Food As Medicine: The Spring Season

By James Yardley, of Yardley Healing Arts

According to ancient Chinese Medicine, the spring season is associated with the Wood element, and resonates with the Liver and Gallbladder organs and channels in the human body. During spring, the rivers and lakes become gorged, full of winter’s snowmelt. The frozen energy from winter’s hibernation is returning. Plants are pushing up and out of the ground, trees are blooming, birds are singing. We often feel our own energy increasing, along with a yearning for the light and an attraction to the warmth of the sun. All of this is explained by the natural ebb and flow of Yin and Yang. In spring time, the Yang energy is returning, and energy is moving again more quickly. Chinese Medicine nutrition offers some sound advice in order to live in harmony with the changing seasonal energy. Here are my top recommendations for using food as medicine during the spring season. If you’d like to learn more, book an appointment with me here.

In Spring, the lighter Yang energy is growing and expanding outwards from within the heavier Yin quality of Winter.

The body’s needs for heavy and rich foods of winter shifts to lighter and simpler foods that are easy to digest. The best flavors to enjoy in spring are pungent, bitter, and astringent. This includes bright greens, fresh berries, fresh ginger, turmeric, lemons, and warm and spicy soups.

Eating in the Spring Season:

The spring season is said to have heavy, cool, damp, slow, cloudy, sticky, and stable qualities.

So, the foods we choose should be balancing to these qualities; warming, light, dry, mobile/movement generating, sharp, and penetrating. We should reduce cold, heavy, oily, static, dull, and slow to digest foods. Smaller meal sizes are recommended as healthy in spring. This will allow the body to lighten and cleanse itself more properly and not be overburdened with heavy, large meals. Also, to let your liver chill out, try to minimize/reduce your caffeine and alcohol consumption in the spring season. After all, it deserves a break! Another good idea for digestive health is to avoid eating while working. This can aggravate the Liver Qi and cause digestive disturbances. Perhaps easier said than done?

Favorable Spring Foods.

Green colored foods- Bright green leafy vegetables are popping up out of the ground, so they are very seasonally appropriate and one of the best spring foods! The bitter flavor of greens has a cleansing effect on the Liver and Gallbladder organs. Try to have a daily serving of green leafy veggies in spring to benefit your liver and gallbladder.

Start the day with a mug of hot water with lemon juice. This is like a gentle cleanse and warms up your Qi circulation for the day.

Sprouts of all kinds are one of the best things for liver health, and for spring!

Radishes are also a spring veggie I recommend. Have a radish per day to help your Liver and Lung Qi circulation and clear out phlegm that may have built up over winter’s rich, stagnating diet.

Beets are a very good choice in spring for their good cleansing effect on the liver, gallbladder, and colon. Try a small glass of beet juice in the morning. It’s surprisingly tasty and satisfying! Beet tops can also be made into a tea and drunk as a cleanse.

Asparagus is another early spring veggie that has a light energy and a cleansing effect on the body, especially targeting the kidneys and urinary system.

Celery and Cucumber in moderation, are good choices if you feel some heat symptoms that may have built up over winter.

Lean proteins are ideal. This includes beans, lentils, warmed tofu, and white meat. Chicken is the classic animal protein eaten in the spring season in China. White meat is preferred. This nourishes the Liver.

Pungent spices like ginger, black pepper, lemon, turmeric, fenugreek, and mustard seeds are recommended. These can help get the Qi moving.

Drying grains including buckwheat, millet, cornmeal/corn tortillas, amaranth, barely, and rye.

Astringent fruits, such as apples, fresh berries, grapefruit, pears, dried cherries, pomegranate juice, raisins, and prunes.

Bitter vegetables, such as arugula, spinach, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, and dandelion greens.

Foods to reduce.

Anything cold.

Dairy products.

Sweet and heavy fruits like bananas, figs, and dates.

Wheat.

Sweeteners, except raw honey.

Fatty meats.

Roasted nuts.

Salt.

Alcohol.