09/17/2024
Summer to Fall Transition
With the warmer weather winding down and the cooler weather ramping up, Ayurveda teaches us that our bodies also go through a transition between the seasons. Summer is the time of pitta dosha: transformative, hot, sharp, pungent, light. These qualities can build up over the summer and cause excessive heat, excessive hunger, irritability, rashes, redness, or sour stomach type effects in our bodies. As the cooler weather ushers in, these symptoms can be reduced only to transition into the qualities of vata: dry, rough, cold, mobile qualities where we experience dry skin, gas, bloating, popping or cracking joints. Sounds joyful, right?! There are things we can do to support our bodies during the transitions and into the next season, read on to find 4 seasonal ideas to support your transition from summer to fall.
1. Pitta and Vata doshas share a common taste that supports balance in the body, this taste is sweet. Now before you rush out and load your pantry with candy and pastries (sorry for the buzz kill), the sweet taste can be found in supportive foods such as seasonal fruits and juices (sugar free), root vegetables, basmati rice, quinoa, milk, mung beans, dark leafy greens, rice, and oats.
2. To balance out the heat accumulated in the summer, reduce heating spices such as chili, cayenne, cinnamon and paprika during the transitional time, these spices can return to your diet in the cooler months ahead. Instead choose more cooling or warming spices such as mint, cilantro, cumin, coriander, fennel, cardamom, turmeric, and asafetida.
3. Hydration is key year-round but especially if your body has become a little dehydrated over the summer. Hydration does not only mean water so mix it up a bit with non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic beverages such as plain, fruit, or vegetable infused water, CCF tea (recipe below), organic bone or vegetable broth, or aloe juice (my favorite is George's aloe mixed with organic pomegranate juice).
4. Work to reduce the number of processed foods, artificial or processed sugars, and white flour and look for well cooked foods such as soups, stews, and well-cooked vegetables topped with ghee and spices.