Changing Your Nourishment with the Seasons

article by Shannon Dahlum

Nature isn’t static.  The natural world around you organically flows through cycles of creation, destruction and rebirth, which you know as the seasons.  March 20th of this year marks the beginning of the spring season, moving our part of the world out of a period of dormancy and into a phase of shedding, renewal and rebirth.  All living things flow through these phases, including your body, which also moves through cycles of building, cleansing and sustaining.  As the natural world around you flows through these cycles, it provides exactly what your body needs to be supported through its changing phases, as well. 

During spring, the dry cold climate of winter gives way to wet and warmer temperatures.  The hard ground softens, allowing tender green shoots to emerge.  Nature wakes from her protective slumber and gently shifts into a season of growth and renewal.  Alongside your outer environment, your inner environment is also waking from a season of sustaining rest and readying itself for more activity.  Your complex internal ecosystem, your microbiome, shifts to prepare for the digestion of cleansing greens and fresh, young plants.  Your body no longer needs the heavy, starchy, oily foods of the autumn harvest season which sustain it through the colder months.  Your body now begins the process of shedding the excess moisture and body fat that was accumulated to protect you through the winter, and nature perfectly provides you with the shoots, sprouts and bitter greens needed to cleanse your system and keep you in balance with the world around you.
The heavy winter foods that protect you during the cold months help your body accumulate mucus to keep your internal environment protected from its dry external environment.  When the wet months of spring come around, if you continue to eat those heavy winter foods, that moist internal environment can become excessive and you may struggle with excess mucus and allergies.  Shifting your eating to the lighter, bitter, cleansing young plants provided by the ground helps your body to shed the excess moisture it no longer needs.

Mother Nature offers exactly what your body needs to stay in balance during each season.  In spring, you have low fat, low calorie, young greens which cleanse your body.  Summer provides juicy, high carbohydrate fruits and vegetables to keep you energized and hydrated through long, hot days.  The final harvest season of the year offers high protein and oily foods, like nuts and grains, which combat the dryness of winter and help sustain you until the cycle starts over once again in spring.  You are fortunate enough now to live in a time in which you have easy access to all foods throughout the year, but along with the convenience of readily available out of season foods comes the price of imbalance. 

Because your external environment is constantly shifting, and your internal environment needs to mirror these changes in order to stay in balance, no one style of eating is sustainable throughout the year.  The “perfect diet” is always being debated and research seems to constantly contradict itself about which style of eating is healthiest.  However, there will never be one solution that works best for everyone, because everyone functions differently. There will also never be one solution that works best for you at all times, because your own body shifts and has different needs during different times of the year. 

Many people and studies have espoused the merits of a raw, vegan diet, claiming this is the healthiest way to nourish your body.  Fresh, raw plants are cleansing, and if these foods are prioritized when your body is in a cycle of cleansing, you’ll most likely feel well supported, energized, and in balance.  But once your body shifts into a season of growth, if your diet doesn’t also shift to include the higher protein, higher fat foods needed to support the building of new tissue, you’re likely to fall back out of balance, feel depleted of energy, and experience deficiency.  Likewise, if you continue to eat a diet heavy in fat and protein when your body shifts into a cleansing cycle, you may begin to feel heavy and sluggish. 

It’s no wonder there’s so much confusion when it comes to dieting.  There are so many options: ketogenic, vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, macrobiotic, fasting, etc, and so much conflicting opinion and evidence about the benefits of each.  The wisest thing you can probably do when it comes to dieting is to not fully subscribe to any one way of eating. The greatest mistake you can make with your eating habits is seeing any diet as dogma rather than simply a way of eating.  Your eating habits should serve as nothing more than to nourish your body, and as your body cycles through different phases, your dietary needs will shift as well.  Eat with awareness.  Notice how your body responds and reacts to what you’re eating.  If you notice that you now feel heavy and sluggish eating the foods you initially felt vibrant, clean and energetic eating, then try something different.  Look at what foods are naturally available in your part of the world right now.  The healthiest diet in the world is an evolving one that shifts and varies along with your body and its environment. 

Now that we’re moving into the spring season, this is a great time to experiment with lighter fare.  Include more raw veggies, like fresh greens and sprouts.  Assist your body’s spring cleaning process by adding fresh squeezed lemon to your water and support your liver, one of your major detoxifying organs, with bitter greens and herbals teas.  Steer clear of rich, heavy, fatty foods and include more fresh smoothies and salads.  Experiment with some intermittent fasting on occasion if it feels right. 

Find whatever style of eating makes you feel your best right now, not what your friend (or some random magazine article) tells you is best for you to eat.  Most importantly, pay attention to your body and be open to changing up your diet when you feel like you need something different.