Eating Right For The Seasons

Eating Right For The Seasons

Just like we change our clothing for the season, we need to change our food too. Traditional healing systems such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine have recognized temperatures as one of the major influences on our health. External temperatures are not seen as only having a temporary effect but in some cases actually trapping heat or cold in the body affecting energy, weight, immune function, and mood.

Eating right for the season will not only help improve your health and help you physically and mentally adapt better to the current season, it will also help you to eat more local and seasonal foods – the way nature intended us to eat!

Read more about why eating seasonal foods is better for you and the planet

Hot Weather

We need more hydration in the heat and should eat “expansive foods”, which have a cooling effect on the body.

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Limit: 

  • Large proportions of food
  • Fats (butter, too much oil of any sort)
  • Excessive protein
  • Hot, hearty cooked foods
  • Root vegetables in large amounts

Eat:

  • Plenty of raw vegetables and leafy green vegetables (salads)
  • Fruit and fresh fruit juices/smoothies
  • Low fat animal protein (white fish, chicken, turkey)
  • Organic yogurt and kefir, cottage cheese and goat's cheese
  • Sprouts, beans
  • Ground flax, chia seeds
  • Whole grains like millet, quinoa, wheat berries
  • Cooling herbs and spices: coriander, turmeric, dill, parsley, curry*, hot peppers*

*Some foods like curry may taste hot, but are actually

cooling. These foods initially feel hot because they expand the

capillaries allowing blood to rush to the surface of the skin. However,

this promotes sweating – and when sweat evaporates, the effect on the

body is cooling.

Best Cooking Techniques:

Cold Weather

Eating “contractive foods”, which have a warming effect on the body, help to maintain balance and keep our digestion and metabolism functioning optimally.

Limit:

  • Raw fruit and juices
  • Salads
  • Cold foods (ice water, ice cream)
  • Sugar and sweets
  • Coffee

Eat:

  • Root vegetables, winter squashes
  • Stews, casseroles, bean soups
  • Steel cut oatmeal/brown rice porridge
  • Free-range eggs
  • Whole grains like kasha, barley, brown rice
  • Cooked/stewed fruits
  • Fermented foods (sauerkraut, miso, tempeh)
  • Small amounts of aged cheese
  • Moderate amounts of fat from nuts and seeds
  • Moderate amounts of fatty fish (salmon, tuna)
  • Small amounts of beef, organ meats
  • Warming herbs and spices: garlic, ginger, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, basil

Read more about cooking with herbs and spices

Best Cooking Techniques:

  • Boiling
  • sautéing
  • baking
  • dry roasting

Image: David Schiersner

Sources:

Murray, Michael. N.D., Encyclopedia of Healing Foods , Atria Books: New York, 2005.

Colbin, Annemarie. Food and Healing, Ballantine Books: New York, 1986

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Katrina Bertol
Katrina Bertol is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Registered Nutritional Consultant Practitioner, Certified Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor and Reiki Practitioner. Katrina has an undergraduate degree in fitness and nutritional sciences and an advanced diploma in Holistic Nutrition. As a practitioner, Katrina looks at her client’s whole health and individual genetic profile. She believes that no two clients are ever the same. By careful analysis of structural, organ and system function, lifestyle assessment, nutritional profile and dietary habits, Katrina’s goal is to help her clients achieve whole health with real life strategies. Katrina specializes in Weight Loss, Allergies, Detoxification, Pediatric Nutrition, Sports Nutrition, Fertility Health, Irritable Bowel Disease, Urinary Tract Infections and Whole Foods Cooking Preparation.