How to Balance Flavors During Winter
Adding bitter foods to your diet during winter may help preserve joy!
The Chinese Materia Medica uses herbs within categories to describe their "nature". One such aspect is "flavor". The flavors are sweet, acrid, bitter, salty, and sour. Each herb has one or two flavors which correlate to an aspect of their use within herbal formulas.
As we ease into winter the air becomes cooler, the days darker. Winter’s natural affect on the body is centering and sinking in nature, therefore we need to focus on foods that promote these aspects. This, in turn, supports the body’s capacity to store energy.
The flavor associated with winter is salty. This flavor promotes concentration and is grounding to our mental capacities. Though we require salt, the addition of salt to foods is best avoided. Instead turn to foods that are naturally salty (naturally contain sodium) such as, eggs, beets, turnips, chard, spinach, parsley, seafood, meats (sparingly or in moderation), and seaweeds.
Balance is key. Just like a well-spiced dish that is neither too salty nor too spicy for example, balance in day-to-day eating will support your vitality. Because winter is "sinking" in nature, supporting the opposite, as Paul Pitchford writes, “preserving joy in the heart,” is necessary.
Bitter is the flavor associated with the heart. Foods with this flavor are known to "enter the heart". The heart is related to the mind, therefore consuming foods that contain a bitter flavor will promote a happy heart, which is of much use during the long, cold winters.
This winter, try adding joy-preserving "bitter" foods to your diet: watercress, lettuce, celery, turnips, endive, asparagus, alfalfa, carrot greens, rye, oats, quinoa, amaranth and herbs: chaparral, chicory root, burdock root and horsetail.
