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As our season is changing to a more fruitful period, this is the perfect time to begin introducing different varieties of land-grown seasonal produce into your regular eating habits. As winter passes on and our dormant surroundings come out of hibernation, we start to see shoots and buds that are full of nutrients and natural remedies.
Sustainability is incredibly important – now more than ever – and eating seasonally is one of the ways we can help to support our environment. With the enormity of global produce import, we have unrelenting access to a number of varieties of fruit and vegetables, but this can often result in a poorer quality of nutrients, as well as having a harmful impact on our planet.
This can be attributed to a number of factors, including over-farming and subsequent soil quality depletion, unripened harvesting and transportation. Living off the local land can be a great solution to this and encourage you to absorb a much higher quality of food.
We always take an evidence-based approach and aim to provide you with actionable knowledge and tips to help you on your journey to optimal health.
In this article we’ll take a look into some natural vegetation that you can enjoy in spring, to help boost your health, happiness and wellbeing.
What is growing in spring?
Over the spring period, we see a number of new and exciting shoots beginning their journey to fruition. In the UK there are a myriad of herbs, plants and flowers which are digestible and rich in beneficial nutrients.
Wild Garlic
This plant can be found in many settings and can grow in the most unlikely of places. With its long, deep green leaves, you can usually spot this plant in local parks, woodland reserves or unkempt and purposefully wild locations such as cemeteries. You can also notice this plant by its distinct and pungent garlicky smell, which will help you ensure you aren’t picking the wrong plant.
Something this plant can specifically help with is rheumatic pain and high cholesterol, and it can be consumed in a number of ways. You can add this to a tonic by grinding it down, or add it to a salad by chopping the leaves, releasing the fragrant and unmistakable flavour. Mix with olive oil and grind to make a vibrant, tasty pesto which can be stored for several months in airtight jars of frozen.
Nettle
This plant can often be only remembered for its itchy and painful mark sting, but the health benefits far outweigh this power plant’s spiky punch when under threat.
This plant can be found almost everywhere you may ramble, from parks to paths, to woodlands and gardens. Exercise caution when handling this plant as it still will have its stinging ability if you try to pick it without gloves and precaution.
Stinging nettles have been used as a remedy for ailments and disease for hundreds of years – testament to its natural benefits. It has been used for the relief of painful muscles and joints, as well as for symptoms of eczema, arthritis, gout, and anaemia. Whilst modern medicine has a wealth of cures and treatments for these problems now, we can always go back to the Earth to use what is natural and healthy for us.
In modern life, we use nettle for early signs of an enlarged prostate and urinary issues. We can add nettle to very hot water to create a brewing tea that is packed full of nutrients, and consuming this in liquid form can directly impact our urinary system, easing any problems we are experiencing.
Magnolia
This is a beautiful plant and tree that blossoms in the spring. The gorgeous, pinky white flowers bloom, but only for a short amount of time, before wilting and leaving room for greenery to flourish. In some instances, where we have unexplainable and unseasoned weather, this plant can bloom again so the chance to harvest can come round for a second or third time.
We can harvest these beautiful buds to ingest them in a supplement form for some great health benefits. Magnolia can be used to help with menstrual cramps due to their soothing and relaxing capabilities.
With these relaxing properties, we can also use the flowers of the tree for flatulence and vertigo by boiling down the flowers in water and consuming the liquid that remains.
Spinach
Popularised by the cartoon favourite Popeye, spinach packs a punch of nutrients and can be found locally throughout the world, making this a sustainable and healthy vegetation to consume.
The number of benefits that spinach consumption can have is vast, but a few to mention are replenish energy supplies, aid in digestion, bulk your immune system and regulate blood pressure. This plant is an excellent source of crucial minerals, vitamins, plant proteins, fibres, omega 3s and chlorophyll, all of which can boost your health naturally.
Caution
At Amchara, we always want to provide you with scientific and fact based research so whilst we have suggested these incredible plants to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle, caution must be taken.
Some herbs and natural sources of nutrients can affect and contraindicate the impact of medication that you may be taking for existing health problems. We would always advise that you speak with a health advisor or your GP if you have a diagnosed and clinically medicated problem before beginning to take any herbal remedies for a health problem.
We also want to remind you that in most natural environments, foraging is permissible but in certain areas such as cemeteries or local parks, this can often be forbidden or you may need a permit. Many of our wild spaces, whilst seemingly overgrown looking, are actually maintained and managed to be that way with local and natural vegetation, to promote urban biodiversity and support the environment. So over-foraging by the masses can actually damage our surroundings.
Before you begin to pick anything you see in the wild, ensure you have the right to do so and do not take more than you need. These plants are fantastic for human consumption but an entire ecosystem may rely on their presence.
Takeaway
Come to our nurturing environment at Amchara, where our experienced Personalised Health practitioners can work with you to explore positive lifestyle choices to help you achieve your health goals, with a tailored approach taking into account your individual circumstances.
At Amchara we can guide you through our natural landscape, showing what to adopt into your everyday eating habits to greatly benefit your health and wellbeing.
With small lifestyle changes, which include what we eat, we can improve your wellbeing by a huge amount and expand your knowledge of food and nutrition.
We know that sharing knowledge and experiences can be an important part of achieving optimal health, we’d love to know if you have benefited from increasing your intake of natural vegetation and anything you think we have missed out that has helped you on your journey to improve your health.
