Tips for a Healthy Fall
If you’re starting to crave warm soup and day dream about a crackling fireplace, you’re clearly under the influence of fall. There’s a reason why your mood, food preferences and energy levels change seasonally. In Chinese medicine terms, fall signifies harvest, a time to reserve fuel and food while planning for winter. While in summer we must adjust to hot and damp weather, fall conditions are dry and windy. Fall energy can yield an abundant harvest, yet its essence contracts to moves inward in to prepare for cold weather.
If your allergies flare up in fall that’s partially because fall’s nature is windy, which blows dry plant material more forcefully — disturbing the sinuses. In Chinese medicine, the lungs are considered the root while sinuses are the branch. It’s no surprise that fall relates to the metal element, which signifies the lung and large intestine.
We all have organs which seem to run on autopilot and others that are more vulnerable to change and disorder. Wind itself can challenge our body’s protective energy, called wei qi. Wei qi, a protective energy on your skin surface, relates to immunity. The lungs are responsible for the health of wei qi. Therefore, the stronger your lungs are, the more intact your wei qi. As lungs are nourished by the digestive organs, a healthy diet plays an important role in immunity. Moderate exercise also ventilates the lungs and helps to clear them from pathological fluids like phlegm.
In Chinese medicine terms, wind can also transport pathogenic influences into the body, such as cold and flu viruses. These tend to enter the body from the back, whereas dryness is more likely to enter via the mouth and nasal passages. Protecting yourself can be as simple as wearing a scarf on a windy day to protect the neck. Ayurveda, or traditional Indian medicine, also considers excess wind a pathogenic influence. In Ayurveda, excessive wind is called vata. Vata scatters the mind, creating dryness , anxiety and insomnia.
Metal organs receives nourishment from earth organs, meaning the spleen and stomach. Therefore, your diet plays a pivotal role not only in immunity, but energy and overall health. As the weather gets dryer and cooler, you can tweak your diet to ward off seasonal discomforts. If you’re more prone to dry skin and itchiness, moistening foods like spinach, pear, apple, almond, honey and eggs can help. Fall is an ideal time for baked apples and pears, with warming spices like cardamom and cinnamon.
Seasonal root vegetables like squashes and pumpkin provide healthy fiber for the large intestine. Yellow and orange relate to the earth, signifying these foods’ affinity for your digestive organs. Root vegetables also have a grounding effect on the body, a good balance with the windy season.
In general, you’ll want to eat less raw foods as the temperatures cool. Fall means longer cooking times and heartier ingredients to nourish the body and support the immune system. Soups and stews make the perfect fall meal. This also is a great opportunity to make warm, nourishing drinks. Try this Korean tea for a perfect blend of sweet and spicy fall flavors. Asian pears are larger than regular pears and taste like a blend of apples and pears. Pears are actually a Chinese herb that nourishes the lung. The tea also contains cinnamon, which benefits circulation and ginger, a digestive tonic. It’s healthy, delicious and perfect for fall.
Asian Pear Tea
-1 Asian pear
-3 cups water
-3″ fresh ginger root
-1 cinnamon stick
Cut the pear into thin wedge-shaped slices. Cut a three-inch slice of ginger and pound slightly with base of knife to release juices. Add both ingredients along with the cinnamon stick to three cups water in a pot. Set heat to medium high and bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking for 60-90 minutes. Add honey if desired.
