Eating Seasonally

It’s been a hot, intense summer just about everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. Pitta has the qualities of sharp, oily, light, spreading, and hot. It’s also our ability to transform experiences; it's the key dosha to digestion in the mind, body and spirit, and discernment in the mind. If you’ve been out of balance this summer, you may have felt irritable, critical, had restless sleep, body odor, no appetite or huge appetite, and maybe just felt plain old HOT.

I’m with you on this. It’s the first time I’ve felt an identifiable pitta imbalance in my body (in my mind, yes; but not in my body). And honestly, getting rid of my old friend caffeine seems to have uncovered some pitta burnout.

Ayurveda tells us to eat food that changes with the seasons. There are only three seasons in Ayurveda, and they correspond to the doshas: pitta season= summer, vata season= fall/winter, and kapha season= spring.

Looking at this simply, it’s because the earth provides what we need at each season for balance. The problem for most of us (me included, I had to learn) is that we don’t actually know what comes to us naturally from the earth, in our local areas, at any given time. A few ways to start to hone in on this is to notice what is being sold at your farmer’s market (again, given it is grown locally), as well as to note what’s on sale at the grocery store (often there is more of it and it needs to move). There is also a great app called Seasonal Food Guide that will show you what produce is available by month and state in the US.

This is a way to start learning what foods are balancing for each dosha/season without getting so hung up on food lists or rigid rules (not the answer!).

We are just about to the juncture of fall-- the Equinox. This time of year, particularly late September and October, are a great time from an Ayurveda standpoint to consider a cleanse. Read more here about why an Ayurvedic cleanse is about resetting the gut, and not about deprivation or diet culture.

As the days get shorter and we start to turn inward, consider what gifts this year’s harvest have brought into your life.