Seasonal Eating, Immunity: Why is alignment with nature important ?

Welcome to Freshleaf Forever, a podcast that gives you fascinating insights week after week. Here's your host, Vaikumar. Hey folks, welcome to another episode on Podcast Freshleaf Forever. We have here with us Dr Kousalya Nathen, a lifestyle and anti-aging expert. We asked her on seasonal eating and how it impacts immunity and gut health. Here's what she had to say what about seasonal eating and what about immunity? We have heard that 70-80% of our immune system resides in the gut. Is that correct?

Absolutely. I'm just moving on to this aspect of seasonal eating and immunogenic foods, I think, as our traditional system has been, and I think again I'll go back to the grandmother and mother tale. Probably I may sound very vintage here, but I think our parents were very clear on giving us only seasonal fruits, because now I go out of way to fetch strawberry from somewhere which doesn't grow here at all, just because my son, my children, like strawberries or blueberries, I think we go out of way to fetch them fancy kiwis and stuff which doesn't belong to our Indian environment at all and we don't have the season of kiwis at all.

So, we spend nearly probably, which is around 200 rupees to Indian rupee for a kiwi, which probably may be around $2-3 in US, but for us here that's a lot of money to buy one kiwi fruit. So what I'm trying to tell you is we have, at least here in Indian environment, have beautiful indigenous fruits and vegetables which are absolutely seasonal, fantastic, grown in our nearby areas which can, for example, I live in Chennai and I tell you, I think around 200 to 300 kilometers from here, we have the maximum varieties of mangoes. I think why do we have to stop anybody from eating mango? I think we shouldn't. So I think the seasonal fruits, the vegetable, you get this palm fruit and which we call it ice apple, we have seasonal stuff which comes with season watermelons, musk, melons all that with the summer coming in or then the spring, or we have probably the humid weather here. So I think certain fruits are available throughout the year, but certain things probably are highly kind of seasonal oriented.

It is very, very important to respect nature when it comes to nurturing ourselves. I think the more we respect nature to nurture, I think we are in alignment with our environment. I think if we can bring that into our system, I think that's the best you can do for yourself. I would call it that's the natural way of pampering yourself. I think pampering yourself is not going out of way to fetch things which doesn't exist. P pampering yourself is having abundance of what's coming into the season when it comes to fruits or vegetables or any form of greens or whatever it may be. I think that's a very important part that all of us need to cultivate. There can be a 20% of some intrusion, of some non seasonal fruits, but by enlarging, 80% of your meal has to be more on seasonal and indigenious. And when it comes to immunogenic kind of immune boosters or immunogenic responses, our best is about having a vegetable juice. It can be.

I generally tell my clients that you know, pull in whatever is there. You don't have to feel. You know I mean probably nothing fancy. I think food, the simpler it is, it's going to work. The more complicated, the more kind of ingredients or more difficult you make it, you know it's going to be really difficult. So I think people, there was a time where people in India were talking too much against rice, which is our indigenous staple food, rice. But I think I feel rice is the most healthiest and idli which we have. The pancake the rice pancake is now declared and accepted by UN World Health Organization as one of the safest and the most healthiest food, which is a fermented food, as we are talking about the gut microbiome these kind of fermented foods gives good you know good flora and fauna. The digestion level is so smooth, the absorption is again easier because it's a partially digested foods.

I think we need to incorporate whatever is there in the environment, which is there in the culture, to keep our immunity on, rather than completely having a western following the western world in our nutrition, which probably has caused most of the problem here in our Asian population.

You know, it can be diabetes, it can be obesity, it can be hypertension. All those lifestyle disorders is because of the disruption or we're trying to adapt something which probably are genetically not compatible to a thing. That bit we need to understand. Similar way, in the western world, like they're used to, probably oats or you know some small grain or an omelet or whatever, it could be the breakfast or a bowl of fruits that has to be retained, with probably a combination meal for lunch and then probably a soup or a salad or you know some form of meat for dinner. So I think we need to go with our traditional practices. 20% can be for experimentation. So if we can maintain this, which will be harmonious to our system, then I think our immune system would be pretty strong and very kind of conducive to balance many things over in coping these kind of challenging situations.

Okay, what a wonderful message. Source locally and eat what is grown locally. Focus on what is available during the season instead of, you know, just keeping food simple instead of keeping it complex and going further to fetch it. Listeners, as always, follow the podcast, rate the podcast and review from your podcast type of choice. Follow me on Instagram and YouTube @vaipkumar. That's V-A-I-P-K-U-M-A-R for all things digital media and lifestyle. Until next time with yet another interesting guest and yet another interesting topic. It's me Vai saying so long.