Spring is all about rebirth, lightness and growth, but we need to make a sensible transition by incorporating a balance between winter and spring. The recipes below blend the energy of the seasons and allow us to remain centered even as we move with grace toward the warmer months ahead.
Spring days and nights can still be chilly, even with the sun beaming brighter. The earliest seasonal greens, which are so great at stimulating liver cleansing and preparing us to come out of winter, are not quite out.
Because of the spring urge, people tend to move too quickly toward cleansing foods. A better idea is to enjoy foods that help you transition into spring and remain more grounded.
What then should you eat when it’s still cold but our being yearns for spring?
Seaweeds are winter vegetables according to the Five Element Theory and provide many minerals and proteins. They help us flow toward spring and spring cleaning. (Don’t jump directly into only eating cleansing foods because it can create an edginess in your nervous system.)
Ginger is used generously to stimulate circulation and prepare the body for warming external temperatures by warming the body internally. When you create heat in the body one stays connected and grounded within.
Now is a great time to move toward recipes incorporating lighter winter ingredients such as seaweeds, buckwheat, blue and purple fruits, chia seeds, sesame seeds, beets, mushrooms as well as green ingredients as they become available.
Spring season has the characteristics of green color, sour flavor, purification action, attention to liver and gall bladder, action of planning for new projects, making decisions and exposure to anger.
Some other spring foods that you can begin to incorporate are: barley, oats, rye, spelt, mung beans, green lentils, artichokes, carrots, lettuce, avocado, sour citrus fruits, butter, yogurt, olives, pickles, sauerkraut and nutritional yeast.
Bon appetite!
from Surya Little/Prajna Yoga