Autumn’s Wellness Symphony

How to tune into nature’s rhythms with the change of seasons

Jean Edelman: Great to be with you this week. This week, I want to talk about the fall. It’s such a wonderful time of year. It’s so colorful, cool and crisp. And it truly is a time of transition. This is the time of year that nature begins to move inward, storing its energy, dropping its foliage and conserving energy for the cooler months. This change, whether we’re aware of it or not, it affects all of us. It affects our physical body. And we truly would be healthier if we could take some cues from nature, especially with our food.

So let’s talk about our food for the cooler months. Our food prep will change. We’ll want more soups and long cooked, hearty stews. We’ll want heartier meals versus cold salads. These warmer meals really nourish and keep our body energized and give it vitality. Sometimes the colder food during the colder months just makes us colder. And so we do want to move to those warm, cozy, comforting foods. Our fruits will change. Yes, we can get blueberries and strawberries and raspberries all year round, but we truly should be moving more to our apples and our pears and our plums. Think of wonderful, warm cobblers. They just kind of make us feel warm inside. We want that warm, versus cold ice cream and yogurt.

And our veggies will change a little bit too. We’re going to start seeing more squashes and more variety of a wonderful root vegetables. If we eat more in season, we actually take in the energy of that season. We take that energy in and it makes us stronger and that energy connects us more with the rhythm of nature. And this nature, this rhythm of nature creates this flexibility in our life and our overall health. And so pay attention as we move into this cooler weather, as we move into the fall.

I’m going to ask for our action item this week is to really focus in our self-care. It’s important to notice the changes and to adjust accordingly. We really want to drink a lot of fluids and we want warm fluids, maybe just a little bit of warm water with a squeeze of lemon. Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate. Take the time to listen to our bodies.

In these times when the days are shorter and the daylight is shorter. It gets a little cooler. Maybe we do want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and watch a movie or read a book. And you know what? It’s okay. And our naps are okay. A little bit more sleep during the fall and cooler weather. It’s great.

And then let’s check in with the food store when we’re there. How about we just kind of hang out by the root vegetables and feel into what feels better for us? The beans and legumes, the lentils, long cooked stews. Oh, my gosh. They’re just going to be wonderful. And remember, our whole food is important during the seasons. We can have our cobblers, but we don’t have to dose it with sugar. We could use maybe maple syrup or brown rice syrup. There are so many new and different. There’s coconut sugar now and there’s monk fruit sugar. There’s all kinds of sugars that don’t spike our glycemic value. And so do a little research and feel into what’s best for you. Enjoy this wonderful time of year as the foods and as the season changes.

So my word of the week this week, it’s Fall.

The F is to be Flexible, to adjust, to change, because this is a change of season. And I think it’s amazing if you just sit back and think that the earth and the animals, they know what to do. Their intuition, their instincts, that tells them what to do. And if we sit back and just observe the beautiful earth and animals, they know what to do intuitively. They know in their instincts what to do and how to prepare for the cooler months. And we don’t even as humans, need to intervene at all. So just observe. But also make the changes for ourselves, change with the seasons, adjust our food and our just our habits accordingly, and we will stay in balance. And that’s the key.

The A is for Aware. All we can ask is to be aware of the seasonal changes. Connect the dots and understand how the cooler weather affects us and how we can make the changes to keep that balance.

The L is for Life and life is movement. Change, harmony, flexibility and awareness. Each day nature is different and each day so are we. So tune in and flow with the season.

And the L is for Listen. Listen to our body. Listen to this beautiful body that we have spent time becoming friends with that we have promised to take care of. Listen, listen. When our sleep is off or maybe our appetite is off. It’s okay. It’s the change of season. Use our intuitive eating to figure out how to help us get back into balance. That is so rewarding.

This is a wonderful time of year. Savor the days. Get outside and have a beautiful week, everyone.