WINTER WELLNESS :
Flavors for the Winter Season: 

Both salty foods and Bitter flavored foods are appropriate for Winter since they promote a sinking, centering quality which heightens the capacity to store.  These foods tend to cool the exterior of the body and bring heat to a more deeper and lower level.  This makes you feel cold less.  However, you should always use salt with care.  Excess salt can tighten the water organs (kidneys and bladder), which can reverse the process and cause a coldness and over consumption of water.  This can weaken these organs and also the heart. Providing protection for the heart-mind in the Winter can be accomplished by adding more bitter foods since their essence and flavor is said to enter the heart.  They are also a great accompaniment to stimulate digestive enzymes in the mouth.

Most common bitter foods are not wholly bitter but part bitter and other flavors.  These foods include lettuce, watercress, endive, escarole, turnip,...

Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD.

It’s Winter. Whilst you may be feeling cooler, you dread winter due to feeling an association to a change in seasons such as Winter Depression.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is associated with the feeling of winter depression and feeling normal or very happy in Summer. Individuals who genuinely go through SAD feel depressed, generally slow down, over sleep, over eat and crave carbohydrates in winter. In the summer, these same individuals feel elated, active and energetic.

There are many variables that may predispose an individual to SAD but the most researched and evident reason is lack of exposure to full spectrum natural light.

Many mammals exhibit seasonal variation in activity levels, sleep patterns and appetite and are extremely sensitive to changes in the day length. The key hormonal change may be a reduced secretion of melatonin by the pineal gland and an increased secretion of cortisol by the adrenal glands.

Melatonin supplementation during the n...