Eating in Season – Eating for Spring!

Welcome to Spring!

Today is the first day of Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere and I couldn’t be more excited! This is my favorite time of the year. Colorado welcomed the new season with beautiful weather. The sun was shining, birds chirping…. Ah 🙂 I couldn’t help but take some time to soak it all in.

Since studying at IIN I’ve become more aware of the importance of eating foods that are in season. When we eat in season nature provides more fresh, flavorful and nutrient rich foods. Eating with the foods provided by mother nature, when she provides them, helps to maintain natural balance. I love the following quote….

The key to feeling in step with the seasons is to harmonize with nature, to follow her lead and dance to her rhythm.

The problem with today’s modern grocery store environment is that seasonal foods are available at all times of the year. This creates an industry where food is shipped from across the world. When the food arrives on the shelves who knows how long ago it was picked?

Eating in season means that we are able to buy locally grown produce. Supporting local farmers is goods for the health of the environment as it means that food has to travel less. This means fresher, more nutrient foods and peace of mind from knowing where your food is coming from 🙂

Eating for Spring

As I’ve become more in tune with my body I notice that I naturally crave foods that are in season. During winter, my body craved naturally warming foods – root vegetables, soups, and meat.

As the season shifts into Spring I’ve noticed my meat cravings drop off — not so appealing. Instead my body is craving more raw foods – fruits, vegetables, salads, smoothies…. etc.  I just had a delicious smoothie for dinner with perfect, delicious strawberries 🙂

Coming out of a long cold winter and consuming heavier foods comes Spring — the best time to cleanse. Mother nature supports this claim providing naturally detoxifying foods — including bitter leafy greens like dandelion, watercress, kale, etc.

Spring also provides a rainbow variety of fruits including detoxifying berries — my favorite 🙂

In Ayurveda Spring time is characterized as “Kapha” which is wet, sluggish, slow. For this reason heavier, creamier foods should be avoided such as fried foods, ice cream, and heavy dairy. This only adds more sluggishness to the body. Too much Kapha in the body causes reactions like allergies, which are so common in Spring time.

One of my favorite Ayurvedic practitioners, John Douillard has put together a list of seasonal foods to help reduce Kapha. Check out his list of foods to eat for Spring.

On the Positive Side?

I just got a new cookbook yesterday by a fellow IIN grad, Terry Walters called Clean Food. It includes over 250 recipes categorized in different seasons. Her recipes are all vegan and all the recipes I reviewed in the Spring section are gluten free and dairy free — Yay! I filled my refrigerator with fruits and vegetables of Spring and am excited to try out some of her recipes….. after my liver and gallbladder cleanse tomorrow. Yes that’s right, I figured I’d celebrate the start of cleansing season 🙂

The more I get in tune with the seasons and the shifts of natural order, I do feel more balanced. Whenever questions arise about what to eat, I think we should always look back to nature. In consideration of this amazing world that we live in, it truly is a magnificent symphony and by following its beat, rhythm and balance is inevitable.

Much love,

Aubree.