By Kristy Bloom
The term eating seasonally has thankfully made its way into our vocabularies in the last few years but I find that many of us still aren’t sure why it’s so important. Have you ever noticed the foods that you crave often coincide with what is ready to be harvested at that time of year? For me, as soon as the weather turns chilly, I notice that my craving for ice cream and raw foods disappear. When lunchtime rolls around, there is a distinct shift around mid September where I stop buying lettuces and raw salad fixings and begin roasting root vegetables like sweet squashes and making soups that feel warm and nourishing.
When I began to learn more about the qualities that food creates in our bodies, I realized that it did not feel like a coincidence that my body was asking for the very foods that nature provided at that time. It dawned on me that nature has an antidote to the extreme temperatures of each season and can be used to specifically create a different experience in our bodies. In the summer, when we are sweating from the heat, the foods available at that time create a cooling effect. This includes raw foods such as snap peas and tomatoes, as well as vegetables with a high water content like summer squashes. In the winter when our bones begin to feel the chill of the cold, nature provides hearty vegetables like squash, beets, and dark hearty leafy greens that create warmth inside.
So many of my clients come to me having no idea what to eat to feel good in their body. We live in a culture where anything and everything is available at all times and choices are endless. As convenient as this may be, it has lured us away from the information and wisdom that is available inside of ourselves. Noticing which foods are in season can serve as a guide back to what your body wants and needs to feel good. Knowing that how we want to feel can be created in the food we find in nature has the potential to reconnect us to that deeper wisdom that resides within us all.
All it takes is curiosity and a willingness to listen. I think of eating with the seasons as a spiritual practice because it reminds me that I don’t need to be in control of what to eat or not, I can plug into the sensations of my body and look to nature to meet my needs. In this way, my health is being co created and that connection reminds me that there isn’t anything to figure out. The path toward health is about tuning in.
Take a look at what is in season now in CT and head to your nearest Farmer’s Market! https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/state/connecticut