Spring Cooking: Feed Your Emotions

Orientals call spring the “first movement.” It is the season of rebirth and the energy opens and expands fully. Everything sprouts and evokes vitality.

But this rapture of energy leaves no one indifferent. There are those who welcome the station and those who do it with difficulty, for example with asthenia.

What we eat and how we transform it influences physiological processes and our state of mind. The selection and combination of foods, as well as the culinary techniques chosen to prepare them, make us feel happy or sad, worried or decisive, with fear or courage.

And depending on the season of the year and how we feel, some options will be more advisable than others to take care of our health and feel good.

The dietary energy as well as other Eastern therapeutic disciplines, explain the theory of the 5 elements. They accept that there is an ancestral system of regulation that governs our physical, mental and emotional health in relation to the environment, and in which food plays a key role.

Ultimately, we are what we eat but also the way we relate to our environment : the lifestyle we lead determines how we feel.

Food and emotions, a mutual influence

Emotions reflect our internal climate, that is, the functioning of organs and viscera, but it also happens the other way around: the physical body influences the regulation of emotions, which in turn are affected by the external climate.

In spring, for example, the days get longer: sunlight wakes us up early and makes us stay active until later. If the liver and gallbladder function well – organ and viscera associated with this season and the element “wood” -, we will have good planning capacity, patience and serenity, mental clarity and flexibility.

If those organs are saturated – due to an excess of poor quality fats, animal protein, refined products and toxins in general – we may not have clear ideas and we feel restless, irritable and inflexible. There will be frustration and eventually anger, the emotion that indicates a hepatobiliary imbalance.

This is the case with other positive or negative emotions, in relation to other organs and elements.

Get ready to welcome spring!

The seasons, from an energy point of view, do not begin just when the astronomical calendar indicates, but about 18 days before. During this period, we gradually change our diet and the way we cook.

In the Mediterranean, cherry blossoms tell us that spring is coming.

In this transition, spoon dishes, baked, fried or other heavy and very caloric dishes are gradually reduced to introduce more green foods, rich in chlorophyll, and sprouts.

Temperate temperatures are also emphasized in elaborations, such as blanching, steam or pressed salads.

We also enhance the acid taste, which helps to mobilize the liver and metabolize fats. Spring is expanding energy that encourages the liver and gallbladder to expel toxins. It is the ideal time to carry out a cleansing diet or a fast.

Clean, tidy up, and do projects

Liver and gallbladder sufferers are affected by overeating, stress, frustration, and unexpressed emotions. In today’s society, it is common for them to be congested, both due to the amount of toxins they manage and due to the excess of tasks and information to which we are exposed.

If the liver is very stagnant, sediment is deposited in the bile and the gallbladder becomes deficient. Symptoms are indigestion, gas, abdominal pain, shoulder tension, a bitter taste in the mouth, and chest pain.

The negative emotions that are usually associated with saturation of the liver and gallbladder are irritability, envy, lack of confidence, anger and aggressiveness. A healthy liver helps us set goals, be agile and interact with others in a flexible and positive way.

Nature wakes up at this time and our emotions too. You have to listen to your interior and see how we feel.

Spring is, therefore, time to open, clean and purify to help the liver and gallbladder, but also to give a good boost to our projects and dreams in an assertive and organized way. Longer days invite us to renew ourselves.

The natural and healthy cuisine, with proper selection of food, can join us and help make it happen.

Cooking in spring

Nature’s transformation is balanced by a lighter and more refreshing, but still warm, diet. Our appetite decreases and the body gets rid of food waste and excessive cravings.

Naturally, you eat less and you can even fast or follow a stricter diet to help the body cleanse itself of excess fat and more concentrated winter food.

To take advantage of spring as a purification season, we must emphasize the most yin foods , that is, expansive, ascending and light: sprouts and shoots, wild plants and a variety of green leaves.

It is advisable to reduce the use of salty foods such as soy sauce, miso, and meat, which lower energy. We can also create a spring within ourselves by combining acidic flavors with natural sweets at the table .

Food preparation becomes simpler. It is advisable to slightly increase the consumption of raw and sprouted foods accompanied by physical activity outside.

People with digestive weakness should moderate the consumption of raw foods and opt better for light cooking such as steam, short stir-fries and macerated or pressed foods, which are refreshing and in turn more digestible. The ideal is to combine these different types of cooking, balancing according to the needs of our body and the climate.

Take care of your liver

To enjoy a healthy liver in spring and the rest of the year, what is removed is always more important than what is put in. Banish poor-quality fats, found in almost all processed foods, refined sugar, non-whole grains and flours, and breakfast cereals.

Also avoid alcohol, carbonated drinks and packaged juices.

There are natural supplements and certain foods that help regenerate the liver and its functions. The root of kudzu is one that uses Chinese medicine. It rebalances the intestinal flora and is indicated in headaches, allergies, constipation or diarrhea.

The red fruits provide antioxidants, vitamin C and essential minerals for a proper functioning and regeneration of the liver. Buy them organic to avoid pesticides.

The turmeric is another medicinal root that can be used as a condiment, very effective in helping the liver to regenerate. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, it helps the digestion of proteins, prevents flatulence and favors the elimination of toxins, among many other virtues. Combine it with black pepper or ginger.

Let’s not forget that the color that the liver likes the most is green, which indicates a richness of chlorophyll. Spirulina algae and chlorella are superfoods with great nutritional value, detoxifying and highly recommended in spring.

More connected

Ultimately, it is about relearning how to connect with nature and with oneself.

Go for a plant-based, pesticide-free and unprocessed diet. Eat whole grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, and seaweed every day. Season with herbs, spices and sea salt. Use quality oils and eat organic and seasonal fruits.

Betting on a balanced and natural diet will help you feel more vital. All biological functions will appreciate it, it will improve the way emotions are experienced and it will be possible to enjoy healthy and kind relationships with the environment and others.