AUTUMN

Out of all the seasons, Autumn was the most difficult to understand for me. There is beauty but then there is letting go. There is lots of good food but then there is sadness. There are all those extravagant colors of the leaves but there is grief. So I started contemplating about what these all mean and realized that this is life. Life is beautiful and sad all at once.

“Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.” – source unknown

As the Autumn season is arriving, I feel like a little squirrel trying to get ready for the colder months: eating the colorful fruits and vegetables, preserving foods, making last minute repairs and just mentally getting ready. By now we are aware that the Summer is gone and a new season is coming with all its beauty and challenges. It was the Autumn Equinox a couple of days ago, when the days and nights were equal and from now on the days are going to get shorter and colder as well.

Autumn is a very special and unpredictable season. Every year, I marvel the beautiful vibrant colors of Autumn, the leaves on the trees and the vegetables on the table. It is the ending of a cycle and we know that all those leaves will turn into something new in the spring. Robert Frost’s poem sums up the Autumn season for me beautifully.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

When I walk through the forest in the Fall, I feel so peaceful. This is a time of tranquility when we start turning inward, a great time for spirituality. In the absence of creating new things, we can now focus on the importance of our existence, our spirituality. In Chinese Medicine, ” metal symbolizes the spirit that brings meaning and purpose to existence”. We can support our Metal element and this spiritual process with foods as well.

Element: Metal

Organs: Lungs, Large Intestines, nose

Sense: smell

Color: white

Taste: pungent

Supporting flavors: sour, astringent, bitter, salty

Emotion: grief, sadness

Health problems (Evil): phlegm

In Ancient Chinese Medicine, the Autumn season belongs to the Metal element. Like every element has corresponding Western organs, the Metal element’s organs are the Lungs, the Large intestines and ultimately the Skin. If you experience problems during this season for instance having frequent colds/flus, dryness, skin problems, excessive mucus, try to pay attention to your eating habits as well. If the Metal element is strong, the Qi, the life force will circulate easier and can help our body stay health.

At this time, “everything in nature contracts and moves its essence inward and downward. Leaves and fruits fall, seeds dry, the sap of trees goes into the roots”. Bitter and salty foods in moderation are the flavors that we need at this time of the year and help support this energy movement. The bitter flavor moves energy downward, foods to support this movement are dark green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach. Salty flavor moves energy inward and salty foods are seaweed and salt.

Let’s look at the nature of the Lungs. The Lungs like to be moist and warm. Moistening foods can help the Lungs stay healthy (spinach, barley, millet, pears, apples, almonds, eggs, home-made soy products, seaweed, flax seed and a little salt). Of course, the warming foods of the season are important for the Lungs as well (squashes, carrots, parsnips). In addition, the Metal element is associated with the color white and supporting foods like leeks and white onion are important.

As I mentioned earlier, this season is also associated with the Large intestine so it is wise to include fiber rich foods for the colon … and yes … in addition this is the season of letting go … letting go of things that no longer serve us physically and mentally. Beneficial foods are pulp of fruits, indigestible portion of foods, the bran of grains, and cell walls of vegetables.

The emotion related to the Metal element is sadness and grief. I always feel a little sadness at the end of the summer. Then I realized this is a natural feeling that we all tend to have. We are saying goodby to the warm weather and all the fun we had in the summer. To cope with these emotions easier, ancient people had big feasts during this time like the Harvest festival.

The flavor related to the Metal element is pungent. The pungent flavor is both protective, dispersing and cleansing for the Lungs and the Colon, exactly what they need now. To stay healthy, the stuck energy in the Lungs and Colon need to be dispersed. Pungent foods include all white vegetables, onions, garlic, hot peppers, chilies, cabbage, turnip, ginger, horseradish, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In addition to pungent foods, it is also recommended to eat sour foods in moderation to balance out the Metal element of the body. Sour foods are lemon, vinegar, sourdough, leeks, aduki beans and fermented foods like pickles or kimchi.

In addition, golden-orange vegetables have protective benefits for the Lungs and the Colon as they are rich in beta-carotenes (provitamin A). These foods include carrots, winter squashes, pumpkins, broccoli, kale, turnip, and mustard.

Let’s remember this is the Harvest season! “We must be aware of its abundant yet contracting nature” that can be accomplished by eating more heartier and astringent foods. Astringent foods for the fall are cranberries, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, rosemary, turnip, potatoes, chestnuts, walnuts, pears, apples, spinach, burdock root, buckwheat, millet, buttermilk, whey, kale, chard, lavender, rose, grapes and many types of beans and lentils including black, mung and aduki beans, tur dal, and urad dal.

To attune to the Autumn season, we need to make some changes to our eating and cooking habits. So we have grown all the healthy foods that will be used now but we have to be thinking of the weather getting colder too. Also, we need to pay more attention to diet as more complex dishes are needed compared to the summer ‘s quick foods. Cook with less water at a lower heat for a longer period of time. It is getting colder so try to eat more heartier soups and warming dishes instead of the salads.

If you are looking for dishes to make during the fall season, please, click on the fall ‘keyword’ on the right and you should get all my fall recipes.

Sources

by twincitiesherbs.com.