As the weather turns colder, our bodies require warming foods to counteract the cold. Pungent foods warm the body and help to eliminate the excess cooling foods we have consumed over the summer. The energetically centred diet can be adjusted to include radishes, ginger, cabbage, turnips, green vegetables such as kale, carrot and turnip tops, broccoli, cauliflower and lotus root. Brown rice is the grain for autumn and is particularly good to eat pressure-cooked. Sea vegetables, miso and pickles (see the ginger pickles recipe) are also recommended.
The continued consumption of foods that cool the body in autumn will often lead to a variety of problems. Cooling foods such as fruits and fruit juices, refined sugars, alcohol and coffee, flour products, nuts and nut butters and dairy products contribute to cooling the body and creating excess mucus in the lungs and large intestine. Meat, chicken and eggs warm the body but also create an excess of mucus. The most common symptoms of this type of diet in autumn are constipation and diarrhoea, dry skin and lips, rashes, difficulty breathing and a lack of vitality. Eventually, these symptoms can develop into colds and a variety of respiratory infections.
The centred diet, when adjusted for autumn, is particularly important for those with a history of allergies and respiratory problems. However, as in all cases, it is necessary to experiment with how this diet works for you and observe the effects it has on you. Those who wish to may continue to consume animal foods and other foods as they like. But if anything does go wrong, the energetically centred diet adjusted for autumn is a tool that you can use to help you get back your health and sense of well-being.