Women’s Winter Health Preservation Must Be Individualized
Winter has arrived, and tonification is in full swing. Last issue covered male winter tonification; this issue focuses specifically on women.
Experts emphasize: women must adopt scientific, individualized approaches to winter tonification, following medical advice. If suffering from gynecological issues, seek professional gynecological care promptly.
Selecting Dietary Tonification Based on Constitution
Among women, common tonics like American ginseng, protein powder, royal jelly, etc., are everywhere. Professor Wang Zuo, Director of the Center for Senior TCM Experts at Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reminds us: rather than consuming large quantities of tonics, start with dietary tonification. Only dietary tonification truly strengthens the body’s resistance. Women can tailor their dietary tonification based on different constitutions into four distinct methods:
General Tonification: Refers to foods with balanced nature—suitable for both healthy and sick individuals, helping maintain health and life. Examples include grains, legumes, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. These foods have neutral properties and can be consumed by individuals with yin deficiency, yang deficiency, qi deficiency, or blood deficiency.
Warm Tonification: Refers to warming foods such as beef, lamb, eel, sweets, red dates, longan, lychee, and spicy condiments like scallions, ginger, and chili. Cold-sensitive women in winter can consume these to boost internal warmth, improve cold sensitivity, and enhance constitution.
Cool Tonification: Refers to cooling foods such as pears, raw lotus root, celery, lily bulbs, mung beans, cucumbers, softshell turtle, snails, etc.—which have heat-clearing effects.
Warm-Dispersing: Refers to pungent and hot-tasting foods such as chili peppers, cinnamon, mustard, coriander, and Sichuan pepper. These foods warm yang and dispel cold, used in winter to ward off cold and dampness.
Expert Recommendations for Different Women
Women in Air-Conditioned Offices with Dehydration Common Symptoms: Dry skin lacking moisture, increased wrinkles, cracked skin, chapped lips, dry throat, chronic pharyngitis.
Tonification Tips: Increase vegetable and fruit intake, boost vitamin C consumption, and hydrate daily.
Office Beauty Tea: 5 pink rose petals + 2 pitted red dates, steeped in 80°C water (too high temperature destroys vitamin C). Drink two cups daily.
Hydrating Lunch: In winter, lunch should preferably include nourishing soups with staples—hot beef noodle soup or pork rib soup, for example.
Afternoon Refreshment Tea: At 4 PM, rehydrate. Brew a cup of refreshing tea with a little chrysanthemum and a few green tea leaves.
Evening Warm Drink: Drink a warm glass of high-calcium milk half an hour before bedtime. Women Who Frequently Use Computers
Common Symptoms: Eye fatigue, blurred vision, dry eyes.
Tonification Tips: Animal liver contains abundant vitamin A. Regular consumption of pig, cow, sheep, chicken, duck, and other poultry livers benefits eye health. However, women with high cholesterol or triglycerides should eat less or avoid them.
Carotene-Rich Vegetables: Eat 3 carrots per week to maintain normal vitamin A levels. Other good sources include sweet potatoes, tangerines, grapefruits, persimmons—consume in moderation.
Dairy and Egg Products: Milk, eggs, duck eggs, pigeon eggs—egg yolks are particularly rich in vitamin A.
Goji Berries: Rich in carotene, excellent for eye health. Best consumed as tea during winter.
Women Who Stay Up Late and Wake Early
Common Symptoms: Extreme fatigue, reduced work efficiency, memory decline.
Tonification Tips: Fish supports brain nerve conduction and development.
Milk and yogurt: High in protein, beneficial for brain nourishment.
Sesame and walnuts: Unsaturated linoleic acid, phosphatidylcholine, and alpha-linolenic acid are structural components of the brain.
Grains: Millet, corn, wheat—help prevent neurasthenia and promote cerebral microcirculation via plant fiber.
Fruits: Regular consumption helps eliminate acidic metabolic waste from the brain.
Women with Pale Complexion and Pale Lips
Common Symptoms: Dizziness, blurred vision, palpitations, insomnia, constipation.
Tonification Tips: Lamb is sweet and warm, benefiting qi and nourishing deficiency. Additionally, drink saffron tea. Method: Steep a small amount of authentic saffron (must buy from a reputable Chinese pharmacy), along with chrysanthemum and goji berries. Caution: Those with gastric ulcers or bleeding tendencies should avoid saffron.
Women with Cold Limbs and Cold Sensitivity
Common Symptoms: Cold limbs, unable to warm up the bed, insomnia.
Tonification Tips: Eat more black-colored foods—black rice, black beans, black sesame, black fungus, black jujubes, black mushrooms, black mulberries, konjac, black-boned chicken, cuttlefish, softshell turtle, kelp, nori, etc.
Women with Irregular Menstruation and Blood Deficiency
Common Symptoms: Dysmenorrhea, irregular periods, dizziness, blurred vision, pale complexion, anemia, scanty menstrual flow.
Tonification Tips: Consume more red glutinous rice, red dates, goji berries, and increase iron-rich foods such as animal offal, spinach, etc.
Women Over 36 Years Old
Common Symptoms: Frequent yellow-brown spots on face, loss of skin elasticity, declining physical strength.
Tonification Tips: Estrogen is vital for female vitality. Drinking 500 ml of soy milk daily or consuming over 100 grams of soy products helps regulate the endocrine system. Additionally, regularly eating gelatinous foods like pork skin, pig trotters, bone broth, fish heads, sea cucumber keeps skin moisturized. These foods are rich in collagen, preventing skin dryness, sagging, and wrinkles.