The Bounty of the Seasons: A Guide to Eating Locally and Seasonally for Optimal Health
The cycle of the seasons has provided humans with a diverse bounty of foods throughout history. Each season brings a unique harvest that nourishes our bodies with essential vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. By eating locally and seasonally, we can enhance our health, support sustainable food systems, and connect more deeply with the rhythm of nature. This article explores optimal eating habits guided by the seasonal harvests.
Autumn Harvest: Preparing for Winter
As daylight hours decrease in autumn, trees transform their leaves into warm hues and plants begin to store nutrients in roots and tubers. The autumn harvest centers around beautifying, nutrient-dense foods that offer sustenance as we transition into winter.
Apples, grapes, and pears contain powerful antioxidants like quercetin that support cardiovascular health. The high vitamin A content in winter squash and sweet potatoes benefits eye health and boosts immunity. Richly-hued root vegetables like carrots and beets provide nutrient stores.
Brussels sprouts are a highly nutritious cruciferous vegetable that delivers key antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits. Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kombucha, and kimchi promote digestive and gut health through probiotics.
The autumn harvest provides hearty, warming foods and key nutrients to insulate our bodies from harsh winter weather, viruses, and inflammation.
Stay Healthy In Winter
Winter is governed by air and is cold and dry. Our skin gets dry, our sinuses begin to dry out, and even our joints dry out. If the dryness of winter is not mitigated by foods and activities that are warm, moist heavy and oily, the body will dry out. Dry skin may be just a minor inconvenience of winter, but when dryness infiltrates the intestinal and respiratory tracts, it can cause a chain reaction of imbalances.
When the intestinal tract becomes overly dry, it can lead to sluggish and dry bowels, gas and bloating, and increased levels of toxicity. Also, the intestinal wall is where researchers believe 80% of the body’s immune system lives, which can be compromised when the intestinal skin dries out. Unfortunately, this happens most commonly in the winter when we need our immunity the most.
When the skin that lines the respiratory tract dries out, the mucus lining can become hypersensitive, forcing the production of excess mucus. As the body makes more mucus to combat the seasonal dryness, the excess mucus can become a breeding ground for undesirable bacteria. Just like in the intestines, the body’s optimal immunity depends on the healthy balance of mucus production in the sinuses and lungs.
Fortunately, nature’s harvest of warming, higher protein and fatty foods in the winter helps to balance its cold and dry extremes. Eating off of my Seasonal Grocery Lists provides the perfect antidote for the extremes of each season to keep each body type balanced. If seasonal foods are eaten in the summer, fall and winter, your immunity — which depends on a healthy mucus lining — will be prepared to defend you through the long winter.
5 Foods for Winter Wellness
Root veggies
Beets, carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes grow underground all summer, giving nature time to build more density in the form of concentrated proteins and fats. Root veggies are truly nutritional powerhouses – they are rich in fiber, minerals, vitamin A, and vitamin C, and loaded with antioxidants.
More fat
During the winter months, a higher-fat diet provides insulation along with the nutrients you need to rebuild and rejuvenate before nature’s new year come spring. Higher fat foods also lubricate the mucus lining of the intestines, lungs and sinuses. My favorite fats for winter are olive oil, avocados, ghee and coconut oil.
More protein
Proteins are the building blocks for the body, and during the winter, these are essential nutrients for structural strength, skin health, immunity, and more.
If you’re not a vegetarian, it’s good to eat a little bit more animal meat this time of year (it doesn’t need to be more than 10 percent of your diet). Animal proteins are very acidic in nature, and thus drive high-quality proteins and fats deep into the tissues storage sites. The acidity allows this to happen somewhat more efficiently compared to plant-based proteins, which are more alkaline.
Nuts and seeds are naturally high in protein and fat, and provide the much-needed insulation in the winter – especially for Vata types. They are high in omega-3 fatty acids and minerals. Seeds are somewhat preferable in the winter over nuts because they are lighter and easy to digest.
More ideas for getting protein this winter: whey protein powders, spirulina, yogurt, and eggs.
Fermented foods
Fermented foods have been a way to preserve foods for the long barren winters for thousands of years. So ’tis the season for eating them, but always in smaller, condiment size portions. A 20-ounce bottle of kombucha is quite excessive. Consider these important foods, but don’t overdo them.
Spring Harvest: Cleansing and Renewal
Spring marks a time of renewal as plant life awakens from winter dormancy. The early spring harvest is filled with crisp, vibrant greens and vegetables that provide a cleansing boost after the heavy foods of winter.
Asparagus, with its diuretic properties, stimulates the kidneys to flush out toxins. The high vitamin K content in leafy greens like spinach, kale, and collards protects bone health. Radishes aid digestion with prebiotic fiber to nourish intestinal flora. Fresh sprouts are loaded with enzymes and highly absorbable nutrients.
The magnesium and potassium in greens help build healthy cells, while the vitamin C content supports immune function. Eating an abundance of the spring harvest can rejuvenate vitality and nourish the body on a cellular level after the nutrient-depleting winter months.
Summer Harvest: Nature’s Nutritional Bounty
Summer is a time of rapid growth and abundance. The increased daylight hours and warmth activate a burst of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables. The summer harvest delivers some of nature’s most powerful offerings to enhance our health.
Juicy berries, peaches, plums, and cherries contain health-protective antioxidants like anthocyanins and resveratrol. The wide array of antioxidants, flavonoids, and carotenoids in the summer harvest help prevent cancer, heart disease, and neurodegenerative conditions by protecting cells against oxidative damage.
Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and okra provide vitamins A, C, and B6, supporting immune function and antioxidant activity. Cucumbers and summer squash are hydrating and mineralizing. Beans and peas offer protein and fiber.
The summer harvest, with its bounty of bioactive compounds, provides our bodies with an abundance of protective and healing nutrients when we need them most.
Conclusion
Eating locally and seasonally provides the optimal nutrition nature intended throughout the year. Each seasonal harvest protects us from deficiencies and provides essential vitamins and minerals when we need them most. Aligning our eating habits with spring cleansing, summer abundance, and autumn insulation enhances vitality, immunity, and overall health. Additionally, local and seasonal eating reduces carbon emissions from long distance food transport.
Allowing the seasonal harvests to guide our food choices keeps us in tune with natural cycles while providing nutritional diversity. By honoring the biodiversity of fruits, vegetables, and whole foods available during each season, we can reconnect with sustainable food systems for optimal health.
Resources: John Douillard of https://lifespa.com
