How And What To Eat During The Winter

Eating seasonally isn't always easy but I can bet you'll notice a big difference when you do.

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Eating seasonally in the spring and summer tends to be the easiest, especially in summer. Everything is bright and beautiful and we naturally are more drawn to it. Eating healthy I find to be the easiest in those seasons as well.

An abundance of brightly coloured fruits and vegetables can be found easily during these seasons. The farmers market is in full bloom, it's easy to shop right from the farms themselves, the grocery stores are stocked full of food at more affordable prices.

But when the weather starts to get colder we see a decrease in those bright, beautiful foods and the prices suddenly go up.

Have you ever wondered why that happens?

During each food's seasonal time that is when the food is most abundant, there's the most of it. Prices drop because there is so much. Farms and stores are making the most money and food is a lot more local because transporting it within a city is much cheaper than importing it from other places.

But when the plentiful harvest time is over and farms run out of particular food items stores need to import from other places to get off-season foods. Because of this prices increase so that stores are making the same or similar money.

So one good reason to not eat out of season is saving money. Now, no one is perfect and I'm not saying never eat out of season but start to get more vigilant.

Other great reasons to eat seasonally:

1. Seasonal foods have the most flavour, are the freshest and are the most nutritious

Foods are the most nutritious right when they are picked if they are picked at their most ideal time. When a good is coming from a local source (such as during when they are in season) they are more likely to be picked when they are ready because they have to travel less km's and are more likely to be bought and eaten right away.

When a food is off-season chances are they are picked too early to ensure they last longer as they need to travel further to get to their grocery store destination. These foods already have fewer nutrients as they were picked early and they lose freshness and nutrients as they travel.

The nutritional value of foods has been studied a lot in many countries around the world. All studies show that the nutrient contents of foods is higher in their peak season. For instance, a Japanese study showed that the vitamin c content of spinach was three times higher when it was picked in the summer than in the winter.

2. It supports a healthy microbiome

Your microbiome is the good bacteria contained in your body, most importantly your digestive system. This helps support a healthy gut and a strong immune system. A lot of research has also been done on the gut-brain or mind-gut connection. It suggests that because of the living bacteria (remember, good bacteria) in our gut plays a direct role in processes in our brains such as mental health, stress and sleep.

Eating seasonally helps support the bacteria in our digestive system. The bacteria is always changing and by not eating the same foods all year round, or even day to day, we can support their changes and benefit from it. Foods that are abundant in fall contain a lot of resistant starches and polyphenols, which are highly supportive for the bacteria and provide a lot of antioxidants.

Eating diets with a lot of plant-based whole foods can also support a healthy gut. Processed foods can be round year-round so when we talk about eating seasonally we are talking about foods that grow from the ground (plant food). Try to eat plentiful amounts of plant food that is in season.

3. It decreases your carbon footprint

Now we won't be able to get everything locally but we should try to get as much from local sources as we can. When food needs to be imported in it either has to travel by plane or truck. Large trucks and airplanes let off a lot of pollution that floats up and gets stuck in the atmosphere. According to the Center For Biological Diversity "Left unchecked global aviation will generate an estimated 43 metric gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions through 2050."

Because of the frequency and km's travelled the food that comes from other countries helps release a lot of carbon into the world. If we choose local sources even in the fall and winter and eat seasonally we can reduce this carbon load and by extension our carbon footprint by up to 10%. That's a big amount.

What to eat in the winter?

It's easy to know and eat seasonally in the spring and summer. You can find food everywhere during that time. The fall and winter can be harder.

Here is a great list of healthy and delicious foods that are in season in the colder months:

• Apples
• Beets
• Broccoli (produces year-round but is most sweet in the fall)
• Brussel Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cranberries
• Eggplant (best in early fall)
• Escarole
• Figs (has a second season in late fall)
• Grapes
• Green Beans
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Leeks
• Parsnips
• Pears
• Persimmons
• Potatoes
• Pumpkins
• Rutabagas
• Turnips
• Winter Squash
• Zucchini

And many more!

Have you ever tried eating seasonally? I love baking up potatoes, root vegetables and apples in the oven and then having leftovers for a few days.

Happy Eating!

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