Tag Archive for: seasonal eating

Summer Food and Lifestyle to Cool, Balance, and Promote Health.

I just finished the last of my spring artichokes today, January 18th, but summer has firmly arrived. This is the time of heat and dry which we balance with lighter cooling foods.

Summer is a time of weaker digestion and the summer harvest produces easier to digest foods and fresh cooling foods from the garden to eat. As the sun cooks the foods they are easier to digest and don’t require as much cooking. Reduce or avoid the hard to digest barbecues for feel your best.

Ayurveda is easy when we eat locally and in season, the organic summer harvest provides gut bacteria that helps us digest the carbohydrates and simple starches of this season.

The rising heat of summer heats up the liver, stomach and respiratory system causing the upward moving breath to heat and dry out the respiratory system which may make you more sensitive to certain foods environmental and pollutants.  The summer harvest does naturally antidote and help with this so eat plenty of summer foods.

Summer can bring on some constipation as the downward moving air is pulled into the colon and fans the digestive fire. This may weaken the downward flowing air and cause some constipation, it is worsened with air travel. This leads to poor toxin removal and potential re-absorption in the liver and gall-bladder creating an impaired heavy bile affecting bowel movements. Beets and apples (natural cholagogues) will boost the digestion and healthy elimination restoring bile effectiveness.

To avoid the negative effects of summer follow nature’s law and eat greens, fruits and roots from the season. Avoid winter/fall foods like eating lots of dry grains, meats, hot or spicy foods or acidic drinks (coffee, beer, and wine) which dry out, irritate and inflame the body’s delicate mucous membranes and negatively affect gut microbes.

Read on to find how to balance yourself this summer.