ROOT A TOOT TOOT
Well, it’s finally here isn’t it? Autumn I mean (not the apocalypse!). This is a season of change, a season of deficiency and one which requires us to nourish ourselves and those around us. The Summer sun has gone, and as a result our bodies are trying their best to protect us from this loss of heat. When we experience this dip in temperature, our bodies reduce the blood flow to our limbs (hi there cold feet) and skin (hi there dryness and loss of plumpness and colour) in an effort to conserve heat loss. Our pulses drop and our blood vessels constrict. Our smooth muscles become more sluggish (including our, ahem, colons), and our instinct may be to move a little less, especially as the nights draw in.
Making sure you get outside, enjoy any sunshine you can find (even though it’s cold) and massage your body with a grounding oil are two ways you can make sure you’re doing something for yourself during the change of seasons. These are also things you can do with family members, or get them to do for you!
Vata dosha (air and space) is particularly aggravated during the Autumn. This is something parents often notice in their children, with school run conversations often following something like ‘wow they’re all a bit crazy today aren’t they? Must be the weather or someting’. I’d argue that it isn’t just the children who get a little bit weird when the wind whips up. We all do! Lots of talking, lots of fast walking, lots of forgetfulness, lots of hurrying, lots of wishing we were somewhere else. That’s where cooking root vegetables come in. In general, root vegetables are sweet, cleansing, anti-inflammatory, nourishing and easy to digest. They are also ready to dig up and eat during the Autumn, once again showing that nature knows what to provide us with and when! Think warm carrot juice with fresh ginger, roast carrot with herbs, parsnip chips, beetroot, mashed sweet potato- the list goes on! I won’t go into which root vegetables are best for which dosha here, but they’re all in season, they’re all cheap, they’re all colourful, they’re all delicious and they also tend to be crowd pleasers. Make sure they’re thoroughly cooked and eaten warm with warming herbs and spices. Let these nobbly ground-dwellers do their job of grounding you at a time when the news is atrocious and the Winter stretches out ahead of us.