Foods to eat in Spring
Spring truly is one of the most wonderful times of the year, where everywhere we look, life is beginning to show signs of growth, the sun returns, and our energy levels are beginning to increase as the cold begins to disappear.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the season of spring is all about the liver and gallbladder organs and the associated meridians. Together, these two organs are vital to maintaining a good energy flow throughout the body, which is incredibly important in Spring as we find ourselves returning to the outdoors, increasing our physical output as we start to limber up after hybernation, and enjoy the scents of spring flowers in the warmer evenings.
When we look at the types of foods that we should be eating in Spring, it's a combination of both "upward" and "downward" vegetables working in balance. "Upward" foods include things like greens and sprouting vegetables - think kale, wheat grass, sprouts and rocket leaves. These reflect the "upward growth" of spring, as things are returning to life. "Downward" foods include things like radishes, and root vegetables like beets and carrots. The "downward" foods help ground us (creating roots), to ensure strong growth coming into the summer.
Some of the other suggestions for spring include sour citrus fruits such as lemons, limes and grapefruit. Spring is probably the best of all four seasons to start the day with a hot water and lemon drink. Sour citrus fruits are excellent at helping to cleanse the liver to improve the flow of qi and can also help to cut fats that may have been stored over the winter from our rich stews and bone broths.
Simple trays of roasted seasonal vegetables like beets and carrots on a bed of rocket or wilted spinach can be the perfect dinner at this time of the year. Remember wherever possible, it's important to try and consume warm or cooked food, as we want to avoid cooling the body and creating unnecessary damp. If you want some more information, I go into a bit more detail about that in this video about eating cold food.
Karina x
