Eating with the cycles of nature –AUTUMN FOOD

With the change of season it’s always good to take stock!  Especially of your current health status.

As with nature we to change each season and so do our nutritional requirements.  Autumn is the season of harvesting and letting go!

Just as nature begins to rest after the energetic months of spring and summer spent in the outdoors with family and friends in the glorious sunshine, so do our bodies and mind have the need to become still and introspective, where we find the need to spend more time indoors and on our own processing our thoughts and reflecting.

With the coming of the season we begin to include more cooked and warming foods, longer cooking times, and the focus is on those foods that help protect and support the immune system in the cooler winter months to come.  During this season (Autumn) we are encouraged to breathe deep and allow the breath to remind us of the process of harvesting, what is needed and letting go of that which no longer serves us.  On a physical level, the upper respiratory tract needs special attention, so particular foods that enhance this area of our body should be included into the diet.  Spices come to mind, not only for their affinity to the aromatic senses of the body but also to the fact that they add warmth to the body.  Most spices have great protective and healing qualities and help to tonify the digestive system in preparation for a richer winter fare.  Root vegetables and those rich in beta carotene are what also come to mind here.  Remembering how your mother would say “please eat your carrots….they will help you see better at night time” most certainly a truer word spoken, as we know beta carotene is a great nourishing nutrient for your eyes.  It also plays an important role in enriching the membranes of the lungs and helps to moisten and protect them in the winter.

It is a topic sorely overlooked in today’s society of abundant choice and rich variety…and that is eating fresh fruits and vegetables in season. Most of us tend to overthink our weekly food shop, and we need not to, by focusing on foods in season and shopping at local food markets or from your local farmer.

A word of caution when shopping at the larger food chains is that food such as bananas and avocados are picked unripened and hard - often for ease of transport - and gassed with ethylene to ripen when needed.  Apples are frozen for up to a year in storage, sometimes longer, as well as being gassed by a chemical known as SmartFresh. The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources in Australia discusses its effects in a report from 2011, as well as analysing antibiotic use on fruits such as apples imported from other countries - including our friendly neighbour New Zealand. All these unnatural processes and chemical additions can mean, put simply, poorer quality foods.  

The benefits, therefore, of picking within season are numerous. Here’s just a few:

Taste – Food within season allowed to ripen naturally produces sweeter fruits and ready-to-eat vegetables with stronger tastes.

Freshness – We all see ‘fresh’ marketed on foods everywhere, but what could be more fresh then locally-sourced organic fruits and vegetables within season? 

Higher nutritional value – fruits and vegetables consumed closest to harvesting provide us with the highest nutritional value. Vitamin C, folate and carotenoids (natural substances responsible for those beautiful yellow, red and orange colours in foods and plants) can decrease as a result of long storage times coupled with unnatural processing methods. In a research paper published last year regarding post-harvest food management approaches, it was concluded that fruits and vegetables stored for long periods of time and transported over large distances showed a reduction in phyto-nutrient content.

Local quality – obtaining fruits and vegetables sourced overseas gives rise to risks relating to land and soil quality. Regulation around soil contamination tests may not be as stringent as those in Australia. In the past garlic supplies sourced overseas was found to have been irradiated, bleached and sprayed with methyl bromide for quarantine and storage purposes.

Environmentally friendly – picking fruits and vegetables within their season affects the amount of demand for out-of-season produce.  This has a flow-on effect for the demand for local produce, thereby stimulating and supporting local farming. When local farming is thriving, our foods have to travel less distance with the least amount of processing and along with minimal storage time, provide greater overall quality.

I hope you have been encouraged to try seasonal eating and by combining from the list below and adding protective herbs such as garlic, onions, thyme for better nourishment and protection for our bodies.  Experiment with the list provided to include more fuel-rich foods like lentils and nuts to your diet to keep your body vital as the temperature drops heading into winter.  Remember to entice your senses with the aromas and most importantly remember to BREATHE.

Yours in Health

Till next time

Caron

Recipe:

BUTTERNUT COLESLAW

Butternuts are not usually used as a salad ingredient, but are more than happy to be a replacement for carrots, they are less sweet than carrots and produce a less creamy slaw.  Should you wish to have a more creamy coleslaw, omit the fresh herbs and combine with cashew basil pesto homemade of cause.

Ingredients:  2 cups butternut, grated, 2 cups red cabbage, shredded, 1 cup apple, cored and finely chopped (granny smith/pink lady), ½ cup rasins, ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted, ¼ cup olive oil, 15ml lemon juice, ¼ cup parsley or fresh coriander chopped, salt and pepper to taste.

Method:  Place all ingredients into a large bowl.  Toss well with olive oil and lemon juice until glossy, but not drenched, season and serve with your favourite main.

 You could serve this with Tin Shed Farm pasture-raised chicken, made to your taste!

According to the Seasonal Food Guide of Australia, below is a list of fruit and vegetables to pick during our current season AUTUMN:

Snow Peas, Potatoes, Pumkins, Spring onions, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes, Turnips, Zucchini, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Asparagus, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Carrots, Cauliflower, Beans, Beansprouts, Beetroot, Broccoli, Cabbage, Apples, Bananas, Figs, Grapes, Kiwifruits, Lemons, Melons, Nectatines, Peaches, Pears, Persimmons, Plums, Quinces,