April in Your Body
April showers bring May flowers, and this month ushers in a cool and damp climate to prepare us for the upcoming Summer. By now, our bodies sense the approaching lighter season, keeping us alert and energized for longer days. Known as "Spring Fever," we embrace the season of outdoor activities and warmth.
Similar to a lake thawing and coming back to life, our body's fluids are still recovering from the Winter. After months of consuming nourishing, grounding foods, our circulation may still be sluggish, which can heighten feelings of frustration and tension.
The liver, considered a "heat" organ in both Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is responsible for cleansing the blood and promoting circulation. By incorporating bitter greens and astringent tastes into our diet, we can help clear Winter stagnation and invigorate our tissues.
Qualities of the Season
Spring is Kapha Season, characterized by qualities such as murkiness, moisture, and warmth. To maintain balance, we focus on consuming foods and practicing habits that counter these qualities, such as favoring clear, light, and dry foods, as well as incorporating astringent, sour, and bitter tastes.
Daily/Practices
Where we spent the darker season nourishing and massaging our bodies, Spring- in particular April- becomes a season of Dry Brushing. Dry brushing helps to stimulate the circulation of the lymphatic system and support healthy blood flow.
After being pent up in the Winter time, the season is finally ripe to get outside! We are of nature, so opportunities to return to nature come with so many benefits. Earthing, for example, is a wonderful opportunity to quite literally reconnect with mother earth. The practice of being bare-foot and connected to dirt has shown value in immune and mental health. Additionally, in being outside, we have a unique opportunity to give our eyes a rest, to focus on a distant point, and find space to meditate and be mindful.
In the season of being outside, returning to activity, and cultivating heat in the body, it’s important to remember routine, to again keep your feet on the ground. While the initial vibrancy of the season is compelling, we perform our best when consistency remains a central tenet.
Diet Staples
Bitter greens help drain the heat from the body- though April can still be quite biting and cold, our bodies know as nature knows. Too much heat build up can lead to rashes, anger, irritability, and other liver conditions. Clarity can be supported by incorporating diuretics like corn, kale, celery, cabbages, and collard greens. Dandelion, radish, mustard greens, and arugula are all helpful in releasing stored fat and liquids from the winter season.
Sweet and astringent fruits can continue to support healthy blood like apricot, cherries, oranges, and other citrus fruits. While the seasons shift, all tastes and all qualities can and should remain present in different ratios.
Other astringency can be added into the fold via grains like buckwheat and millet as well as beans, raw veggies, and sprouts.
Nature provides what our bodies need each season and in a time where we’re so disconnected from nature, it’s easy to miss out on important signals.
What’s it all Mean?
We are of the earth around us and each season offers new opportunity to continue to practice the art of being a subtle and persistently evolving piece of the puzzle of life. Each day- each moment- brings forth a chance to be better and do better for our self and our legacy. Bad days can come, but our awareness and self acuity offer evergreen chances to show up for ourselves and our communities. When in doubt, resources abound— reach out to (me!) your friendly neighborhood Ayurvedic Nutrition Coach.
March in Your Body
March is the real turn-of-the-leaf away from the dark time and into the light time. Once daylight savings Springs forward, the days get longer, the earth begins to thaw, and we’re drawn outward. You may notice that you crave less of the heavy sweetness that the Winter called for; you may even notice your appetite diminish just a bit. Embrace that. Just like the cold, hard, and heavy winter gives way for the light, energetic, clearness of Spring, this time of year the body readies itself to shed an refresh.
Key Take-Aways
Take advantage of the earlier sunrises and cooler air for immune and circadian regularity.
Increase circulation to improve blood health and lymphatic drainage after a winter of “hibernation”.
Movement is king. Dry brush, tongue scrape, irrigate your sinuses- encourage system-wide movement to increase conditions for regeneration.
Qualities of the Season
Spring is sprung at the heart of Kapha Season. It’s a biannual intersection between the dark time and light time. While the body reheats and re-energizes, it’s helpful to support the transition with easy to digest, light, simple foods. Wake with the sun and get outside. The blue light of the sunrise is a perfect way to get your systems energized in a nourishing way. Prioritize warm, light, dry, mobile, sharp, penetrating qualities and embrace bitter, stringent, and pungent tastes.
Daily/Practices
Like other animals, we too shed our winter layers in preparation for the upcoming warm season. In our case, it involves losing the insulating layers of fat beneath the skin, a natural process that differs from the modern concept of striving for a "summer body." Instead, this process aligns with the natural order, a delicate orchestra that changes seasonally to set us up for success.
Ayurvedically, this shedding can contribute to our blood and lymphatic systems experiencing congestion or sluggishness. This can lead to feelings of heaviness and lethargy. In addition, this congestion can contribute to mucous build-up, common during this time of year. Dry brushing remains a helpful practice to support the somewhat reluctant lymphatic system.
The idea of scraping, known as lekhana, can be applied in various ways throughout the season to introduce a rough and mobile quality when it's lacking. For example, tongue scraping is beneficial year-round but particularly useful now to clarify and assess the state of the digestive system through the purge.
While the body lightens up, there's an increased risk of irritants causing seasonal allergies due to changes in blood circulation. Regular Neti practice helps cleanse the sinuses, flushing out any trapped irritants and reducing immune responses.
Most importantly, spend time outdoors and stay active. Embracing our connection to nature on nice days allows us to return to its warm embrace, recalibrate our circadian rhythm, and positive impact our mental health. Engaging in activities like preparing spring gardens brings joy in witnessing new life. Our nervous systems greatly benefit from reconnecting with nature, aligning our vibes with the environment around us.
Diet Staples
March signifies the switch to bitter, pungent, and astringent tastes. Foods high in prana, or energy and life, are more easily accessible as farm stand season returns. Gone are the dark, cold months of root veggies and preserves- now is the time for fresh berries, cherries, greens, and grains!
Pungent and warming digestive herbs like ginger, black pepper, and turmeric assist the digestion, or agni, to brighten up and reinvigorate. It’s the perfect season to re-introduce all sorts of grains into the diet. Grains like barkley, buckwheat, and millet are light and mobile enough to give quick bursts of energy that will help keep the system running efficiently with the longer days.
Finally, beans and lean meats - particularly easy to digest beans and fish - nourish the system via their fiber, carb, and protein content. Because the light time encourages getting outside and getting mobile, it’s important to keep protein in a light and easily digestible form in order to ensure the body is supplied properly for regeneration.
What It All Means
The biggest takeaway is this: the sun is back, the body gets to movin in the Spring. Support your body's transition with easily digestible, light, and simple foods. As the body taps into its accumulated reserves for fuel, prioritize warm, light, dry, and mobile qualities, alongside bitter, stringent, and pungent tastes.
In daily practices, shed winter layers with dry brushing, scraping, and especially tongue scraping to assess digestive health. Combat potential seasonal allergies by incorporating regular Neti practice. Embrace outdoor activities for overall well-being, connecting with nature during this time of renewal. Circulation, metabolism, and circadian health are always primary- they are the inner clock and combustion systems that keep us regular!
5 Simple Strategies to Elevate Your Nutrition
Key Takeaways
A little planning goes a very long way.
Simplify, simplify, and then simplify some more.
Implement barriers to mitigate mindless overconsumption.
1. Menu Plan
Planning your meals in advance isn't just about healthy choices—it's also a commitment to your spending budget. Spend a little time on your big grocery trip day creating a weekly menu. This plan give focus and direction to your grocery trips trips, reducing unnecessary spending and distractions. After a few weeks, you'll have a plug-and-play resource for busy days.
2. Become an Ingredient Household
Grab-and-go snacks have a place in this world- and that place is filed under the category “by necessity”. Shelf-stable, preserved snackies are best served as the exception, not the rule. By keeping basic ingredients around the house, you'll not only avoid hidden additives but also make snacking a mindful experience. If you want to snack, you’ll have to work a bit harder for it. Experiment, have fun with food prep, and enjoy the creativity involved in crafting your own delicious, healthier snacks.
3. Shorten Your Feed Windows
Time restricted eating (or intermittent fasting) is a simple approach to system regulation. Extended feeding periods are an energy suck on the body, particularly in and around bed time. Tailor your eating window to aim between 10 and 8 hours, aligning with your circadian rhythm for optimal results. Stay hydrated during fasting periods with water or herbal teas, giving your body the rest and recovery it deserves.
4. Prioritize Protein
Protein is both a vital building block and an energy source. High protein diets increase satiety, improve cognitive functioning, and keep the energy going much longer than those lacking. From chicken and fish to tofu and legumes, try to include lean protein sources in every meal and snack. Lean into complete nutrients that include a little bit of it all (fats, proteins, carbs, fibers). Distribute protein throughout the day, aiming for about 1.2g per kg of body weight per day. Perfect your nutrition literacy by reading labels and aiming for intake that meets your needs. Gamify it, it’s a worthwhile pursuit.
5. Cook for Leftovers
Meal prepping doesn’t have to be an added task. Batch cooking not only promotes portion control but also frees you from the lure of convenience foods. By doubling the portions of a meal, you quickly meet the demands of lunch needs throughout the week. Invest in storage containers (particularly glass) for freshness, and let any decision-making fall away so you can focus on more pertinent tasks.
Kapha Kulture
Ayurvedic philosophy, often considered the sister science of yoga, embraces an intuitive and qualitative understanding of both our universe and ourselves. By delving into the elements and qualities that surround us, even at a high level, we can gain profound insights into our essence. In other words, an Ayurvedic perspective of our bodies, illness and wellness, are closely correlated to these universal essences.
As we navigate this cosmic journey, we find the universe not only within us but also as the destination where we ultimately return. The art of living, then, becomes a harmonious symphony, attuning ourselves to the unique rhythms of each moment in the vast expanse of space and time.
Think of Ayurveda as an alternative perspective on categorization through 10 pairs of qualities, or gunas; hot-cold, light-heavy, smooth-rough, etc. By contemplating the elements and the essential qualities shaping our individuality, Ayurveda breaks down these aspects into three broader categories or constitutions. In this intricate weave, the three broad categories emerge, known as doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
Kapha is rooted in the Earth and Water elements, embodying the cool, damp qualities of the Spring season—the time of new beginnings. Kapha individuals tend to exhibit characteristics such as stockiness, mucous production, lethargy, and a slower pace. When similar qualities accumulate, symptoms can intensify. For instance, during Spring, pollen can exacerbate mucosal issues, leading to allergies.
A balanced Kapha constitution brings about a lush, vibrant freshness akin to the turning of a new leaf. Imbalances may manifest in diabetes, sinus problems, respiratory dampness, and edema. To restore balance, one should incorporate bitter, astringent, warm, dry, light, clear, and mobile quality foods and lifestyle choices. For instance, dry brushing (especially in the Spring) can help invigorate a Winter-stagnated circulatory system. Spring season also becomes an opportune time for activities like fasting, when approached safely and consciously.
In a nutshell, Ayurveda is a cosmic journey within and beyond. Picture it as your body's unique playlist, tuned to the universal rhythms. Through 10 pairs of qualities, Ayurveda breaks down our essence into three doshas, giving a fresh perspective on life's categories. Kapha, the cool cat rooted in Earth and Water, brings all those springy vibes. Watch out for imbalances - aggravated qualities - causing issues from allergies to dampness. But take comfort that a balanced Kapha constitution is a vibrant leaf turning over, and to keep the harmony, indulge in bitter, warm, and clear delights.
Think of it as a cosmic symphony, with Ayurveda as your guide to dancing through space and time, brushing off the winter blues, and embracing the zest of spring.
February in Your Body
I always joke that February, August, Thursday, and 7pm have the same energy. After making it through the seemingly endless month of January, February comes and goes like the blink of an eye. At this point in the year, the season has turned from dry to damp and the darkness is slowly moving towards the light. February is also love month and national heart health month. Let’s dive into some ways that you can put your best foot forward in this season of transition.
Qualities of the season
Late-Winter into Early-Spring is a season of damp, cool, cloudy quality. it environment is ripe for the renewal of life energy for the year. This Late-Winter, Early-Spring is reflected in the beginning stages of life (infancy to adolesence), the middle part of the morning (6am - 10am), and the regenerative nature of the body’s mucus-y allergy season. As the Winter begins to thaw by the increased daylight and slightly warmer temperatures, our internal climate reacts by melting away the insulating layer of fat keyed up during the Winter season. Like increases like and opposites balance, so this time of year can aggravate Kapha dosha and any systems that are affiliated.
We balance the influence of this damp, cool season by incorporating more dry, warm, mobile, clear, and sharp qualities into our diet and routine. so what does this look like?
Daily/Practices
Like others in the animal kingdom, we too shed our winter layers to prepare for the warm season ahead. For us, that looks a lot like the subcutaneous insulating layers of fat being “melted away” as the days get longer and our energy output picks up. This is a far jump from the modern and highly problematic tendency towards a “summer body”, but instead reflects the natural order operating on it’s own accord to set us up for success season by season.
Without this awareness (and supportive protocol), our blood/lymph can get congested or stagnated entirely when this process starts to shake out. We feel a sense of heaviness and lethargy as a result of our circulatory system slowing down and thickening. We can ease and accommodate this process by incorporating dry brush to move the lymph and circulation.
Scraping (lekhana) introduces a rough and mobile quality into a time that is lacking in that. For instance, tongue scraping, while extremely valuable all year round, is especially useful to both clarify and assess the nature of the digestive system during this time of purging and clearing.
Finally, and worth an addm is getting outside and moving around. We are nature, so on the sporadic nice days that we do have, we return to her warm and loving embrace. We can prepare our gardens of the spring season, enjoying the art of sprouting new life. We can clean and clear out our homes as we embrace the season of sun. Our nervous systems also greatly benefit from being outside in nature and reattuning our vibes to reflect our environment.
Diet Staples
February is still root veggie and soup season. You cannot go wrong with the liquefying hydration of a brothy soup to keep you warm and nourished. As the weather turns from dry to damp, more clarifying root veggies (such as beets, parsnips, and radishes) can support the cloudy, gunkiness of the winter melt.
Add pungents and heating spices to your meals to start heating the system up from the inside, get circulation moving, and liquefy the mucusyness of the coming allergy season. It’s also a great time to add in dry and drying fruits and veggies (astringents) that can assist in the blood-cleasing process. These include but are not limited to cranberries, dried cherries, apples, pears, and berries. Cabbage-family foods (brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli), aspargus, and kale also have rough qualities that can support a balanced system in this time of year.