Local and seasonal - February 2025 — Eating myself healthy

In a nutshell

Our bodies are designed to thrive as the seasons change
Eating real, local food, replenishing our microbiome, getting out in the sun, and touching the earth are ways we stay in tune with what’s good for us
This is how I do those things during the coldest month of the year

I’m trying to define my health in the context of being in touch with nature. I have reasonable knowledge of real, nutrient-dense food, and, within the context of our still limited microbiome knowledge, I recognize what does and does not work for me. I’m beginning to understand the value of sunlight, but I still barely grasp the benefits of the earth’s negative charge. I want to learn more about everything, and to be able to tie together these evolutionary influences on our health.

Our bodies are designed to thrive on seasonal foods and our natural environment, so what does that mean? The best way for me to learn about something new is to write about it. This year I’m going to write monthly articles about living locally and seasonally.

February is the coldest month of the year. This despite the fact that our sunlight hours have been increasing since the winter solstice in December. The reason? Probably the seas that surround us. Britain is an island, and our weather and temperatures are dominated by the Atlantic Ocean and to a lesser extent, the North Sea, and those take a long time to warm up even as the days lengthen. The sea temperature where I live averages 6.0C (43F) this month, it skyrockets to 6.1C (43F) in March and peaks in August at 14.8C (59F). February is the low-point and it’s all Speedo temperatures from here.

Food

Three things come to mind when considering seasonal and local:

What’s in the garden?
What’s in the shops?
What are we eating?

What’s in the garden?

Turns out, not much. A combination of still poorish soil quality in the new garden plus the hoards of slugs and snails we feed are working against us. We have a selection of herbs, kale, tiny celeriac and cabbage.

What’s in the shops?

I’m going to stretch the definition of local to include the whole of the UK, not just the east of Scotland. We have enormous arable acreage where I live but much of it is dedicated to grains, mostly destined for whisky production. I have access to broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, leeks, parsnips, celeriac, carrots, and swedes. We avoid potatoes because of their especially high starch content.

I’m not seeing much in the way of local fruit yet.

All of the regular meats (including seafood) are available. In addition, we have access to wild game including venison, rabbit, and pheasant. In the seafood department, cod roe is available.

We source all of our organic milk from local dairies, and we stick with British cheeses.

What are we eating?

We make lots of broth from beef, lamb, chicken, duck and goose and will consume them as drinks, in soups, and meat recipes.

Our meat preferences tend towards fattier, collagen-rich cuts of beef and lamb in the colder months. They require longer cooking so the slow cooker is busy. Examples include stews with oxtail and beef. Osso Bucco is a favourite.

We include root vegetables with all of these things. Things like broccoli, cauliflower mash, and cooked cabbage salads are also regulars. Sauerkraut makes an appearance in salads and coleslaw.

Much of the fat we use at this time of year is rendered from birds we prepared over Christmas and Hogmanay. We have jars of refrigerated goose and duck fat.

Finally, we’ve been experimenting with a limited amount of baking with flour from heritage varieties. Producers we’ve looked at include Scotland the Bread, Doves Farm, and Shipton Mill (for Einkorn).

Mindful of the importance of Vitamin D, I appreciate the cod roe and canned fish. See also supplements below.

Local (mostly), real food from our village shop - Instagram @greens_crail

Microbiome

Gardening is one of our main ways to make sure we are connected to the natural microbiome. Activities are still limited in February, however. We’ve been weeding, cleaning out and composting last year’s growth, spreading older compost as mulch, and just started to germinate seeds.

Our secondary connection to the larger microbiome is with daily ferments that include milk kefir, sauerkrauts, and kombucha.

I’m still not sure how, but even limited sunlight has been shown to benefit our microbiome too.

Sunlight

As I write this in late February, the sun rises at 07:15 and sets at 17:30, so I’m getting around 10:15 hours of natural daylight. I try to expose myself to at least 15 minutes of morning light to help keep my circadian rhythm real.

Unfortunately, there is insufficient ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation to generate vitamin D in my skin and I won’t begin to benefit for another 15 days…! Therefore, I take a daily 5,000 IU supplement that also includes magnesium and Vitamin K2. Magnesium is necessary for activating Vitamin D3. Vitamins D3 and K2 work together to enable proper calcium absorption and distribution.

Thankfully I get a good dose of infra-red (IR) radiation. IR constitutes around 50% of the sun’s natural radiation that reaches us on earth, even on cold cloudy days. One type of IR (near IR) is capable of penetrating our bodies up to 10 cm to reach our internal organs and bones. This has the tremendous benefit of energizing cells in our body.

I have also started to supplement the sun’s natural radiation with 15-minute sessions of red and IR from a lamp. I use the EMR-TEK Firedragon.

Earth’s natural charge

The earth beneath our feet is a source of negative charge that benefits our cells in much the same way as food and sunlight [1]. Exposing our bare skin to the earth is called “grounding” or “earthing”. I’m very new to this subject and won’t comment too much.

Walking outside with bare feet in Scotland at this time of year is not for the faint of heart. I also use a grounding mat under my desk to help.

Speaking of cold, gloomy days, my desk overlooks the main street in our village and I have a pretty good view of the activity below. Everyone looks so cold and miserable that I often wonder what’s going on. It’s chilly at this time of year but it doesn’t warrant covering all but our eyes with multiple layers of synthetic clothing. This isn’t Siberia…! I wonder if people are losing their natural ability to generate heat. Is this what happens if we eat mostly industrially processed ingredients and shield ourselves from natural sunlight? Humans have evolved an ability to adapt to, protect ourselves, and even benefit from cold in winter [2]. I wonder if our modern lifestyle prevents winter adaptation.

I don’t understand why but suspect if we developed a physiological adaptation, we should use it. There may be internal signaling advantages I don’t understand (as with everything else). I try to safely expose myself to the cold every day.

References

1. Ober, C. et al (2014) Earthing: The most important health discovery ever! Basic Health Publications, Inc.

2. Cold adaptation - Daanen HA, Van Marken Lichtenbelt WD. Human whole body cold adaptation. Temperature (Austin). 2016 Feb 22;3(1):104-18. doi: 10.1080/23328940.2015.1135688. PMID: 27227100; PMCID: PMC4861193.

Local and seasonal - February 2025