Advertisement All spring and summer I bring a lunch to work consisting of a mixed green salad and some protein and fresh fruit. I also am motivated to be outside either walking or riding my bike in the evenings after work.
A few weeks ago, as the weather began to change and it began to get darker earlier, I didn't want salads but turned toward grains, cooked vegetables, fresh applesauce and foods flavored with curry, turmeric, garlic and ginger. I also found it difficult to get out for exercise especially when it was raining or getting dark earlier. So I began to wonder how the change of seasons affected my choices of exercise and eating. I went online to research for an answer my questions.
What I found is that there are actually guidelines for eating seasonally. What does this mean? Enjoying the full nourishment of food includes making your menu a seasonal one. Eating locally produced, seasonal foods is very eco-friendly and healthy. Foods are fresher and have retained more nutrients and they are produced in or on the soil and with the water that your body is accustomed to.
In different parts of the world, and even in different regions of one country, seasonal menus can vary. Here are some overriding principles you can follow to ensure optimal nourishment in the Midwest for fall and winter:
-- In fall, turn toward the more warming, fall harvest foods, including carrots, sweet potato, squash, onions and garlic. Also cook with the more warming spices and seasonings including ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon, turmeric and mustard seeds.
-- In winter, eat even more exclusively from the warming foods. Remember the principle that foods taking longer to grow are generally more warming than foods that grow quickly. All of the animal foods fall into the warming category including fish, chicken, beef, lamb and venison. So do most of the root vegetables, including carrot, potato, onions and garlic. Eggs also fit in here, as do corn and nuts.
I then began to wonder about how different medical systems’ view eating seasonally, especially Ayurveda from the Eastern Indian tradition. Ayurveda has a theory that anything can be a food, a medicine or a poison depending on who is eating, what is eaten and how much you eat.
For example, fresh ginger root is delicious in cooking to flavor food and help digestion. It is a stimulating food that can help clear a cold and induce a sweat when taken as strong hot tea. If taken in excess, it can cause acidity and vomiting and make you sick.
According to the Ayurvedic tradition, everyone had a unique need for balance. Since diet is one of the most important, ayurvedic tools for achieving balance, ayurvedic healers generally design individualized diets for people they see, based on various factors such as age and gender and doshic tendencies ( for more information on doshas click on this link www.whatsyourdosha.com/index.php), among other individual characteristics.
The place where a person lives and the season also are factors that affect dietary dos and don'ts. The below chart shows some foods listed according to whether they are considered cooling, warming or neutral foods.
COOLING: Citrus fruits, apples, avocado, banana, celery, clam, mung bean, seaweeds, soybean, spinach, watermelon.
NEUTRAL: Crab, grapes, pork, rice, whitefish.
WARMING: Most meats: Beef, chicken, lamb; Spices: ginger, pepper; oats, shrimp and grains.
"Nature provides the foods that keep our bodies in balance at certain times of the year," says Dr. Elson Haas, author of “Staying Healthy with the Seasons.” Fall, for example, is a good time for loading up on warmer, heavier foods in preparation for the winter. "When it's cool out, we need to add more fuel to the furnace," says Haas. However, adding more fuel to the furnace does not mean adding more calories. It means adding warming foods and foods of the season.
So to prevent weight gain and maintain physical well being, it also is important to begin to plan what you will be doing for exercise as the season changes. If you love to walk and ride bike, like I do, it's important to think about what you will do when it is no longer beautiful weather: walk at the mall, get an elliptical machine, treadmill or stationary bike, join a health club or gym, rake your leaves, wash the windows, clean out the garage or basement, even get your cross country skis or snowshoes ready for use.
Whatever you choose to do is great, as long as you keep moving and burning up those calories and enjoying life!
Judy Aufenthie writes a regular online column about healthy living and wellness. If you have questions for her, send them to LA_Center for Health-Healing@mayo.edu
