Usually in spring, eat less sour and eat more sweet to nourish your temper. In summer, eat less bitter, eat more pungent, and nourish the lungs. Eat less sweet and more salty in the long summer (June of the lunar calendar) to nourish kidney qi. Eat less spicy food and more sour food in autumn to nourish liver qi. Eat less salty and suffer more in winter, and nourish your heart.

In the Ming Dynasty, Gong Zhong wrote "Red Furnace Points Snow" and said:

Salt hurts more blood, and storing salt for 72 days in winter increases bitterness and nourishes the heart.

Duoxin hurts the liver. In the autumn of 72, singa acid was stored to nourish the liver qi.

Too much sweetness hurts the kidneys, so every season and every month (1) on18th, we should save the sweetness and increase the salt, and nourish the kidney.

In the summer of 72 days, add bitterness to nourish the lungs.

On the 72 nd day of spring, acid is preserved to sweeten and nourish the temper.

(1) Quarter month: the last month of each quarter, that is, March, June, September, 12 and1April of the lunar calendar.

In spring, the liver is full of fire, and the acid enters the liver as wood, which inhibits the spleen. Therefore, in spring, "acid is preserved and sweetened to nourish the spleen".

In addition, bitter food and medicine are not necessarily cold. For example, Evodia rutaecarpa, which tastes bitter and hot, treats liver and stomach deficiency and cold. Bulky, hard, warm, etc.