To maintain optimum health, Ayurveda lays out a set of seasonal guidelines called Ritucharya. Here, Ayurveda advises various rules and regimens (Charya) regarding diet and behaviour to acclimatize to the seasonal variations easily without altering body homeostasis.

There are six seasons and corresponding diet regimens according to Ayurveda

Shishira (mid-January to mid-March) – During this time intake of cereals and pulses, wheat/gram flour products, and newly harvested rice are advised. This can go with ginger, garlic, haritaki (terminalia chebula), pippali (piper longum), sugarcane products, and milk products. Also, exercise, massage with oil/powder/paste, bathing with lukewarm water, getting exposed to mild sunlight, and wearing warm clothes are advised.

Vasanta (mid-March to mid-May) – This period calls for the intake of cereals like old barley, wheat, rice and pulses like lentil, green gram etc. Honey is to be included in the diet. Foods that are difficult to digest, viscous, cold, sweet and sour foods should be avoided. Medium exercises and medicated powder massage (udvartana) are recommended to keep the body fit. 

Greeshma (mid-May to mid-July) – Here, light-to-digest, sweet, unctuous, cold and liquid foods are preferred. Intake of cold water, buttermilk, fruit juice, meat soup, mango juice, and churned curd with pepper is recommended. Salty, pungent and sour foods and alcohol are to be avoided, as should excessive exercise or hard work.

Varsha (mid-July to mid-September) – This is the season when your diet should consist of cereals like old barley, wheat, rice, and among pulses, lentils, green gram etc. Honey is to be included in the diet. Foods difficult to digest, viscous, cold, sweet and sour foods should be avoided, along with new grains, curds, and cold drinks.

Sharad (mid-September to mid-November) – This is the time to include sweet (madhura) and bitter (tikta) foods which are light and easy to digest in your diet. Foods prepared from wheat, and green gram, sugar candy, honey, and patola (trichosanthes dioica) are also preferable. Avoid hot, pungent, sour and salty foods, as well as oils, meat of aquatic animals, curds etc.

Hemanta (mid-November to mid-January) –  Unctuous, sweet, sour and salty foods are preferred during this season. Newly harvested rice, wheat flour preparations, green gram, and black gram are to be included in the diet. Meats, oils, fats, milk and milk products, sugarcane products, sidhu (fermented preparations), and tila are advised. Avoid cold and dry foods.