Winter Immunity Starts Now
How are you preparing for the cold and wet months ahead?
As the colder, wetter months arrive, the body naturally begins to slow down. In Chinese medicine, winter connects to the Kidney system, our deepest reserve of energy, resilience, and restoration. This is the season to nourish, warm, and protect the body before depletion begins to show itself.
So how are you preparing for winter?
Are you noticing:
lower energy
getting sick more easily
sore throats lingering
blocked sinuses or recurring ear congestion
headaches
cold hands and feet
tight chest or shallow breathing
sluggish digestion or bloating
constantly catching viruses from school or daycare
Often these are the first whispers from the nervous and immune systems asking for support.
Winter immunity is not built overnight. It is created through consistency, warmth, nourishment, rest, and regulation of the nervous system.
In clinic during winter, I often see people waiting until the body is already exhausted before slowing down. But in Chinese medicine, we do not simply wait for illness to appear. We strengthen the terrain of the body so it becomes more adaptable, resilient, and able to respond well when stress, viruses, inflammation, or fatigue arise.
Acupuncture can be incredibly supportive through the colder months
Acupuncture can be incredibly supportive through the colder months by helping regulate the immune and nervous systems, improving circulation, reducing inflammation, and supporting the body’s natural defence mechanisms. Treatments are often focused on helping the body fight off what is “floating around” before it settles more deeply into the system.
During winter, acupuncture may help support:
recurrent colds and flus
sore throats
sinus congestion
ear discomfort
headaches
fatigue and exhaustion
cold hands and feet
poor circulation
stress-related immune depletion
recovery after illness
For Children: What is the best defence?
For children constantly bringing home viruses from daycare or school, supporting the body early can make a significant difference to recovery, resilience, and overall wellbeing throughout the season. Melinda works with infants, children and teens using non invasive acupuncture (no needles); it is a Japanese technique that is soft, gentle, and nourishing for the body. It is used to alleviate cough, respiratory issues, reflux, constipation, sleep issues, and bedwetting, among other things.
Winter support is often a combination of acupuncture, breath work, food as medicine, medicinal tonics, and nervous system regulation.
And sometimes the simplest medicine begins in the kitchen.
Food as Medicine Through Winter
Winter is the season to return to warmth.
Warm meals. Warm drinks. Slow cooking. Family gathered together. Nourishment that is restorative rather than depleting.
Instead of reaching for another coffee or tea to push through exhaustion, winter can be an invitation to pause and replenish with something more sustaining.
One of my favourite rituals through winter is keeping a pot of chicken broth slowly simmering at home.
Andy Webb’s Winter Nourishing Chicken Broth
A recipe from Nourishing the Family by Andy Webb
There is something deeply restorative about broth during winter. In both traditional food wisdom and Chinese medicine, slow-cooked broth is considered one of the most nourishing ways to support immunity, digestion, recovery, and the nervous system. Andy, Mel’s husband had a restaurant for 15 years and has a passion for food and creating nourishing meals for his family. This is one of their families all time favourites.
This recipe is designed to warm the centre, support Lung and Kidney energy, and gently strengthen the body through winter.
Ingredients
1 whole organic chicken
2 brown onions, halved
4 garlic cloves
4 slices fresh ginger
3 carrots, roughly chopped
3 celery stalks
1 leek, washed well
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Small handful parsley
1 teaspoon sea salt
8–10 cups filtered water
Optional additions
shiitake mushrooms
astragalus root
goji berries
black peppercorns
Method
Place all ingredients into a large stock pot.
Cover with filtered water.
Bring gently to the boil, then reduce to a very low simmer.
Simmer for 4–12 hours, allowing the minerals and nourishment to slowly extract into the broth.
Strain and store in glass jars in the fridge or freezer.
To serve
Enjoy warm in a mug throughout the day or use as a base for soups with seasonal vegetables, noodles, shredded chicken, and greens.
Winter Tonics & Support
One of the easiest additions through winter is an Astragalus and Goji Berry tonic available in clinic.
Astragalus has traditionally been used in Chinese medicine to help strengthen the body’s protective energy, supporting resilience through seasonal change and immune stress. Combined with goji berries, this tonic becomes nourishing, warming, and restorative for both adults and children. Available in clinic.
It is:
easy to take
gentle on digestion
supportive through winter fatigue
helpful during periods of stress or recovery
loved by children because of its naturally sweet taste
We also have practitioner-grade probiotics available for both adults and children to support gut health and immunity through winter, particularly for families moving through recurrent illness, antibiotic use, daycare exposure, or digestive disruption.
Because true immunity is not just about avoiding sickness.
It is about building a body that feels nourished, resilient, warm, rested, and supported from the inside out.
Winter asks us to soften, slow down, and replenish.
Sometimes healing begins with the simplest rituals: warmth, rest, breath, broth simmering on the stove, and caring for the body before it asks us to stop.
Melinda is in the clinic practicing Chinese Medicine on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Spinal Energetics sessions are avilable on Friday
