How to eat to prevent cold and illness in winter

Cold foods help the body warm itself.?

Doctor Hoang Khanh Toan - head of the Department of Traditional Medicine, 108 Central Military Hospital, said that winter is the best season for nutrition through food because at this time all things are latent, the yin essence and yang energy in the body also tend to be latent, if nourished, it is easy to absorb and store, helping to strengthen the body.

Therefore, there is a folk saying: "Winter tonic, spring to kill tigers". The best tonic is after the winter solstice.

Moreover, in winter, the body's digestive function is very good, so this is a favorable time of the year to improve health. To improve health and winter heat, many people actively eat hot food, fried food, high-energy nutritious food... However, too much can also be dangerous.

According to traditional culinary health, even if you eat nutritious food in winter, you should avoid delicacies. Eating frugally is one of the principles of Eastern culinary health in the cold winter.

In particular, you should not eat all hot food. If you can eat some cold rice, cold vegetables or drink some cold boiled water, it is not only harmless but also beneficial for your health because:

According to traditional medicine, the human body, whether in summer or winter, always has the phenomenon of "heat accumulation". Although the winter climate is cold, due to wearing many clothes, sleeping warmly, being less active, eating a lot of high-energy foods... the body easily accumulates heat, leading to a state of "excessive fire", especially in the two organs of the lungs and stomach.

Therefore, drinking a little cold, choosing to use in moderation some cold foods such as radish, melons, crabs, snails... is very necessary.

In winter, people like to eat greasy, high-calorie foods, but they don’t exercise much, so they are prone to obesity. If you eat a little cold food, your body will have to warm itself up, which will burn a certain amount of fat, which will help prevent obesity and protect your health.

Modern nutrition has proven that a diet high in animal fat and sugar can easily cause lipid disorders, increase cholesterol, thereby causing atherosclerosis, which is the foundation for dangerous diseases such as: high blood pressure, angina, myocardial infarction, stroke, arteritis... with very high mortality and disability rates.

Therefore, even in cold weather, avoid overusing delicacies because it can easily cause ulcers; good wine and fatty meat should be restrained because it can easily cause intestinal diseases; should eat less meat, use more grains, natural vegetables and fruits to neutralize the flavors.

Foods that have disease prevention value for winter include: oranges, lemons, grapefruits, tangerines, black grapes, squash, watercress and bitter greens, red foods, cashews, garlic, ginger, honey,...

Drinking enough water prevents heart attack?

Doctor Toan emphasized that many people think that cold weather is not as hot as summer, the body sweats less, so it is okay to drink less water or not drink water at all.

Some people do not feel thirsty so they do not pay much attention to replenishing water for their bodies in winter. In fact, this is completely wrong.

A healthy person has 60-70% of body weight in water, which plays a very important role in maintaining all normal physiological activities of the body. On the surface, although there is little sweating in winter, an adult still loses about 600ml of water through the skin. This condition is called "invisible evaporation".

During respiration, the lungs take in oxygen and release CO.₂must keep the surface moist, every day just this also makes the body lose about 500ml of water. In addition to the daily water loss through urination.

On average, the body excretes about 2.5 liters of water per day, while only about 1 liter of water is replenished from food intake; 300ml of water is obtained through the body's metabolism.

The remaining 1.2 liters of water must be replenished by drinking boiled water, soft drinks, and soup to ensure water balance in the human body.

Modern research shows that in winter, if the body loses only 5% of its water and is not replenished promptly, the skin will become wrinkled, the muscles will become weak, metabolism will stagnate, people will feel tired, uncomfortable, have headaches, dizziness, and even develop many other serious diseases.

So, to maintain water balance in the body, you also need to drink a lot of water in winter.

Adults need to drink at least 1.2 liters of water every day. In dry weather conditions, heating or using a heating pad can cause dehydration, so increasing the amount of water you drink is essential. It is best to drink water proactively, do not wait until you are thirsty to drink, and divide it into morning, noon, afternoon and before going to bed.

Boiled water is the best beverage, it can effectively regulate the acid-base balance in the body, accelerate metabolism, and is beneficial to human health.

Many scientific studies have proven that drinking boiled water that has been left to cool is very beneficial to human health. Scientists recommend that drinking a glass of cold water at a certain time of the day is the simplest and most effective method of health protection.

Especially in the morning, when waking up, drinking a cup of cooled boiled water can enhance the detoxification ability of the liver and the excretion of the kidneys, promote metabolism, enhance immunity, regulate blood pressure and actively prevent myocardial infarction.