Winter woollies, flannelette sheets, hot water bottles and boots: Does this sound like winter? You betcha! What about this picture: steamed broccoli, grilled salmon, crisp salads and green smoothies. It doesn’t stir up any cosy warming feelings, does it? In the same way we adapt our wardrobe to winter, so should we be adapting our diet to the chilly season.

Rigid diet = rigid body

Living in harmony with the seasonal cycles will provide you with many health benefits. There are many changes we make instinctively, but so often our diets have become rigid and unchanging in the effort to eat a “healthy” diet such as the one I described above all year round. This is not a bad diet for summer, but not so much for the winter months.  I am here to tell you that this doesn’t have to be the way, and that eating for the seasons will not only be more pleasing for your body, but also for your taste buds (I love a good salad and green smoothie, but give it to me all year round and I would get a bit sick of it).

Wisdom gained from the traditional teaching of Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine tells us that certain organs can become more active or sensitive at different times throughout the day, but also throughout the year and if we do not adapt to the seasons accordingly with our diet we can experience symptoms such as feeling tired and lethargic, bloated, emotional or we may have an increased tendency to certain conditions such as hayfever and colds and flu.

A healthy body can handle the seasonal changes with ease, but some people are more sensitive and so are susceptible to falling ill at the change of season. 

Preparing your body with specific herbs available from your naturopath or herbalist and making food choices based on what is in season can help prepare you for the changes and feel great all year round. 

Photo by Eli DeFaria on Unsplash

Eating seasonally

Eating seasonally no longer comes as second nature to us.  Somewhere in us is programmed the urge to reach for foods which heal and nourish us… but this urge has been dulled.  Most foods are now available all year round due to the speed and ease in which food can be shipped from overseas.  Food has been moved around the world for many years, however now that transport has become faster and easier it is possible to move perishable food great distances before it spoils.  It is now cheaper to produce food overseas where labour costs are lower, such as in African and Asian nations and ship it than it is to produce it locally.  However, the large distances that food travels has a price: pollution.   Another issue is that food is picked too early and artificially ripened with chemicals.  This means that the nutrients that develop during the ripening process are not present in our food, so we are getting less out of it.  Not only does this mean we are leaving a bigger carbon footprint, but the quality of the food is affected and this can have an impact on our health.

For the health of both yourself and our environment, try to always eat local produce that’s in season. 

Winter

During winter, our bodies tend to slow down their processes.  We need to focus on building up our energy and reserves for spring.  One of the ways we can do this is by using herbal medicine to support the adrenal glands (these make the hormones that help us deal with stress).

Foods to eat more of in winter are those with a bitter flavour and high protein foods.  Nutrient dense foods are important as well, which including foods rich beneficial fats, as the body’s appetite increases in winter yet the metabolism slows down – we are storing more from our food. Buying locally grown food is the easiest way to know you’re eating in season. Root vegies are good to eat more of in winter, and are best roasted, stewed, or cooked in soups. A slow cooker is a great kitchen appliance to have for the winter months.

According to the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, you should avoid excessive amounts of ‘damp’ foods during winter such as cheese and ice cream and very sugary foods as this can cause excessive heat to accumulate in the lungs, leading to problems like sore throats, bronchitis and skin problems.

Did you know: according to traditional Chinese medicine principles it’s important to protect your ‘Wind Gate’ during windy days to help protect from colds and ‘flu. Your wind gate is at the base of your neck and your lower back. So wear a scarf and a long coat on windy days!

Winter recommendations from Ayurvedic teachings say that we should wake a little later in the winter months and do some exercise on waking – this ‘later’ time is considered to be 7am, which may not be that much later for some people (such as myself!) What sort of exercise you do depends on how it makes you feel, some people benefit from more gentle exercise like yoga or pilates, and other may need a more intense cardio session.

Just because you may be getting up a little later doesn’t mean you can get away with going to bed later. Sleep deprivation and stress can impair the immune system, meaning you’re more susceptible to catching the winter lurgy’s. Make sure you’re getting plenty of rest in Winter time.

Include more warming herbs and spices into your diet such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger and black pepper. This could be added into food but also into your drinks.

Start and end the day with warming foods, such as a bowl of porridge with some spices for breakfast, and a mug of spiced milk (or ‘mylk’) to end the day. Try to avoid cold food and drinks, which will put out the digestive fire.

If you’re prone to hay fever in the spring time, now would be a good time to start regularly washing your sinuses with a neti pot, or even your standard saline nasal spray.

Summary:

• Balance the nervous system and rebuild the adrenal glands with herbs
  • E.g. Licorice, Rehmannia, chamomile, oats, passionflower
• Energising herbs help to eradicate chronic disease and improve metabolism during winter. See a naturopath or herbalist for recommendations specific to you.
• Eat more seasonal root vegetables, roasted or in soups and stews. Keep your diet nutrient dense.
• Include more spices with your meals. Try spiced milk before bed, or enjoy the occasional glass of spiced wine.
• Keep warm, rugged up and active.

The post Be in Balance this Winter appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

It always fascinates me to observe the synchronicities between many traditional healing practices. Things that cultures at opposite sides of the world from have learnt through observation, deduction and possibility intuition.

One of the concepts which intrigues me greatly is that of constitutional medicine. Put simply, this refers to the categorising of people’s health predispositions, personalities and body types. By knowing what you are more predisposed to have issues with in your health you can take preventative measures to avoid triggers for it. Knowing your personality traits helps you to understand your own reactions and feelings, and to process them more smoothly.

The constitutional types are named and explained differently in various cultures but they have a lot of similarities in their categories and the descriptions of each of these.

It is human nature to look for patterns, this trait is credited with being somewhat responsible for the survival of our species as we can learn to recognise danger, locate safe food and detect poisonous food, and to observe and learn from the world around us.

The formation of constitutional medicine is based on pattern observation and has served many physicians well over the years, helping to understand the disease patterns more easily and also being able to apply the most appropriate remedies and recommendations.

While our understanding of disease has developed vastly, many complementary medicine practitioners and some conventional medicine practitioners still incorporate the use of constitutional medicine in their healing practice.

A key theme to all constitutional medicines is the driving force of the elements. Certain constitutions are more dominant in certain elements, which was the reasoning for the way they expressed themselves.

In my latest podcast with Naturopath Clara Bailey we discussed how the we can embrace the knowledge of elemental balance and use food as medicine to encourage optimal health.
You can have a listen to that podcast here, or read on to discover more about how  the elements are found in constitutional medicine.

Key Constitutional Medicines and their Elements

The main constitutional medicines I look to are that of Ayurvedic Medicine, Traditional Indian Medicine and Humoral/Greek Medicine. They all incorporate the concept of elements, and while their constitutions have many similarities the elements do vary slightly.

Ayurvedic Medicine

This is the framework which I utilise the most. It categories people into the constitutions (Doshas) of Kapha, Pitta and Vata. These constitutions are formed by combinations of five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. Ayurvedic followers believe that the universe is an interplay of the five elements, and the elements are grouped into the three Doshas.

Each person has all three Doshas within them, but often one or two will dominate. It is the predominate doshas which determine a persons physiological and personality traits.

The three doshas are:

Vata (Air and Ether)

Pitta (Fire and Water)

Kapha (Water and Earth)

You can find more information about Ayurveda and the doshas in my previous posts here:

Ayurvedic Medicine (podcast interview with Lisa Costa Bir)

Eat Right for your Shape (podcast interview with Lee Holmes)

I have also incorporated some Ayurvedic philosophies into the blending of my herbal oils for massage. You can complete a mini quiz that will give you an idea of what your dosha (constitution) is as well as which herbal oil would be best suited to you here: Herbal Oils and Quiz

Traditional Chinese Medicine

The five elements play an important role in Chinese medicine, but also in many aspects of their culture (including the way that they eat).

The five elements are metal (金), wood (木), water (水), fire (火), and earth (土).

These elements interact with each other, some feeding another such as wood feeding fire, and some can inhibit such as water stopping fire.

These elements are associated with different organs, feelings and tastes, for example the metal element is associated with the lungs (yin) and the large intestine (yang), the feeling of sorrow and the taste of spiciness.

Humoral Medicine

This form of medicine is not as well known in the Western world but it is where our medicine grew from. Aristotle had a large role in the development of Greek Medicine, or Humoral medicine and he like many other physicians used categorisation to assist in diagnosis.

The four qualities that were used are Hot, Cold, Wet and Dry. From this, humors (their version of a constitution) were created and these are associated with elements.

Within the next few posts I will delve deeper into how our elements express themselves in our body, and what steps we can do to support balance within them.

The post Constitutional Medicine appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.