Zeng Guofan knows how to keep in good health. He also talked about his ways of keeping in good health in many letters, and passed these methods on to his brothers and sons and nephews through letters.
People have long recognized the relationship between diet and health.
Diet is the main way for human body to obtain nutrition and energy, which is closely related to human survival and development. A reasonable diet can make people healthy, full of blood, full of energy and strong resistance.
As the saying goes, "illness comes from the mouth." If the diet is unreasonable, it may cause unbalanced nutrition and even lead to some diseases.
In Yu Jize's Diet and Health Preservation, Zeng Guofan talked about the relationship between diet and health preservation, and put forward a health preservation method of eating only vegetables and not meat for dinner.
"I don't have to eat meat dishes at night. I stew one or two vegetables in the broth, which makes them rotten and delicious. I will consult, cultivate (the dishes are not expensive and palatable enough to support people), and try to stew them with my mother (Xinggang Palace is better than picking fresh vegetables by hand for dinner during the day). I used to wait on food, but I really like it. Broth is used now, but the taste is not as good as in the past. The younger generation does not eat meat at night, but only eats vegetables without broth, which is also suitable for health and advocates thrift. "
Zeng Guofan advocated a light diet and less vegetarian food. In daily life, he often eats rice porridge and vegetables, and seldom eats big fish and meat. The way of keeping in good health mentioned in this letter also fully embodies his diet proposition.
Zeng Guofan's view of vegetarianism at night is consistent with the method of TCM health preservation.
During the day, the human body has more yang and more energy, so you can eat more to keep your energy; At night, the yang declines and the yin rises, and people's activities are less. If you eat too much and have too much nutrition, it is not conducive to digestion, and food is piled up in your stomach, which is also harmful to your health.
This is what we often say now: "Eat well early, eat well at noon and eat less at night".
Zeng Guofan also paid great attention to "moderation" in diet, that is to say, the diet should be moderate, neither eating too much nor eating too little, and attention should be paid to the time and law of diet.
Modern life is extremely rich in materials, and people always like to eat big fish and meat when eating, rather than being vegetarian. However, while satisfying appetite, all kinds of "rich diseases" will follow.
Young people, in particular, rely on physical strength and usually do not pay attention to scientific diet. If they grow up, they will often lay the foundation for the future.
In fact, as long as you follow the laws of the body, eat three meals a day moderately, and develop good eating habits, you can play a certain role in health preservation.
Zeng Guofan believed in "destiny" very much. He thinks wealth, poverty, status, success or failure of career, victory or defeat of war and so on. A person's life is decided by God, and people just need to do their best and obey God's will.
Zeng Guofan also holds the same view on health preservation.
In Yu Jize, Listening to Destiny is also the way to keep in good health, Zeng Guofan said to his son Jize, "I always keep the word' try my best to listen to Heaven', that is, the way to keep in good health."
"Strong body, such as the rich abstain from luxury and get rich; The weak, like the poor, are self-sufficient because of thrift. "
He believes that no matter who is healthy or weak, if you can "do my best and listen to what he says", you can get a healthy body.
"The essence of saving money is not unique, that is, we should study hard, be frugal and not too much. In the remaining eight plaques, it is said that health preservation is based on less anger. I tried to teach you not to be too bitter. You have to be lively and save your life, and you have to be angry. I have done my best to avoid getting angry and know how to save money and keep fit. "
Health depends on not being angry and being frugal. Thrift is not only about diet and desire, but also about brain and heart, otherwise it will be tiring.
"In addition, the length of life, with or without disease, all resigned, don't have more delusion to care about him. Anyone who has more bait and prays for the gods is delusional. In medicine, sacrifice, etc., I remember the legacy of Xinggang Gong, and I will explain it a little to teach my younger generation. You can often chat with people inside and outside your home. "
Because Zeng Guofan believed that physical health was predestined by heaven, he opposed seeking God, Buddha and doctor for the sake of physical health.
Although his thought is somewhat negative and idealistic, it still has some enlightening significance for us modern people.
Modern people are under great mental pressure and live in serious environmental pollution. In addition, they don't know how to be temperate in life, pay no attention to the maintenance and conditioning of their bodies, and their bodies are often in a sub-health state.
People often take all kinds of health products on the market without authorization because of a little problem, even if they are not sick.
In fact, the human body itself has a strong self-healing ability. Many times, you don't need to take medicine for a little problem, and eating too much health care products is likely to damage your health.
If we worry too much about minor physical problems, we will accumulate depression and become a disease. It was not a big problem at first, but it developed into a serious illness.
Therefore, we might as well learn Zeng Guofan's "resigned" mentality, keep a good mood, and be not anxious, angry, anxious or depressed when things happen. This is the best way to keep fit.