Why seasonal living is important for great health
It might sound like a little extra effort, but seasonal living promises significant returns on your investment.
Seasonal eating helps keep our gut health, microbiome and overall physiology in an optimal state by ”exercising” specific metabolic pathways when they are more relevant, and letting others rest in turn (much like a farmer would rotate his crops). For instance, healthy digestion in the winter requires certain bacteria that help us digest richer winter diets (ie. animal fats, dense complex carbs), promote deeper sleep, and help us stay warmer! People who eat mostly salads and smoothies in the winter will often encounter imbalances - like thyroid dysregulation - over time. This is why Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and all ancient medicinal lineages preach seasonal eating.
Modifying how we eat, move, sleep, etc with the seasons allows our bodies to engage different digestive and regenerative processes, which in turn, assures that the various processes that ensure our good health stay ‘well-oiled.’
(Think of it this way: you wouldn’t drive a car in just 1 gear all the time, would you? It’s the same rationale for why long term keto-diets don’t work, unless they are cyclical.)
Here’s a real-world, fascinating example of why seasonal rhythms are crucial for optimal health:
MOST of the microbiome in our guts, on our skin and in our lungs (a new discovery!) comes from the AIR we breathe, as opposed to the foods / supplements we eat.
So, when different bacteria bloom with the seasons, we need to adjust our diets to feed them with foods that match the season, which keep them (and us!) happy and healthy.
In the wild, we encounter even more poignant examples of why seasonal eating is important. For instance, when an herbivore like a deer eats green, leafy foods out of season, it causes gut acidification and a drastic shift in its microbiome, leading to severe indigestion that can actually kill the animal! (Cows, for example, when taken from pastures and fed grain, have to be medicated to settle their stomachs.)
So, while we’re designed to live according to the rhythms of nature, the culture of modern life has done a stellar job of dissociating us from these rhythms and innate seasonal sensibilities: we keep the same schedules and habits year-round, and it wears us out from both a systemic and biological standpoint. (It doesn't really make sense to drink chilled, berry-packed smoothies and sleep just 6 hours in the dead of winter...and it’s NOT good for us in the long run.)
So, how does one start to live seasonally?
If you have a local farmer’s market, that’s a great place to start. The vendors will often have fantastic suggestions on how to prepare and enjoy all of the produce they sell.
Adjusting your sleep-wake cycles is also important - sleeping more in the darker months of winter should come naturally because our bodies secrete begin to secrete sleep-inducing melatonin when darkness falls. So, provided we aren’t destroying melatonin by starting at blue light-emitting screens at night, adjustment to earlier bed times should come naturally to those who experience shorter days and cooler climate. Unfortunately, most people override their bodies’ sleep cues in winter by setting their alarm clocks at the same time as they would in the summer. This taxes the body, which has likely been some degree of sleep deprived through the longer months of summer; the sleep patterns of the opposing seasons are meant to balance each other.
…
This is a deep topic and there are many ways to live in sync with seasons, which I will continue to write on.
If you’d like to learn more on the topic of seasonal living, I highly recommend Ayurvedic expert, Dr. John Douillard’s* take on it all. His free, concise monthly videos and shopping guides lay everything out well and make the practicals really straight-forward. Check out this article, or Dr John Douillard's YouTube channel.
*Dr John Douillard, DC is founder of the Ayurvedically-informed LifeSpa Clinic in Colorado and has studied Medicine for 30 years. He offers loads of free, wonderful content on his website.
