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A part of the year reserved for new “beginnings” both in young tender plants and in human bodies. The part of the year when appetites decrease and the body starts its natural cleansing processes. Spring is the time for contacting your true nature and giving attention to self-awareness and self-expression.
This is the season to attend to the liver and gallbladder. In spring we naturally eat less, or even fast, to cleanse the body of the fats and heavy foods of winter. The diet should be the lightest in the year and it should contain foods which emphasize young plants,
fresh greens, sprouts, and immature wheat or other cereal grasses. Salty foods such as soy sauce , miso, and sodium-rich meats all have a strong component of sinking energy and are best limited during spring time.
The expansive, raising quality of sweet and pungent-flavored foods is highly recommended by Li-Shih-chen (remarkable herbalist from 16th-century) and Nutrilligence. The following are pungent cooking herbs desirable at spring time:
- Basil
- Fennel
- Marjoram
- Rosemary
- Caraway
- Dill
- Bay leaf
Most of the complex carbohydrates such as grains, legumes, and seeds have a primarily sweet flavor which increases with sprouting. Young beets, carrots and other sweet starchy vegetables provide a refreshing sweet flavor. One of the most intensely pungent flavors that are used as a
medicine recommended by Western healers is a week long daily dose of raw onions and garlic that cleanse the body from the parasites collected during long closed-in winter foods and lifestyle.
Food preparation during spring becomes simpler. Raw and sprouted foods should be consumed regularly. In the spring, food is best cooked for a shorter time but at higher temperatures; this way the food is not as thoroughly cooked,
especially the inner part. If oil is used in spring cooking, a quick high-temperature sauté method is appropriate. Cooking with water, light steaming or minimal simmering would be ideal in spring.
The kidney store jing, which determents one’s vitality resistance to disease, and longevity. Building healthy/functional (Jing) kidneys with diet requires foods that promote the growth and the development of the body and mind.
That food should also provide renewal, longevity, reproductive capacity, and protection from premature aging.
The most emphasized human organ in the spring time diet is liver. Liver gets congested during a long winter by too much fat, chemicals, intoxicants, and denatured foods which disrupts hundreds of biochemical processes of the liver.
Foods which stimulate the liver function include: watercress, all member of the onion family, mustard greens, turmeric, basil, bay leaf, cardamom, marjoram, cumin, fennel, dill, ginger, black pepper, horseradish, rosemary, various mints, lemon balm, and angelica root.
Bitter and sour foods have highly detoxifying and activating properties in the liver, especially high quality vinegars (such as apple-cider, brown-rice, rice-wine and others). Other bitter foods and herbs are rye, roman lettuce, asparagus, amaranth, quinoa, alfalfa,
radish leaves, citrus peel, particularly dandelion, bupleurum, milk thistle seeds, Oregon grape root, and chamomile flowers.
Liver detoxifying and rejuvenating food groups are Mung beans and their sprouts, celery, millet, seaweed (kelp, arame, kombu) lettuce, cucumber, plum, chlorophyll-rich foods, radish, daikon, parsley, kale, alfalfa, watercress, and collard greens.
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