SPRING NUTRITION

Guidelines following the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Spring is the start of the new year. The energy of this season is 'up' and 'out'. The liver and gallbladder achieve their energetic maximum in this season. This means that our spring diet should pay particular attention to these organs and their functions.

If anything hinders the rising and spreading energy of spring, when we are stuck in a rut and frustrated, impatience, agitation, anger and frustration will flare up.

To support and stimulate the increased biological activity of spring our diet should be light and easily digestible. If it is not, in other words, if we continue with our heavy winter diet, with oily, fatty, fried and deep-fried snacks, foods and meals, we interfere with, and retard the accelerating flow of spring. The obstruction inherent in this inappropriate diet leads, amongst other things, to springtime fatigue.

Salty foods such as miso are best avoided, they have a sinking action. For that same reason bitter foods* should be confined to ‘light bitter' only. Think of rye, spelt, endive, and so on. Sour foods should also be avoided. They contract. This hinders the free flow of blood and Qi.

Iron The key word in spring is ‘iron'. The first plants to shoot up in early spring are iron-rich, mineral-rich greens such as nettles, dandelions, chives and parsley. These fast-growing greens nourish and quicken our blood. Very few of us still live close enough to nature to avail of this natural abundance. But we can go to our health food shops to buy ready-to-use blood-nourishing teas. We can also make our own tea combinations (see below under Spring Teas). Likewise, we may need a course of chlorophyll- and mineral rich micro-algae. Spirulina, in particular, is used to combat anaemia. It also acts against Candida. Chlorella strengthens the immune system and is easier to digest. Micro-algae are cooling, they cool in particular the kidneys. Therefore, you take extreme care around micro-algae. Gradually increase the dose, do not exceed three per day, irrespective of what it says on the pack, and do not take them for long (3 weeks at most). Add some ginger, either in tea, or as drops, to your meals to help digest the micro-algae. Other iron-rich foods in spring include dry-roasted hazelnuts*, dried apricots and sultanas. Sea lettuce, sea beans and glasswort are excellent blood- and mineral builders. In spring they can be stir-fried. When spring is well on its way, glasswort can be taken raw or added to soups, at the very end! And, though we gradually exchange the heavy meals of winter for the light meals of spring, we can take an egg each week (with mushrooms and/or salt to lower the cholesterol); some liver every second week (from organic, free-range stock and cooked with vegetables in a light soup); mussels cooked with vegetables; and some beef steak, preferably also cooked with vegetables. Parsley or chives can be added at the end of the cooking process. They are chopped very fine and stirred though the food while the food is still in the pot. The heat allows the plant cells to open. This eases their absorption.

Spring teas

Rose mallow (hibiscus), camomile, rose hip, lemon balm, chrysanthemum, liquorice and apple with honey tea will all shake off winter inertia.

A blood building tea particularly useful for women is lady's mantle!

Nettle, sage and dandelion teas cleanse the liver and build blood.

Rosemary tea dispels headaches.

Green tea or jasmine tea remove fat. The post-digestive nature of green tea and jasmine tea is, however, very cold, so you use only tiny cups from which you sip small amounts of tea during or after a heavy or rich meal.

Fresh ginger, marigold and sage with some honey is useful when you have a cold or flu.

*Note that a few nuts a day help, a lot of nuts hinder. This applies to all nuts. The daily consumption of nuts, including peanuts, should not exceed about half a dozen a day. In summer, they should be taken off the menu altogether.

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Author Details: Leni Hurley