🌿 Folk Prescriptions

It's said, “Nourish during the coldest three periods, stay healthy throughout the next year.” It’s essential to nourish oneself properly during cold winters. Besides dietary supplementation, fruit intake can also provide nourishment. Adjust your physiological functions optimally this winter and enjoy health and beauty through proper eating habits. Winter is cold and dry, often causing dry nasal and throat mucous membranes and dry skin, making one prone to internal heat. Eating fruits daily can nourish yin, moisten lungs, soothe the throat, relieve dryness, supply abundant nutrients, and instantly make you feel refreshed and comfortable.
Pear
Pears are the top choice among winter fruits. They contain malic acid, citric acid, glucose, fructose, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and various vitamins. Pears have functions such as moistening the throat, generating body fluids, moistening the lungs, relieving cough, and nourishing the gastrointestinal tract. They are especially suitable for those suffering from fever or internal heat during winter and spring. Particularly effective for alleviating lung heat cough, pediatric wind-heat, sore throat, and constipation. Additionally, pears help lower blood pressure and have calming effects. Hypertensive patients experiencing dizziness, blurred vision, palpitations, or tinnitus may experience symptom relief by regularly consuming pears. Pears are rich in sugars and vitamins, aiding liver protection and digestion. However, due to their cold nature, individuals with weak spleen and stomach, poor digestion, or postpartum blood deficiency should avoid excessive consumption.
- Recommended quantity: One pear per day is optimal for nutrient absorption.
- Best time: 2–3 hours after meals.
- Consumption methods: Eat raw after washing; boil with rock sugar and pear chunks to make rock sugar pear soup for moistening lungs and quenching thirst; or juice the pear for drinking.
Kiwi
Kiwi is a highly nutritious fruit known as the “King of Fruits.” It contains more than ten amino acids including leucine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, tyrosine, and alanine, along with abundant minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron, plus beta-carotene and multiple vitamins. Kiwi plays a significant role in maintaining health and preventing diseases. Regular kiwi consumption can prevent osteoporosis in the elderly, inhibit cholesterol deposition, thus helping prevent arteriosclerosis, improve heart function, and aid in treating heart disease. It also shows some anti-cancer potential. Frequent kiwi intake can reduce excessive peroxidation in the body, prevent age spots, and slow aging. Eating kiwi regularly in winter helps regulate bodily functions, enhance immunity, and replenish necessary nutrients.
- Recommended quantity: 1–2 kiwis are ideal for full absorption.
- Best time: Avoid eating on an empty stomach. Consuming 1–3 hours before or after meals is suitable.
- Consumption methods: Peel and eat directly; or boil kiwi juice with water, sugar, banana cubes, apple cubes, thicken with starch slurry before serving.
Sugarcane
Sugarcane has very high water content—about 84% of its weight. In dry winter months, replenishing fluids is crucial. Moreover, sugarcane ranks among the highest in iron content among fruits. It possesses nourishing and clearing heat properties, acting as a refreshing tonic. It can effectively treat low blood sugar, constipation, difficulty urinating, restlessness, thirst, nausea, vomiting, and coughing or shortness of breath caused by lung dryness. However, due to its cold nature, individuals with weak spleen and stomach or abdominal pain should avoid it.
- Recommended quantity: Quantity must be carefully controlled.
- Best time: Avoid eating high-sugar fruits before bedtime.
- Consumption methods: Besides peeling and eating directly, cut into 20–30 cm lengths, boil for about 10 minutes, remove while hot, peel, and eat—this makes it even sweeter.
Pomelo
Pomelo matures in autumn and, due to its thick rind and long shelf life, is an excellent choice for winter consumption. Known as “nature’s canned fruit,” pomelo contains abundant proteins, organic acids, vitamins, and essential elements like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and sodium—rarely matched by other fruits. High nutritional value aside, pomelo also aids digestion, regulates qi, clears phlegm, moisturizes lungs, cleanses intestines, enriches blood, strengthens the spleen, stimulates appetite, treats indigestion, disperses nodules, promotes wound healing, and provides auxiliary treatment for conditions like sepsis. During winter, when prone to internal heat, pomelo can reduce fire and suppress oral ulcers.
- Recommended quantity: 100–200 grams per person per day is easily absorbed.
- Best time: Pomelo has a slightly sour taste, so it’s unsuitable for consumption on an empty stomach. Eating one hour before meals can stimulate appetite.
- Consumption methods: Keep the outer peel, remove the core, combine with 50 grams each of bitter apricot kernels, Fritillaria bulbs, and unbleached silver ear fungus, add several bottles of honey, and stew before eating.
Health Quiz
★ Fruit replacement for meals is beneficial to health ×
The human body requires nearly 50 different nutrients to survive, especially at least 65 grams of protein and over 20 grams of fat daily to maintain tissue and organ renewal and repair. Fruits contain over 85% water, less than 1% protein, and almost no essential fatty acids, far insufficient to meet the body’s nutritional needs.
★ Eating more fruits leads to weight gain √
Fruit sugar content often exceeds 8%, mostly simple and double sugars that are easily digested. Although fruits have lower caloric density than rice by weight, they’re easy to overconsume, making weight loss difficult.
★ More fruit is always better ×
Excessive fructose intake causes copper deficiency, increases blood cholesterol, and may lead to coronary heart disease. High-sugar fruits include apples, pears, citrus, persimmons, watermelons, and peaches.
★ Eating fruit immediately before or after meals √
Many believe eating fruit right before or after meals reduces main meal intake and aids weight loss, but this is incorrect. Eating fruit immediately after meals confuses digestion and hinders nutrient absorption.