What to eat in autumn

Autumn is the time to bolster our immune systems and store our energy for the cold winter months, and Chinese medicine certainly isn’t short on dietary advice to help us do so.

Cook it

At this time of year, your body has a hard enough time keeping warm on the outside without having to defrost your food on the inside as well. For this reason, Chinese medicine advises us to eat our food warm. This helps your digestive system get more of the good stuff out of your food without squandering your body heat.

Stew it

According to Chinese medicine, the best cooking method for autumn is stewing. Stewing keeps all the nutrients in the pot (no wasting that vitamin-rich broccoli water) and the long cooking time saves digestive energy by starting to break the food down for you. Another advantage is that just about anything can be made into a stew, so get creative!

What to put in it

Chinese medicine says that certain foods ward off respiratory tract infections. These foods are great to eat as a preventative measure, and even better to eat if you already have a cough or cold: garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, chilli, black pepper, lemon juice, honey and pears.