Eating For The Season

Spring - Mid-February - Mid May

The spring is a watery season of warming temperatures. Snow melts making the rivers full and muddy. Warm temperatures encourage tender young sprouts and sweet sap to run in the vasculature of maple trees. Our internal landscape reflects mother nature's. Spring is a time of cleansing and renewal. Kapha fat melts away from tissues, along with toxins, and into the blood, making the blood sweet. Blood plasma and toxins are our metaphorical maple syrup and muddy river, releasing a flood of mucus in allergy season.

• Read more from Spring Diet in Ayurveda

Summer - Mid-May to Mid-August

Hot, humid weather destroys the appetite and aggravates Pitta-Kapha rashes, irritability, and lethargy during early summer. By mid-July the body quickly dries out aggravating Pitta-Vata rashes, constipation, insomnia, and seasonal allergies.

• Read more from Summer Diet in Ayurveda

Autumn: Mid-August to Mid-November

Cooling temperatures pull blood inward to the core as the body scrambles to protect itself from heat loss. The extremities lose access to blood and warmth, drying out the skin on the arms, legs and eventually the colon. The core of the body rich with blood, conversely, improves appetite just in time to nourish and insulate the skin with a fresh layer of fat.

• Read more from Fall / Autumn Diet in Ayurveda.

Winter: Mid-November to Mid-February

Deeply cold temperatures cause cravings for rich, fatty, heavy foods from mid November through January 1st. As temperatures bottom out, cravings switch from fatty foods to ferments, including wines, sauerkrauts, and vinegars in January.

• Read more from Winter Diet in Ayurveda

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