FOOD
Local Mindful Eating
The Power of In-Season Foods
By Jennifer Malins
products sold directly from local farms is
one of my favorite activities of summer.
I love seeing carrots and beets of varying
shapes, sizes and colors still dusted with
earth rather than the oddly uniform,
sterile-looking vegetables in the supermarkets. A great example of this is the
tomato, which makes its appearance on
sandwiches year-round. Out of season,
they are pink and mushy with almost no
flavor and smell. When I eat a tomato off
of the vine during the summer months,
I can feel the difference in my body’s vitality almost immediately.
For many of us, summer conjures up a
host of happy images, such as camping
trips, canoeing, long nature walks, or
slowly sipping lemonade on the front
porch. The days are long and sunny, and
fireflies light up the sky as crickets serenade us on these warm balmy nights.
We often feel healthier in the summer as
the sun exposure replenishes our depleted stores of Vitamin D and enhances our
mood. Increased physical activity helps
us shed the extra pounds we may have
gained during the long, dark months of
winter, and our vitality increases as we
consume the fresh fruits and vegetables
from local farms and our own gardens.
It is a time of joy and release. After being
pent up during the winter months, we
may feel hungry for activity, especially
now that we have more time and energy.
And like squirrels gathering nuts to sustain them through the winter months,
we gather the light of the sun and the
experiences the warm days afford us,
knowing that the light of summer will
fade as the cooler days return.
Yet each season brings its own unique
8
flavors, healing properties, celebrations
and challenges. An effective method of
staying balanced and healthy, regardless
of the season, is to start living according
to the cycles of nature. Central to this
idea is consuming food that is in season
and grown locally.
Summer is the easiest time to begin this
journey, whether it’s by visiting the local farmers markets throughout the city,
growing our own food, or a combination of the two. Making pesto with basil we grew in our windowsills, adding
home-grown blueberries to our morning smoothies, or eating strawberries
picked by a farmer just days before allows us to re-connect to the earth and
the land that surrounds us on a physical,
tangible level. In turn, this brings our focus to the present moment, which is an
important part of any spiritual practice.
In other words, it is yoga in its culinary
form, in which union of mind, body and
spirit is achieved using local, seasonal
food as a vehicle.
Visiting famers markets filled with local,
in-season fruits, vegetables and other
When I moved back to Indiana from
California, I was pleasantly surprised
by the local food movement. One of
the leaders of this movement is Growing
Placing Indy, a non-profit organization
whose mission is to “. . . cultivate the
culture of urban agriculture and healthy
lifestyles, empowering individuals and
communities to Grow Well, Eat Well,
Live Well and Be Well.” The produce
from their urban farms can be found
at the local farmers markets, and they
offer many educational programs and
services to encourage residents to support consuming local food. The idea is
that when we have access to whole foods
grown without chemicals that harm our
bodies and our environment, and support sustainable agriculture and our
local farmers, we will thrive as a community. Laura Henderson, Executive
Director of GPI, explained some of the
health benefits of eating local, seasonal
food. During the winter months, she explained, we eat more meat and fat to stay
warm. During the hotter months, we eat
less and in smaller quantities, especially
meat. Our ancestors ate with the seasons
because they had no choice, but now, as
a result of sometimes harmful technology, we not only consume foods out of
season, but also GMOs and processed
foods, which were not part of our food
supply until very recently. “We’re changing the way we eat faster than our bodies
can evolve,” said Henderson.
INDIANA & YOGA MAGAZINE ISSUE I