FOOD AND THE SEASONS

Each season has a predominant dosha, which determines what foods to eat and avoid to sail through that season healthily. Digestive fire/Agni and appetite changes with each season, so one has to make the choices mindfully in order not to offset the Dosha balance. Following recommendations will help make the right food choices appropriate to each season. This season cycle is applicable in the northern hemisphere. 

VASANT RITU/SPRING SEASON 

Mid-March to Mid-May is considered Vasant Ritu. It follows the winter season. It is a beautiful time for the Earth. Flowers are blooming and happiness and a new beginning await. As the winter diminishes, the accumulated Kapha of the winter tends to melt and thus, in this season Kapha related disorders such as spring colds, cough, asthma are common. 

Spring is considered the season that the body needs purification from an accumulated toxic overload of the winter season. Fasting is one way to do so. Panchkarma with an ayurvedic place is a good option at this time. It is recommended to fast at least once a week to mitigate the Kapha. Some more recommendations to ease Kapha increase in the body are given below:

• Ayurveda recommends long walks in the parks at this time. Exercise is a must in this season. Most intense exercise is suggested for the Kapha individual. 
• One should include pungent, bitter and astringent tasting food items in the diet. Avoid cold, fatty, heavy, sweet and sour food items. Salt should also be taken in moderation. Avoid foods that are difficult to digest. New grains, curd, cold drinks are also prohibited from being consumed. 

Include the following food items in the diet: 

• Gut-healthy foods like honey. 
• Gently stimulating spices like coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, saffron, fenugreek, mustard seeds and fennel seeds. 
• Old barley, old wheat, old rice and buckwheat as grains are preferred. 
• Lentils, moong beans and split peas. 
• Bitter melon, cucumber, eggplant, pumpkin, radish and zucchini are good vegetable choices. 
• Easily digestible lean meats such as chicken, goat meat, rabbit. Choose to barbecue your meats to make them more digestible. 
• Apples, mango, banana, pears and grapefruit are good fruit choices. 
• Drink plenty of water and juices like grape or mango.
  

GRISHMA RITU – THE SUMMER SEASON 

Mid-May to Mid-August is considered as Grishma Ritu. The sun rays become powerful and the season becomes fiercely hot. Deposition of Vata Dosha occurs, and Kapha Dosha decreases. The Agni of the person remains in a mild state. Digestion gets weakened. Some recommendations for managing your Dosha balance in the summer are given below. 

• Keep your clothing and headwear conducive for the heat. Wear loose comfortable clothing and keep your head covered when in the sun.
• Never exercise outdoors in peak temperature. This aggravates the Pitta Dosha. Try and exercise early in the morning if you like outdoor exercise. 
• Include sweet, unctuous/moist, cold and liquid foods in the diet. 
• Salty, pungent, sour tastes and warm foods are to be avoided.
• Foods that are light to digest are preferred. 
• Drinking plenty of water and other liquids, such as cold water (not iced but cooled in an earthen pot), buttermilk, fruit juices like mango, pomegranate juice, tender coconut water, meat soups, churned curd which is made lighter and seasoned with pepper, is to be practiced. 
• Very cool water kept in a mud pot along with flowers of Patala and Karpura (camphor) and vetiver root should be used for drinking. 
• One can take milk with sugar candy at bedtime. 
• Go easy on the spices such as black pepper, red pepper. 
• Go easy on the yogurt in this season. Buttermilk should be made sweet this season. 
• Avoid chilled water. Prefer water from an earthen pot.
• Alcohol should be avoided; if very necessary, taken in very little quantity or diluted with more water. If taken in large doses, it will cause inflammatory conditions, and it will make the body fragile and weak, increase burning sensation and cause delusion. 

SHARAD RITU-THE AUTUMN SEASON 

Mid-August to Mid-November is considered Sharad Ritu. As the heat increases, the Pitta Dosha gets aggravated and the activity of Agni increases during this season. This season as explained in Ashtang Hridya follows the Indian weather, where Fall follows the rainy season, the monsoons. In the western world, it is the Vata Dosha that gets disturbed in this season. Hence, an appropriate regime should be followed by them. In Autumn, foods having sweet, bitter and astringent tastes with Pitta pacifying properties should be consumed. 

• Keep warm clothing on, when it starts getting cold. Also, keep your ears warm as this is the season when ringing in the ears will increase. 
• Include foods like rice, wheat, barley and amaranth in your diet. 
• Green gram lentils, sugar candy, honey and Patola (Trichosanthes diocia), dry meats are to be included in the diet. 
• Ghee and other light dairy products are advisable. 
• Hot and very spicy foods should be avoided.
• The food items, such as fat, oils, meat of aquatic animals, curds, etc, should not be included in the diet during this season.
• Moong, green gram, red lentil and split peas are favoured.
• Cabbage, cauliflower, all squash, zucchini and cucumber are to be eaten. 
• Bananas, apricots, berries, coconut, dates, figs and melon should be consumed.
• Golden turmeric milk will help with insomnia during this season. 

HEMANT SHISHIR RITU- THE WINTER SEASON 

Mid-November to Mid-March is considered the winter season. Agni in the body is very strong in this season. This is the time that nature gives us hearty root vegetables to eat. Fruits are not the main produce at this time. So, don’t bother with purchasing the expensive Brazilian produce of mangoes. The body would benefit from the local produce fit for winter consumption. 

This is the season is to rebuild immunity. So, eat well and exercise well. Food choices should include unctuous, sweet, sour, and salty foods. Vata aggravating foods, such as light, cold and dry foods are to be avoided. This is the season when one should keep warm and well-nourished. Some other seasonal advice is given below:

• Wear warm clothing and keep your head, ears, and feet well covered. 
• Since digestive fire is strong, heavy food items like various meats, fats, milk and milk products, honey and sugarcane products, fermented preparations, sesame and so on are good to be included in the diet. It is the season to eat cheese. 

• Avoid intake of cold beverages. Overeating should be discouraged, and unhealthy foods like fried foods and carbonated drinks should be avoided. 

The following foods are good to include in the diet: 

• New rice, flour preparations, millet, buckwheat, ragi, and wheat are advised among cereals. 
• Green gram, kidney beans, moong beans, red lentils, split peas, chickpeas and Urad Dal are good choices. 
• Good vegetable choices are carrots, green vegetables, mushrooms, taro, peas, potatoes, beetroot, winter squash, and turnip. 
• Papaya, pomegranate, orange and apples. 
• Butter, cheese, ghee, milk and milk products can be used.