Eat With The Seasons For Optimum Health

Posted by admin on October 11th, 2007 at 09:25pm

You’d never know it from a walk around the produce section of any U.S. grocery store, but tomatoes don’t grow in winter and June is an odd time to be eating an apple. International shipping is what is responsible for off-season fruits and vegetables appearing on supermarket shelves, usually with a hefty price tag attached. You may have been raised to think that such foods are a lovely luxury, but if you are treating them as a staple, you are forcing your body to work against the natural cycle of the farming year.

In addition to confusing your stomach, purchasing off-season produce represents a tremendous waste of fuel as foods are either intensively cultured in greenhouses, or are shipped incredible distances to us from other countries. Learning to eat with the seasons reduces pollution of the planet and aligns your body with the life-giving rhythm of the earth.

Eating with the Warm Season

When the hot months of late spring, summer and early fall are with us in North America, the local organic farm abounds with fabulous, mouthwatering vegetables like these:

• summer squash
• string beans
• cucumbers
• peppers
• avocados
• mesclun lettuces and greens
• eggplant

Warm weather fruits include these gorgeous choices:

• strawberries
• blueberries
• raspberries
• melons
• peaches
• plums
• nectarines
• tomatoes

Looking over this brief list, it becomes immediately apparent that the majority of the produce listed here has one major factor in common - water content. Think about the juiciness of berries, of watermelon, of tomatoes and lemon cucumbers. No doubt, this is Nature’s way of helping us to stay properly hydrated when the sun is at its hottest. Additionally, many of the foods here require minimal cooking or no cooking at all, which is just perfect when the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven on a sweltering afternoon. Essential vitamins are present in these foods for good summer health and the antioxidants found in blueberries and tomatoes may even be protecting your skin from the sun’s strongest rays and your body from various cancers. By growing your own summer produce, or buying from a local, organic farmer, you are doing the smart thing for your health, for the local economy and for the environment.

Eating with the Cold Season

The organic farm changes when fall turns cold and moves into winter and early spring. Your selection of seasonal vegetables includes:

• pumpkins
• winter squash
• chard
• spinach
• broccoli
• potatoes
• dried beans
• peas
• carrots
• onions
• lettuce

Appetizing, flavor-packed fruits for the cold months include:

• apples
• pears
• oranges
• lemons
• grapefruit
• limes

If the list above of vegetables looks like an awesome recipe for a winter soup, that’s because it
is! These heartier foods, packed with iron, are just what your body is craving to keep strong during the cold season of the year. Many varieties of apples and pears are meant to be stored throughout the winter, and when the citrus fruits ripen, we have an invaluable source of the vitamin C that keeps us bright on short, dark days. This wealth of cold season produce will keep us in good health until North America heats up again, bringing us back to the first summer foods. That’s how the cycle works, ensuring that there is always something delicious for your family to eat.

Getting Americans Back in the Seasonal Food Cycle

International food shipping and factory farming has resulted in a completely un-natural selection of produce at the grocery store. The apples you find in June were either shipped all the way from a country like Argentina or have been kept too long in storage, their flavor and nutrition dissipated, their skins waxed to look appealing. The tomatoes you buy in December are from as far away as New Zealand, or were grown in a greenhouse. You already know how bland they taste! They simply aren’t a good buy, from either an environmental or nutritional standpoint. Factory food producers pick their produce when it is unripe and then gas it to add color or hope it ‘ripens’ in the back of a truck on its way from South America.The result is in every way inferior to the produce your local organic farmer has ripening on the branch or vine in his garden. Ripe, fresh, on-season foods are where the vitamins and flavor are!

If you can’t grow your own, or find a local farmer, your town may have a small, independent organic grocery store or a chain store like Whole Foods. Americans can easily eat with the seasons by shopping at such stores, and if saving energy strikes you as important, you can ask the grocer where various fruits and vegetables came from. At the very least, you can attempt to buy produce primarily from in-state farmers. The nearer the farmer is to your house, the fresher, tastier and more nutritious your food will be, and the less energy will have been expended to bring the produce to your table.

The one challenge I find people having with seasonal eating is that one can get a little tired of
their diet as the cold season draws near its end. In such cases, it’s just fine to use a modest amount of prepared foods like jams, apple sauces, pickles or other relishes as a condiment to liven up your family’s appetite. If 90% of your diet is on-season, then organic canned fruits, vegetables and seasonings can be used to perk up meals that have become a little too familiar. Yet, the anticipation of the next season is actually part of the fun of seasonal eating. How we look forward to that first summer tomato or luscious plum!

All other North American animals eat with the seasons by necessity. Nature ensures that they are given the right foods at the right times for optimum health. This same loving care is present in Nature for we humans. We have only to tap into it to connect with an older, better way of eating.

Under Green Body