Craving pumpkin pie spice flavor is part of Autumn. The air is getting colder, brightly colored trees are showing their true colors. Autumn also means dryer air and colder temperatures. A craving for pumpkin pie spice, sweets, cheeses, bread, meats, and cheeses is your body asking for more calories. Your body works a lot harder when it’s cold and dry. You need more calories, proteins and plant fats to stay warm.
Believe it or not, you really do need pumpkin pie spices to stay healthy in cold weather. Craving these spices is instinctive self-care. The way you use the spices is up to you. Choose wisely. It doesn’t have to be in dessert, it’s just more fun.
I grew up with the smell of pumpkin pie spice, apples and cinnamon in the air. These are some of THE smells of autumn and winter. One whiff and all of the traditions of the colder months roll through my head, in order. My body doesn’t crave the other smells of autumn. The smell of leaves blowing in the air, wood stoves and campfire smoke, first snows…none of them are something my body seeks out. Pumpkin pie spice is different. I want it in everything this time of year.
There’s a reason for that.
They are very tasty medicines cleverly disguised as dessert flavors. Each one of them has its uses in the cold of winter. Putting these bitter tasting medicines into sweetness and butter makes sure you eat them all through the cold and flu season. All of them are immune system tonics.
Allspice – It’s called allspice because when the 16th century English arrived in Jamaica it reminded them of pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and juniper. Like cloves, it’s an anesthetic that eases pain when used as a poultice. Like cinnamon, it’s an anti’inflammatory that eases cramps and aids digestion. It relieves a lot of digestion issues on it’s own like relieving gas, bloating, nausea, vomiting, and constipation.
Cinnamon – Cinnamon is a super drug herb. It’s an anti-oxidant more powerful than garlic. Lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol, anti-inflammatory, and is an anti-microbial that prevents tooth decay. It lowers blood sugar. Just half a teaspoon a day increases your body’s sensitivity to insulin. That makes it a must in a diabetic diet. All that, and it tastes great in my favorite desserts.
Cloves – Another super drug. Cloves are used as medicine inside your body and out. The essential oil found in cloves is a natural novacaine. It’s numbing properties make it a must have in your medicinal spice rack. Unmatched for easing toothache or sore throat pain. It also treats gum diseases and bad breath. Cloves are an anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, antiviral, and antioxidant. Whew. There’s more. It also eases digestion and gas issues, stops coughing and breaks up a congested cough.
Ginger – The perfect spice for cold weather. It keeps you warm and healthy all by itself. It boosts your immune system by being a source for vitamins B6 and E, iron, magnesium, potassium, and manganese. A medicine for arthritis, bone chilling cold, migraines, colds and flu, nausea, vomiting, menstrual cramps, ear infections, heart disease, reduces gas and bloating, and aids digestion. A list of cold weather ailments all relieved by dried ginger.
Nutmeg – Use sparingly by itself. Freshly ground, its more powerful than you might think. It relieves pain and insomnia, improves digestion, helps with memory, lowers LDL cholesterol, relieves diarrhea and is an antibacterial. As a liver tonic it increases production of your happy hormones serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. More happy hormones means less stress. It also means better memory. Nutmeg brings your body fiber, manganese, thiamine, B6, folate, magnesium, and copper.
Autumn isn’t just colder, it’s also a lot dryer. Less humidity in the air means dryer skin and hair. It’s not about water or dehydration. It’s about not enough oils in your diet. Dry skin is a common symptom from many sources. Dry skin makes you feel colder. If your dry skin is seasonal, there are many ways to feel more comfortable in your skin. Having plant oils, milk, cream, cheeses and butter in your diet lubricates your skin from the inside out. Use lotion every day while the dry skin symptom is being treated. Using conditioner more often than you use shampoo helps your hair. Using conditioner in the shower feels nice on your skin as well, like a first layer of lotion.
Feeling more comfortable in your skin is only part the reason you need more plant oil in your life. Your interior body needs it too. Would you let your car run out of oil on purpose? Nope. If you had a warning light that said you were low on oil, you would deal with it right away. Same is true with your body.
Symptoms of being low on oil come from being low on vitamins A, D, E and/or K. Frequent infections, allergies, loose teeth, brittle hair and nails, loss of appetite. Loss of energy, diarrhea, unusual nervousness, rickets in children, phosphorus build up in the kidneys, myopia, poor metabolism, diabetes. Heart disease, enlarged prostate, kidney and liver damage, gastrointestinal troubles, dull hair, impotency, miscarriages, anemia in babies, male sterility. Hemorrhaging, diarrhea, nosebleeds, colitis, blood slow to clot
Vitamin A
What you need it for…
Vitamin A repairs bodily tissues and organs. It also maintains night vision, is the foundation for creating healthy hair, skin, bones and teeth.
Just a few symptoms when you don’t have enough…
Frequent infections, allergies, loose teeth, brittle hair and nails, loss of appetite.
Things that deplete Vitamin A from your body…
Alcohol, caffeine, excessive iron, mineral oil
A few of the foods with Vitamin A…
Apple, apricot, asparagus, banana, beans (string), beet, blackberry, blueberry, broccoli, butter, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrot, cashews, cauliflower, celery, cheese (all), cherry, chicken, clam, cod (all mild fish), corn, crab, cucumber, dates, egg yolks, eggplant, fig, grape, grapefruit, greens, leeks, lemon, lentils, lettuce, mackeral (all oily fish), milk, mushrooms, mussels, mustard greens…
Nectarine, oats, okra, olive, onion, orange, oyster, papaya, parsley, peas, peach, pecan, persimmon, pineapple, potato (sweet), prunes, pumpkin, pumpkin seed, radish, raisins, raspberry, rhubarb, salmon, sardine, shrimp, spinach, squash (summer), squash (winter), strawberry, sunflower seed, tangerine, tomato, trout, tuna, turkey, walnut, watercress, watermelon, wheat, wheat bran, wheat germ, wheatberries, yogurt.
Vitamin D…Cholecalciferol
What you need it for…
Everyone knows that Vitamin D is required for building strong bones and teeth in children. The same is true for adults. You need it in order for your body to absorb any calcium and phosphorus that you are trying to include in your diet. It is just as important for maintaining a healthy thyroid, nervous system and helps your blood to clot.
Just a few symptoms when you don’t have enough…
Loss of energy, diarrhea, unusual nervousness, rickets in children, phosphorus build up in the kidneys, myopia, poor metabolism, diabetes.
Things that deplete Vitamin A from your body…
Mineral oil
A few of the foods with Vitamin D…
Amaranth, banana, butter, chicken, egg yolk, fish oil, milk, salmon, sardines, tuna.
Vitamin E…Tocopherol
What you need it for…
Vitamin E maintains healthy muscles and nerves, slows the aging process, increases male potency, dilates blood vessels, protects adrenal and pituitary hormones, prevents edema, prevents miscarriage, protects your retention of fat-soluble vitamins1 and defends your body against toxins in your food
Just a few symptoms when you don’t have enough…
Heart disease, enlarged prostate, kidney and liver damage, gastrointestinal troubles, dull hair, impotency, miscarriages, anemia in babies, male sterility.
Things that deplete Vitamin E from your body…
Birth control pills, chlorine and mineral oils.
A few of the foods with Vitamin E…
Apple, banana, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrot, chicken, cream, egg yolk, grapefuit, greens (dark leafy), oranges, parsley, peanuts, rice (brown), shrimp, spinach, strawberry, turkey, wheat germ.
Vitamin K …Phylloquinone
What you need it for…
Vitamin K is required for a healthy liver. It is necessary for regulating blood clotting.
Just a few symptoms when you don’t have enough…
Hemorrhaging, diarrhea, nosebleeds, colitis, blood slow to clot
Things that deplete Vitamin K from your body…
Radiation, antibiotics, mineral oil and aspirin
A few of the foods with Vitamin K…
Asparagus, banana, chicken, egg yolk, milk (and cream), oats, orange, peach, raisins, strawberry, wheat, wheat germ
No symptoms, no problems. If your body, mind, and spirit are happy and without symptoms…you are healthy. Have fun with what you eat in this full harvest part of the year. Enjoy every bite.
