Fall healthy tips include eating foods that will boost your immunity and keep you healthy in autumn. Learn why to add honey and grapes, and take a break from garlic.
Eating the right foods can help you prevent sinus problems, runny noses, a sore throat, coughing, and digestion troubles. They can also help you reduce chronic symptoms from asthma, CPOD, arthritis, and joint pain.
Nourish Your Growing Yin Energy
Some of the best cold and cough fighting foods for Fall come to us from Chinese medicine.
As we wrote about in the prior post, Tai Jing, the symbol for Yin and Yang, shows that we need to release the heat and activity of the summer, Yang energy, and nourish and replenish our cooling, calming, and slowing down energy of Fall and Winter, Yin energy.

You need to nourish Yin energy in the Autumn
The focus during Autumn is moderation in all things, including food. Moderation will help strengthen your Lungs, which are the most vulnerable organ during this season. They need just the right balance of moisture and warmth, made possible by your environment, but equally importantly by the food you eat! Strengthening your Lungs in turn helps your Heart and Liver, because they are all interrelated according to Chinese Medicine theory.
Foods to Eat in Autumn
People in China know that you should eat different foods for every season in order to balance Yin and Yang and to stay healthy. In the Fall, you are trying to increase Yin, which means eating cooling foods. Not foods that are cold, but rather, foods that help the body release heat and calm down.
To cool the body, it is critical to cook your food! During this season, avoid raw foods. Fresh and well-cooked foods will strengthen your Yin. Avoid refrigerating produce. This can be difficult in the West, so just do the best you can.
The following recommendations are for people who are balanced between Yin and Yang. If you are Yin Deficient, Qi Deficient, or Phlegm-damp, there are contraindications for some of the recommendations.
Want to know if you are in balance? Sign-up for our newsletter and receive access to your FREE individualized health assessment. Â At the end of your assessment, you will receive recommendations for foods that suit your constitution. Please contact us after you take your assessment if you would like advice on foods for Fall.
Foods to strengthen Yin and cool the body



- Bananas
- Carrots
- Congee (rice porridge)
- Duck
- Honey
- Kiwi fruit
- Lily bulbs
- Lotus root (cooked)
- Persimmon
- Pork
- Soups
- Spinach
- Sticky rice
- Soy milk
- Sugar cane
- White fungus (Tremela Mushrooms)
Foods to strengthen Yin and clear phlegm




- Beans
- Nuts
- Roughage – in particular leafy greens
- Sea food
- Seeds
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Tofu
Foods to strengthen your ability to breathe deeply



- Chocolate (in moderation)
- Coffee (in moderation)
- Tea
Foods to fortify your Liver – sour foods




- Apples
- Grapes
- Lemon
- Lime
- Pomelo
- Pomegranate
- Olives (sour green olives or Kalamata olives)
- Sauerkraut
Foods to avoid





- Beef
- Lamb
- Pungent foods: ginger, garlic, raw onions, radish, red radish, scallions, wasabi, spices