Seasonal Living and Eating with Kate Henley

Kate Henley, expert in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture joins us to talk about Seasonal Eating and Living
Interestingly, Chinese Dietary therapy long preceded acupuncture which makes it more than 2,000 years old. Its principles are simple and effective and can easily translate to today’s modern world. As we are living in a society that is speeding up and over heating, where instant everything has become the norm, taking time to prepare food to nourish our bodies has very much taken second place in favour of convenience. The simple model that this Eastern medicine offer is staggeringly easy and makes complete sense when explained.
Essentially the Chinese adhere to seasonal eating as they believe that our bodies are adapted to eating food that comes from the soil where we live, giving us more energy and allowing us to work to our optimum. Each of the seasons (and there are 5 in Chinese Medicine, the addition of late summer) has a flavour and a colour that supports our bodies. There is also a method of cooking that suits the season. We will discuss these different seasons and the most appropriate foods and cooking methods plus the very interesting concept that all of the foods have an energetic temperature. This means that some foods are heating (chillies, meat, red wine, red foods) and good for cold conditions (like low energy and digestive weakness) and some are cooling (fruit, some grains, cucumber, salad, melon) and good for hot conditions (hot flushes).
And it doesn’t stop there as it is also believed that each 2 hour period of the day corresponds to when we optimise our energy in each of the 12 organs, so that is when we need to work with the body to enhance its function. For example, the optimum stomach energy time is in the morning between 7 and 9am, when we need to eat our biggest meal.

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I enjoyed this on catch up - thank you. Quite difficult to change my eating habits but I’ll try and incorporate more ‘warm’ foods 👍