Zuo Yuezi: Chinese Diet/Lifestyle Practices

[Anonymous]

These methods are very similar to the Mexican culture. My mother lectured me after having my son on what to do, and what not to do for 40days. The remedies are similar to the article and I too was not supposed to shower. Since I did not follow my mothers commands, till this day my mothers preaches to me. I can not complaint about a bone or joint ache because my mother will come back to me taking a shower with in the first 40 days of giving birth!

[Anonymous]

Very interesting, every culture has their own little things. For good or for worst a lot of non Chinese do believe in some of the Chinese remedies. When i went to China, I was very ill; I ended up going to the hospital and the first thing they gave me was hot water. I was told it would help me stabilize my body. I sat in the waiting room just drinking water, the hotter the better. So, I asked my Chinese colleagues, yes, in fact, they do believe it is curative. Actually, one of them told me that she has never had iced water in her life.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I just read an interesting article about zuo yuezi, which translates to "sitting the month". Basically, a woman who gives birth should eat certain foods (some really high in fat and cholesterol) to recover. They should also stay indoors all that time period and avoid baths or showers. It seems that older women, mainly the ones born in China, are encouraging their daughters and daughter-in-laws to follow these practices with some success. While I think that there might be some merit to the use of certain foods and herbs in recovery, I'm not sure what benefit there would be to not washing yourself for a month! I'm glad my wife didn't follow these practices when our 2 daughters were born (no, she's not Chinese, but she did have a number of weird food cravings!) You can read the article here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chinese-birth-20121204,0,1830387.story

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