Fall Self-Care: 6 Tips for Boosting Mood and Immunity

Today I’m sharing self-care practices for fall, for a smooth transition into these darker months and to support your mood and immunity.

Now, perhaps you love fall. My eldest daughter relishes everything about fall. Me? Fall is not the easiest season for me. I love the warmth of summer, and find fall a tough transition. It’s also a time of dark memories for me, and perhaps both are why I feel a heightened uneasiness this time of year. (I prefer to use the word uneasiness to anxiety, because that word is very charged.)

Where do you land? Do you love this season or find it difficult?

Wherever you are, there are measures we can implement to feel more like ourselves in autumn and through the winter.

Autumn Wellness Practices

1. Dietary Shifts for Fall: warm, pungent, moistening and “white” foods

This time of year, we want to enjoy more cooked foods. I used to resist autumn with my diet. I’d continue to eat raw salads and colder foods. By mid-October my energy was lagging and I felt low.

Now I understand that our bodies don’t respond well to eating cold foods in the fall. If we continue to eat raw, cold foods during the cooler fall and winter months, we can experience digestive problems like bloating, gas and constipation, and even painful joints.

Warming Autumn Recipes

Autumn is the season of the Metal Element in Chinese Medicine. Metal attributes include integrity, quality, structure and strength. However, when the metal element is out of balance, we may feel overly rigid/controlling, disconnected, and set in our ways. Metal benefits from warming up. So in fall, turn to foods that warm you and ground you, such as stews, soups and root vegetables.

Immune-Boosting Foods for Fall

We can choose more seasonal items, and also foods that are “white” or have white centres (the color of the metal element is white). Examples include cauliflower, apples, pears, garlic, onions, ginger, turnips, cabbage, white peppercorns. The taste of the metal element is “pungent”, sometimes called spicy or acrid. Spicy foods help to clear mucus, improve breathing and stimulate the large intestine.

For even more dietary tips and recipes that feature Metal Element foods, pick up my new guide: Vegan Metal Element (see photo and discount code below). 👇

2. Mindful Living in Autumn

Practice “Letting Go” Techniques

Practice “letting go”. In autumn, nature is letting go. We see leaves fall to the ground and there is a decay in the plants and foliage. We can echo this in our lives by reviewing what is in our lives that we no longer need, both tangible and energetic.

When we release what we don’t need, we retain what is precious (as metal is precious) and make space for the new. What we usually refer to as “spring cleaning” or decluttering is even more suitable for this season. Try some simple activities, like cleaning cupboards or your closet, or deleting unneeded photos from your phone.

3. Fall Grounding Exercises

This one thing is simple – and costs nothing. Find time each day to ground with the earth and benefit from the earth’s healing energy. When we connect to the earth’s DC energy, our bodies are instantly synced, as we also run on DC energy. Just as you recharge your phone, think of recharging your body. Furthermore, as explained in this video by my grounding guru, Dr. Koniver, it is especially beneficial to ground during seasonal transitions such as solstices and equinoxes – we adapt to seasonal changes more naturally.

When the weather becomes too cold to ground outside, consider indoor grounding tools (you can find many on Dr. Koniver’s site). I use this organic grounding mat from her site. 👇

4. Seasonal Immune Support

Natural Immune Boosters for Fall

Vitamin D

Many of us are woefully low in Vitamin D. Even after summer, we may not have optimal levels. Not only is Vitamin D critical for our immune system, it may also help regulate mood and can be beneficial for sleep. Consider a direct vitamin D supplement (here are some vegan sources on amazon.com and amazon.ca) or use Complement which provides the “essential” vegan nutrients formulated in one capsule.

Chaga

In addition to vitamin D supplementation, I highly recommend making chaga tea. I make it daily, and I know I benefitted from drinking it last year. When other family members were sick, I kept up with my chaga tea plus my fascia flo work (thymus roll-downs for the win!) and I fended off multiple viruses. 👊

Chaga tea is exceptionally easy to make! Simply add one or two nuggets/chunks to a pot of water, bring to a boil, then let simmer for 5-10 minutes (or longer). You can also use a stovetop kettle. I like to pour the hot chaga water over my favorite tea bags, like Guayusa tea.

Find Chaga nuggets on 🇺🇸 amazon.com and 🇨🇦 amazon.ca. More on chaga tea here.

5. Autumn Outdoor Walks: A Natural Mood Booster

Another practice that is simple and free – enjoying autumn walks. We spend so much time indoors during the fall, it’s so nourishing to go out for walk in the crisp autumn air. For many of us, walking outside this time of year is more enjoyable than in the summer. Make it more connected by not plugging into your phone and simply be with the with the sensations of the season – the colors and smells. Focus on your breath while you walk. The lungs are the yin organ of autumn, and so focus on the inhales and exhales as you enjoy your walk.

One note: Be sure you keep your neck and chest warm on your fall walks. The lungs are more vulnerable during the fall, and our grandmothers had it right when they told us to wear a scarf! There is much more information about how to protect and nourish the lungs in fall in my Metal Element Guide, find it here.

6. Mood and Sleep Support with Apollo Neuro

Throught fall and winter, we spend more time in artificial light, less time outdoors. This can affect our mood and sleep. Apollo Neuro is a wearable device that is receiving rave reviews for how it can help modulate stress levels and support sleep through it’s connection to our vagus nerve.

I wear my Apollo daily, and wrote about it in this post. Learn more about Apollo Neuro on their site.

I hope these insights and product recommendations give you some ideas to include in your self-care practices for fall.

Cozy Comfort: Self-Care recipes for Autumn Wellness

Be sure to browse my soups and stews to find some inspiration for warming meals. I have more recipes that are beneficial for fall in my Metal Element Guide. You can get yours here, use code METAL for 30% for the first 50 who purchase!