Bringing yakuzen in through the seasons: making the most of what is in season

Yakuzen is dietary care that chooses ingredients to suit constitution and season, on the basis of Chinese medicine theory, to keep and improve health. The word carries the character for medicine, but there is nothing exotic about it; using everyday ingredients is the basis.

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What nourishment and what effects a person needs differ with their pattern, or constitution, with the season and with how they feel, so yakuzen sorts and uses ingredients much as it would medicines.

During the period I was on leave through overwork, I was looking for a way to settle how I felt and met Chinese-medicine yakuzen. Thinking that if I had known sooner I need not have suffered so much is the origin of what I do now.

The basic theory of yakuzen rests on the five natures, the five flavours and the meridians. The five natures describe whether an ingredient warms or cools; the five flavours describe the effect of an ingredient's taste on the organs; the meridians show which organs an ingredient acts on.

When the body is cold, for instance, choose warm ingredients; when it runs hot, choose cool ones. Keeping the balance to suit how you feel at the time is what matters.

How yakuzen sees each season, and what is in season

The turn of the seasons is an important element in yakuzen. Ingredients are chosen by combining the five phases with the seasons.

Chinese medicine holds that each season has an organ to nourish. The basic pattern is the Liver in spring, the Heart in summer, the Lung in autumn and the Kidney in winter. Bringing in ingredients that suit each season keeps the balance inside you.

Spring yakuzen: settle the Liver and lift the metabolism

Spring is the season of wood, the time to nourish the Liver. Ingredients that clear the waste built up over winter and lift the metabolism suit it.

Ingredients that suit spring include bitter green vegetables such as celery, shungiku, mugwort and nanohana, and citrus such as lemon. These help the Liver work and settle the flow of qi.

Summer yakuzen: cool the Heart and replenish moisture

Summer is the season of fire, the time to nourish the Heart. Ingredients that head off the drain the heat puts on you, cool heat and replenish fluids suit it.

Ingredients that suit summer include water-rich, heat-cooling ones such as cucumber, watermelon, tomato and bitter melon. Bitter ingredients also work well at cooling the Heart's heat.

For heading off summer fatigue, stir-fried bitter melon and tofu is the one. The bitterness of the melon cools the Heart's heat and the nourishment in the tofu builds you back up.

Autumn yakuzen: moisten the Lung, guard against dryness

Autumn is the season of metal, the time to nourish the Lung. Ingredients that protect the body from dryness and moisten the Lung suit it.

Ingredients that suit autumn include white, moistening ones such as pear, daikon, lotus root and white wood ear. They moisten the Lung and guard against dryness.

The one I always make in autumn is pear and white wood ear soup. It keeps the throat and Lung from drying and brings moisture. It is well worth reaching for as the air starts to dry.

Winter yakuzen: replenish the Kidney and warm the body

Winter is the season of water, the time to nourish the Kidney. Ingredients that warm the body and store energy suit it.

Ingredients that suit winter include black ones such as black soybeans, black sesame and walnut, and warm ones such as ginger, spring onion and garlic. They replenish the Kidney and warm the body.

On a cold winter night, chicken and root vegetables simmered with plenty of ginger is the one. It warms you to the core and helps the Kidney work.

How to practise yakuzen in daily life

Yakuzen may sound hard, but in fact a small adjustment to everyday meals is enough to bring what it does into your life.

No special materials are needed; everyday supermarket ingredients will do. Start by adding a yakuzen element to your morning soup or miso soup.

A yakuzen habit that starts with one cup in the morning

Bringing a yakuzen element into a morning soup or drink is very easy.

On a morning with no time even to grate ginger, keeping a tea you can choose by season and by how you feel makes it easier to keep up. Nihondo Kancha, a six-variety assortment, has a little of each of six kinds, so you can start by finding the taste that suits you.

On a winter morning, for instance, ginger tea is the one. Ginger warms the body and helps digestion. On a summer morning, mint or lemongrass herbal tea is good. It cools the body and refreshes you.

Easy yakuzen recipes with seasonal vegetables

Seasonal vegetables hold the nourishment and the qualities that season calls for. Using them brings in yakuzen suited to the season naturally.

Build your cooking around what is harvested in the season: new-season onion and nanohana in spring, tomato and cucumber in summer, sweet potato and mushrooms in autumn, daikon and Chinese cabbage in winter.

On a hot summer day, for instance, chilled cucumber and tomato soup is the one. It cools the body and replenishes fluids. On a cold winter day, a miso soup full of root vegetables warms you.

Dishes made with seasonal vegetables are at their best in both taste and nourishment. People fall ill easily at the turn of the seasons, so make a particular point of them then.

Yakuzen dishes for different situations

Here are a few yakuzen dishes that are easy to bring in, matched to how you feel and what is going on.

When tiredness has built up, Japanese yam and chicken soup is the one. It replenishes qi and restores energy.

When the cold is hard to bear, tonjiru with ginger works well. It warms the body and helps circulation.

When sleep will not come night after night, goji berries and jujube simmered in something sweet are the ones. They replenish blood and settle the mind.

I once ate Japanese yam and chicken soup when work had worn me out completely, and woke the next morning feeling like a different person. Eating to suit how you feel really is not to be underestimated.

Enjoying yakuzen safely

Yakuzen is dietary care, and drawing the most from it safely calls for a few precautions. If you have an existing condition, or are pregnant or breastfeeding, we recommend speaking to a doctor before starting. Some ingredients interact with medicines.

Rather than eating a great deal of whatever looks as if it will work, balance and continuity are what matter. Do not chase a sudden change; bringing it into everyday meals a little at a time is what leads to health over the long run.

Yakuzen is not a case of eating anything as long as it is good for you; choosing while in conversation with your body is what matters. Choose ingredients that suit how you feel and your constitution, and keep it up without strain.

A book for getting a feel for the whole year

If looking things up again at every turn of the season sounds like a chore, having a book you can read one theme a day, such as 365-nichi no Yuru Yojo by Sumi Sakaguchi, lets you check that day's care straight away. How to choose by purpose is in Books for yakuzen beginners, and how to choose.

Healthy days with yakuzen matched to season and constitution

Yakuzen is dietary care that puts the wisdom of Chinese medicine to work. Choosing ingredients to suit the season and your constitution keeps the balance inside you and maintains and improves your health.

No special materials are needed; a small adjustment to everyday meals is enough to bring what it does into your life. Start with one cup in the morning, or use what is in season. What matters is keeping it up at your own pace, without strain.

Since I met yakuzen, the swings in how I feel have grown gentler and the turn of the seasons has become easier to get through. To eat is to live. Making everyday meals a little more deliberate settles both body and mind. I feel it.

Why not bring in yakuzen matched to the season and to your constitution, and spend your days well?

We recommend starting with the vegetable constitution check

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