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Eating Seasonal Foods Can Improve Your Life

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Eating Seasonally,  is a wonderfully effective way, to maintain wellness and feel good. This seasonal method of eating, rooted deeply in our heritage, balances the body by reducing illness and increasing vitality. As you become more in touch with your body, you will discover that you crave foods that are in season. Ripened fruit in the summer, root vegetables in fall, and animal food to get you through the winter.  
 

 


As technology advanced, people were able to eat what they wanted, whenever they wanted it. But there are downfalls to this convenience. Eating out of sync with the usual rhythms of nature makes you more susceptible to colds, flu and other illness. Staying in tune with our bodies and eating suitable seasonal foods will supply more energy and strengthen immune systems, ultimately creating wellness, beauty and balance.

And as if that weren’t enough, here are four reasons why eating seasonally will let you enjoy better quality, tastier ingredients, and inspire you to give a second look to oft-overlooked foods that have a lot to offer.

 

1. You Won’t Get Stuck In a Food Rut
If you find yourself coming back from the supermarket with the same pile of fruits and vegetables every week, it’s a good time to change things up. When you stick to fruits and vegetables that are in season, you start to look forward to the new items that arrive fresh from the farm. Take fiddleheads: The tightly coiled green fern fronds only stick around for about a month each spring—and their limited showing makes them a farmer’s market mini-celebrity when they arrive. Ramps, fava beans, and morel mushrooms all share similarly short shelf lives.

 

2. You’ll Never Bite Into a Mealy Tomato Again
Is there anything worse than ordering a caprese salad at a restaurant only to take a bite of creamy mozzarella and a watery, tasteless tomato slice? The biggest reason I develop recipes around seasonal produce is that you can’t fake the flavor and texture of freshly harvested ingredients. 

 

3. The Fresher the Food, The Greater the Nutrients
When fruits and vegetables are harvested, they’re at their peak flavor, texture, and nutrition. Since most fruits and vegetables have a high water content (at least 70%), their quality as well as nutritional profile begins to diminish after they’re plucked from a vine or dug out of the ground. I’m always looking to include a variety of in-season ingredients that taste wonderful, and may not be something most people would think to try.

 

4. You’ll Appreciate Your Food More
This one is simple: When you can’t get your hands on an ingredient year-round, you start to savor it more—and make the most of it—when you finally do. Becoming connected to seasonal produce will also expand your palate and cooking repertoire, inspiring you to experiment and see ingredients in a new light. Dark leafy greens and hearty roots might not be the prettiest vegetables, but you’d be surprised by their versatility and the incredible dimension they can add to meals.
Whether you’re a committed seasonal eater or not, be sure to enjoy the wealth of delicious foods the Season has to offer.

 

Try these tips for eating seasonally.

 

Adjust your cooking techniques for the season. In the winter who doesn’t like a warm, hearty stew or creamy hot soups? The richer more calorie dense foods help insulate us and warm our bodies through the colder months.  Try roasting, baking and making stews to keep warm.

 

Let your food preparation become more simple, in Spring. Our bodies have the innate ability to tell us what they need and ask for it. In the summer do you feel more drawn to lighter foods such as salads, fresh vegetables and fruits? The higher water content provides a cooling effect that helps to replenish us, keeping us hydrated and refreshed in the heat of summer. You can start to incorporate more raw foods, quick high-temperature sautes and steamed dishes.

 

Some seasonal foods for fall and winter are: beets, brussels sprouts, butternut squash, leeks, celery root, parsnips, pumpkins, turnips, zucchini, pomegranates, persimmons, pears, kiwi, and mandarins to name a few. Some warming spices and seasonings that you can add to many recipes include ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and garlic.

 

Seasonal eating can prove to be a simple and smart way to help our bodies operate the way they should while maintaining optimal nutrition.  

 

 

Please leave your comments below.
by Christine Crawford

info@realyummieswithchris.com

 

References:
Huffington Post Food
Integrative Nutrition
Plated

8 comments

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  1. Victor

    Great post. Your blog is full of inspiring, exciting information!

    1. Christine Crawford

      I’m glad you enjoy my blog. Check back for more posts like this one.

  2. Sharon

    This is really interesting… thank you!

    1. Christine Crawford

      I’m happy you find this interesting. Check back, for follow ups to this post. And if you try some of these tips, please tell us your experience, here.

  3. bannilzhr

    thanx

  4. Brice

    Really liked what you had to say in your post, Why Eating Seasonal Foods Can Change Your Life; Christine Crawford, Health Coach, thanks for the good read!
    — Brice

    1. Christine Crawford

      I’m happy you find this interesting. Check back, for follow ups to this post.

  5. polana

    The change in season opens a whole new world of flavours food diversity; different recipes we can create to nourish us from the inside out. Consuming seasonal produce also means you are eating foods that are naturally higher in nutrients your body craves at that time of year.

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