Seasonal Eating and Your Health

By Courtney Ellis, MNT and Lisa Compton, LAc, MSOM

What is seasonal eating and why is it important?
Seasonal eating is a simple yet ancient holistic traditional way of eating that has been lost over generations. The main concept is to just eat foods that are “in season”. Sounds very simple yet in this modern era, it can be very difficult to navigate when your local grocery store provides the same produce year round.  There is a purpose to your health and well- being that seasonal eating provides. It means preparing meals around foods that have just been harvested at their peak as well as preparing the body to meet the needs and challenges of each new season.

• Produce picked and eaten at its peak generally offers more nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants) than foods picked early for long periods of travel and storage (I recently found some organic bell peppers at my store from Holland) Out of season produce gets gassed, irradiated, and preserved in wax to extend its shelf life!
• Eating seasonally means eating local grown. This is beneficial to both the environment and your local economy. It supports your local farmers and cuts down shipping and pollution from trucking foods in long distances.
• It helps you reconnect with nature’s cycles. For example, during the winter months, citrus fruits are in peak season. These foods provide a higher vitamin C content which is vital to the immune system when colds and the flu virus peak.  Fall vegetables such as apples, grapes, onions, and garlic are used in soups and stews to provide comfort and are rich in quercetin,  a potent antioxidant and an immune booster.
• Purchasing foods in season can also make the most financial sense. Foods that are ripe and at their peak will cost less, especially if they are purchased direct from the farmer at your local market or through a CSA (community supported agriculture). Taking out the middle men, the grocery store and the shipping company, reduces the prices for consumers.

Seasonal eating is vital to both your health and the health of the planet. Try something new and find a fruit or vegetable locally grown in your area that you have never had before, make the purchase, and try a new recipe with it. Variety is the spice of life!



Seasonal Eating and Your Health (Part 2):
The Tao of Eating
 
In Part 1, Courtney shared the very practical (and healthy) reasons for eating ‘with the seasons’.  In Part 2, I’ll share a bit of the wisdom (not mine, but the ancients’) of traditional medical system(s) that helped give rise to this knowledge and practice.
 
As Courtney shared, and one can’t argue with the fact that you just can’t beat food picked and eaten at its peak - for taste or nutrition.  The ancients would have referred to this as the food’s qi, if you will.  In traditional Chinese medicine [TCM] (as well as other ancient & traditional systems of medicine and healing), all things - living or not- are characterized by qi (pronounced “chee”)*.  For our purposes here, we’ll focus on the living.  All of the food we put in our bodies is what gives us new qi or energy to survive at a level of health that mirrors the quality of the food that goes in.  The fresher a food is, the higher the quality of the nutrients (qi), and thus, the higher (more) the quality of energy your body will get from it.  You got it - you are what you eat.  
 
The second and fourth points Courtney raised were about eating locally as a benefit to the environment and the consumer’s wallet.  Millennia ago, this was just a matter of logistics; you ate local or you didn’t eat.  from a medicinal standpoint, healers/doctors looked to what was readily available in the (mostly) immediate surroundings to heal and cure sickness, and keep people well.  Health had to be restored and kept from the same environment that created it.  Nutrition has from the beginning of medical practice, been foundational in one being truly well or healthy.
 
In TCM, foods have 5 energetic properties (cold, cool, neutral, warm, hot) as well as 5 flavors (salty, sour, sweet, bitter, pungent).  These properties allowed help to indicate and predict how a food (would) interact with the body and conditions affecting it.   Doctors back then realized that they couldn’t keep the seasons from changing, but they could balance the effects the seasons had on their patients by advising them to eat particular foods at certain times, but avoid them at other times.  This is, of course, an oversimplification but the table below shows the correlation between a food’s energy (ies) and flavor(s) and its actions.
 
Flavor
Action(s)
Foods (list is not all inclusive)

Sour
Astringent. Calms diarrhea and excessive perspiration
Lemon, sour plum, yogurt (also sweet), leek  

Sweet
Moistening, lubricating
Honey, cherry, pumpkin, pear, apple, banana

Bitter
Draining: promotes urination, elimination
Lettuce, celery, bitter melon, tea leaf, coffee

Pungent (acrid, spicy, hot, aromatic)
Promotes circulation, stimulating
Mint, cayenne, garlic, scallion

Salty
Softening
Seaweed, miso, pickles

 
 
 
Since we are going into autumn, let’s look at what nature offers us.  Here in Colorado, the typical climate will be some cool and for sure dry.  This is a time of year when I see a lot of dry coughs.  Seasonal foods to help combat that?  Nature offers you the pumpkin, sweet potato, apple, and pear - familiar fall friends.  The salty flavor helps the body attune to the colder months of winter, but for those who tend to get that winter cold, relief might be found in having tea made with selections from the pungents (mint, scallion, garlic, or cayenne) at the first sign of the bug.
 
As I stated before, what I’ve just offered is a simplification; the practice of treating lingering or moderate to severe conditions requires quite a bit more nuance and training.  No worries - the first step is just local to your area.  
 
 
Butternut Squash Soup

• 3-4 lbs organic butternut squash, peeled and seeded
• 2 organic yellow onions
• 2 organic McIntosh apples, peeled and cored
• 3 TBSP Olive Oil
• 2-4 cups organic chicken stock, preferably (can use vegetable stock)
• ½ TSP curry powder

Additional toppings

• Organic Scallions
• Lightly toasted coconut flakes
• Roasted salted cashews

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Cut butternut squash, onions and apples in 1-inch cubes. Place them on a sheet pan and toss with the olive oil, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Divide the squash mixture between 2 sheet pans and spread into a single layer. Roast for 35- 45 minutes, until very tender.
 
Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to simmer. When the vegetables are done, put them through a food mill or processor with a medium blade. Add some chicken stock and coarsely puree.  When all the vegetables are processed, place them in a large pot and add enough chicken stock to make a thick soup. Add the curry powder, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Taste for the seasonings to be sure there’s enough salt and pepper to bring out the curry flavor. Reheat and serve hot with condiments either on the side or on top of each serving