Winter/ Water Element at a Glance

In the tradition of the ancient Taoist 5 Element System

* Winter energetically emerges around the winter Solstice, December 21st.

* Winter is ruled by the element of water. It is the cradle of life and came from the sea.

* The organ system of kidney/yin, bladder/yang and nervous system are related to the water element. Other body parts related to the water element are bones, teeth, hair and hormonal system. The health of these organs and body parts are affected by our relationship to this season and element.

* Will, ambition, fear, courage, awe, adaptability, the ability to flow with life, all are things you can look for in the mind/spirit to give you an idea of the state of these water-related organ systems.

* Water/winter is about the deep movement of life, consciousness in the stillness of the depths of rest. It holds both rest and movement. It is the time of year you gather yourself.

* Winter is the time to nourish the gestation of seeds planted in the fall, letting go of the old to make room for the new.

* The flavor of food that nourishes our water, kidneys, bladder, is salty. An imbalance in this water element can manifest in either a repulsion or craving of salty flavor.

* The color that relates to the winter element is dark-blue or black.

The Importance of Winter

Winter is a challenging season for many. Societal demands and winter are like oil and water. Nature pulls in, slows down to rejuvenate, restore and rebuild her life force for the next cycle. Her energy goes into the depths where it is still. She reduces the outward demands to take time for restoration and to gather energy for herself.

The kidneys and the bladder are the organ systems ruled by winter. They relate to the water element, which governs this season and represents the death part of the natural cycle--the trough of the wave--the dark side of life. Our modern society does not support honoring this season, when the natural flow calls for slowing down and resting. Many find it an impossible luxury. The demands for survival are too intense. When the energy moves inward, the natural desire for inner exploration is not an option. The pace of life continues as it does the rest of the year. Unfortunately, this lifestyle is not in the flow of nature, and depletes our kidney energy, where we build and store our life force.

The wounding of the feminine influences the level of our deep-seated fear. The season and water element of winter has a direct relationship with fear. The combination of not taking the time to rejuvenate in winter and the stress caused by fear is damaging to our kidneys, depleting us of life-force energy. It is a vicious cycle. This energy that fuels our life and supports us to grow and manifest our self is not available. After a certain level of depletion, our life-force energy is insufficient to nourish the health of our organ systems; we are vulnerable to disease. This is a collective cultural issue and one of the more serious imbalances in modern society. Fear is a major factor that keeps us from being able to live by nature's wisdom. We are running as fast as we can simply to survive, physically or emotionally.

The need to simplify our life is evident and will take a readjustment in our priorities and sense of values. This is an indication of the transformation that is available when we live by nature's wisdom. Our pace unravels our conditioned world to support natural flow. Without time to gather our energy and connect with our self at the depths of our being, we basically limp through the rest of the entire cycle and can't access our deepest self to support growth. Some push beyond with the help of stimulants such as coffee and sugar. This forces their kidneys and adrenals into constant overdrive until they give out, never addressing the chronic fight or flight mode of our unconscious.

Winter is the season and element that supports us to take time out to go to the depths of our unconscious and meet our self. Winter supports us to explore the part of us that is in fear, so that we can soothe it. It is the season that many avoid so they can run faster and faster, until they collapse.

Make sure the kidney-building foods are incorporated all year long as they come into season, and find a way to nourish your self by checking out of your routine and checking in with nature when you take time to rest. You will also find the tools for soothing the fears of the wounded inner child helpful and necessary for supporting the kidneys.

I have included a list of symptoms of kidney depletion along with the foods and tonics that support rebuilding.

The combination of healing the feminine wound, soothing the fears, resting, consuming nourishing foods with appropriate cooking methods, tonics and energy practices will greatly support your kidneys. This foundation gives you the force to create and sustain life--just at it does for nature.

Kidney Health & Foods

Following are symptoms of deficient yin and yang of kidney energy from "Healing with Whole Foods." Included are foods that support both. Eat foods from this list year around as they come into season.

Kidney Yin
Kidney Yin Deficiency indicates the kidneys are failing to supply adequate yin fluids

Physical and Emotional Symptoms
Agitation, deep red shiny tongue, dizziness, dry mouth, dry throat, emaciation, fear, fever, insecurity, involuntary seminal emission, irritation, low backache, nervousness, ringing in the ears, spontaneous sweating, thin, fast, radial pulse, weak legs.

Foods That Build Kidney Yin
Adzuki beans, algae, fish from the sea, barley, black beans, black sesame seeds, blackberry, blueberry, chlorella, clam, crab, dandelion root, eggs, kelp, kidney beans, kudzu root, millet, mineral salt, miso, mulberry, mung beans and sprouts, nettle, parsley, pollen, pork, potato, rosehips, sardine, seaweeds, soy sauce, spirulina, string beans, tofu, watermelon.

Kidney YangKidney Yang Deficiency indicates that the warming, energizing and controlling function of the kidneys is inadequate.

Physical and Emotional Symptoms
Asthma, aversion to cold, clear urine, inability to urinate, clear vaginal discharge, cold extremities, edema, frequent urination, indecisiveness, irregular menses, lack of sexual desire, lack of will power and direction, mental lethargy, pale complexion, poor spirit, sterility, tendency to be inactive, unproductiveness, weak knees and lower back.

Foods That Nourish Kidney Yang
Anise seeds, black beans, black peppercorns, chicken, cinnamon bark, cloves, dandelion leaf, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, ginger, lamb, onion family (garlic, onions, chives, scallions, leeks), bee pollen, quinoa, salmon, trout, walnuts

Eat a balance of these kidney yin and yang foods seasonally to rebuild and balance your kidney energy. Pomegranate and cranberry juices are good detoxifiers of the kidneys. Drinking these juices, preferably unsweetened, will support your kidneys to release toxins.

Optimum Cooking Methods for Winter

Winter is a time to cook foods slowly. This cooking method brings the energy of the food deep within where your nourishment is needed in winter to warm your core. Soups, braised dishes, roasted foods, such as root vegetables and meats warm your body, restore moistness and nourish deeply. The colder your environment in the winter, the more warming you'll want your food.

Seaweed is one of the most nourishing and moistening foods for our water organ system. It is a wonder food in supporting your kidney energy. I eat it in soups in the winter and in salads in the summer.

It is helpful to make a list of foods that are in season to put up on your refrigerator as a reminder for your shopping. Include foods of all five flavors: salty, bitter, sour, sweet, pungent. This ensures that all your organs are being nourished each season. Include an abundance of foods that nourish the kidney and bladder from your list of foods for kidneys and water element. Some you will eat in winter, some are in season at other times of the year. This allows you to nourish these organs all year around. However, winter is the optimum time to focus on nourishing and building kidney energy.

Sample Winter Shopping List

Select foods from each category of flavor for your daily meals

Each season we integrate foods from all five flavors that are in season and lend themselves primarily to the optimal seasonal cooking methods. We want to have an abundance of foods that nourish the organ system that relates to each season. So for winter you would have all five seasonal flavored foods in your diet with extra foods that nourish the kidneys and bladder.

This list varies according to where you live. If you live in the tropics, your winter list will be quite different than someone living on the northeast coast. The best thing to do is to investigate what is in season in your area. Foods that are naturally salty nourish the kidneys and bladder. Some foods in the following list will be in more than one category. They nourish more than one organ system. They have a combination of natural flavors.

In the tropics farmers' markets continue in winter. Try to buy your produce at one of them. You can ground yourself with food that is growing locally. If that is not a possibility where you live it is best to buy food that is grown as close to you as possible. For instance east coast shoppers can buy Florida produce instead of California produce, or vice versa.

These foods are available in many areas in the winter and are greatly nourishing to the kidneys and bladder while also nourishing the other organ systems through all five flavors.

Salty Nourishes Kidney, Bladder
Cheese, kelp, mineral salt, miso, nori, salt water fish, seaweeds, soy sauce

Sour/Nourishes Liver, Gallbladder
Lemons, limes, apple cider vinegar, olives, raspberry leaf tea, rosehips, yogurt

Sweet/Nourishes Spleen, Stomach
Almonds, amasake, beef, beets, butter, carrots, cheese, chicken, coconut, dates, dried apricots, dried beans, dried mango, eggs, fennel seed, grains, honey, kale, lamb, licorice root, milk, molasses, olive oil, oranges, pork, rice syrup, salmon, sesame seeds, shrimp, sunflower seeds, tangerine, turkey, turnip, walnuts, whitefish

Pungent/Nourishes Lungs, Colon
Cabbage, cardamom, cayenne, cheese, chili, cinnamon, clove, coriander seed, cumin, garlic, ginger, horseradish, jasmine, onions, peppermint, peppers, rosemary, sage, thyme, turmeric, turnip

Bitter/Nourishes Heart, Small Intestine
Amaranth, artichokes, bitter sweet dark chocolate, cardamom, chicory, cinnamon, collard greens, dandelion root, fenugreek seeds, kale, kohlrabi, quinoa, rye, watercress, wild rice

Practical Application

1. Spend time with this winter information and how it compares to your life. Do you take extra time in the winter months for rest to rebuild your life force? Is there a way to structure time that is quiet and nourishing? Take time to get quiet, meditate, and feel into what serves your needs the most in your seasonal life and diet. This season is about deep nourishment. What can you do to allow time and space for this in your life? Taking this time supports you to build the essential qualities of the water element.

2. Spend time with the list of kidney depletion symptoms. Get to know your body and how it is signaling you. Do you have any of these symptoms?

3. Go through the list of foods that nourish your kidneys. Are any of them on you list of foods that you like? Any new foods that you would like to add to your list? Are any of them winter foods that are compatible with winter cooking methods?

4. Make a winter list that is yours, such as the list above so you can have all five flavors, foods you like, foods for winter that are compatible wih winter cooking methods. This is the list of foods that you know you want to integrate into your diet. Make sure there is a variety of foods.

5. From this list you can look for recipes that work for you and your lifestyle in the winter. Or create your own. This is the beginning of your personalized seasonal cookbook that you can refer to throughout the year.

Example: Continuing from our priority list from last lesson.

You don't eat red meat or gluten. You only want organic foods in your diet and you have a limited time to cook.

You have made your list of foods you like from the five element list from last lesson. You have a variety of foods, but not sure what is in season when. That will reveal itself each season as you pay closer attention.

You have reviewed the kidney deficient symptoms and realize you have symptoms from both kidney yin and yang deficiency.

You like beans. They are in your first list. You notice seaweed would be great for your kidneys. Maybe you decide to add seaweed to your list.

You see that pork is good for kidneys. But you wouldn't consider eating pork. You choose something else on the list that you do like.

You see that dandelion and nettle greens are on the list. But dandelion and nettle are not available in the winter. However, they are in season in the spring. These would be two great kidney foods you put on your spring season list so you can make sure your kidneys are being nourished year round.

Go back to the beans. Dried beans such as adzuki take a long, slow cooking method. They are great for the kidneys. They are available in the winter and perfect for the optimal winter cooking methods.

You choose to make a nice adzuki bean, seaweed soup with miso for a winter dish.

Winter Recipes

Following are three winter recipes that integrate much of what I have shared in this lesson. As you can see it is easy to find delicious recipes that nourish you in the winter applying these (What will become) easy, second nature principles.

MISO, SHITAKE MUSHROOM, SEAWOOD SOUP
You just realized adzuki beans are good for your kidneys. Why not add some to this soup? Rinse and soak beans overnight. Cook in water on a low simmer heat until tender. Do not salt while cooking. It will make them hard. Prepare your soup and add the cooked beans. Voila!

Ingredients:
6 whole dried medium shitake mushrooms
6 cups warm water
4 medium sized pieces wakame seaweed
2 TBS chopped dulse seaweed
1 medium onion, quartered and sliced thin
3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
2 TBS minced fresh ginger
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS rice vinegar
3 TBS minced scallion greens for garnish if locally available
salt and white pepper to taste
2 TBS miso

Directions:
Rinse mushrooms and wakame and soak in 2 cups of warm water for about 10 minutes, or until soft. Save water.

Heat 1 TBS seaweed water in medium sized soup pot. Saute onion in seaweed water over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add garlic, ginger and continue to saute for another minute

When mushrooms and wakame are soft, slice the mushrooms thin and chop the seaweed. Cut out stems when slicing mushrooms and discard. Add to soup pot along with soaking water, and 4 more cups of water. Bring to a boil on high heat. Add dulse.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Add minced scallion and serve. Stir in miso at the end of cooking. Serves 4.

KIDNEY-NOURISHING JOOK/CONGEE

This particular recipe is optimally eaten winter/early spring while still cold. Jooks are made with about 7-8 parts water to 1 part grain. Make overnight in a crock pot or simmer on low on stove. It should be runny. The liquid taken in this way will moisten your organs and body. This is a great winter jook that supports your kidneys and bladder. You can eat it for breakfast, or anytime during the day. The long slow cooking method nourishes your body on a deep level. I make my jooks in a crockpot at night before bed. It is important to have the temperature on low. Let it cook all night. You have a wonderful warming bowl of porridge on a cold winter morning. I will have more on jooks in the Late Summer lesson.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Brown rice
1/3 cup Millet
1/3 cup Quinoa
1/3 cup soaked Adzuki beans
1/3 cup soaked Mung beans
1/4 cup Lycii, or goji berries
1/4 cup Chopped walnuts
7-8 cups Water

Directions:
Combine brown rice, millet and quinoa to make a total of 1 cup uncooked grain. Place in crockpot. Add soaked adzuki beans and mung beans combined. Add water, turn on crockpot on low setting and allow to cook for about 8 hours. Add lycii berries and chopped walnuts when done.

BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH SQUASH, YAMS & DRIED APRICOTS

If you eat chicken this is a nourishing one-dish meal for winter. When purchasing chicken or any other meat please only buy from those who sell organic, antibiotic free meat from farms who have humane and sustainable farming practices. All animals must be raised according to how they were designed to live and treated with respect and gratitude for the sacrifice they make in nourishing us.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled butternut squash (about 12 ounces)
1-1/2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes; about 12 ounces)
1 cup dried apricot halves
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
3 cardamom pods
3 whole cloves

Directions:
Mix cumin and thyme in small bowl. Sprinkle chicken with spice mixture, then salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; saute until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Push onion mixture to side of skillet. Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil to skillet.

Working in batches, add chicken and cook until beginning to brown, about 1-1/2 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to bowl after each batch. Return chicken to skillet. Scatter onion mixture, squash, yams, and apricots over chicken.

Pour tomatoes with juices over; bring to boil. Stir in cardamom and cloves. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer until chicken and vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Uncover and simmer until juices are slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Enjoy nourishing yourself through winter and consider it an act of self love.