Stay warm when it's cold outside Baby!

Many people suffer from cold hands and feet or just cold all over. Conditions like low thyroid or Reynauds are what the Chinese would call kidney yang deficiency. This is when the body doesn't have enough energy to keep up the metabolism and body temperature.

The first thing you should do, if you suffer from the cold, is to give up all cold and raw foods from September through April. This means no raw fruits and vegetables, salads, smoothies, and cold drinks. It also means no cold foods like yogurt, cheese, cold cereal, and protein bars. No more ice cubes in your water or tea. Room temperature or warm drinks are preferred.

The next thing to do is to eat warm foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Soups and stews and cooked foods. Even lightly steamed vegetables eaten at room temperature are better than raw.

Raw foods cool you down which makes them perfect for summer but bad for the cooler months of the year. And if you are following the food craze of smoothies you need to chew your drinks!...because vegetables and fruits are carbohydrates which need to be broken down by the saliva, or else your stomach will have a hard time digesting them even if they are pulverized.

Cold foods will cool down your digestive fire. The stomach is supposed to be like furnace or cauldron cooking the food you eat. If you keep putting cold things in the furnace..it weakens the fire.In order to build up the digestive fire you can eat foods like ginger and pepper and curry. These will keep the fires of your digestion strong. Digestive enzymes can also help.

So in the winter eat warming foods and your body will stay warmer!!