Autumn is the season of the year that carries us from the hot Summer to the cold Winter. During these months the temperatures gradually decrease. The hours of day light reduce, the balance between day and night shifts to shorter days and longer nights.

 

Where leaves fall from the trees as they go into Winter rest. The green colours of the Summer are transformed into beautiful shades of yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown.

 

Autumn is an important transition of the year. As we begin to naturally withdraw, our bodies require more fuel to keep warm.  So, it’s important to adjust and change certain foods accordingly to the time of year to meet these natural demands of our bodies.

 

We only must see around us the change in the seasonal foods available. These seasonal foods offer us what we need for the transition from the Summer to the Winter.

 

The attributes or characteristics of Autumn are primarily dry, cold, light, subtle, rough, and mobile (movement) or agitated. These characteristics are visible to us in nature…the drying, cooling, lightening and agitated properties of the wind.  Attributes we naturally associate with Autumn.

 

When our body is balanced we demonstrate characteristics that are energetic and enthusiastic. Our mood is good and accepting.

 

However, as the characteristics of the Autumn season move in the qualities of the season naturally also dominate the season. Not just in our environment, but also in our body and mind. And because of this we’re more likely to experience an imbalance we naturally have the characteristics associated  the season like quick moving, unable to rest or anxious.

 

The typical symptoms that can show up for some during this time  include:

Difficulties with sleep, experiencing dry skin, hair, and nails. Possible loss of weight. Increases in levels of anxiety. Experiencing flatulence and constipation.  feeling 

ungrounded and easily loosing focus.

So, what should we eat to sustain balance in our bodies during Autumn? 

Avoiding cold, dry, and light drinks and foods. Instead replace with hot and warm drinks and heavier and oilier foods.

Increase foods that are oily, heavy, warm, sweet, sour, and salty and eat less pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes.

Here’s a few recommendations to include in your diet to help keep your body well balanced.

Eat more:

• Warm Soups like miso soup and vegetable and bone broths.
• Raw Nuts: almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios. 
• Fruits: cooked apples, avocado, dates, figs, grapes, kiwi, oranges, rhubarb.
• Root Vegetables: Sweet potato, squash, parsnips etc.
• Food supplements: bee pollen, honey, liver caps, amla berry, triphala

And saturated fats such as butter, ghee and tallow.

 Cook with:

• Legumes: mung beans, mung dhal, tur dhal, urad dhal, (NOTE: all legumes must be soaked for long periods and well cooked).
• Fresh Seasonal Vegetables: Radish, red cabbage and dark leafy greens, asparagus, beets, carrots,, fennel, garlic, green beans, green chillies, leeks, okra, olives, onions, parsnips, peas, sweet potato, potatoes, pumpkin, , zucchini, watercress. (NOTE: Avoid raw vegetables - cooked allows for ease of digestion)
• Oils: ghee, butter, tallow, olive
• Condiments: gomasio, lemon, lime, mustard, seaweed.
• Grains: whole amaranth, cooked oats, quinoa, sprouted wheat bread, or sourdough,  basmati rice.
• Spices: asafoetida (hing), basil, bay leaf, cardamom, cayenne, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, fresh ginger, mustard seeds, nutmeg, paprika, parsley, mustard seeds, poppy seeds, rosemary, saffron, star anise, tarragon, thyme, turmeric, vanilla.

Drinks and sweeteners:

• Beverages: whole milk - warmed and spiced.
• Herbal Teas: chamomile, clove, elderflower, fresh ginger, lavender, lemon grass, licorice , anise hyssop, mullein - prioritize warm-to hot drinks
• Sweeteners:  honey, jaggery, molasses, maple syrup, raw sugar.

I  hope you find these guidelines useful, and they help you to enjoy and maintain a healthy and balanced diet, incorporating warm, spicy flavours of Autumn. The important message is to tune into Gods natural rhythms of the seasons and of your body and eat warming, seasonal foods that God our creator lovingly provides.