Autumn Wellness Guide:
Prevent Allergies and Prepare for Flu Season
How can you prevent allergies and prepare for flu season? As nature paints the landscape with the warm hues of autumn foliage, a subtle transformation occurs in the air. Beyond the picturesque scenes, this changing season invites us to connect with the organic rhythm of life and consider the nuanced aspects of our well-being. As temperatures gracefully descend and leaves gracefully fall, let us embark on a journey to nurture our health holistically, embracing an organic approach to guard against allergies and fortify our defenses for the impending flu season. Here’s how you can prevent allergies and prepare for flu season.
1. Strengthen Immunity and Bolster Natural Defenses:
As temperatures decrease, bolstering the body’s immune system is crucial for a successful navigation of winter. Harvard Health recommends practices like avoiding smoking, maintaining regular exercise, ensuring sufficient sleep, and adopting a healthy diet to enhance the immune system.
- Zinc: essential for immune support and men’s health;
- Vitamin C: known for preventing and treating infections
- Vitamin D: particularly vital in colder months for fending off autoimmune diseases.
2. Cultivate Inner Serenity by Letting Go of Lingering Negativity:
Much like the autumn trees shedding their leaves, we too benefit from releasing that which no longer serves our well-being. In the realm of Chinese medicine, Autumn is intimately tied to the emotions of sadness and grief.
- To help clear, access the lymph system by getting massage and regular exercise. According to research, healthy lymph flow is vital to moving physical and emotional toxins out of the body.
- Because of the important role the bowels play in eliminating waste, I recommend a mild detox in the form of colonic treatment for some patients at this time.
- Check out how acupuncture treatment supports the eliminating function of the Large Intestine. This goes a long way to help clear what no longer serves!
3. Conserve energy to prepare the body to weather the winter months, when resources are less plentiful.
Optimize your well-being by celebrating both small and significant achievements throughout the day, similar to closing inactive programs on a computer. This practice of acknowledging accomplishments, from daily tasks to overcoming emotional challenges, enhances emotional freedom. By celebrating and closing “programs,” you unburden yourself, creating space for new experiences. This emotional freedom is a potent way to support your immune system, prevent allergies, and prepare for flu season.
In Chinese Medicine, Autumn is All About Letting Go.
Associated with the Metal element and the organs Lung and Large Intestine, Autumn is a time of letting go of what no longer serves. The less clutter we carry into winter the better. Then, fewer precious resources will be required to maintain stuff that we simply don’t need. And that goes for material, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual clutter. Aside from Spring, Autumn is a GREAT time for a detox program!
So, when you create space in this way, you are tending your gardens. Now go ahead – prepare the soil onto which fresh seeds may fall and blossom in the springtime! The wisdom of Chinese Medicine teaches the importance of living in harmony with the seasons for a reason. And as any farmer knows, tending to life in this way yields great joy, profitability and quality of life.
According to the ancient Chinese Medical text, Nei Jing:
“In the three months of Autumn all living things become mature naturally and are ready to be harvested. In autumn, the wind is vigorous and rapid and the environment is clear and bright. So, during this period, one should go to bed early to stay away from the chillness and get up early to appreciate the crisp air of autumn. Keep the spirit tranquil and stable and guard the mind against anxiety and impetuosity. In this way, one’s tranquility can still be preserved and the breath of lung can be kept even as well.”
Wellness-based treatment with traditional Chinese and natural medicine supports the energy of Autumn and helps you to:
As temperatures decrease, bolstering the body’s immune system is crucial for a successful navigation of winter. Harvard Health recommends practices like avoiding smoking, maintaining regular exercise, ensuring sufficient sleep, and adopting a healthy diet to enhance the immune system.
- Nourish the lungs to improve breathing and help prevent bronchial illness
- Clear the nasal passages and support the sinuses in purifying the air you breathe
- Support the immune system to prevent allergies and prepare for flu season.
- Facilitate healthy release by supporting the function of the Large Intestine in its purging function
- Shift sadness and grief into healing and gratitude
Incorporate more of these foods to prepare for a healthy winter
- Ginger: a natural antihistamine and decongestant. It also nourishes the spleen and stomach. According to Chinese medicine, that’s where the Lung meridian starts. Through this connection ginger nourishes the lungs and helps respiration, too!
- Apples: Eat them with the skin! Apples contain the flavonoid quercetin. According to research, quercetin reduces allergic reactions because it acts as an antihistamine. It also decreases inflammation and boosts immune function.
- Orange Fruits and Vegetables: Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin, Persimmon…hello beta-carotene! These foods are rich in carotenoids, which reduce inflammation in the airways. Root vegetables overall are important for a strong and healthy body, and are in season all autumn and winter long
- Omega-3: Omega-3 essential fatty acids have long been celebrated and researched for immune-enhancing properties. Besides being anti-inflammatory, Omega 3’s support mental and emotional health. Good natural sources include flaxseed oil and Norwegian salmon.
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Fiber: Autumn is the time to clean out what’s no longer needed in the body (and mind, and home, and…). A healthy and active colon decreases food sensitivity, which lifts the burden off your immune system. Some seasonal fiber-rich foods are beans, avocado, and pears.
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