Cold is relative. During pumpkin season I worked the cash register in a barn, at a farm and wore numerous layers of everything from gloves to pants to socks, yet I still went home like an ice-cube. A teenage girl working with me emanated heat. She took her fleece jacket off (and offered it to me) saying that she and her Dad are always hot. This was hard for me to believe. But, it was true, and I learned that some people can feel comfortable in the cold, even though my toes and fingers are numb and my mind pre-occupied with how to warm up.
It's been five years since I moved from the tropical climate of Taipei to the Northern United States (2 years in Upstate NY, now in the NW), and finally I've acclimated to the weather; cold in winter, warm in summer. Throughout that time I learned a lot about how to stay warm (you think I would have known growing up on the East Coast, but this is not a teenager's forte).
Here are my tips for how to stay warm amidst the cold.
1. Drink hot beverages, even plain hot water! Add honey.
2. Avoid white sugar, it is cooling! Also avoid watermelon, hibiscus, peppermint, cucumber and tofu. These are just some of the foods considered to be cooling. Try them, then notice how you feel. Then eat the warming foods and again notice.
3. Eat ginger, drink ginger, bathe in ginger, and other warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, all the things you think of in winter drinks, except sugar.
4. Get outside in the elements and move your body. Go for a walk in the cold, rain and snow. Before going in a neutral temperature building, walk around the block; before getting back in your car walk again.
5. Take a hot bath. If you don't have time for a bath, soak your feet. If you don't have a bathtub, get a bucket, fill it with hot water, add sea salts, epson salts and/or baking soda and soak. (The addition of salts and baking sodas helps detox)
6. Eat healthy fatty foods, especially Pure Organic Coconut Oil. This oil speeds up the metabolism, so you burn calories and feel warmer, and it's healthy! Other healthy fatty foods are fish or fish oil supplements (choose high quality from fish like Sardines and other small ones), avocados, nut butters, and tahini.
7. Eat cooked or at least warm foods such as garlic, onions, root veggies, especially beets and carrots. If you eat leftovers reheat on the stove top, avoid ice, ice-cream, cold foods, raw foods. Though I do eat salads with a warming dressing of spices and tahini.
8. Learn what indigenous people from cold climates eat, drink and do to stay warm. Russians, Finns, Japanese, Koreans all have great examples of ways to warm the body during the cold, dark months of winter.
For more information read about Chinese Medicine, which outlines warming and cooling foods.
It's been five years since I moved from the tropical climate of Taipei to the Northern United States (2 years in Upstate NY, now in the NW), and finally I've acclimated to the weather; cold in winter, warm in summer. Throughout that time I learned a lot about how to stay warm (you think I would have known growing up on the East Coast, but this is not a teenager's forte).
Here are my tips for how to stay warm amidst the cold.
1. Drink hot beverages, even plain hot water! Add honey.
2. Avoid white sugar, it is cooling! Also avoid watermelon, hibiscus, peppermint, cucumber and tofu. These are just some of the foods considered to be cooling. Try them, then notice how you feel. Then eat the warming foods and again notice.
3. Eat ginger, drink ginger, bathe in ginger, and other warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, all the things you think of in winter drinks, except sugar.
4. Get outside in the elements and move your body. Go for a walk in the cold, rain and snow. Before going in a neutral temperature building, walk around the block; before getting back in your car walk again.
5. Take a hot bath. If you don't have time for a bath, soak your feet. If you don't have a bathtub, get a bucket, fill it with hot water, add sea salts, epson salts and/or baking soda and soak. (The addition of salts and baking sodas helps detox)
6. Eat healthy fatty foods, especially Pure Organic Coconut Oil. This oil speeds up the metabolism, so you burn calories and feel warmer, and it's healthy! Other healthy fatty foods are fish or fish oil supplements (choose high quality from fish like Sardines and other small ones), avocados, nut butters, and tahini.
7. Eat cooked or at least warm foods such as garlic, onions, root veggies, especially beets and carrots. If you eat leftovers reheat on the stove top, avoid ice, ice-cream, cold foods, raw foods. Though I do eat salads with a warming dressing of spices and tahini.
8. Learn what indigenous people from cold climates eat, drink and do to stay warm. Russians, Finns, Japanese, Koreans all have great examples of ways to warm the body during the cold, dark months of winter.
For more information read about Chinese Medicine, which outlines warming and cooling foods.
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