The traditional health science of ayurveda teaches us that we should adjust our diets according to our personal constitutions, the seasons, and our stage of life. In this article, we will discuss how making small changes to the foods you are eating can help you weather the winter months without gaining weight and with less likelihood of depression. During the winter months, nature is dormant. We are naturally less active as we “hibernate” through the winter months indoors. In the fall, the elements of air and space are dominant, but in the winter the elements of earth and water increase. These elemental changes are also a part of our individual experiences. The fast-changing pace, characteristic of fall, transitions to the slow-moving pace of winter. Have you ever felt like winter would never end?
One of the gifts of ayurveda is that it not only describes this process, but it also gives us a roadmap of how to adjust to these changes and minimize the impacts on our body’s systems. One of the primary tools of ayurveda is the foods we choose to eat. By making small changes to our diets, we can greatly improve our physical and mental well-being. Since winter is associated with earth and water, we need to minimize foods that have high composition of these elements and instead emphasize foods with air and fire as their primary elements. So how do we know the elemental composition of the foods we eat? It’s easier than you think!
Air/Fire Dominant Foods: Light, dry, warm, spicy
– Examples include veggies, fruits, non-wheat grains, spices
Earth/Water Dominant Foods: Heavy, dense, oily
– Examples include nuts, added oils, meat, sugar
Through dietary adjustments, we can balance the earth/water increases that are naturally occurring in the winter allowing us to maintain an optimal level of health. Increases in the earth element are also associated with weight gain. Following an ayurvedic diet can help avoid unwanted weight gain during the winter. During the fall, we need to add more oil and heavier foods to our diet to counter the excess air and space, but as winter approaches it is necessary to lighten up the diet. For example, while a thick hearty soup or stew with some added fat content is appropriate in the fall, a broth-based veggie soup with barley is more therapeutic in the chill of winter. Our digestion tends to be slower in the winter, so it is still recommended to focus the diet on cooked foods versus raw. The cooking process is essentially a pre-digestion or breaking down of the foods which makes it easier on our digestion system. Anyone with poor digestion and nearly all of us in the winter need to emphasize cooks foods in our diet. Another side effect of this slow digestion is that you may find you can skip a meal or snack without adverse effect.
Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)
Another factor to consider is that three of our major cultural holidays fall during the early winter months. This tends to cause us to indulge in rich foods that may lead to imbalances that stick with us all winter long. Moderation during the holidays can create a much more healthful winter. Avoid overindulging in sweets, heavy foods, and alcohol. Instead, choose a small amount of a wide variety of foods, increase your exercise and expand your social activities. Already indulged? It’s never too late to start making more healthy choices. You can also check out our post on Detox to help recover from some of those holiday indulgences.
Resist the natural tendency to “hibernate” during the winter, instead use these months to pursue new interests. Take a class or start a new hobby. Spend time with friends and family. Winter months are perfect for experimenting with new recipes – emphasize vegetables and non-wheat grains like quinoa, barley or rye. Incorporate spices such as ginger, cinnamon, clove and black pepper. Best of all, try a new spice that you’ve never had before!
Through a basic understanding of the principles of ayurveda, you can learn to make seasonal adjustments to your diet and lifestyle that support optimal health and wellness. Subtle changes in what you’re choosing to eat can have big impacts on how you feel on a daily basis. So the next time you start to feel those winter blahs setting in, break out a cookbook and try a new recipe. Then call a friend to come enjoy it with you.
To get you started, here’s one of my favorite winter soups. The variety of veggies and spice make it interesting, while the barley has a drying, heating effect that is beneficial in the wintertime.
Vegetable Barley
3/4 c barley
8 c veggie stock
1 T olive oil
1 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c chopped carrots
1 c chopped greens (kale, spinach)
2 c chopped or whole tomatoes
1 c sliced mushrooms
1 T garlic
1 t oregano
1 t basil
1 t black pepper
Salt to taste
Heat the oil and garlic in a pan. Add veggies and saute lightly. Add broth, barley and spices. Simmer 30 minutes or until all veggies and barley is done.
Call a friend – and enjoy a healthy winter soup, some tea, and great company.
Oh, yeah – and adding some yoga won’t hurt either! 😉
Essentially, making small changes to the foods you are eating can help you transition gracefully from summer to winter. During the fall season, nature is experiencing dramatic transformations: the bounty of harvest, the turning of the leaves, the plants and trees starting to prepare for their yearly cycle of dormancy. These changes involve the increase of the elements of air and space, while the fire of the summer season starts to dissipate and the temperatures drop. These elemental changes are also a part of our individual experiences. The energy and stamina of summer slowly fades away and is replaced with a need for more rest and less vigorous activity. If we ignore these cues and keep our hectic pace, we become more prone to stress and anxiety. Our immune system can weaken. A deep-seated fatigue or illness can start to manifest. For these reasons, fall is the season when you are most likely to fall seriously ill.
Through dietary adjustments, we can balance the air/space increases that are naturally occurring in the fall allowing us to maintain an optimal level of health. We naturally take advantage of the prevalence of fresh vegetables in the summer, many times incorporating more salads and raw foods into our diet. But as fall approaches, we need to transition to cooked foods. Excess air and space is associated with poor digestion and raw foods are harder to digest. Our cooking process is essentially a pre-digestion or breaking down of the foods which makes it easier on our digestion system. Anyone with poor digestion and nearly all of us in the fall need to emphasize cooks foods in our diet.
The best way to ensure you maintain a healthy diet for optimal well-being during the fall months is to shift your diet to emphasize cooked grains and veggies. Make stir-fry’s instead of salads. Vegetable soups with meat (if you eat it) or added cooking oils adds enough fat content to ensure digestibility. Cooked casseroles with grains, veggies, and legumes are satisfying and healthy. Personally, as soon as I feel that first hint of fall, I switch my breakfast to oatmeal loaded with nuts, raisins, dates, cinnamon, etc. This hearty breakfast calms the nerves and provides the earth element necessary to offset increasing air/space. If you must have a cold meal or snack during fall, at least have a hot cup of tea with it. Digestive teas such as ginger, licorice, or chai can be particularly beneficial.
Curried Split Pea Soup
What is involved with a safe, effective detox?
Mental Detox
A few years ago I made a radical New Year’s resolution – I would QUIT making resolutions at the New Year. Let me clarify – I didn’t give up on creating positive changes in my life, nor did I quit making goals for myself, but after much study of human nature, including ayurveda, I realized that trying to make sweeping lifestyle changes in January is nuts (oh, and by the way, it often fails miserably). I’m fairly certain that NONE of my New Year’s Resolutions were ever actually very successful – except perhaps the year I resolved to eat more chocolate, but that’s a different blog topic. When I looked at why my resolutions weren’t successful, I realized that I was working in opposition to my natural tendencies. Ayurveda describes how human nature interacts with the cycles of the seasons. There are many repercussions from seasonal changes, but I was intrigued with the effects of the seasons on creating and sustaining positive lifestyle changes. In particular, why were my New Year’s resolutions always spectacular failures?
So, January is a great time to look back over the past year and assess what changes you’d like to manifest over the coming year. Take the quiet winter months to study – think about what you’d like to do, research the options and recommit to the positive changes you’ve already implemented in your life. Resist taking on major new endeavors. In spring use the ideas and information you gathered during the winter months to create goals and a plan. Take the first steps to set your plan into motion in late spring and early summer and they will have a much higher success rate! Not only will you have spent time setting realistic, achievable, well-thought out goals, but you’ll be working in sync with nature. The same nature that typically ensures your idealistic (and often unrealistic) New Year’s resolutions are a smashing failure will help create sustainable positive changes.
If you share my history of leaving a virtual graveyard of failed resolutions in your past, try a different resolution. Resolve to put your plan into action this spring and watch how your resolutions bloom and grow along with the summer flowers. Ayurveda teaches us how to work with our natural cycles and take advantages of the possibilities. Simply by changing the pattern of WHEN you implement major changes can significantly affect the likelihood of success. But the theories of ayurveda are best tested in the laboratory of life – try it and see what happens.
The heat of summer can wreck havoc with our systems – but the natural healing science of Ayurveda can help you keep your cool this summer season. Ayurveda teaches that Pitta dosha, with its fire element, is dominant during the hot summer months. Typical pitta aliments (like rashes, acid stomach, ulcers, inflammation, diarrhea, headaches and fiery tempers) are caused when too much pitta dosha builds up in the body. So the key to keeping your cool this summer – is keeping cool! Cooling activities, spices, foods, and habits can keep pitta at a healthy level and let you enjoy the fun in the sun that summer offers!
topically
C: Now, besides the physical practice alone, there are workshops on Ayurveda, and yoga philosophy. Talk about that. What is your vision, or intention for Yoga Community? 
Unfortunately, it also gets in our sinuses, chest and lungs! It seems like the springtime cold is inevitable. But is it really? According to the ancient health practices of Ayurveda, illness like the springtime cold is due to imbalances in the doshas – the three energies that control functioning of the body and mind. In particular, sinus congestion and respiratory issues are related to kapha dosha. Kapha is responsible for structure and lubrication in the body – too much phlegm is caused when the signal to lubricate the sinuses goes too far. Kapha is also associated with mental stability and generosity of spirit. When out of balance, kapha dosha can manifest as lethargy, possessiveness, and depression.
To cure a cold, stick with light, easy to digest foods – such as broth-based soups (What do you know? Grandma was right – chicken noodle soup does help cure your cold – though veggie-based will work, too). But to really help get kapha balanced, add some spice. In particular, heating spices like ginger, clove, and pepper balance kapha. So grab that ginger tea or make a pot of spicy Chai – but leave out the kapha-aggravating sugar and milk. If you have to add sweetener, stevia is least kapha aggravating.
Or try one of my favorite ways calm vata – spend a few minutes each day practicing a restorative yoga pose, such as Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall pose). It takes about 5-7 minutes in this pose to feel the calming effect, so stay at least 10 minutes to get the full benefit. This pose also helps with insomnia – practice it before bedtime or if you wake in the night, and you’ll soon be ready to drift back off to sleep.