Healings From The Harvest

(An autumn guide to seasonal eating)

One thing I love about this time of year is the clear indication that we live in an area of truly changing seasons. The leaves on the trees and the food in the fields radiate the colors of coniferous green, red, and gold. Pumpkins, rutabagas and winter squash are a few of the seasonal vegetables of autumn. My mouth is watering in anticipation of the latest diet that mother earth is preparing for me.

The concept of “seasonal eating” is new only in the sense that it now requires a conscious decision. As little as one hundred years ago most people had a food plan determined by what was available at any given time of the year. The local farmers grew and harvested their crops according to nature. Our highways and air travel had not been developed nor the technology to transport produce quickly and safely. Therefore agriculture produce such as grapefruits, oranges and bananas were mainly eaten in the regions to which they are indigenous.

Eating seasonal vegetables is one way we can adapt to our surroundings and subtly connect to the quarterly phenomenon of changing climates in our northeastern environment. Winter, spring, summer, late summer, and fall are the five seasons employed by ancient Chinese Medicine to categorize this way of eating. Thousands of years of study within this tradition has resulted in a diagnostic process that links the organs of the body, emotions, flavors and foods into classifications that are supported by each of these seasons. An important subdivision of this practice is the “Six Divisions of Yin and Yang” which includes three balancing (yet opposite) pairs interior/exterior, deficiency/excess and heat/cold. We will be discussing heat and cold or the design of warming and cooling foods.
Ingesting watermelon, cucumbers, radishes and summer squash creates extra fluids in the body, which is cooling during hot weather. When temperatures drop we may want to consume more grains, root vegetables, and hearty soups because they will push blood out towards the surface of the body creating warmth. More cool season produce like kale, parsnips, turnips, broccoli, collards and rutabaga will not only weather a frost but will actually taste sweeter afterwards.

Root vegetables have long lasting endurance and natural preservative qualities. This makes them very easy to store. As long as they are squirreled away in a cool, dark basement or closet they will supply food all the way through winter into spring. Included in the list of cold weather root vegetables are carrots, parsnips, daikon radish, burdock, beets, lotus root, turnips, gingerroot, sweet potatoes, yams and rutabagas. Lotus root (the root of the water lily) can focus our thoughts as it oxygenates our blood to feed the brain. Kristina Turner author of “The Self-Healing Cookbook” says lotus root tea (found in your local health food stores) can help soothe coughs as well as help dissolve mucus in the lungs.

Dark green and golden ginger colored vegetables seem to shield the lung and colon from cancer because of their high beta-carotene (provitamin A) content. White vegetables like the daikon radish (a popular vegetable used in miso soup) is alleged to bolster immunity, reduce fever, and have the ability to dissolve excess mucus and body fat. Chlorophyll (the stuff that makes plants look green) found in broccoli, kale and parsley is especially important for inhibiting the spread of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms states Tom Monte and the Editors of Natural Health magazine in “The Complete Guide to Natural Healing”. All of these vegetables are also packed with iron, calcium, Vitamin C, Vitamin A and intestinal cleansing fiber.

Brown rice is the grain of choice at this time of year. According to Aveline Kushi author of “Macrobiotic Cooking For Health, Harmony, And Peace” brown rice is the most nutritionally balanced of all the cereal grains meaning its ratio of proteins, fat, carbohydrates, and minerals fall in the middle range of the seven principle grains. These grains include barley, wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, millet and oats.

Minerals found in this whole grain include chromium, potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc. “Prescription for Nutritional Healing”, a modern day self-help encyclopedia, claims chromium has the ability to maintain stable blood sugar levels through proper insulin utilization. This can be supportive for both diabetics and those with hypoglycemia. The book also explains that potassium maintains water balance in the body and acts as a mild diuretic. A number of people in colder climates suffer from dry skin, which is one sign of potassium deficiency.

Pungent and warming spices are especially helpful in the fall season. They include ginger, cinnamon, cayenne, mint, horseradish, thyme, sage, coriander, basil, and black or white pepper. Even though chiles and jalapenos will also heat up the body they are so hot they actually can have a cooling effect. Ginger, coriander and cinnamon reinforce the sweet flavor of yams, carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash and cooked apples (it’s not apple pie without the cinnamon!). Paul Pitchford author of Healing with Whole Foods suggests adding a pinch of these spices or nutmeg to yogurt or milk greatly improves the digestion of these highly mucus forming foods. Cayenne is one of the highest sources of botanical vitamin C making it a great remedy for symptoms of the common cold.

Spices are a wonderful way to add zip to any dish, but ancient Oriental Medicine traditions suggest over use of even the most helpful spice can lead to irritability and lack of focus for up to twenty-four hours after eating. Experiment and see which condiments are appropriate for you and which are too intense.

Cooking methods need also be taken into consideration. Whenever we cook food it makes it easier for the body to digest. This increases the availability of the nutrients to the body. This means the food can be absorbed without difficulty.

Therefore the energy that would have been used for digestion can now be made available for other functions like warming the body. Root vegetables by their nature require cooking (ever eat raw parsnips and sweet potatoes? Yummy!) as do most fall dishes. This is in stark contrast to the quick barbecuing, grilling and raw foods of summer. This does not mean however that every vegetable and fruit can be restricted to just one season. Cooking techniques can have a direct impact on a vegetables cooling or warming capability. For example, if a carrot is used in juice or sliced raw and put into a salad it will establish a light cooling sensation. Baking, roasting or using carrots in a soup will create a warm and comforting experience.

Humans naturally eat more food (holidays are coming) and store fat in an effort to keep warm (think Eskimos) during the fall/winter season. This is a survival technique by/for the body to get necessary nutrients and survive the cold. Don’t worry, if you eat seasonally the increase will be minimal and in the spring foods like rye, oats, alfalfa sprouts and dill are natures way of cleansing the liver and releasing fat when we don’t need it anymore.

For those who need to know all the rules of thumb for selecting warming vs. cooling foods. (excerpted from Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford)

1. Plants that take longer to grow (carrot, rutabaga, parsnip, cabbage and ginseng, which takes at least six years to grow) are more warming than those that grow quickly (lettuce, summer squash, radish, cucumber).
2. Chemically fertilized plant foods, which are stimulated to grow quickly, are often more cooling. This includes most commercial fruits and vegetables.
3. Raw food is more cooling than cooked food.
4. Food eaten cold is more cooling.
5. Foods with blue, green, or purple colors are usually more cooling than similar foods that are red, orange, or yellow (a green apple is more cooling than a red one).
6. Cooking methods that involve more cooking time, higher temperatures, greater pressure, dryness, and/or air circulation (such as convection-oven cooking) impart more warming qualities to food. Time and temperature combine in this way: cooking for a longer time on low heat is more warming than a short time on high heat. Depending on the degree of temperature and pressure, the usual order from more warming to less is: deep frying or tempura, baking, stir-frying or sautéing, pressure cooking, simmering, steaming, and waterless cooking below boiling (212F). “Heatless cooking” methods of breaking food down in progressively more cooling order include fermenting, marinating, and sprouting.
7. Austrian metaphysician Rudolph Steiner and others have claimed that the amount and quality of available energy in foods depend in part on the cooking fuel. Arranged in order from the highest-quality energy to the lowest, these are: straw, wood, coal, gas, and electric. Electric cooking is not recommended for people who are weak. For both subjective and scientific reasons, we find validity in Steiner’s theories, particularly with regard to electricity. Microwave cooking…..alters food enough to cause upon ingestion, “structural, functional and immunological changes” in the body.
8. Manipulating food in various ways—e.g., finer cutting, pounding, grinding, pressing (as in pressed salad), and stirring--breaks it down and releases to the body more energy and heat.
9. Chewing food more thoroughly creates warmth.
10. In most areas of the world, food that provides appropriate warming and cooling properties is naturally available in animal and plant form.

This article was published in Cuizine Magazine Oct. 2001by Rose Payne, CHHC.

Rose Payne is the founder and Director of High Level Wellness a holistic health and nutrition center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She is an AADP certified Holistic Nutrition Counselor and National Educator with a private practice that offers assistance countrywide. She is also the Director of the Immersion Graduate Program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC. Her passion is helping clients transform their lives through the power of nutrition. You can contact Rose at info@high-level-wellness-online.com

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