Is cold weather good for the body?

[metaperl]

Hello, I have lived in California (Southern), Las Vegas, and Florida for most of the past 6 or 7 years of my life.

I am currently in Columbus, OH and am worried about surviving through my first winter. One part of my worry has to do with the fact that I have spent quite a bit of time on fruit... which is a cooling food. As a result, I dont have much ability to digest cooked food. I suppose soups would be OK, but then I wonder what nutritional value exists in cells that have been altered by fire.

So, I'm thinking of making my escape back to a warm area but was wondering if there was something useful to the human body about cold.

I know that warmth is very good for sweating out toxins. I know that if the body is not kept warm it will die. But I don't understand cold weather. I am a black Amercian, so I suppose having African roots has something to do with it - in Africa, as far as I can tell, there is only summer... sure it gets a little cooler at night, but it's pretty much warm there year around from what I know.

Oh and macrobiotics? Yes, I love tofu with tamari sauce. But I had to stop all cooked foods. I did aggressive colon cleansing and went all fruit because I was tired, bloated, and constipated at work. But reading these recipes about steamed cabbage and warm soups is tempting.

[WonderlandAlli]

I dunno if its neccessarily bad but when you're under-dressed it can be not good. Or not fun.

I'm from Louisiana and for some reason (it kinda just fell into this way) I am living in Alberta, Canada this winter. Here it gets down to -23*C. Ya. That's before the wind chill. I know that I gain wieght in Canadian winters, and that I find myself eating a lot more butternut squash. I also get very dry skin in Canadian winters, so I'm going through a lot of Jergens.

My tips as a cajun in the wrong climate: Get a really warm coat, and good boots with traction on the bottom. Eat hot soups like butternut squash or carrot. Winter vegetables are things like squash and pumpkin and potatos, so they make good bases for your meals (if you eat potatos. I do occasionally.)

Eat warm meals, make boiled salads instead of leafy salads.

I've been eating oats, miso soup, or rice for breakfast.
For lunches, boiled salad with tofu. (I like to simmer it in a seasoned broth, often with miso)
For dinner its a variety. I'll eat some northern fish once in a while like salmon, and I try to get a hot grain in with whatever veggie/fish/tofu item I cook. Sometimes I make the meat or meat substitute a little spicy.

If you want fruit, consider baking apples or pears in a pan filled with a little juice.

Now is not the time for ice cream.

[WonderlandAlli]

This might be useful to people needing hot soup ideas here. It's my vegan gumbo. It's made just like authentic cajun gumbo, but vegan.

Start about 2 cups (dry) brown rice cooking.

In a large pot, heat over medium temperature, 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.

Stir this constantly for about 20 minutes. Warning, the oil will get very hot. You are making roux, also known as cajun napalm. You want a chocolate color, and a peanutty scent. If you burn it, restart because you'll ruin the flavor if you make it with burnt roux.

Add a chopped onion, 1 chopped sticks of celery, and a large chopped green bell pepper. Saute in the oil for a couple minutes then add 7 cups of hot water. Let this come to a boil. Add several tablespoons each of vegan Worcestershire sauce, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, and dry thyme. The seasoning is really to-taste, so add what you like.

So that's boiling, chop up whatever meat substitute you prefer: veggie sausage, tofu, tempeh, seitan, etc and add to the soup. Let it simmer until the rice is done cooking. Taste it before serving to see if you need to add any more seasonings. Serve over rice in a bowl. When you refrigerate the rest, don't mix the rice in. It'll soak up all the juice.

You could also skip meat substitutes and just add more veggies like celery, okra, bell pepper, onion, or garlic pieces. It's not authentic Cajun style if you put in corn and tomatoes, or potatoes. (Something Rachel Ray seems to not understand.)

[Klara]

Very interesting to see commonalities around the world. My background is Hungarian, and ALOT of foods also begin with the roux - but the Hungarians add loads of paprika - not all those fiery spices you've mentioned for cajon food. But delicious, imho

But since starting mb, I've hardly used paprika (and I never believed I could cook without paprika!!!!) - and the truth is I only do roux when I'm cooking for non-mb people, as lately I've not been using flour if possible. (no, I'm far from my goal, as will eat if others cook it!!!)

Now if I want to thicken soup or any other food, I will add a grain, oatmeal is the easiest, but I prefer rice - or just blend the soup up, or use as you mentioned pumpkins or other kinds of heavier types of vegetables.

By the way, kasha is a wonderful winter grain - and tofu is cooling, so I wouldn't use that if I were trying to create food for warming. Also cooking food longer, using more oil, baking - all add warmth to food and to the eater.

And there was no mention of the body moving more during the colder months. I'm sure there's a desire to stay under warm covers, but seems to me invigorating work (shoveling snow??? nah) to keep the body moving would also help warm one up.

Klara

[WonderlandAlli]

Maybe at the gym but you won't catch me shoveling snow. And its in an apartment. I forgot to mention my gym membership, I don't really think of it as a seasonal thing to go work out, I guess.

Are there any meat substitutes that are warming?

Gumbo is really the only thing I make a roux for, otherwise if I need a flour its maybe for oatmeal pancakes that I make by grinding the oats in the food processor.

[enjambement22]

I've read buckwheat is a very good food for those who want to 'survive' in the cold climate. And it's delicious... Try kasha, soba, sobagaki - look it up in Aveline Kushi and Alex Jack's Complete Guide to Macrobiotic Cooking, a very good book, probably one of the best... I guess millet does the work (warm you up, that is) as well. Try oatmeal with cinnamon for breakfast... Some ginger in the pumpkin miso soup... I'm getting hungry here:-)

Be well, be warm

[WonderlandAlli]

That explains my attraction to soba noodles lately

[Klara]

as for the oatmeal, use whole oats, soaked, and cooked for a long time - the long cooking adds warmth. A friend of mine cooks it overnight and has it ready for breakfast - make sure you have enough water if doing that - nothing worse than waking up to burnt oats.

Klara

[enjambement22]

Klara is right about the oats. I use oatmeal because I can't cook breakfast over night.

[Klara]

My apologies to you enjambement22, I didn't mean to imply that it MUST be cooked overnight That was just an example of how it could be cooked for a nice warming breakfast.

According to Julia Ferre from Basic Macrobiotic Cooking, whole oats can soak from 4 to 8 hours, and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours, at a ratio of 1:2 for regular cooking or 1:4 for porridge (ditto for whole wheat kernels or whole rye).

So guess you could soak it overnight, put it on first thing in the morning, and if you haven't time to eat it at leisure, put it in a wide mouth thermos and have it at your first leisurely break at work.

also, although many people enjoy oats sweet, I'm more partial to a salty flavor - I love having gomashio if I feel it needs more flavoring, or a ume plum if I'm feeling a bit down in any way physically (if throat starting to hurt or something) or ginger if I want more warming.

Klara

[ninjashoes]

I get sick when I get too cold, I have no idea why.

[Bruce Paine]

Hi, all!

A good way to transition from fruit eating to cooked grains is by consuming miso soup, especially if one has done aggressive colon cleansing which could clear out with the crud a lot of the intestinal villi and helpful microorganisms that contribute to the digestion and assimilation of all foods.

Fermented foods such as miso helps both the helpful microorganisms and villi to replentish and when cooking onions, root vegetables such as daikon, and leafy greens such as Chinese cabbage, along with wakame, and maybe even dried shiitake mushroom, then you can be assured of a sweet enough and nourishing soup to satisfy the probiotic need before any meal.


Regarding the sickness coming from being too cold, my feeling is that our body has an internal heating mechanism that is interfered with when we get too cold.

Many years ago (1974-5) Satyam Smith, my boss at the East-West Journal used to run about 2 miles down from Farnesworth Street to the L street Bathhouse in Southie (South Boston) (at lunchtime instead of eating lunch) where he would enter a steam room and stay no more than 10 minutes before jumping out into the Atlantic Ocean in subfreezing winter and have a nice swim.

One might think that jumping into the ocean in the subfreezing winter would chill one to their very core but just the opposite happens when one steams or saunas before hand as the pores close up around the heated body when it makes contact with the freezing water and one can bear a good dose of cold water for quite some time, afterwards.

This window washer likes to take a hot shower followed by a freezing cold one before drying off, getting dressed (in layers) to work outside in subfreezing weather.

Keep your core warm be it by bathing or eating long warming warm foods!

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine