Diet for autumn

 

 

Autumn arrives, nature changes, temperatures begin to drop and with them the first flu and colds appear.

That's why we must adapt our diet to this change of season if we want to prepare our bodies for the winter and remove summer excesses.

What foods does autumn have to offer?

At this time the land still offers a variety of fruits and especially round and root vegetables. Nature itself is telling us what we must increase during this season.

The summer ends and with it all the “opening” energy. Like the trees directing their energy to their roots, stripping themselves off their leaves, it is also time for us to nestle, to start preparing for the cold winter and leave the summer behind.

Let's look at the transition from late summer in detail.

 

What foods should we increase?

 

Fruit: It is advisable to consume fruits that are typical of this season like grapes, berries, apples, etc. Reducing the amount of raw fruit and starting to make compotes, purees or jams.

 

Vegetables: We will increase the consumption of root and round vegetables from this season, such as onions, pumpkins, cauliflower, cabbages, turnips or parsnip. All of them will give us the sweetness needed for this season. It is time to reduce the consumption of salads and vegetables more typical of the summer. But we shouldn’t forget to eat the always necessary green vegetables either blanched, steamed or boiled for a short time.

 

Grains: millet, oats, quinoa, sweet rice, wild rice. It will be the right time to change the long grain basmati type rice to a shorter grain one. On the other hand we also have couscous, bulgur or wholegrain quality pastas.

 

Proteins: A good time to start preparing dishes like azuki legumes, chickpeas or lentils, or other proteins like tempeh, seitan or tofu, always well cooked. Dishes that deeply nourish us and warm us up. It is also a good time to go back to eating fresh fish.

 

Oils: It’s the time to slightly increase the use of good quality oil in our dishes, and the use of pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, etc.

 

Seaweed: Seaweed consumption of all types will provide us with all the minerals that now more than ever our body needs to recover from the summer losses and therefore prevent a deficiency that can cause colds, weakness and lack of energy.

 

Spices: We will swap fresh herbs for dry ones in our cooking, as well as swapping spicier ones like mustard for other ones that warm us up such as cloves, ginger and cinnamon.

 

What cooking styles will be most suitable?

 

Just like in the summer we use recipes that don’t require heat cooking, with a variety of raw and marinated foods, etc. to counteract the heat of the season, in autumn we need to introduce more heat and more time to our cooking in order to strengthen us and warm us up on a deep level, cooking to enhance the sweetness of our dishes. For this purpose the most suitable cooking styles will be steaming, stewing and sautéing for a longer time, occasionally tempura and fried dishes, and pressure cooking for cereals and legumes. But we can also alternate this with lighter cooking methods like blanching for green vegetables, short-time boiling and short-time sautéing.

 

What flavors do we need to enhance?

 

Sweet is the taste of autumn, and this is what nature tells us by offering us all kinds of end-of-summer fruits and sweet vegetables like pumpkin.

The natural and good quality sweetness found in some fruits and vegetables and that we can enhance with the right cooking style, will nourish us deeply.

 

An adequate diet for each season is essential to help our body adapt to the changes in weather, light, and the rhythms that each season requires.

If when the summer ends and it gets cold we do not change and continue to eat fruits, salads and refreshing drinks, we cool our body down too much and we are more exposed to catching colds, for example. If we strengthen our immune system and our internal heat instead, we will be better prepared for the changing seasons.

 

David Gasol Mestres