The Benefits of Eating Seasonal Produce

Eating seasonally adds variety and depth of flavor to your diet while simultaneously decreasing its environmental footprint.

Kelsey Lorencz at Graciously Nourished notes that as more time passes between harvesting and consumption of vegetables, their nutrients deteriorate more quickly. By eating seasonal foods we reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cold storage costs while supporting local farmers.

Freshness

Eating seasonally ensures you receive fresh produce, from grocery stores or farmers markets alike. Foods grown within their season tend to taste sweeter and provide more nutritional value, since they don’t have to travel long distances before reaching your plate.

Find out what’s in season by searching online or consulting a guide, visiting your local farmers market and asking the vendor which fruits and vegetables are ideal for the month at hand, or signing up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) program which delivers produce straight to you each year or month from local farms.

Eating seasonal food helps to minimize your environmental footprint. By cutting down on transportation emissions and packaging costs, seasonal eating also cuts back on packaging costs as well.

Seasonal fruits and vegetables tend to be cheaper because their supply is greater; for example, strawberries tend to cost less in July than December. Also, buying locally grown foods helps support local communities as well as small businesses.

Many people discover they enjoy eating seasonal cuisine more when they do so regularly, due to its wide array of fruits and vegetables they might otherwise not buy, such as asparagus, arugula and heirloom tomatoes. Not only is the variety exciting to eat; it may also increase health benefits by providing more vitamins and minerals into their meals.

As you eat seasonally, your palate will come to appreciate each crop at its peak. For instance, supermarket tomatoes in winter cannot compete with juicy backyard heirloom varieties in July; therefore it is worthwhile securing rare treats by learning how to preserve and cook them so you can continue enjoying them throughout the year.

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Variety

Assuring that your diet includes an assortment of fruits and vegetables is crucial to receiving all of the necessary vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that your body requires. Relying solely on one food source year-round could deprive you of essential essential vitamins. Eating seasonally encourages more variety within your diet while simultaneously helping you discover new favorites!

Foods harvested when in season tend to be both more flavorful and nutrient dense than their nonseasonal counterparts, according to Kelsey Lorencz, RDN founder of Graciously Nourished and contributor for Healthline. She notes how studies conducted showed leafy greens shipped from one region lost nearly 50% of their vitamin C content due to shipping procedures.

As it’s grown locally, in-season produce tends to be cheaper than out-of-season produce that must travel long distances for distribution. Furthermore, when purchasing out-of-season crops from other regions with different climates requires additional costs such as transporting them and maintaining them – increasing your take-home price substantially.

Consuming locally and seasonally produced food also reduces your overall costs by supporting local farmers and helping the economy as a result of lower food mileage involved in its production. When money goes back into supporting farmers directly, it can be reinvested back into your community in form of jobs created. This way you are providing even greater economic support through local food choices!

Although eating seasonally may not always be practical or possible, making just a few changes to your shopping habits can have significant benefits for your budget, health and environment. Start slowly adding seasonal items to your diet – as seasons pass on you will begin avoiding less healthy options available year-round while enjoying all of the vibrant, tasty produce available during each season!

Health

Eating seasonally supports a healthier lifestyle by encouraging dietary diversity and contributing to environmental sustainability. Seasonal foods provide more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than their non-seasonal counterparts due to storage or transport losses (1). According to registered dietitian nutritionist Kelsey Lorencz from Healthline’s article about seasonal produce eating: this will allow you to gain maximum benefit out of what you consume!

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Eat locally to access seasonal food sources that are grown using less pesticides and other chemicals, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions released during transportation and refrigeration (2). Buying local is also better for the environment as it reduces carbon emissions that would otherwise be released during such transactions.

Produce at its peak season contains the highest levels of nutrients (3). This is especially true if purchased and consumed immediately following harvest; otherwise nutrient loss increases over time (1). Likewise, storage and cooking vegetables after harvesting can lead to the loss of many essential vitamins and minerals like potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium chlorophyll and absorbic acid (1).

Focusing on seasonal eating also has additional advantages: it supports sustainable agriculture and the economy. By not shipping or refrigerating their products as far, farmers are freed up to focus on producing higher-quality fruits and vegetables without added nutrients (such as pesticides or fertilizers)(4).

Eating seasonally can also save money for you (5). Local produce that’s in season doesn’t need to travel across the country or around the world to reach you, making it more cost-effective compared to imported items. Prices of locally produced foods may even drop when demand drops further (6); saving more of your hard-earned dollars to invest in the next crop of fruits and veggies or preserve seasonal ones by canning, freezing or dehydrating (7).

Environment

Diets filled with fruits and vegetables provide our bodies with essential nutrition. However, how our food is produced and transported has an enormous environmental footprint. Eating locally-grown and seasonal food products helps minimize this impact, since out-of-season produce requires longer transportation distances and higher energy input to reach us; this increases greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

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Eating locally and seasonally helps boost the local economy. By shopping at your local farmers market or joining a community-supported agriculture (CSA) group or co-op you’re supporting local farms and businesses while protecting the environment by supporting small organic farmers who use minimal chemicals in production processes – eating seasonal produce will only make a difference for our planet!

Food that is in season tends to taste fresher and be more flavorful than foods not available locally or shipped over long distances, since it has more vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients present than products stored for days prior to being purchased. Picked at their peak ripeness with higher levels of vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients it also tastes fresher with fewer preservatives than shipped or stored foods that require refrigeration before purchase.

At the same time, many vegetables and fruits gradually lose nutrients over time, such as leafy greens which may lose up to 50% of their original vitamin C during transport, storage and shopping (1). Eating seasonal food ensures you consume the highest nutritive value options possible.

Science and anthropologists studying Blue Zone residents have concluded that diets rich in fresh, local vegetables and fruits play an essential role in maintaining overall health and longevity. Experiment with new recipes using seasonal produce; try reworking old favorites using this approach; you could be happier, healthier, less stressed – just remember to balance this decision with other healthful options like lean proteins, healthy fats and whole grains – there’s sure to be fresh, local food available near you to help make this transformational change!