Eating in Accordance with the Seasons

Most people don’t realise that as the season’s change so should our diet.  Because we live in a world where food can be flown and sold all over the planet, many don’t realise when food is out of season for their locale.  Ideally with fruit you should only eat what is in season for a given time of year.  Why you may ask? Most summer fruits such as watermelon are cooling in nature, you eat them in summer when you want relief from the heat.  Therefore why would you eat cooling foods when the weather is already cold?

Though it may sound rather non-scientific its really quite logical.  During summer your body is working against the environment to stay cool, therefore you should eat cooling foods and avoid hot spicy meals.  If you eat a nice spicy meal on a hot day, your effectively making your body work harder to try and maintain homeostasis.  Similarly in winter, warm simple to digest meals and citrus fruits should be eaten to help keep the body warm and working at its peak.  In the colder months avoid cold raw salads, ice drinks, ice cream and tropical fruits.

Think about it this way, you dress in accordance to the weather, even our sleeping patterns want to change, so should our diet.  No drastic changes need be made, but just little adjustments like drinking warm tea instead of ice water can make all the difference.  If we make it easier for our body to process food, it can use that spare energy for other purposes such as fighting off those terrible winter colds and flu.

A Simple Remedy for an Upset Stomach

This is a simple Chinese tea that anyone can make at home and is a great way to harmonise your digestive system and keep it strong.  The herb is called “Chen Pi” in Chinese, which means “Roasted Citrus Peel”.  Traditionally the peels were left out in the sun to dry, but this can take weeks, and pretty hard to do in the depths of winter.  But now days there’s a much quicker and easier way to do it.  Gather up enough Mandarin or Orange peels (not grapefruit) and lay them out on a baking tray.  Put them in the oven on 180 degrees for about 12min.  The speed at which they cook will obviously be dependent on the size of the pieces.  They only need to be browned, not blackened.

All you need to do then is let it cool, break off a piece the size of your thumbnail, add hot water and let it draw for about 8 minutes.  Then drink.

Store the herb in an airtight container, in a cool place away from sunlight.  It never really goes off, so can use it even one year later!!

So what is it good for?

Its classically in many formulas for overeating, indigestion, nausea, bloating and reflux.  Had too much to eat? morning sickness? bloating after food? stomach feeling queezy? this should work well for you.  If you have nausea I’d advise adding some ginger into the tea also.  The benefits and uses of ginger I will discuss at a later date.

This simple herb is a fabulous way to settle and aid digestion whatever the cause.  If it doesn’t help at all, then I highly recommend seeking out an acupuncturist for an assessment and treatment.