How Watermelon Can Make you Feel like Mud

Photo courtesy of William Bout on Unsplash

With today's agricultural methods, combined with long term storage and fast transportation, it has become relatively simple, although costly, to grow then move foods of all types to anywhere in the world.  Thus we have things like fresh celery, strawberries, cherries, and watermelon year round in our grocery stores, when these foods would naturally only be available locally during the heat of summer.   

The problem is that our body reflects nature.   Springtime, especially, presents us with a cold, wet, dense earth.  According to Ayurveda, our body will also feel cold and we notice that we feel more heavy, lethargic and bloated than normal because our lymphatic fluid is not flowing (like water stuck in mud).  

Each food is comprised of nature's elements in greater or lesser quantity - earth, fire, water, air, space.  Watermelon, for example, embodies the water element.  

According to Ayurveda, like aggravates like. Watermelon is delicious, yes! But are you still eating watermelon during the Winter and Spring?  As it's name implies, watermelon is full of water.  It's also very cooling.  Your body needs water during the heat of the summer to hydrate it and cool it down.  Your body, however, will protest the cold quality of watermelon during Winter resulting in a weakened immune system, and its watery quality during Spring could make you feel even more bloated and heavy (like mud).  Don't waste your money and your health on less than optimal out-of-season foods.

The best food choices during Spring are light or drying such as non-gluten grains (which by the gluten is fine in other seasons), very little dairy (goat milk or goat cheese is best), lots and lots of non-root veggies, especially cooked leafy greens; choose seeds instead of nuts; and eat lots of beans and lentils for their astringent/drying effect.  

​If you missed my online group 21-Day Ayurvedic Seasonal Eating and Lifestyle Program for Kapha/Spring season, stay tuned for my 21-Day Ayurvedic Seasonal Eating and Lifestyle Program for Pitta/Kapha Season, starting around the end of June.  You'll learn how to eat for the season to stay balanced, ward off fatigue and irritability from heat, achieve an appetite that will allow you to enjoy the best foods yet even lose weight, neutralize acid reflux and heartburn, and increase your friendships. Yes! that's right.  Staying balanced during Pitta season will draw new friends to you.  More about that later :)  

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