WMW: Winter is coming

October 23rd 2024

Hello beautiful people,

You’ve probably noticed, winter is coming. The days are getting shorter and the winds colder. The hedgehogs are foraging frantically to prepare for hibernation, squirrels stockpile their winter stores, and foxes scavenge with more urgency as food grows scarcer. Across the country, animals are adapting their behaviour for the coming months.

But there’s one that doesn’t.

As the days grow colder, we sit comfortably in our homes with central heating, protected from the sharp chill that’s appeared in the air. As they grow darker, we switch on our artificial lights and continue as if nothing has changed.

Our technology has allowed us to disconnect from our natural environment and our body’s natural rhythms. Our incredible ability to produce heat and light allows us to stay warm and grow food no matter the season, and if we can’t grow it, we can always import it.

Your body is constantly receiving and responding to information from your environment, that dictates how it functions. Over millions of years, nature has fine-tuned you to respond to the seasonal ebb and flow of plants, temperature, and sunlight (depending where you live). Light is one way your body receives information, temperature is another, but there is one more that is crucial to your health.

Food.

It’s especially now, as we begin to rely more on our technology that controls our environment to keep us comfortable, that being minful of the signals you’re giving your body becomes even more important.

What information does your food contain?

The answer is simple.

How is it that plants are able to grow?

It all comes down to…

The sun 🌞

The sun is our body’s biggest source of information in our environment. The length and intensity of your sunlight exposure is as set of instructions that tells your body how to function.

At the most basic level, food is stored sunlight. Light energy is absorbed by the plants we see around us, and works its way up the food chain. It’s stored information that tells our body how to behave, that’s why it has such a huge impact on how you feel and how your body works.

“In nature nothing exists alone.”
― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Every element of every natural system contains information about it’s environment.

So, we’re receiving information from the light and temperature around us, and the food we eat. Our incredible bodies take in and process this information and is adapting to it every second.

Now I ask you, when it’s warm outside and there’s loads of light, what thrives?

When it’s cold and the days are short, what withers?

What should be abundant in the spring and summer, and scarce in the winter?

Fruits and vegetables.

Some vegetables still grow; Kale, Spinach Brussel Sprouts, Carrots, Leeks, etc. But fruit becomes more scarce as you move through autumn into winter.

So before our incredible inventions like the fridge, LED lights, and central heating, carbohydrates were not easily found in the winter. Our diets consisted mostly of protein and fat (because most animals can live through the winter).

What happens now?

The days grow colder and shorter, signalling to our body that it’s time to prepare for winter. Yet, carbohydrates are easily accessible, grown on the other side of the world, and central heating keeps our artificially lit houses at a comfortable set temperature. So now, our body is receiving completely different signals about what’s going on.

I’m not going to tell you that it definitely leads to poor health outcomes, that’s for you to research and decide. But what I will say is that, eating food that was grown under artificial light or on the other side of the world IS giving your body mixed signals, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt you to eat in accordance with your environment and natural rhythms. It’s definitely worth considering.

So how can you do that?



It’s simple, ask yourself what would naturally be available at this time of year?

How far away is my food grown?

Food that is grown in your local area will provide your body with information that is in line with your natural environment.

The closer your food is grown, the better.

It would also make sense to consume animal foods all year round, but limit most of your carbohydrate intake to the lighter and warmer months.

Of course that’s just the general idea, and I’m by no means an expert but that is what I try and do (after a mind-blowing conversation I had with a health optimisation practicioner at MyLittleFarm).

Thinking of food as stored information from the environment, that acts as instructions for your body, is yet another reason why farming and eating in harmony with nature is so crucial.

One of the best things you can do for your health is sourcing your food locally, not just because of the quality of the food, but what that food tells your body.

If you want to read more about this, these are some great sources:

If you want to read more about this, these are some great sources:

Dr Max Gulhane

Dr Jack Kruse

@zaidkdahhaj

The health optimisation specialist I spoke to at MyLittleFarm: Dr Ed Caddye

Circadian health and the idea of living in accordance with natural rhythms is hugely interesting to me, and seems to be the missing piece of a lot of modern health issues.

Now this is not to say you need to freeze yourself to death and only eat food that was grown solely in the cold and dark winter. But there is a relationship between your food and your environment, and it will dictate your body’s natural rhythms and there is a balance to be struck – as you’ll find out with the hens that have just arrived. This is one of the reason I believe One Tree Farm is so important so you’ll probably hear more about it from me as I dive deeper.

Hopefully you found this useful and perhaps it will inspire you to get as much of your food locally this winter.

Until next time.

To your freedom and independence,

Rob
Wild Minds Community

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