Anticancer Nutrition and Lifestyle tips for Spring

Welcome Spring! 

A new season is upon us with new energy, new temperatures, and new practices that can help us stay aligned with the Earth. Rustic and Earth-based living are at the heart of what I teach at Ground & Root Cancer Nutrition. It is one of our pillars of optimal health to help you stay healthy and cancer-free.

When we follow the cues from nature and her changing seasons and adapt our practices accordingly, we promote better balance (physically, mentally, & emotionally) and optimize our health. 

In the Spring we are transitioning from Winter to Summer. These transitional seasons can be tricky since there’s still a lot of back and forth (energetically & temperature-wise) between winter and summer and if we don’t take steps to stay in alignment we are more prone to getting sick and out of balance. 

Let’s dive a bit deeper into what I mean…

Energetically, Winter is a time to go inward and be quiet. To prioritize rest and restoration. In contrast, Summer is a time to be outward and social. To thrive in community and be productive. And during the transition of Spring we are beginning to wake up to this new energy. Think of the sprouts pushing their way up out of the ground in the Spring. We too are beginning to sprout and grow.

Winter is also dominated by the Earth & Water elements. As we move into Spring this can cause us to feel heavy, slow, & sluggish if it’s not balanced with Air & Fire. The blend of Water & Earth is known as Kapha in Ayurveda and in excess it can result in congestion & mucus (hello allergies!), sluggishness, and even depression.

When we know how to adjust our diet, lifestyle, self-care, & routines to adapt to these changing elements we can help ourselves stay balanced and thrive during the Spring months.

Top 4 Wellness Tips for Spring

Here are my Top 4 tips to help you stay balanced and aligned this Spring.

Tip #1: Transition Your Diet To Spring Foods

When pretty much any food we desire is at our fingertips all year long it’s easy to forget which foods are actually in season and at their peak ripeness and nutritiousness. Spring is the time to start transitioning away from apples, pears, nectarines, and winter squash while moving towards spring greens, asparagus, artichokes, beets, apricots, and strawberries. The greening that occurs in springtime should be represented by greens on your plate, including Swiss chard, spinach, Romaine lettuce, fresh parsley, and basil. You can read more about what foods are coming into season in the Spring HERE.

We can take this concept even deeper by being mindful of how to balance the cold & wet (kapha) elements of Spring with our food choices. Reducing dairy, sugar, salt, & cold foods (or beverages) will help to decrease kapha in our bodies. While including more bitter (dandelion & other leafy greens), astringent (tart apples & crucifers), & pungent (garlic, onions, ginger) foods will help to warm & dry the body. As Spring becomes less wet and perhaps more windy or dry adding in more sour (citrus or fermented) foods can be helpful.

It’s also important to not rush into eating too many raw foods. These are perfect to balance the summertime heat but when the temperature is still cold out we need warming and cooked foods to balance us. Now this doesn’t mean we can’t start adding in more raw elements but we want this to be combined with plenty of cooked, warm, & digestive supporting foods, beverages, or spices.

To dive much deeper into the best foods for Spring, I invite you to join us inside the Spring Wellness Workshop.

Tip #2: Support Detoxification

Spring is also the perfect time to focus on detox support. As we move from the slow, heavy energy of winter we are naturally being called to lighten and cleanse. Think of it as spring cleaning for your body & mind.

In both Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Spring is associated with the Liver. Your liver is the ultimate multi-tasker with over 500 essential roles! One of those very important roles is detoxification and it can use a little extra love in the Springtime. There are a few different ways we can do this.

• Simply adding more bitter & astringent foods to your diet will help to stimulate the liver & gallbladder to get the bile going.
• Add a morning liver tonic with warm water & fresh lemon juice…to ramp up the stimulating effects you can also add some fresh ginger & turmeric.
• Invigorating movement (like brisk walking, running, heated yoga, or jumping) will help you move your lymph, stimulate your energy, and get you sweating…all of which can help boost detoxification.
• Fasting is another great & ancient strategy we can use to help the body detoxify and rejuvenate.

You can learn more about how to support liver health HERE and how to move through a seasonal detox HERE & HERE. 

Tip #3: Be Mindful Not To Overextend Yourself

Your self-care and lifestyle habits are just as important in helping you stay grounded and balanced during this transitional season. During the Spring we begin to “wake-up” from Winter with renewed energy and possibility. We definitely want to harness this energy to start fresh and work on some new projects but we also need to be careful to not over do it. Our energy is not quite at its peak yet, which it will be in summertime, and this can leave us feeling depleted or overwhelmed if we try to tackle too much.

Continue to prioritize time for self-care and preserving space in your calendar for this purpose. Getting to bed by 10pm and waking up with the sun. Ideally allowing time in the morning to start your day outside in the morning sun with a walk in nature. On warm days make sure you take advantage of the sun and get outside as much as possible; allowing your body to warm and dry out from the wet days of winter and early-spring. And when time allows pulling in some of the Spring Ritual ideas outlined below into your routine.

Tip #4: Brew Some Nettle Tea

One of the most common complaints in the Spring are allergies. Of course this makes sense as nature wakes up and plants begin to bloom. We also make ourselves more susceptible to allergies when we are kapha dominant…think wet, cold, sluggish…the perfect combination for congestion, mucous, & respiratory challenges.

Transitioning your diet to more aligned Springtime foods will definitely help decrease your risk for allergies. Also ramping up the liver & digestive support will help keep allergies at bay.

But my favorite suggestion, and something that has worked like magic for me, is to add some stinging nettle to your day. You will notice stinging nettles begin to crop up in the Spring. I have a nice patch growing in my yard right now.

Stinging nettle is a nutrient dense herb with various vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, and carotenoids. It’s anti-inflammatory and has been shown to reduce hay fever and allergies by blocking histamine receptors and specific immune cells that can make allergies worse. Keeping in line with the energetics of Spring it can also help us reduce excess salt & water in the body while supporting liver health.

There are many different ways you can add more nettle to your day. You can take it in capsule or tincture form as a supplement. You can add fresh nettles to soups, broths, stir-frys, or even pesto. My favorite way is to brew some tea with either fresh or dried nettle and sip on it all day.

Spring Sprouting

Another tip to elevate your healing kitchen in the Spring is to add fresh sprouts! Now obviously I’m a firm believer in the philosophy of using our food as medicine. There are incredibly powerful elements inside of our food that can literally help the body heal, repair, and prevent disease. With every bite you take you can optimize your health.

In case your new here, here’s an overview of my food philosophy:

1. Follow a plant forward diet → which means at least 75% of your diet is coming from plants.
2. Make those plants as colorful as possible!
3. Include the highest quality foods you can afford and have access to – including organic, grass-fed, and pasture-raised whenever possible.
4. Minimize processed foods and choose fresh, whole foods instead.
5. Follow a seasonally balanced diet buying local as much as possible.
6. And finally…add healing & medicinal foods (aka superfoods) every day.

If you’d like to read more about my food philosophy PLUS my 10 most favorite anticancer superfoods head HERE.  

Benefits of Sprouts

Sprouts definitely fall into the category of healing, medicinal, superfoods. And in the Spring when sprouts are shooting up all over nature, this is the perfect time to add more sprouts to your diet as well.

First, let me explain why sprouts are so beneficial. First-off they make food more digestible. Sprouted grains, legumes, and seeds are all easier to break down and digest. Second, sprouting increases the vitamin C & fiber content plus B vitamins. It also makes the amino acids more bioavailable and easy to absorb. Third, it can be a great way to add more anticancer nutrients to your diet. Broccoli sprouts are one of my favorites for this reason. They boast large doses of quercetin, kaempferol, phenolic acids and other bioactive compounds like sulforaphane that have great anticancer & antioxidant properties.

Here are some of my favorite sprouts you can start adding to your salads, soups, sandwiches, omelets, or stir-frys…in addition to broccoli sprouts.

• Chickpea Sprouts
• Pea Sprouts
• Alfalfa Sprouts
• Lentil Sprouts
• Sunflower Seed Sprouts
• Mung Bean Sprouts
• Radish Seed Sprouts

Sprout Safety

Although many people are concerned about the safety of sprouts, the chance of getting a food-borne illness is greatly diminished when you sprout at home. You control the seeds you use (and if they’ve been tested to be free of salmonella and e.coli). You control if your sprouting jar is clean or not. You control how much air circulation your sprouts get. You control who touches the seeds (and if they wash their hands first). You control how long the sprouts stay in the jar before being rinsed.

This however cannot be guaranteed if you’re buying sprouts from the store or getting them at a restaurant. If that’s the case, then you can always cook your sprouts just to make sure there aren’t any leftover bacteria.

How To Sprout At Home

Step 1: Source your seeds from organic sprouting seed companies. If you live in the US this is a great resource for getting your seeds plus tutorials & recipes: https://sproutpeople.org/

Step 2: Place your seeds in a wide mouth mason jar (3 parts water to 1 part seed), cover with cool filtered water, and stir. You can leave the jar open or you can cover it with either a sprouter lid or a piece of breathable natural fabric (like cheesecloth or muslin) secured with a rubber band.

Step 3: Leave the seeds soaking for the recommended time depending on the seed. I love this “Seed Sprouting Chart” from Wholefully.com: https://wholefully.com/sprouting-101/

Step 4: Drain and rinse the seeds again with cool filtered water. Using the sprouter lid or a fine mesh sieve, tip the jar over and pour out all of the water. Fill with water, swish, & rinse. Try to shake out as much water as possible.

Step 5: Prop the jar upside down in a bowl, so it can drain easily. Again Wholefully has a great image showing you how this should look. Refer to the link above.

Step 6: Leave it on the kitchen counter, out of the way, and repeat step 4 twice a day (I typically do it at breakfast and dinner). Continue this process until you see the desired length of sprout. This is anywhere between 1-6 days depending on the seed you’re sprouting.

Step 7: Harvest & Enjoy! Give your sprouts one final rinse & drain, then empty them out onto a clean kitchen towel. Spread them out into one layer and let them dry for 30-60 minutes. Store in a glass container with a clean towel (or paper towel) wrapped around them to help keep the moisture away, and then close the container. They will typically last about 1 week in the fridge.  

Spring Rituals

One last thought for you to really root yourself into this new season is to create a “Welcome Spring Ritual”. Something you do, maybe even with your family or friends, to welcome & honor the new season.

If you want, it can be a whole day (or half-day) filled with nourishing springtime activities. Here are some ideas:

• Start your day outside with a walk in nature absorbing the morning sun.
• Spend at least 10 minutes sitting on the earth and noticing all the changes around you…the trees, the plants, the grass, the insects…just soak it all in. While you’re sitting here either take your shoes off or place your bare hands on the earth to ground and reconnect your energy to that of the Earth’s.
• After your walk or later in the day, set some time aside to do some meditation &/or breathwork and ask your soul what she wants to grow this season? What’s brewing inside and ready to sprout forth? Pull out your journal and write what’s coming up for you.
• Gather with family or friends, ideally outside, to enjoy a Spring-inspired meal. A few of my favorites are the Spring Veggie Frittata with a fresh green salad OR Artichoke & Olive Braised Chicken OR Baked Salmon with Asparagus, Potatoes, & Tomatoes. You can grab more spring meal ideas HERE.
• Then end your day with dry brushing, a warm bath, and a sesame oil self-massage to warm you up and get the lymph moving.

Optimize Your Health This Spring

If you’re ready to uplevel your Springtime health & wellness routine then I invite you to join us inside the Spring Wellness Workshop! In this in-depth 2 hour workshop you’ll learn so many different strategies to align your diet, lifestyle, & self-care routine to promote balance and optimal health this Spring. 

We dive much deeper into the Ayurvedic principles of balancing kapha as well as all the different ways you can reduce springtime allergies. It also includes a 1-hour cooking demo with Natural Foods Chef, Jennifer Caroff from http://www.foodsoulutions.com/ of how to easily & tastily apply everything you learned in the kitchen. 

When you purchase this workshop you will also receive a beautiful downloadable resource & recipe guide with tools to help you take action on what you learned. If you’re ready to elevate your wellness this Spring, then head here to purchase the Spring Wellness Workshop: https://groundandroot.com/product/spring-wellness-workshop/