Spring is the perfect time to adopt some new practices that move us toward wellness.   In today’s post, we’ll be exploring some simple spring practices for better health.

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Simple Spring Practices for Better Health

Move from eating heavier meals to lighter, simpler meals

 Often we crave warming, hearty meals during the cold, dark months of winter.  They can feel so comforting and nourishing! Just imagine sitting in front of the fire on a cold, dark evening with a bowl of thick, hearty stew and maybe a slice of freshly baked bread to go with it!     

But as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, our bodies naturally crave more seasonal foods.  Try moving away from those heavy meals into eating lighter, simpler meals that don’t weigh down your digestion so much.

Try incorporating more seasonal fruits and vegetables into your diet that are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Take advantage of the fresh, delicious green vegetables of spring such as baby spinach, baby lettuce, arugula, asparagus and even some of the commonly foraged and highly nutritious greens such as dandelion leaves, chickweed, nettles, purple dead nettle and common violet.

Make a plan for using and preserving fresh foods of the season

 If you are anything like me, you have many good intentions and new recipes you’re dying to try during the spring and summer months.  Unfortunately, if I don’t print out the recipe or write things on my calendar, it’s so easy to forget. I’m making a commitment to be better about it this year!  

 Here are some things I’m doing to take full advantage of fresh foods during the spring, summer and even fall months.

• Adopting a “no waste” policy.   Before going grocery shopping or picking up my CSA order for the week, I make a list of fresh foods that I currently have and need to be used.  

• Menu Planning for the week ( being sure to use up perishable items first)

• Using vegetable scraps in creative ways.  I love dicing broccoli and cauliflower stems in my food processor (using the S blade) to add to salads, grains, soups or casseroles.

• Saving vegetable scraps in the freezer to make my own homemade vegetable broth (I do this with mushrooms too!)

• Keeping a folder with new seasonal recipes I want to try along with my grocery list and menu planner for the week.

• Printing and saving favorite recipes or recipes I want to make again in a binder.  The binder can also be organized by season or use a separate binder for each season.  I refer to this binder when I menu plan for the week.

• Thinking ahead and writing reminders on my calendar (such as, “make a fresh holy basil tincture this month” or marking the first of each month to make my homemade sauerkraut or kimchi.)

• Establishing a new morning, evening and weekly routine for spring and summer to keep me on task.  For example, during the spring and summer months, I get into the habit of heading to the garden in the morning to pick my greens for lunch and dinner and I prepare my super infusion before bed so it will be ready in the morning when I wake up.

 For more ideas on preserving fresh foods, check out my post on How to Eat Healthy on a Budget or check out my favorite preserving recipes here.  

Get moving outdoors

I’m an outside girl.  Once the weather starts to get nice, I’m itching to get outdoors. I’m one of those rare people who actually love doing yard work (lucky for my husband!)  It is pretty likely if you stopped by my house on a nice day, I’d be out in my garden.   I’m just one of those people who hates to be cooped up inside all day.

Not everyone is like this, I know.   Some of you prefer not to spend the day outdoors but I do encourage you to do more of it.   Outdoor physical activity (especially in nature) is not only good for your physical health but also for your mental and emotional health.   It can be a wonderful stress reliever.  One of my favorite times of day to head outdoors is in the early morning when the world is quiet except for the cheerful chirping of the birds.  It is a great way to start the day!

Do a Gentle Spring Cleanse    

 Spring is the perfect time to do a cleanse.

 Cleansing doesn’t have to be a hard-core, “‘I’m having nothing but green juices for a month.”   Spring cleansing can be as simple as drinking some lemon water to start your day or simply eating more fruits and vegetables.  It could be simply eliminating bread, gluten or sugar from your diet for a few weeks. It could be incorporating more nutritive herbs into your diet.

 Your spring cleanse can be as simple or as challenging as you want it to be.  Whatever it is, let it be something that moves you toward better health.   If you’re curious what I do during a cleanse, you can check out this post on the cleanse I do several times a year.

Or if you need a little motivation in the right direction, the 7 Days to Better Health Challenge might be just the thing to encourage you.   Click here to sign up for free and receive a daily health challenge to encourage and motivate you.

 Something that I like to do during my spring cleanse is incorporate alterative herbs (also known by the folklore term ‘blood cleansers”) into my diet.   Alterative herbs supports the body in cleansing and detoxification and have traditionally been used for this purpose. Herbalist Jim McDonald describes alteratives as “herbs that strengthen health by nourishing the body and promoting both assimilation and detoxification by improving metabolism.”  

 Some examples of common and safe alterative herbs are cleavers, red clover, nettles, plantain, yellow dock, burdock and dandelion, all herbs that are readily found growing wild in the spring.  

What I love about using these herbs, especially in the spring is that they are “lymph moving” as they help us eliminate toxins as well as enhancing how well we absorb and assimilate nutrients from our food.   If you are interested in foraging for wild foods, these herbs are a great place to start.  I talked about how to use several of these herbs in my series on Foraging last year.  

What are some practices that you do in the spring to move yourself toward better health?  Are you doing anything differently this year?  Share your comments below or visit me on  Facebook Page or on Instagram . 

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