Its always after thanksgiving and looking at the beautiful colour of the leaves that I realize that summer has passed and fall is here. Fall season seems to be a time when many people become sick because they don’t prepare themselves and their systems for the change in season and their immune system is unable to handle the circulating viruses/bugs. Transferring from summer means going from hot temperatures and constant movement to fall’s cool temperatures and sedentary lifestyle. Below are some healthy happy tips to prepare for the change in the fall.
Healthy tips:
Changing your food style from summer to fall is important. Summer is all about cold raw foods for cooling our systems. To compensate for the colder weather, we need to warm our digestive systems with warmer foods either in temperature or spice. Slow cook your foods for long periods of time to make them more absorbable and nutritional. Also add spices such as: ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, chili, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves etc (hence why we crave pumpkin spice products so much! We want the warming spices!).
Also to increase our immune systems, we need to incorporate foods rich in vitamin C and zinc such as: dark leafy greens (kale, spinach, rapini), citrus fruits (Apple cider is wonderful!), tomatoes, berries, etc.
Happy tips:
Too much stress will naturally decrease your immune system, so doing things you enjoy and that make you happy are key (notice how people tend to do more enjoyable things in the summer then go back to work/school and get sick in the fall?). Some stress reducing examples include – hanging out with friends, joining groups/activities, arts/crafts, walking in nature, meditation/yoga, writing/journaling etc. Movement (not necessarily exercise) is very important to incorporate in our routines since as the weather lowers, our metabolism lowers and we have to compensate for that by moving and keeping our systems active (other ways of increasing our metabolism during fall and winter are using saunas or steam rooms).
Grounding is also important (see previous post) and can be achieved in anyway by connecting with ourselves, others, or nature.
If any questions/comments on how to increase your immune system for the fall/winter, feel free to contact me at nd.nicoledaniels@gmail.com
Enjoy the colours of the Fall everyone!
