Why is food medicine? Food is sunlight. It is water and earth in condensed form. All the elements of the Universe come together to create food. In the highest sense, food is pure Universal medicine. Food grows to its highest peak of energy and transfers Universal love to whoever eats them. We can connect to the essence of food because we come from the same source – Nature.
“Staying Healthy Through the Seasons” is a course I teach online that explains which organ is being nourished in each season. At the midway point of summer, it is time to gear up the foods that encourage a healthy digestive system.
Late summer is Spleen/Pancreas/Stomach season. The Spleen and Stomach are Earth Energy. The Spleen transforms and transports food into usable food essence, produces blood and controls muscles. Spleen is in charge of harmonizing the entire digestive system and metabolizing process. It is responsible for repairing and recycling blood.
The Spleen and the Pancreas share the same blood and energy streams. They are complementary to the Stomach. They both have a dense structure (yang) and the Stomach has a yin, hollow structure. Sweet foods relax and center the whole body. These foods slow down acute symptoms and neutralize toxins. Eat dinner by 7pm and eat until you are 70% full.
Here is a helpful list of foods to introduce your body to the late summer season:
EARTH ELEMENT: All SWEET and STARCHY foods, particularly YELLOW, ORANGE and BROWN foods
PROTEIN: beef, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, eel, salmon, sardine
VEGETABLES: carrots, cabbage, potato, sweet potato yam, okra, taro, beets, button and chanterelle mushrooms and other fungus, winter and summer squash, cucumbers, sweet squash, avocado
FRUIT: watermelon, cantaloupe, sweet apples, sweet cherries, dates, grapes, peaches, bananas and plantains, coconut and other tropical fruits like papayas, cherimoyas, and mangoes
GRAINS: millet, barley, rye, buckwheat, wheat, oats, rice
SYRUPY SWEETS: honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, agave syrup, molasses, rice syrup and barley syrup.
SEEDS: flax, pumpkin, sunflower
NUTS: chestnut
TEA: ginseng, jasmine, peppermint, ginger
SEASONINGS: fennel, cardamom, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, cayenne, chili, clove, cumin, rosemary, thyme, turmeric
COOKING METHOD: Baking, Roasting, Stewing, Mashing, Pureeing, Jams and Jellies. Caramelizing, Desserts and Candy
Summer is halfway through - Are you having fun yet?
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