Fall Foods and Rosh Hashanah

Seems like yesterday (okay, it sort of was) that I posted about summer foods, and now here I am in NYC on the verge of true fall weather.  Embrace the change of weather with these great fall foods that will give you plenty of nutrients, phytonutrients, antioxidants, fiber, prebiotics, probiotics and more.  As an added bonus, in Eastern Medicine philosophies (i.e. ayurveda, macrobiotics, traditional chinese medicine) eating with the seasons and eating these "balancing" foods is thought to encourage mood stabilization and health, as well as prevent change-of-season illnesses.

Try incorporating:

Whole grains such as Brown rice, Millet, Quinoa, Wild Rice

Beans/Legumes/Seeds such as Chickpeas, Kidney beans, Adzuki beans, French lentils, Pumpkin seeds

Vegetables and Root vegetables such as cauliflower, beets, onion, leeks, garlic, carrot, sweet potato, squash, parsnip, turnip, pumpkin.  

Fruit such as apples, pears, pomegranates, persimmon, cranberries, coconut, dates (reduce berries)

Spices such as cinnamon, thyme, nutmeg, ginger, cloves

Teas such as green tea, ginger tea, chai tea, kukicha twig tea (very low in caffeine)

(Winter preview: add miso soup, black beans, mung beans, buckwheat, and more root veggies)

For those celebrating the upcoming Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), you may notice that many of these foods are used as symbolic foods to encourage positive aspects that we want to see in the coming year (i.e. sweetness, fertility, abundance, absence of enemies).  Read here and here and here for more information and my friend Ale's Blog, who blogged about food symbols at Irony of Baking.

Tomorrow (if I am not too busy cooking!!), I will try to post about foods that are symbolic of fertility, appropriate for this blog.

For those who fear abundance on Rosh Hashanah, as in abundance of yummy food, use this simple method to fill your plates:

1/2 of Your plate with vegetables:

  Green beans, cooked leafy greens,brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, tomatoes, salads, beets, onion, leeks, garlic, carrot, sweet potato, parsnip, turnip

1/4 of Your Plate with carbohydrates:

Grains, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, squash, wild rice, pumpkin, fruit, beans

1/4 of Your Plate with protein:

Animal protein, plant protein, Beans/Legumes

Dessert:

Choose your absolute favorite and savor, savor, savor it!

Drinks (Don't waste your carbohydrates here, you can do better!):

Water, Flavored seltzers, Other low-calorie drinks