Yang foods for a warmer body

Staying warm in winter is a topic that we explored last week on the health page and, since I am always cold, it’s likely to be a topic that reappears regularly — possibly even every week, until it gets warm again (and by that I mean 90 degrees or more). Last week’s article concerned warm clothing. This week, I am going to explore the Traditional Chinese Medicine concept of “warming foods.”For anyone who is a representative of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) national organization, let me say right off that this is in no way a definitive explanation of this topic.In TCM, certain foods are believed to warm the organs of the body by raising their qi (which is essentially your circulation, but in a more complex and spiritual way that involves more than just blood).Some of the fruits on the warming foods list are fairly obscure and can be excluded safely from this article (Hawthorn fruit, anyone?). But many others are pretty easy to find. In the category of fruits, you can eat stone fruits such as peaches, apricots and cherries. You can eat the super fruit of the 21st century, the raspberry. If you’d like to eat something with a more Asian feel, since we’re talking about TCM, you can eat fresh lychees or dried mandarin peels.I personally love to put out a plate of dried fruits and walnuts as a dessert or snack, and as it turns out these are also warming foods, or at least walnuts and dates are on the list. Pine nuts, an essential ingredient in pesto sauce, are there, too.Members of the onion family are very warming, which is not that much of a surprise. You can eat leeks, chives, onions, scallions, fennel and garlic to give your qi a kickstart. (Qi, by the way, is pronounced “chee.”)The only grain, really, on the list is Asian sticky rice. But coffee, wine and vinegar are on the list, which I found a little surprising. Butter is warming, as are eel and venison (hmm). More traditionally, you can eat chicken, ham or lamb and most of the shellfish (lobster, shrimp, mussels).I’m not sure what you should do with this information, other than to incorporate it as you seek to eat a healthy balanced diet. And as a closing thought, this explanation from one website of the differences between yin energy and yang energy:Yin energy is darker, slower moving and colder. Yang energy is faster, hotter, more energetic. Yin foods are generally grown in earth and darkness and they tend to be soft, wet and cool. Yang foods are grown in air and sunshine and are hard, dry and spicy.