Jim Montrose

Fall Season and Food

I am waiting for my orange crop, but fall is peaking its head around the corner with the chilly weather we are starting to get. This is the time of fading summer heat as nature and our bodies release extra heat, and the fall harvest comes to balance us with warming, nourishing, and grounding foods.

Autumn is dry, rough, windy, erratic, cool, subtle, and clear. These are all Vata qualities and autumn is a Vata season. The autumn harvest produces correct —more nourishing foods and heavy foods to eat for the fall and coming winter. The fall harvest supplies abundant fruits and a big harvest of foods to get us through the quiet non-growing times of winter.

In the fall, we often bake delicious pumpkin breads, making apple pie, and dining on hearty, grounding soups—foods that naturally counter the dry, light, cold, and erratic nature of the fall.

Nourishing foods are called ojas building foods. Ojas foods for autumn include root vegetables such as carrots and beets and hard “winter” squash like pumpkins and butternut squash as well as ghee, nuts (like almonds and pecans, or pecan-nuts), and seeds.

Summer transitioning to fall can result in drying, weakened digestion, and mucous production if the summer heat accumulation (excess Pitta) gets too high. Some patients and I experienced this excess heat and mucous this year. This may result in a craving for spicy foods (antidote for mucous), stimulating foods and drinks (coffee) and alcohol which increase the imbalance.

Eating pomegranates, apples and watermelon can cool you down and lead the heat out of the body so you are prepared for the fall. Increase apples, pomegranate and if still available watermelon. A time to fill up on end of summer greens, kale, spinach, and other end of summer produce.

Ayurveda is easier when we eat locally and in season, the organic fall harvest provides what we need for the season with more nourishing foods to prepare for the coming cold of fall and the winter hibernation. The cooling and astringent foods at the end of summer fruit season are useful to lead the excess Pitta out of the body mentioned above.

Fall is often a time to clear the liver and toxins from the body that may have accumulated and affected bowel movements. We can release the bile and toxins with beets and apples (natural cholagogues) that boost the digestion and healthy elimination restoring bile effectiveness.

Winter/fall foods like the eating of dry grains, potentially bread (which is harvested in the fall and winter when our digestion can more readily manage it), hot or spicy foods, root vegetables, heavier more nourishing foods, and watery soups and beans to counter fall/winter dryness and to introduce healthy winter microbes.

Why Eat Seasonally?

When we match the food with the season, we ingest the correct microbes for the season, fall installs the microbes of winter changing from the spring and summer microbes. Winter microbes create balanced immunity and better digestion. They also improve our mood, energy, help regulate blood sugar, and sleep. Winter is associated with the qualities of ‘Vata,’ which are cold, air, dry and light. To stay balanced, focus on food and tastes that are the opposite and activities, see next months article for lifestyle recommendations, which are warm, moist, heavy, and oily.

The Ayurvedic dosha (body type) list includes the foods to balance Vata in the fall and winter. Many of the foods on the list may be seasonal where you live. Foods harvested today do not always represent the season that they were originally harvested in.

Even if a food on the list is not harvested in one’s region during that season (fall: April to May for the southern hemisphere, October to December in the northern hemisphere) – or never grow in your region – their qualities are still balancing.

Take it to the next level by eating locally, but it is not necessary to stay balanced. Many people appreciate the variety that the list offers as eating locally in many climates would be too limiting for many people.

THE FALL BODY

During fall, everyone is more susceptible to a Vata imbalance—even if your predominant dosha is not Vata. Signs of an excess, imbalanced Vata dosha include:

Anxiety
Poor ability to focus or commit.
Insomnia
Gas and bloating
Dry skin, hair, and/or nails
Weight loss

Vata predominant doshas (body types) are prone to Vata disturbances in the fall and winter. Add the qualities of Kapha (heavy and oily) as well as Pitta (warm and moist) foods and beverages you consume to support sattva, or a balance, in your body.

Read on to learn how to embrace fall foods with the autumn food list, eat to support your body, and stay healthy with fall food for your dosha.