[Dottie Roseboom]

Hi Hans,

BTW, I am not a macro counselor and am still learning too.

Coldness can be created by several different conditions. I'm wondering if the rice fast this late in the fall may be contributing to it. To ease the condition, it's usually recommended to only partake of liquids & foods that are at least room temperature, if not warmer. However extremely hot foods are also counter-productive.

Of course, cooked foods are more warming than raw foods. In 1996, when I felt extremely cold, my intuition warned me away from raw salads & tofu. If you need tofu for protein, deep-frying helps to neutralize the coldness. To impart more warmth into foods, cook them longer, but on a lower flame. Usually, the order of more warming to less warming cooking methods are: deep-frying, baking, stir-frying, pressure-cooking, simmering, steaming, fermenting, marinating, and sprouting. Microwave cooking is extremely cooling.

I also found out that sautéing veggies in oil, and then adding them to grains, soups, or beans, created a warmer dish, than just adding the cut veggies to the soups.

Some people say that food manipulation, such as finer cutting, grinding, pressing (as in pressed salads), & stirring releases heat & energy into the body. However, I feel that if food is cut too small, it can not cook quite as long as larger pieces.

If your condition permits, whole oats cooked overnight are very warming & tasty. Sweet brown rice, mochi, spelt, sunflower & sesame seeds, walnuts, & chestnuts are warming. Rice, corn, buckwheat & rye are more neutral, while many of the other grains are more cooling.

Parsnips, parsley, mustard greens, winter squash, cabbage, kale, onion, leek, & scallions are the warming veggies. Of course, hot peppers are initially warming :-), but if used very often or in large quantities, they actually cool the body. Likewise, a teaspoon of rice syrup is warming, while more will tend to cool the body.

As Klara mentioned, ginger can be warming, especially dried ginger. Fruits tend to be cooling. Baking or poaching helps. Soy milk is cooling.

Once the food is prepared, chewing well releases its heat. Avoid consuming too many liquids.

Besides the food aspect, I found that keeping the kidneys & hara warm really helped. As soon as the weather cooled, I started wearing boots, gloves & a hat.

And of course, you already mentioned about moving around to keep warm. Washing dishes works well too :-)

Wishing you warmth & happiness.
Dottie Roseboom