Get in Tune with the Season

It’s fall and the leaves here in Michigan are turning vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows.  The air is dryer and perhaps your skin feels dry as well.  We have left behind the warm days of summer for the cooler days preceding winter.  During this time of transition, it is important to remember that we are part of nature, and it does our bodies good to change along with natural changes that are occurring in our outside world.  For thousands of years, the ancient Ayurvedic health care tradition of India has recommended changes in diet and activities based on the seasons.

These changes help to keep us in balance, and many of them are intuitive.  Instead of cool, crisp, light summer salads and iced tea, many of us crave warmer, oilier, heavier, and sometimes even spicier foods in the cold weather.  We want to drink hot tea and snuggle up with a good book.  This is a good time to get out your crockpot and a create some soothing, slow-cooked soups, stews, and chilis.  Visit your local farmer’s market for some locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables in season such as apples, plums, carrots, beets, potatoes, onions, squash, kale, and pumpkin. You may want to replace your morning bowl of cold cereal and milk with a steaming hot serving of steel cut oats topped with grade B maple syrup, chopped nuts, your favorite in-season chopped fruit, and even a teaspoon of coconut oil.  Coconut oil is also wonderful to rub onto that dry skin that seems to go hand-in-hand with fall and winter.

So get in tune with the beauty and changes of fall, and watch your body respond with gratitude.