The autumn and winter seasons are prone to stomach diseases, and if not careful, one can easily experience discomfort in the stomach. This is especially true for those suffering from chronic gastritis or those with a yang deficiency and qi deficiency constitution.
Remember the “Warm the Stomach” Principle
When the weather turns cold, the most desired thing is to keep the body warm. However, no matter how many supplements you take, you must first pass through the stomach. Therefore, warming the stomach becomes the key to warming the body in autumn and winter.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) emphasizes “autumn harvest and winter storage,” leading people to consume a lot of supplements, which can increase the burden on the stomach, especially for patients with gastritis and gastric ulcers.
Thus, warming the stomach in autumn and winter is not just about making the stomach feel warm; it is more important to help regulate the spleen and stomach to adapt to the needs of supplementation during this season.
In other words, to nourish the body through food, one must first “warm” the stomach.
Cold Stomach or Hot Stomach
“Why do hot pot restaurants become so popular when the weather gets cold?”
In fact, when the temperature drops, the body’s primary response is to consume warm foods.
Lamb, pig stomach, and other well-known warming foods are popular.
However, different individuals have different constitutions. If one indiscriminately consumes a large amount of warming foods, it may affect the function of the spleen and stomach, potentially leading to digestive disorders, resulting in symptoms such as bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
▋Cold Stomach
Many patients with cold stomachs often develop this condition due to poor dietary habits, such as a preference for raw and cold foods and irregular meal times, which over time can lead to a cold stomach.
Cold weather or consumption of raw and cold foods can trigger or worsen stomach pain.
Those with a cold stomach should avoid raw, cold, and cooling foods, such as mung beans, chilled watermelon, dragon fruit, persimmons, and crabs, as these can exacerbate the condition.
People with a cold stomach can appropriately consume warming foods, such as lamb, pig stomach, pumpkin, and walnuts. They can also add ginger and pepper to their diet.
▋Hot Stomach
A hot stomach, in severe cases, is referred to as stomach fire.
There are many causes of stomach heat, such as excessive alcohol consumption, a preference for spicy and fried foods, which manifest as stomach pain with a burning sensation, often accompanied by thirst, bitter taste in the mouth, bad breath, and even swollen gums, dry throat, short and red urine, and constipation.
People with a hot stomach prefer cold drinks and foods because they provide a sense of comfort when consumed.
Those with a hot stomach are the opposite of those with a cold stomach and should consume cooling foods appropriately.
Such as mung beans, winter melon, lotus seeds, and bitter melon, while avoiding fried, spicy, and irritating foods, and limiting lamb, dog meat, pepper, and Sichuan pepper, as these can exacerbate stomach heat.
Warm the Stomach and Strengthen the Spleen – Xianshu Soup
As we know, TCM does not focus on disease names; it emphasizes syndrome differentiation and treatment. What symptoms may arise?
For example, fatigue, loss of appetite, cold limbs, belching, abdominal bloating, and cold pain in the stomach.
After a hospital examination, one may be diagnosed with gastritis, which can be further classified into chronic gastritis and atrophic gastritis based on severity.
In TCM, the understanding of chronic gastritis and atrophic gastritis can be simplified to four words: spleen and stomach deficiency cold.
For this type of deficiency cold gastritis, we can use a warming and spleen-strengthening formula for regulation.
Formula Name: Xianshu Soup
Source: “Tiangping Huimin Heji Ju Fang”
Ingredients: Cang Zhu (Atractylodes), Da Zao (Jujube), Gan Jiang (Dried Ginger, processed), Xing Ren (Apricot Kernel), Gan Cao (Licorice), Salt.
Function: Expel all improper qi, warm the spleen and stomach, aid in digestion, prevent epidemics, and eliminate cold.
In the formula, Cang Zhu not only has a strong aroma but is also a well-known herb for strengthening the spleen and drying dampness.
It can dry dampness in the spleen and govern the three jiaos; externally, it can expel wind and dampness from the meridians and limbs. By eliminating dampness, it prevents epidemics, making it a common herb for epidemic prevention.
In the Qing Dynasty medical book “Songfeng Shuo Yi,” among 65 epidemic prevention formulas, Cang Zhu was used most frequently.
Da Zao and Ginger are a well-known pair for strengthening the spleen.
Da Zao nourishes the spleen and stomach, tonifies blood, calms the spirit, and also moistens the heart and lungs, benefits qi, generates fluids, and alleviates cough, making it an excellent herb for both nourishing the spleen and stomach and benefiting the lungs.
Gan Jiang is spicy and warm, good for warming the middle and dispersing cold, assisting the yang qi of the spleen and stomach, and can also open the meridians to assist yang, warm the lungs and dispel cold to transform phlegm, while also dispersing cold, drying dampness, and promoting the flow of meridians.
Xing Ren can disperse evil, relieve cough, moisten the intestines, and warm to promote the flow of phlegm. It can lower the lung’s metal qi, clear and moisten the lungs, and is classified as a phlegm-relieving, cough-suppressing, and asthma-relieving herb.
Processed Gan Cao has the effects of strengthening the spleen and benefiting qi, harmonizing the middle, and moistening the lungs to stop cough and relieve asthma.
Salt is salty and cold, entering the stomach, kidney, and large intestine meridians, can expel wind evil, brighten the eyes, tonify the kidneys, eliminate skin wind toxins, harmonize the organs, guide fire downward to eliminate residual matter, and clear heat and drain dampness.
The above uses primarily focus on tonifying the spleen and nourishing the stomach, ensuring the spleen is strong and not affected by evils throughout the seasons, while also moistening the lungs, stopping cough, and dispelling phlegm. The addition of salt also considers the innate kidney essence, allowing it to work together with the acquired to jointly prevent epidemics, eliminate cold dampness, warm the spleen and stomach, and aid in digestion.
Tips for Nourishing the Stomach
1. Eat more soft, warm foods
Foods should be fine, broken, soft, and cooked thoroughly, using steaming, boiling, stewing, braising, and simmering methods, avoiding hard, sour, spicy, and cold foods.
2. Chew food thoroughly and eat slowly
Eating large amounts of food quickly can affect digestion and absorption, and can easily lead to overeating beyond stomach capacity.
It is recommended to chew each bite of food 30 times, with each meal lasting no less than 20 minutes.
3. Regular meal times and portions
Due to sleeping in on weekends, busy work schedules, and other reasons, many people have become irregular in their eating habits, with two meals a day and binge eating being common.
This can easily lead to irregular secretion of gastric acid, resulting in damage to the gastric mucosa and further aggravating stomach diseases.
It is still important to eat three meals at regular times and portions, with normal meal times being breakfast from 6:30-8:30, lunch from 11:30-13:30, and dinner from 18:00-20:00.
4. Pay attention to warmth
With recent unstable temperatures, it is important to keep the stomach and abdomen warm, carrying a coat with you. Maintain a calm mindset to reduce stomach pressure.
5. Cook certain fruits before eating
Heating can soften the fibers of fruits, reducing their stimulation to the intestines.
People with poor digestion can cook apples, peaches, pineapples, etc., as they contain fewer heat-sensitive nutrients, and cooking can still provide most of the benefits of fruits, such as dietary fiber and minerals.
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