Everynight Kuri Squash + Apple Curry

Fall all the way in.

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Season: Winter, Fall

Dosha: Pitta, Vata, Kapha

This is my favorite time of year in Colorado. When pumpkins, plums, pears and apples start to fill the farm stand, taking a spot right next to the last of the summer squashes, turnips, hearty greens, and big buxom carrots. My winter squash hoarding (you’re not surprised, are you?) starts as soon as those pumpkins drop, ladies in waiting for the first few nights that the temperatures dip. This week, I lit the wood burning fireplace in the new house for the first time, cradled low glasses of bourbon as we waited for this Kuri Squash + Apple Curry to simmer on the stove. The days following, I enjoyed it as a warm, grounding and soothing lunch in the sun. I’ll take these warm days + chilly nights for as long as I can, transitioning sweetly between the seasons with intention, care + lots of coziness. Because it feels luxurious to do so, and because it’s critical to my health + well-being for the entire year.

Fall is the season of the wind. It’s the time between a full-on, hot, and heavy summer and a reflective, restful, restorative winter where fall blows out what no longer serves. It’s an active, mobile time of year…which explains why all of us begin to crave a turning in, a cozying up — it’s our natural inclination to balance against the weather. (Our bodies are SO SMART!)

When we don’t balance against the weather, against nature, against the seasons that swirl and impact us whether we like it or not, things start to feel….not right. In our bodies, brains, and lives. We lose our balance. And so, as we quest for how to organize our lives to feel + perform at our best, we have to consider the way we spend our days, and nights, the way we cook and eat….IN SEASON to keep us balanced, healthy, feeling, and performing at our best.

Our activities – the way we approach them, and execute them – naturally shifts if we allow it. And, in the kitchen things change too. It might not be surprising to know that as the bounty of summer wanes, fresh fruits, fresh veggies and the cooling foods we’ve been talking about all summer are not only less available but also less appropriate. Instead of cooking raw salads and the cooling foods of summer, warming grounding foods and practices that help our bodies to root down, take rest, and keep warm and feeling “unblown” by the season’s change are what’s for dinner.

This curry is a great example of all the things our bodies crave naturally at this time and all the things that nourish us through this transition. If we transition well, we’ll enjoy a healthy, happy and restfully productive winter. If we don’t we find ourselves feeling sick, tired, lethargic and overworked through the winter and into the spring.

Not “off season” – ON season

Instead of thinking of this downtime as an “off-season,” it feels to me like the most important opportunity to “stay on.” Stay connected to our nature, to what our bodies and brains need. It’s not a time to slack – on the contrary – it’s a time to keep vigilant to our promise of rest or else we risk losing our balance. Just like on a balance beam, falling off and messing up is easy — simply stop focusing. Staying balanced takes focus + dedication.

We can balance our bodies through lifestyle and diet practices – the way we cook, move, and even breathe can help us to keep in step with the season. And, depending on the season, these lifestyle and diet practices are different — what worked for us to feel healthy, vibrant, and to live and perform well in the spring and summer doesn’t apply in the fall. Instead, it’s smart to tune our systems – and our schedules – to the fall.

For many of you reading this, a proper “off season” doesn’t exist. Myself included – for better or worse I find myself moving/shaking/hustling and riding/running/hiking/traveling/moving all year. This little newsletter is not about to tell you that you need to stop doing any of those things to be a “healthy” person. No way. But, it is going to suggest that there’s a different way to go about doing them. That there’s a time to push your hardest, and a time to give yourself some space. A time to lean into slowing down, and a time to lay it down.

If you’re the type to pin it all year, this advice is specifically for you. Even if just for a few weeks, as fall arrives it’s really important to give your brain and body a rest from being “an athlete.” Don’t worry. You won’t lose your identity as a badass. Trust me. In fact, you’ll be all the more badass when you emerge on the other side.

The reason is that we require a bit of time to spin off the accumulated stress of a big season — specifically summer. And if you’ve been spinning it for a few years now without much of a break to speak of, you have a lot more stress to allow to slip away. Fall is the perfect time to do it. As you feel your body’s natural inclination to slow, to cozy, to take it easy — listen up and heed the call. You don’t have to stop exercising, just aim to do slower, longer, less intense efforts at this time of year. Avoid pushing yourself over the edge. Take the time to reconnect with the yoga practice you’ve been promising yourself. Take those long walks with the dog or with a friend. Properly leaf peep. And then, as winter arrives and you feel your body’s energy reignite, it’s ok to hit it again.

If you’re in competition, this may be a completely inopportune time for you to take the rest — I’m thinking of you, cyclocross racers. Depending on how seriously you’re taking your racing, it is possible to wane your training so that you can hit races hard, but make sure to integrate lots of downtime through your week to be sure you’re adequately resting. If you want to keep your racing at a high intensity, keep your life at a low intensity to keep your balance. (Always about balance.) I give some specific advice for how to balance this lifestyle piece below.

In the kitchen

Re-approaching our lifestyle is one way to balance the season, but the way we cook and eat is another. As always, consuming seasonal produce with qualities that balance the blustery, mobile, chilly weather is critical to staying healthy inside and out. Some ways to navigate the bounty:

Emphasize:

Oily, soupy, warm, and well-cooked meals with plenty of whole grains, beans, lentils, and cooked vegetables. Adding a bit of fat at this time helps us to ground down. Cooked fruits are wonderful too, and warming spices (like those found in your pumpkin spice latte!) are excellent! This is also the time to reincorporate more healthy oils that you may have left out of your diet in the summer (because they’re quite heating!) Ghee, sesame oil, and tahini are great choices. Eat regular, consistent meals at the same time each day if possible.

Minimize:

Raw vegetables, bitter and astringent foods, cost smoothies, iced drinks and ice cream. Dried fruits, crackers, nuts, chips and other dry, rough snacking foods that require more liquids to digest easily. Keep caffeine intake under control. Avoid erratic eating and snacking, opt for specific, ample mealtimes instead.

Putting it all together

So how does this all lock together into manageable schedules and meals? Some suggestions…

Lower the intensity: the season for high-intensity interval training has passed…for now. Instead, pick ways of moving and training that keep your body warm and your nervous system feeling stable and engaged without smoking yourself. Long runs at a chill pace, big hikes and steady rides are awesome.
Keep it rooted: this is a perfect time of year to revisit your yoga practice, pick up resistance training and weight lifting again. Swimming is awesome in this season too – anything that will emphasize grounding and balance.
Mindfulness + Breath: if you have a mindfulness practice, this is a great time to focus on grounding, calming breaths that soothe anxiety and support your nervous system as it unwinds from summer. If you don’t have a mindfulness practice, this is a great time to start one! A few minutes in the morning or evening will do wonders to harness the power of this time of year!
Stay warm! Bundle up when you go out to train in the cold. This is the time for long hikes and rides in nature, and leave the super stimulating music at home.
Soup it up: forgo salads for the most part. Their season has passed (sniff!) Instead, opt for warm bowls of cooked vegetables and grains, or soups laden with veggie friends. You can still get plenty of veg in but it’s important that you get it in a form that’s easy to digest and assimilate….which salads are not.
Make a bowl of porridge: as boring as it sounds, porridge for breakfast is an excellent way to ensure you’re getting grounding grains in your diet, plus it’s a restorative meal for this season. Add fruit and cook it well, and cozy up.
Curry up: this bowl of curry is all the things your body is asking for right now. It’s full of the 6 flavors, which means it’s a perfectly balanced meal, complete with protein, carbohydrates and a bit of fat too. Stewed vegetables, a curry + coconut broth, an easy-to-digest protein source in a package that is balanced with fat and flavor. Make yourself a pot for dinner and enjoy the leftovers for lunches, switching it up with seasonal veggies as the season changes. (Hint: it’s perfect for the roots that we’ll have all winter long!)