Embracing the Changing Seasons

Cambridge, Massachusetts

We live in an age where humans have the ability to change nearly every thing about our environment.

When it gets cold outside, we turn up the heat.

Summer food no longer grows? Ship it from elsewhere!

It is more important than ever to tune into nature's radio.

Why is it that people get sick in the fall and winter times? Is it just the cold? Or is it something more?

I believe that it is the resistance of change and the desire to hold onto summer ways of living.

We CANNOT live a summer lifestyle and eat a summer diet in the winter of colder regions. Without us even knowing it, our bodies recognize the change and prepare for such accordingly.

By trying to hold on to summer ways of life, we are putting the body through unnecessary stress. We must learn to recognize these changes and fully embrace them through both lifestyle and the foods we put in our body.

Winter is cold. You don't need to be putting cold drinks into your body like you did during summer. As much as you love that ice cold lemonade or iced coffee.. it's time to let it go until next year. Try substituting with a warm tea of medicinal mushrooms or herbs.

When it comes to eating, look to what grows in your area. Is it fall? Aim to eat more carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, etc. Typically, many of these foods are orange.. much like the leaves on the trees.

Now, I am not saying to avoid all leafy greens just because they do not grow there seasonally. No, I am saying to aim to add more of these fall foods into your diet.

It can be difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, to eat completely by the seasons when we have the option to eat a balanced diet from elsewhere. With the depletion of nutrients in the soil from excessive farming, it may be impossible get your daily nutrition without some supplementation or imported foods.

However, the more local you eat, the less fossil fuels are burned to transport food from across the country (or world!). This in turn will lower the cost of the food you eat. Less cost to the producer, less cost to the consumer. Remember, you vote with your dollar. If you spend your money on local, organic food, that is less for the mass production farms that cause harm to our land.

In conclusion:

As much as many of us like to think that we are "better" than nature, or that we can beat / trick nature... the fact of the matter is, nature is what makes or breaks us. Yes, we have developed significant technological advances that can help make these transitions easier. Without a mindful balance, however, we may be making it more complicated than it needs to be. We need nature, it most certainly does not need us.

Listen to your body. It has not yet lost its innate intelligence.

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