AUTUMN
Fall is the season of harvest, a time to pull inward and gather together on all levels, a time to store up fuel, food, and warm clothing, a time to study and plan for the approaching stillness of winter. Everything in nature contracts and moves its essence inward and downward. Leaves and fruit fall, seeds dry, the sap of trees goes into the roots. The earth’s grasses start to lose their deep green colour, turning lighter and drier.
The forces of Autumn create dryness in Heaven and metal on Earth; they create the lung organ and the skin upon the body … and the nose, and the white colour, and the pungent flavour … the emotion grief, and the ability to make a weeping sound.
– Inner Classic
Autumn Foods
To prepare food which reflects the qualities of autumn, we must be aware of its abundant yet contracting nature. This awareness can be heightened by choices for more astringent as well as heartier flavours and foods. In addition, cooking methods should involve more focused preparation to supply the greater energy required by a cooler season.
The essence of food is received through the sense of smell, which is related to Metal Element and lungs. The appetite is stimulated by the warm fragrance of baked and sauteed food – concentrated foods and roots thicken the blood for cooler weather.
The fall is the time to organise the open and perhaps scattered patterns of previous warmer seasons. To stimulate this activity in the body, to focus mentally, and to begin the process of contraction, add more sour flavoured foods. These include sourdough bread, sauerkraut, olives, pickles, leeks, aduki beans, salt plums, rose hip tea, vinegar, cheese, yoghurt, lemons, limes, grapefruit, and the sour varieties of apples, plums, and grapes. Be cautious with extremely sour foods because small amounts have a strong effect.
In general, cook with less water, and at lower heat, for longer periods of time. This internalizes one’s focus. Likewise, the bitter and salty flavours move energy strongly inward and downward; ideally, they are gradually introduced as the fall progresses into winter.
Dryness
When dry climates prevail, it is important to know how to offset their effects. When a person has a dry condition it usually is related to the lungs, and could have been caused by imbalances in the diet, excessive activity, adverse climate, and/or organ malfunction. The major symptoms of dryness in the body are thirst, dryness of the skin, nose, lips, and throat, and itchiness; those who are chronically dry also tend to have a thin body type.
To counter dry weather and treat conditions of dryness in the body in any season, foods which moisten can be emphasized: soybean products, including tofu, tempeh, and soy milk; spinach, barley, millet, pear, apple, persimmon, loquat, seaweeds, black and white fungus, almond, pinenut, peanut, sesame seed, honey (cooked), barley malt, rice syrup, milk and dairy products, eggs, clam, crab, oyster, mussel, herring, and pork. Using a little salt in cooking also moistens dryness.
Dairy and other animal products are more appropriate for those whose dryness is accompanied by weakness, frailty, and other signs of deficiency. The dry person’s condition is frequently a result of inadequate yin fluids in the body, and therefore many of the remedies for nourishing the yin also treat dryness. Those with dryness should use bitter, aromatic, and/or warming foods with caution. These foods, which include many spices and herbs, dry the body.
THE LUNGS IN HARMONY AND DISEASE
The lungs receive the qi vital force of the air and mix it with the qi extracted from food. This combination of qi and associated nutrients is then distributed throughout the body and is of particular importance in protecting the surfaces of the body (including the mucous membranes and interior surfaces of the lungs) from viruses, bacteria, and other invading pathogens. The strength of the lungs depends on their qi.
In health, lung qi energy is characterized by its ability to consolidate, gather together, maintain strength, and unify against disease at every level, including cellular immunity. The personality of those with strong lungs is influenced by this qi: they seem unified, hold onto their direction, create order, and are effective at what they do. How well we “hold on” and “let go” can be expressed in terms of emotional attachment. The colon is the yang organ paired with the lungs, and its obvious function is releasing what is no longer needed. In Chinese healing traditions, this release is on emotional and psychic levels as well as physical.
Attachments as an Indicator of Lung Vitality
Those with healthy lungs tend to hold onto their principles and keep their commitments, but when it comes time to let go of an object or relationship, they sense this and do it without emotional repression, feeling the associated grief and sadness, but soon resolving it. In comparison, those with weak lungs may experience loss with confusion and attempt to stifle their sadness, never completely letting go. At the same time, they can be disorderly and either lose their possessions easily or else hold onto them with unreasonable attachment.
Resolving Grief and Sadness
Grief is the emotion associated with the lungs and colon. Grief that is expressed and resolved strengthens the internal basis of health, but repressed grief causes long-term contraction in the lungs, which interferes with their function of dispersing nutrients and qi; ultimately, the lungs become congested with undistributed matter. Virtually everyone with lung and colon problems, regardless of the source of the problem, has unresolved sadness that needs to be cleared. Understanding the inward nature of this emotion offers a clue to working with it.
Causes of Common Lung Disorders
In addition to unresolved grief, many problems of the lungs (and colon) are due to a sedentary lifestyle. Insufficient activity encourages poor respiration and elimination. Lung and colon problems are also aggravated by a faulty diet: overeating; not eating roughage; consuming too much meat, dairy, and other congesting foods; using drugs, cigarettes, and processed foods. Poor eating habits cause mucus to be deposited in the lungs, which blocks their proper functioning. Colds, allergies, sinus problems, bronchitis, and asthma are among the problems that may result. Furthermore, toxins build up in the lungs and colon and create tension, exhaustion, hair and skin problems, and pale complexion. The following syndromes illustrate more precisely how these various conditions manifest in the lungs, and thus shed light on their cure.
The Metal Element appears to be the weakest of the elements in modern people. By replacing the causes of common lung and colon disorders outlined earlier with wholesome, protective foods in conjunction with an active lifestyle, the lungs and colon are gradually renewed. Slow, steady progress, except in acute diseases of these organs, seems to work best. Sticky lung- and colon-related emotional attachments are not easily dislodged. When the dietary support for such attachments is suddenly removed by intense cleansing methods such as extreme fasting and repeated colonic irrigations, it may be all too easy to soon replace it with an even greater excess of heavy, mucus-promoting, attachment-supporting foods in the diet.
Reference “Healing with Whole Foods – Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition” by Paul Pitchford (Third Edition).