Fasting? The Traditional Chinese Medicine response

The 气 Qi* of Spring is light and upward moving.

Officially 4th February is the start of Spring in the Chinese calendar even if it doesn’t quite feel like that.

We do a spring clean in the house, but also in the mind and in the body. The winter has weighed us down in all sorts of different ways. We have been eating heavy foods, we’ve been eating lots, and we might have been drinking more than usual. Physically we’ve probably been quite inactive and are now feeling heavy and burdened by it all.

It can feel difficult to move from a season of inactivity to a season of light and movement. It can feel unpleasant to look at all the dust and rubbish collected in the house, in the mind, in the body, now revealed by the bright sunlight.

Many people like to fast in the Spring. TCM does not usually recommend fasting, instead, we have other, gentler ways of cleansing the body.

• Eat simple meals: avoid complicated recipes and combinations of too many ingredients. 

• Prepare your food in a light and simple way: simmering briefly, or steaming or stir-frying.

• Avoid heavy, greasy foods. This means laying off butter, cream, dairy products and fatty red meats.

• Avoid processed foods.

• Avoid too much sugar and carbohydrates.

• Avoid hot and spicy foods.

• Avoid stimulants: coffee, alcohol, any drugs you don’t need for a health condition.

• Eat in moderation, stop eating when you are 70% full.

In diet this manifests in eating increasing amounts of

• Fresh, leafy greens.

• New growth, such as sprouts or fresh new growth nettles

• Pungent-tasting foods: mint, chives, rosemary, scallions, garlic, ginger, watercress

• Sweet and pungent flavours: baby turnips, peas, spinach, legumes and seeds.

You should avoid using too much salt. Salt is heavy, it slows things down and weighs you down. It works the opposite way to the energy of  Spring.

Once the spring gets going here is a

Spring nettle soup recipe for you to enjoy

Collect only the light green, fresh new leaves. You’ll want to be wearing rubber gloves and long sleeves! Be careful not to use nettles from the roadside or otherwise polluted area.

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If you have other spring cleanings on your mind then do check out my podcast interview with Ingrid Jansen from the DeClutter Hub

Happy Start of Spring!

Clarissa x

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