by Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac
Peacefulmind.com
When eating along with the seasons, there are two elements that should be taken into account. The “nature” of the food and the “flavor” of the food. The nature of the food refers to the foods innate temperature ie: cold, hot, warm, cool or neutral. Eating a moderate amount of all flavors sweet, salty, pungent, bitter and sour can help to keep your body balanced and regulated.
Pungent taste is attributed to the lungs. Moderate amounts of pungent foods like garlic, onions, ginger, horseradish, and mustard are beneficial to the lungs.
To help tonify the large intestines, concentrate on eating fiber rich fruits, vegetable and psyllium. Consider chlorophyll rich foods such as spirulina, chlorella, barley grass, wheat brass, klamath blue green algae Other green foods that are beneficial are kale, parsley, and collard greens.
What we eat greatly affects the health of your lungs. Eating excess cold and raw foods creates dampness or phlegm which is produced by the spleen and stored by the lungs. Dairy products, such as milk, cheese, cream, and butter also create phlegm.
Consider eating these food for Fall:
1. Fruits and nuts: apples, cranberries, grapes, energy-rich nuts and seeds (including walnuts and sunflower seeds)
2. Cereals, grains, and legumes: brown rice, corn, millet, oatmeal, sorghum, soybeans, black gram, adzuki bean, red kidney bean, broad bean.
3. Meat, poultry and fish: chicken, turkey, shrimp, carp, eel, chicken eggs.
4. Vegetables such as the root vegetables (including garlic, onion, carrot, potato, sweet potato, yam, and burdock), as well as squashes and gourds (including winter squash, acorn squash, and pumpkin) cauliflower, broccoli and all types of cabbage.
5. Herbs, spices, condiments, oils such as perilla leaf, peppermint, dandelion, honeysuckle flower, basil, parsley, wolfberry (gou gi berries), fleece-flower root, licorice, astragalus, rhubarb, ginger, pepper, honey, sesame oil.
