Finding Balance this Easter

By Therese

Who doesn't love a bit of chocolate at Easter time... But who finds they start to react to the over consumption?
Typical over consumption symptoms are:
- excess heat (pimples, headaches, irritability),
- excess yang (over stimulation, poor sleep) &
- Yin Deficiency, otherwise known as the 'sugar come down', (slight depressive feelings and therefore wanting more to feel 'happier' again, plus dehydration and again poor sleep)

But it's Easter... so what can we do about it? Well, firstly the majority of those reactions are from the sugar quantities rather than the cocoa itself. The cocoa bean is actually quite bitter in nature which has a cooling energy. So here are my tips for surviving the Easter break:

1) Go Traditional
With the kids... go back to the traditional egg painting/crafts and boiled egg Easter hunts (instead of the chocolate eggs)
2) Quality over Quantity
Buy higher quality chocolate but less of it, rather than cheaper chocolate and more of it. Typically more expensive chocolate has more cocoa and less sugar or 'fillers' to bulk out the ingredients.
3) Hydration
A great cleanser after a lot of sugar/chocolate is green tea. So if you're the type that might typically get pimples, headaches, hot flushes or irritable after a lot of sugar try drinking a few cups of green tea (but not after 4pm as it's still a stimulant and may not help to sleep in the evening). For the kids, try cooled down mint tea (without sugar added obviously). Mint is cooling and cleansing and may help to calm them down.
4) Avoid Artificial Sweeteners
some might say "if the sugar is the problem... then we'll just use artificial sugar instead". However from my observation over the years, this doesn't seem to help from a Chinese Medicine point of view. Most artificially created foods react within the body as toxic heat that the body needs to then expel.  Therefore these foods can sometimes create just as much heat style symptoms (if not more) as sugar does. So I personally choose to go the other way. The more natural and unprocessed a food is, the easier it is for the body to recognize it as nourishment and the less 'work' your system has to do, to digest it. The best natural forms of sugar are fresh fruit, raw honey or real maple syrup. But lately I've been experimenting with coconut sugar, agave syrup and some Stevia products so these might be good alternatives this Easter too.

But most importantly this Easter... enjoy yourselves! There is nothing quite like that inner joy and contentment one gets when enjoying time with their loved ones.

We wish you all a wonderful Easter break.