Four Ways To Ease Into Fall
I love summer! I always get kind of weepy as everything begins to wind down at the end of August, talk of the new school year is in the air, and especially as the days get shorter. The sweet sun in the sky shines it’s gorgeous rays a bit less, which I will miss so much for many months. I have learned, however, to be a fan of every season. I’d like to share how you can transition mind, body, and spirit well with the seasons. This entry we will talk about fall. As winter approaches later, we will discuss that then.
- Earlier Dinners
This has been a practice, that I’ll be honest, I struggle with, however when I make it happen, I am always pleased. In the summer time we have a bit more flexibility with hours when it comes to meals and bedtimes. Our bodies were designed by our creator to operate by the sun.
We see this in the book of Genesis 1:14-19, Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
The sun tells us when to rise and when to rest. When we, in any season, but especially fall and winter, make it a point to eat earlier, our bodies will always say thank you. Our digestive system runs best when we give it periods of down time in between meals as well as before going to bed. It is best not eat 3-4 hours before bedtime. If that isn’t exactly possible, try for 2 hours, and aim to finish eating before sundown. When the sun begins to set our hormone melatonin ideally turns on and our hormone of cortisol turns off. When we eat past sundown our system gets stressed and confused. Our bodies aren’t able to rest well, and while we might not notice at first, eventually signs and symptoms can creep up. This is a wonderful habit to train our children in for their health.
2. Warmer Meals and Beverages with Foods In Season
In summer time we often enjoy cool crisp salads from local produce, cold smoothies, iced herbals teas, and homemade ice cream. I think there is wiggle room here depending on where you live, what is still growing locally in the dirt in your area, and how warm or cool it may be. That being said fall is a transition month. This is a time to embrace the warmer spices such as cinnamon or clove, grounding foods like potatoes, winter squashes, and beets, and to put aside our cooler foods. If you were enjoying iced matcha lattes, now is the time to switch to warm ones. To be honest extremely cold foods and beverages are not really the body’s favorite things to consume, even though we like them. Very cold items cause stagnation and constriction in the body, especially the digestive tracts. If you are ever dealing with constipation, be sure to be diligent to be consuming nourishing meals and drinks that are warm. I’m not saying never have them, just pay attention to the season, and how your body is reacting. Warmth encourages flow and movement in the body which is almost always what we want. Especially in fall, when this is a season of letting go in many capacities, we don’t want things to get stuck. Using what God gave us with our foods is a simple way to facilitate this happening. Choose foods that grow as locally to you as possible to strengthen your body. Our foods prefer healthy natural light environments as well and in turn they nourish us better!
- Moistening foods (counteract dryness):
- Pears, apples, persimmons, figs
- Honey, sesame seeds, almonds, pine nuts
- Daikon radish, turnip, white mushrooms
- Warming foods (support lungs):
- Ginger, garlic, onion, scallion
- Mustard greens, horseradish
- White foods (Metal element support):
- Cauliflower, cabbage, white beans, lotus root
- Cooked foods > raw foods as the weather cools—think soups, stews, congee.
3. Protect Your Light Environment
This is honestly good advice all year round, but again with our daylight hours now getting shorter, we need to tighten up our artificial light exposure. Above we talked about how we operate off of light from the sun. Summer gives us plenty of sunshine, but did you know that different times of offer different light nutrients to our bodies. All we often hear about is vitamin D, but there’s so much more to sunlight. We also need to be diligent to get as much natural light as possible. While the weather is still warm in many places, it’s a perfect practice to get in the habit of getting that healing sunrise light. That way when it gets really cold, it will already be something you do and less difficult to make excuses about neglecting. A common issue today is people are wired awake when they should be sleeping and are tired when they should be awake. Sunrise light turns off the melatonin (sleepy time hormone) at the right time of day and turns on cortisol (our wake up hormone). Cortisol gets a bad reputation as the stress hormone, but not all stress is bad. Positive stress wakes us up in the morning and gets us going. If you are sleepy during the day often or fatigued, try for one week to get sunrise light in your eyes. If you can only do 5 minutes, that’s a great start, 15 minutes is optimal. See how you feel. It turns our hunger signals on which is a great thing. If we don’t get hungry in the morning, then our metabolism is in dysfunction. If you are driving to work during sunrise roll down your window, the light doesn’t need to be directly in your eyes, just not shaded by glasses or windows. Did you know even clear glass has UV protectant in it? It prevents fading of upholstery in vehicles and homes. That’s great for the intent, but it’s not great for our health. We need unfiltered natural light exposure. I think one of the easiest ways to do this is do things that you’d normally do inside and take them outside, like meals, phone conversations, reading a book, etc. Schedule natural light breaks, walk for ten minutes after meals. Avoid sunglasses unless it’s a matter of safety with glare. Make it work for you.
The other part of protecting our light environment besides getting enough natural light throughout the day is being aware of artificial light exposure.The amount of blue light that our bodies come in contact with has tripled since smart phone usage and tablets came into existence. The average adult spends 5 plus hours in front of devices. This is how we live our lives today, and many are required to do so for work. Unfortunately, this amount of artificial blue light affects our health, it confuses our circadian rhythm, which is basically how we sleep. We cannot be well without sleep. Improper sleep affects blood sugar. Diabetes is at an all time high, and artificial blue light is a huge part of the problem along with ultra-processed foods.
Ways we can mitigate artificial blue light aren’t super complicated. Some simple free ways are not looking at screens unless necessary, listening instead of watching, not turning on as many lights, reducing brightness of screens, and limit watching screens between 8am and 5pm. Ways that do cost a bit of money, but are worth it are swapping out LED light bulbs in the house for incandescent bulbs ,much gentler type of light, ( use code KINGDOMHEALTH), using candle light after 5pm (beeswax is best for health purposes), use a silk sleep mask to block out the light while sleeping, and investing in blue blocking glasses (use code KHW). Wear the glasses after 5pm or when the sun starts to go down depending on how sensitive your body is to the light.
4. Journaling
The fall season in Traditional Chinese Medicine is seen as a time of release. The lungs and large intestine are highlighted. While the Lord made creation for us to have dominion over it as we are made in His image, we are very much a part of it. Our current culture and society can convince us that we are separate from it, but that is not true. As a matter of fact, the more that we separate ourselves from it, the sicker we become. As we go outside and see the trees loose leaves the pattern is set for us to let go of what we no longer need or is weighing us down, especially guild, shame, forgiveness, or unhealthy habits or mindsets.
This concept is mirrored in the Biblical Feasts established in the Old Testament of the Bible that take place in the fall beginning with Rosh Hashanah. Actually, for the entire month before the feasts commence there is the month of Elul. It is a time of introspection and searching of the heart. If there is especially any unforgiveness that needs to be dealt with that is the time. We want to avoid roots of bitterness and if any have been made we need to cut them out. We are encouraged to go to those who have hurt us and grant forgiveness if that is possible, or if not, to send a letter, or write it down and then throw it away as act that the pain no longer is weighing you down.
This is where the act of journaling can facilitate this healthy process. The act of actually writing with a pencil or pen as opposed to typing or just speaking helps untangle mental clutter and gives you perspective. It frees up mental space and sparks new ideas. A simple way to implement this habit is to take 5-10 minutes before bed and writing a few things. This can benefit us by calming the mind therefore improving sleep.
Conclusion
There are other things you can do, but I wanted to keep it fairly simply, with lots of free suggestions, and only items that cost money that I do myself and feel are worthwhile. I pray these suggestions bless you! If you want further tips, let me know, and I’ll make a part 2. There are affiliate links throughout the blog. You are never required to use them, but when you do, it blesses my work, and allows me to keep writing more frequently. Thank you in advance!