Your Nutritional Winter Wellbeing
How do you nourish your mind, body and spirit through the depths of winter?
We are just ebbing into the edge of our winter season, waning down our suns energy as we approach the deep winter solstice later in the month of June.
We have begun reclining back under the covers and taking refuge in the warmth of our homes, our families and ourselves. The days are short, the nights are dark and long. Our bodies are seeking the opportunity to rest, fortify and to reserve energy.
It is a time of the year that many of us struggle to maintain adequate immunity, struggle to source motivation and we feel the presence of our bodies vulnerabilities. Winter can also bring up emotional feelings of being disconnected, dreary, unmotivated and uninspired.
Yet all of this can be managed and nurtured with a winter nutritional protocol. Nourishing yourself with foods aligned to nature, to the seasons, to what your body needs most, is your best form of preventative healthcare.
Our palates are also naturally changing with the season, desiring warming and hearty foods that sustain us for long nights of sleep and rest.
Winter immunity is one of our bodies biggest priorities this time of year and keeping colds, flus and infections at bay can be greatly influenced and supported by your nutritional behaviours and choices.
What are the restorative needs of your body in Winter?
In the season of Winter the needs of your body are highly regenerative and restorative. It is a time of great slumber, an opportunity to rest, to process, to heal.
The vital force of winter is waned down, turned in, as our sun is at its shyest tilt away from our sacred part of our earth. The need to fuel the internal fires, to keep warm, to soothe, to nourish, to assist in restoring are our most important needs to consider during our Winter experience.
During Winter the yang energy is at its lowest ebb and our yin energy at its height. It is a time where the energies of the earth turn inward and so too are the energies and vital force of the body. With shorter days, minimum solar energy and deep dark nights, cooler and often wetter climates, the Winter needs of the body become internalised and there is an instinctual physiological need to maintain heat, in order to regenerate and restore. This natural contraction of heat inward, leaves the body susceptible to the influences of cold and other external forces. Moving vital energy away from other systems.
We tend to seek activities and actions that are yin, quiet walks in nature, more rest, sleep, meditation and creative therapy. Being conscious of protecting the yang, by eating lots of warm, well cooked, nourishing soups and stews and keeping the body warm and protected against the cold. Much like fuelling our inner fires and stoking the heat.
Systems to support your body through the Winter
Our bodies are seeking heat and support in generating the warmth within the body. Our energy demands are greater because of this generation of energy required in maintaining homeostasis. This takes energy away from other vital systems such as the immune system, the nervous and digestive systems. Our immune systems need to be well supported and this means nourishing the symbiotic systems of the gut and the nervous systems. As always, a holistic approach, guided by the wisdom that is connected through your reflective poise, meditation and attention is needed.
Circulatory system
Maintaining heat and supporting peripheral circulation can help to unburden the body metabolically and help to conserve energy for other vital Winter physical responses.
Immune system
Supporting your immune function involves nourishing the systems that work synergistically with the immune system. These being the nervous and the enigmatic digestive system, both intrinsically linked to immune function.
Nervous and Endocrine system
The nervous system is governed by the endocrine system and a number of hormonal responses are influenced by the lessening of our solar energy. Due to the diminished sunlight in Winter you will naturally experience reduced production of serotonin and the heightened production of melatonin. A drop in serotonin can cause symptoms of anxiety and or depression and the increase in melatonin can induce symptoms of fatigue and lethargy.
The nervous system is also governed by your stress hormones which in turn affect deeply your immune function, so supporting your nervous system is fundamental for your Winter wellbeing.
Digestive system
The environment and complex micro cosmos of the gut is now firmly evident to have a key role in our immunological health and wellbeing. The health and environment of your gut from your brain, your mouth and all the way down to the lower bowel is vital to the way your body defends pathogens and their antigens.
Apart from being the largest surface area of mucosa and therefor the second largest defensive barrier, the environment is a source of vital immune regulation.
The microbiome not only protects our guts from invaders, it teaches and regulates our entire immune system.
Winter nourishment needs
Nature is amazing at providing exactly what we need nutritionally so being guided by seasonal available produce will always serve your best. Bridging this connection back into nature is a key ingredient to enhanced nutritional health. Connecting to your own seasonal, local available produce is your best guide to understanding your nutritional needs. Observe your natures bounty, your environment, your incredibly wise Gaia.
You inner world needs of you physical body relate to that of your outer natural world needs. Our plant world provides us with the very same energy sourced from the sun, that which is waning in the Winter. Perfectly attuned and created for your bodily needs and a source of that very sun energy we seek more of in Winter.
Winter gifts us an array of earth bound, root vegetables. Providing us with the starchy carbohydrate fuel we need to generate the energy and heat Winter demands. Dark leafy greens and rich fatty nuts and seeds provide us with the mineral base and fats we need to support our restorative healing needs, support our nervous systems and digestive function. Winter fruits are abundant in antioxidants and bioflavonoids necessary for cellar restoration and immune function. Warming spices support the circulatory system and the desires for hearty warming cooked meals fulfil our needs for comfort and security.
Nutritional Winter Immune Protocol: A Holistic Nutritional Approach
Support the function of the defence systems of the skin and mucosa.
Nourish and feed your gut microbiome.
Nourish and balance the nervous system.
Daily focus on required nutritional intake of essential vitamins and mineral that support your unique immune system.
Nourish with seasonal immune supporting plant/whole foods specific for you and your systems.
Support with immune modulating herbs and plant foods in the way your unique body needs.
Winter’s star ingredients
These key ingredients lay the foundations to support immune function, nutritionally, nourishing the systems that interplay in your immune function.
Turmeric
Revered by the ancients as the superfood of the spice world. The anti inflammatory beast of the plant kingdom!
This superb herb supports the immune system in multifaceted and complementary ways. Turmeric is highly nutritive and medicinal and with its immune boosting and anti- inflammatory qualities it can help to treat a wide variety of conditions, acute and chronic.
Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric, and it has powerful biological properties. Curcumin may be a more effective anti-inflammatory treatment than common inflammation-fighting medications. There is a compound in black pepper called piperine that actually helps to make turmeric more bioavailable so if you ever make your own blend, always add black pepper to your ground dried turmeric.
Blend with ginger, lemon juice and back pepper and hot water for a superb morning or anytime day drink or simply add the powder to your smoothies and other everyday recipes to get all its healthy benefits. Grate it finely into soups and salads. Juice it! How ever you can get it!
Ginger
A beautifully fragrant, gentle, circulatory stimulant, bringing heat into the body, especially to the peripheries.
It is warming, calminative and antispasmodic on the gut, and soothing to the nervous system whilst also being a powerful anti inflammatory.
Ginger has significant antioxidant properties and is even antimicrobial and is a perfect combination with citrus and turmeric. Just a delightful herb, an all rounder with many benefits to the body.
Citrus
We can not surpass how wonderful citrus is to the palate as the season starts to cool off. A rich source of natural sugars, antioxidants, citrus is the champion of Vit C! Our number one immune antioxidant.
Oranges are synonymous with the cooler months and as a go to in boosting up our intake of all things good in life. These tree fruits offer us an abundance of fruit sugars too in the depths of winter, when natural sweetness can benefit our winter blues.
Lemon in hot tea with fresh ginger and turmeric is a wonderful overall tonic for all the systems that need extra immunological support.
Seasonal Rainbow Foods
Improving your intake of plant based foods offers you an immediate array of nutrients, compounds and enzymes.
The broader the colour spectrum, the wider the variety of nutrients you will consume.
Concentrate on all things green and full of bioflavonoids. Kale is a highly nutritive green. Orange and red foods.
Beetroot, carrot, pumpkin and squash all contain beta-carotene, Vitamin A, Potassium and Vitamin C and so much more plant power from fibre and all their naturally occurring enzymes.
Mushrooms
Fabulous for the immune system (the lungs and kidneys also) mushrooms are highly nutritive and a great source of B vitamins. Mushrooms are their best in Autumn. Forage for wild mushrooms and source a wide variety of edibles into your diet.
Mushrooms also dry and store well and can make simple hearty meals and amazing broths. Reishi mushrooms are the most prized and recommended mushroom as a nutritive specific for its immune modulating compounds.
Reishi can help with sleep anxiety and the nervous system in general. Chaga inflammation and the ageing process, Turkey Tail, Shitake, Cordyceps and Lions Mane all have their unique immune nourishing applications.
Echinacea
Our number one herbal immune regulator and protector. This herb is antibacterial, viral and microbial and is often used in combination with there medicinal herbs to restore immune health and fight infection.
Used in combination with herbs such as yarrow, elderberry, and peppermint, this blend is a wonderful tonic for immune ailments.
Elderberry
Elderberry syrup is a treasured home remedy to brew up as you reach Autumn, in preparation for the winter. Traditionally this plant, its leaves and treasured berries have been used in the home for centuries as a tonic for all things colds, flus, respiratory inflammation.
High in bioflavanoids and loaded with an array of antioxidants. Elder is an expectorant and is an anti inflammatory. Soothes irritation of the bronchials and lungs and assists with mucous productive infections.
Elderberry Syrup
Brew this up in your own kitchen. This makes an approximate brew of 500ml is a seasons dose for a family of 4.
1 cup Dried Elder Berries
1 litre Spring or Filtered water
Fresh Ginger, start with 1 tbs yet be as generous as you wish and to your families tastes
1 Cinnamon stick
5-10 Cloves
2-5 Dried Orange Peels
Can add cardamon if you love this spice and your own additions as an alchemist
Bring to simmer with the lid on for 45 minutes until its reduced to half. Strain.
Dosage: Adult -1 tbs daily for support: 1 tsp every 2 hours for acute needs. Child 12+ years 1 tsp daily for maintain dose. -6 years 1/2 tsp
Not for children under 1 years of age.
Add 1/2 cup Honey , added in, after your brew has cooled down. (Manunka honey is the golden standard)
FOODS TO AVOID
To truly improve immune function, then there are some foods you may want to avoid. These foods displace your body of other, more vital nutrients in order to process them and therefore contribute very little if anything to improved immune function. This applies generally and is not specific to our season of Winter yet during this season our immune system is what takes the greatest hit.
Foods to be wary of: Processed foods in general. Heated oils and trans fats influence free radical damage and further compromise immune function. Refined sugars which are inflammatory in nature, adding to the painful woes we often feel in our joints in the winter months.
So keep warm, nourish your body by listening to that which is wishes to eat, warm, slow cooked foods, root vegetables, orange, yellow and red fruits and vegetables, warming hearty soups and high quality complex carbohydrates.
Nurture yourself, rest and digest this winter to support your immune system and lift your experiences of improved wellbeing. Allow your sympathetic nervous system to rest and activate your para sympathetic nervous system so you can digest.
Most importantly get to know your body, connect and listen to its genius so you can best support this physical manifestation of you!
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food” Hippocrates
SHAUNA KING
Holistic Nutritionist