Autumn is traditionally a time for harvest and our attention needs to be on nurturing, building and supporting our organs for the cold change ahead. It is time to clear the heat of summer from your body.
This is traditionally the time of year when we fermented and pickled the abundance of produce we had from spring and summer as winter wasn’t going to be so abundant and giving, as winter is about slowing down.
It used to be that what people ate depended on what could be grown in the region where they lived, and also what could be stored and preserved in colder winter months. Times have changed and pretty much everything is available all year round now.We can get coriander in the height of summer and watermelon and mangoes in winter, if we choose.
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According to an article published in Choice Magazine in 2010, in the four-year prior, imports of vegetables to Australia had increased by more than 80%. We’re eating frozen broccoli and cauliflower from China, canned asparagus from Peru and canned corn kernels from Thailand. (This is probably now GMO corn from the States.) Since the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement in 2005, US produce has also become increasingly prevalent. You can buy American grapes, when they’re not in season in Australia, and sometimes in the supermarkets only American citrus fruits are for sale. This is also pretty scary now as GMO foods are so much more prevalent.
But if we want to stay in tune with the seasons then there are a few things to be aware of, these being what foods are growing naturally in a particular season and the ‘object’ or role of these foods. It’s also helpful to know what flavours, emotions and organs will be affected, so you have your best chance at staying physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally healthy right through each season. Wouldn’t that be nice? And yes, it’s possible.
The emphasis in autumn now needs to be on nurturing, building and supporting your organs and blood for the cold change ahead. It is time to clear the heat of summer from your body and get ready to keep warm. (I know this can be confusing. Why do we want to clear heat if we need to keep warm? Heat makes us sweat which cools us down. Think about drinking a hot tea or a spicy dish – you sweat right?)
Season – Autumn
Element – Metal
Environment – Dry
Organs – Lung + Large Intestine
Taste – Pungent
Sense Organ – Nose
Emotions – Grief and Sadness
Fruit and vegetables eaten in season have been found to have a higher phyto (plant) chemical content and contain more nutrients. If you buy produce that is not in season, it is likely to have been grown in artificial conditions, or picked prematurely and transported long distances either within Australia or from overseas. All these factors not only affect the taste, but also the nutrient content.
Research has shown us that vegetables picked and frozen while in season are actually higher in nutrients than if they are transported out of season from overseas. And not only do imported fruit and vegetables affect our health, but also the health of the planet, because of the emission of greenhouse gases and the use of resources to transport them the long distances.
Autumn is upon us. According to the Ancient Calendar it happened this year on Thursday 20th March at 16:57, with the Autumnal Equinox. (On any other day of the year, the Earth’s axis tilts a little away from or towards the Sun. But on the two equinoxes, the Earth’s axis tilts neither away from nor towards the Sun. The equinoxes occur the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator. This happens in March and September every year.) We’re starting to feel the change to varying degrees now. The mornings are getting cooler and the evenings shorter, (or visa versa if you live in the Northern Hemisphere). I put a pair of wool socks on for the first time this morning, and I’m starting to notice the change in my mood. I feel like staying home more and going to bed earlier. Just as we need to wear different clothes in each season, we also need to eat different foods.
Instinctively, we know that winter is about eating less of the salads and raw foods we ate in summer and more slow -cooked, warming foods like roast veggies, casseroles and stews. Foods now should be coked for a longer time over a lower heat with less water.
The direction of energy in Autumn is ‘down and in’ and the organs most sensitive now are the lungs and the colon. Autumn is about letting go. Looking at both of these organs, that’s just what they do – let go or eliminate. The emotions attached to autumn are grief and sadness, and unresolved emotions can present as physical symptoms such as coughs and gastrointestinal problems.
Autumn is associated with letting go – eliminating – and pungent flavours like ginger, wasabi, horseradish, garlic and coriander are what we want to be eating a lot of. We are encouraged to include a bit more oil now to protect our skin, as it inevitably gets drier as the temperature drops. Dry lips, constipation, dry scalps and coughs are all part of the dryness of Autumn. The condition of your skin reflects the condition of your lungs, so if you’ve got dry skin you’re more likely to have dry lungs. Oily foods like tahini, coconut, different seeds and nuts, avocado and sustainable seafood are all helpful in this regard.
Because of the dryness, we also need foods that will moisten the body; vegetables such as sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, leeks, spinach and fruits like apples, pears, grapes and figs, all of which are in season.
Some fruits and vegetables are in the shops all year round, which makes it hard to know when they are actually in season. Perhaps this is one reason why more and more people are buying fresh produce from their local farmers’ markets. This food is in season, it has not had to travel vast distances and it’s also a great way to help farmers build a sustainable food industry. Plus it tastes o much better, and as I mentioned before much higher in h=nutrients. Better bang for your buck, nutritionally speaking.
The wind at this time of year will affect your lungs, perhaps making breathing more difficult and coughs more frequent. You may feel run down and tired after you’ve been sick and this is due to deficient energy in the lungs in this season. Constipation is also likely, due to the relationship between the lungs and the colon. To strengthen the lungs, use cooking methods such as steaming and boiling. In autumn it is a good idea to eat foods that build your immunity. See below.
Autumn Foods – Garlic and shitake mushroom for their anti-viral and immune boosting properties. And all green, yellow, orange and red veggies, and spelt products. Apples, pears, persimmons, lima beans, spearmint, peppermint, sweet potato, zucchini, carrots, figs, adzuki beans, grapes, olives, spelt, kamut or rye sourdough bread, millet and brown rice, sustainably caught seafood, soups, leeks, vinegar, yoghurt, lemons, limes, grapefruit, cabbage and fresh nuts.
Cook at lower temperatures for longer times, using more water over a lower heat—stews, casseroles, soups and baking, and pull out that slow cooker in Autumn.
Many of us will suffer from dryness in autumn—symptoms of this are a dry cough, dry lips, wrinkles, dandruff, itchiness and constipation. To relieve the symptoms of dryness, we are encouraged to eat foods that nourish and moisten. These are –
– Organic soy products – tempeh, miso, soymilk and tofu
– Vegetables – mushrooms, spinach and locally sourced sea vegetables
– Fruit – apples, pears and persimmons
– Nuts – almonds, peanuts and pine nuts
– Grains – barley and millet
– Seeds like sesame and hemp seeds
– Oils – nuts, seeds, tahini, coconut, avocado, olives and all types of unrefined cooking oil
For a persistent cough, which is worse at night that you can’t get
rid of, makes you thirsty and is often accompanied by a sore
throat, try foods that nourish and moisten.
When you are sick, fresh ginger helps rid your body of illness through sweat, and when you are well, dried ginger builds immunity.
To build Immunity, oranges, pears, peaches, organic soy products, oysters and clams, green beans, royal jelly (check for allergy), shiitake mushrooms
For Phlegm, yellow or green (hot) phlegm: use cooling pungents, such as peppermint, chamomile, daikon, radish, watercress and locally sourced sea vegetables.
– White (cool) phlegm: use warming pungents, such as garlic,
onion, horseradish and ginger
Foods that build up blood levels and nourish your blood in time for winter are figs, pears, pumpkins, parsnips, potato and beetroot
Avoid
– Spicy food should be avoided if you are getting sick often, as it reduces immunity through inducing sweat and causing dryness
– Cold drinks and ice, melons, salads and raw foods, juices, raw
onions, dried spices and chilies
– Quick cooking methods such as stir-frying
The seasons are a cycle of death and rebirth and we nourish and support ourselves by living in accordance with them. What we consume may not fix all of our problems, but being aware of each changing season and eating the foods appropriate to it cannot help but bring us increasing levels of contentment and wellbeing.
So get those soup pots out and your favourite Autumn recipes. I will, naturally, be posting daily recipes and tips on my Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram to guide yout through this yet another beautiful season.
In Love and Wellbeing,
Janella
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To enjoy a 15% Janella discount on your @TheHerbFarmskincare order, use this code JANELLA15 and watch your skin take a deep sigh of relief.
Antioxidants are a generic term that describes the mopping up of free radicals (the bad guys) in your body – by increasing oxygenation.
Modern food far from existing in its original state, the stress of living in today’s world, strenuous exercise, sun exposure, pollution, chemicals used to grow our food and make our cosmetics, computers, TV’s and carpets, smoking, and bacterial infections can all cause a rise in free radicals to dangerous levels. This results in damage at a cellular level resulting in premature ageing like wrinkles, bad skin, black rings under the eyes and sometimes, serious illnesses such as cancer.
Many antioxidants are vitamins like C and E, but Carotenoids are the most powerful anti oxidants known. Along with chlorophyll, carotenoids are what give plants their colour. The most powerful carotenoid is Astaxanthin (blue-green algae), and the next is Beta Carotene, of which Spirulina is the richest known natural source. There are other foods high in different antioxidants. This is where you’ll find lots of them –
Astaxanthin
This little known carotenoid is now believed to be the most powerful antioxidant by far. There are only two natural sources of natural astaxanthin—the micro-algae that produce it, and the sea creatures that consume the algae (such as salmon, shellfish, and krill). Astaxanthin is 65 times more powerful than vitamin C, 54 times more powerful than beta-carotene, 550 times more powerful than Vitamin E. No adverse reactions at all have been found for people taking Astaxanthin. It’s perfectly safe. You’ll find astaxanthin in supplement form on line.
You may have heard of astaxanthin before. The synthetic version made in a laboratory is commonly used worldwide to give farmed fish, especially salmon, its pinkish red colour. You really do want to avoid man-made astaxanthin as it’s made from petrochemicals, which makes it a toxic hormone disruptor.
Cacao
According to a study in the “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry” published in 2003, researchers compared the antioxidant capacity of black tea, green tea, red wine and cocoa, concluding that cocoa has the highest antioxidant activity among the four products and the greatest potential for health benefits.
Garlic and its juice
Garlic is one of the best medicines in the world. It has natural ‘germanium’ and is anti-fungal and antibacterial (just to name a few of its actions). If you’re cooking your garlic, crush it up and let it sit for ten minutes before adding it to your recipe. It has to sit so that the enzymes can create the healing phyto-chemicals we need.
Dried Fruit
Goji berries have an enormous amount of antioxidants, yet dried Pomegranate seeds, (also expensive) have almost double the amount. And then comes dried Indian Gooseberries that have around 10 times more than Goji berries.
Green Super-Foods
Spirulina, chlorella and barley grass are chock full of minerals and enzymes. The enzymes are both anti-mycotoxin (mycotoxins are released by yeast/fungal infections) and antioxidants.
Matcha
This premium green tea powder from Japan is used for drinking as tea, or to use as a vibrant, green ingredient in recipes. Other green teas are grown throughout the world, but Matcha is unique to Japan. One cup of Matcha contains as much as 10 times the antioxidants of one cups of brewed green tea.
Quercetin
An antioxidant belonging to a class of water-soluble plant substances called flavonoids. Some research has shown quercetin-rich foods, such as apples, berries, red grapes, red onions, capers and black tea, are ‘natural antihistamines’ as they prevent histamine release. Quercetin is also available in supplement form.
Selenium
Sources include wheat germ, garlic, Brazil nuts, eggs and brown rice. Brazil nuts are perhaps the best source of this important mineral, and eating just 3-4 Brazil nuts per day may provide adequate intake for most people to maintain levels. Although, a supplement may be necessary if levels are low.
Vitamin A
Is found in dark green leafy veggies such as kale, rocket, baby spinach and all your Asian greens and any fruit or veg’ that is green, yellow, red or green in colour – so pumpkin, carrots, capsicum and broccoli, and spirulina has an enormous amount.
Vitamin C
This vitamin has long been known to battle the effects of ageing and disease. Like Vitamin E, Vitamin C is an effective antioxidant so it will help to reduce free radicals. Most fruits especially guava and paw paw are good sources of Vitamin C as are vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, Brussels’ sprouts and cucumber. Goji berries, Gubinge and Camu Camu have more Vitamin C per weight than most other foods on earth.
Vitamin D
Different from other vitamins because our bodies can make most of what we need with exposure to sunlight, unlike having to get it from our diet. In fact most foods aren’t great sources of vitamin D, and there are only a small amount to choose from. The best sources are cod liver oil, sardines, wild Alaskan salmon, mackerel and mushrooms. Sunlight is the best way to get your Vitamin D as it promotes this vitamin’s synthesis from cholesterol in the skin.10-15 minutes a day is enough, and allowing the sun to shine on as much of you body as you can is the way to go.
Vitamin E
Found in olives, nuts and seeds oils, wheat germ and leafy greens.
Zinc
Good sources are oysters, organic red meat, wheat germ, miso, pumpkin seeds, alfalfa, sardines, legumes, mushrooms, pecans, organic soybeans, sunflower seeds and whole grains.
Herbs + Spices
Extremely high in antioxidants, in fact at least 10 times higher than the foods above per weight, and the herbs and spices below are in a class of their own when it comes to antioxidants. Add these foods to your meals but you can also use them as essential oils and some of them as herbal tinctures. Look for 100 percent pure (therapeutic grade) oils, which are highest in antioxidants, and organic or at least wild-crafted herbal medicine. From the highest are cloves, cinnamon, rosemary, oregano, turmeric, cumin, parsley (dried), basil, ginger and thyme
Many of us are now aware that some things are better for our microbiota than others, and to varying degrees. Antibiotics and laxatives, as well as medications against fever and pain, contraceptive hormones (The Pill), or those to alleviate menopausal symptoms all negatively affect gut flora composition. Antibiotics when prescribed responsibly are obviously life saving. They have saved countless lives and wiped out many diseases. But, there’s a price to pay for everything, and in this case the over- use of antibiotics has gotten us into some serious strife.
These days however, it’s pretty hard to avoid them. Even if you’re a raw food vegan who’s never sick, you’re still likely to be exposed to antibiotics. 80% of the antibiotics manufactured world wide are for animals for food, so we’re constantly being exposed to antibiotics, every time we eat or drink, as the manure your veggies are grown with comes from animals that have been fed antibiotics. Antibiotics are in our food and in our water.
Studies are showing that small amounts of antibiotics given regularly, is a whole lot worse than one big hit when you’re sick and you actually need them. Antibiotics are not meant for prevention, but it is a billion dollar industry, so making changes to the system is, well, tricky.
It’s encouraging to see that more and more conscious farmers are using herbs and essential oils like oregano oil to replace expensive and damaging antibiotics that are so commonly and mindlessly used in commercial farming. The over-use of antibiotics both for us and in our food is destroying our gut flora, reduces immunity, increases anxiety and depression and keeps us susceptible to everything. Not to mention the damage they’re doing to our animals and our planet.
So far, western medicine’s answer has been to prescribe yet more drugs, so that now we have arrived in a scary place called ‘antibiotic resistant’. This is now at crisis levels, meaning some infections are becoming untreatable. What we’ve basically done is coat our world in a bubble of antibiotics by our overuse and inappropriate use of them. And antibiotic use is in Australia, which directly affects the development of antibiotic resistance.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is a type of staph’ that has developed resistance to a family of antibiotics similar to penicillin. When we take an antibiotic, the drug kills many bacteria, but a few survive. These surviving bacteria are now resistant to that antibiotic, and then they multiply. What this means is, every time a patient takes an antibiotic, he or she is creating more drug-resistant bacteria. The growing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a very serious and immediate threat to our health as a species. In 1974, MRSA infections accounted for 2% of the total number of staph infections; in 1995 it was 22%; in 2004 it was 63%. These bacteria were once mainly found in hospitals, doctor’s surgeries and nursing homes, but recently they’ve been showing up in gyms, schools, sports clubs, and other places where people are in close contact.
Two-thirds of the children today have already taken a course of antibiotics by the time they are 12 months old. Antibiotics have been shown to affect the childhood microbiome causing changes associated with allergies, obesity and autism – three of the biggest childhood issues in developed countries. This means long-term health implications for these children. While this link is still being researched, the evidence is mounting.
Bacterial infections need antibiotics, as the infection will only get worse, if it’s not treated. Examples of serious infections that arguably need antibiotics under one year of age are meningitis, whooping cough, pneumonia, infection in the blood and urinary infections. Antibiotics are ineffective for common viral infections however, so treating these with antibiotics results in none of the benefits and all of the disadvantages. These include most respiratory infections – for example of the ear, throat and chest, yet we are still constantly being prescribed antibiotics for these conditions. There are many effective alternatives to synthetic antibiotics. Herbal medicine and essential oils have both undergone much research and the results are exciting.
A recent British report estimated that antibiotic and microbial resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year and cost up to $100 trillion USD by 2050 if it is not brought under control, and soon.
Btw, scientists often modify seeds using antibiotic-resistant genes in the genetic engineering process. Some people wonder if there’s a link between these GM Frankenfoods and the ever increasing rates of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Castor Oil – coming from the seeds (or beans) of the Ricinus communis plant, is an oil rich in antioxidants and Ricinoleic Acid (RA) and also contains small amounts of linoleic, oleic and stearic acid. The healthiest and safest version of castor oil comes from de-hulling the bean, then cold-pressing the seeds to produce the rich and viscous oil.
Castor oil packs have been used by healers to help reduce a variety of health conditions for many generations. Placed over your abdomen or liver, these packs are used to improve liver detoxification, breakdown kidney stones, reduce period pain, reduce symptoms of autoimmunity, support uterine and ovarian health, improve lymphatic circulation and reduce inflammation.
To DIY: Mix two to four drops of an essential oil – depending on what you’re treating – with enough warm castor oil to lightly soak a piece of cloth, (either a lightweight tea towel, or a piece of linen, or even a face washer). Castor oil has a rather strong smell, so be ready.
Btw, you can buy packs that include a piece of flannel cloth and a pack, with straps – so you’re all sorted. Just Google ‘castor oil packs’. (See images.)
Wring out the cloth to remove any excess oil, then place it over your abdomen or liver for at least 30 minutes, with a heat source like a wheat pack or hot water bottle over the top of it. This helps to stimulate lymph and liver function. Lie flat in bed, and perhaps cover your eyes with an eye pillow and use this time of quiet relaxation to go within.
Placing the pack on the right side of the abdomen or the whole abdomen will help support the liver and digestive systems, as well as reproductive and colon health. These packs are used also to relieve pain. Aim to do it 3 times a week, and relax.
Castor oil packs can be a bit messy, so I wrap mine in a plastic-free cover like a bees wax wrap, or an apron. Be aware of any skin sensitivities, so avoid applying the oils directly to your skin.
Side note – I was once at a sanitarium (health retreat/hospital) in Austria, and part of the program was a daily liver pack, such as this one above. Instead of the oil-soaked cloth though, they used flaked pieces of dried burdock root (a great liver herb) that had been warmed and stuffed in a plastic zip lock bag. It was delivered to my room like this, so all I had to do was lay down on my bed, put a light towel over my abdomen and then the compress over the top. Gawd it was nice. And I really did feel the benefits. Gut and reproductive pain, as well as pent up anger and resentment – all but disappeared using these packs daily for the 5 days I was there.
Either way you decide to do it – it’s going to help.
