure calcium absorption, encourage children to spend time outdoors in sunlight and provide foods rich in vitamin D.
Special Note: Limit excessive sugar or sweets, as they can deplete calcium and vitamin D, leading to calcium deficiency.
Strategy 3: Increase High-Quality Protein Appropriately
As children grow faster, their need for high-quality protein increases. Increase eggs, fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, dairy, and bean products in side dishes. Choose rice, millet, and red beans as staple foods.
Special Note: Beef and lamb are warm in nature and should not be overeaten. Prefer easily digestible options like fish and shrimp or eggs. Avoid frying eggs, meat, and fish. Do not wash rice excessively or soak it in hot water.
Strategy 4: Ensure Adequate Vitamins and Minerals
Children’s need for vitamins increases. If intake is insufficient, they may suffer from "spring susceptibility," such as frequent lip inflammation, bleeding gums, and rough skin. Besides eating more celery, spinach, tomatoes, green peppers, cabbage, and cauliflower, include carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, shepherd’s purse, fragrant sprouts, and amaranth. Mix coarse grains and mixed grains like corn, oatmeal, and peas into staple foods.
Special Note: To attract children’s interest, spring vegetables can be stir-fried, stewed, or wrapped into wontons, dumplings, or spring rolls. Use high heat and short cooking times when preparing vegetables to minimize loss of water-soluble vitamins. Do not cook too much at once—avoid reheating, which destroys water-soluble vitamins.
Strategy 5: Provide Essential Fats
The brain contains two unsaturated fatty acids, essential components of brain tissue. Deficiency affects intellectual development. Since the body cannot synthesize them, they must be obtained from food. In spring, use vegetable oils when cooking and eat more plant-based fats—such as walnut porridge, black sesame porridge, peanut porridge, fish head soup, fresh clam soup, roasted quail, or wild rabbit meat.
Special Note: Do not increase plant oil intake by eating more fried foods.