Seasonal Eating

Our ancestors didn't have the choice to eat foods out of season, for the most part. However, today, we can find berries in our food markets in the dead of winter. Our bodies, though, know when it's summer or winter and we do best when we are in sync with the seasonal foods that we evolved eating. They can warm us, cool us down, give us energy, help our immune systems, and so on. If we feed our bodies in this way, we can live our healthiest lives. Transcript of Seasonal Eating podcast Edited for clarity Debbie 00:01 One of our many mantras is to eat seasonally. And the reason for that is many, but seasonal food generally is fresher, tastier and more nutritious than food consumed out of season. And in this podcast, we're going to discuss all the seasons and the reasons why it's best to eat food that's harvested locally. And seasonally. I'm Debbie. Wendy 00:27 I'm Wendy. Debbie 00:28 And let's talk about seasonal eating. Wendy 00:30 Let's talk about fall and winter. It's upon us and everything's changed. No more stone fruits. And now we have citrus and Debbie 00:38 Pears and apples. Wendy 00:40 Yeah, cranberry season is upon us. Debbie 00:41 Right, right. However, it's a little bit misleading because stores keep foods that are not in season, because there's a demand for them like berries. Wendy 00:51 And so eating things seasonally really sparked the tastebuds. That's why an apple in the middle of summer just doesn't taste very good. Because it's from last season. Hanging out in some storeroom someplace. Debbie 01:03 Yeah, exactly. And right now, apples are delicious. And you can tell in the stores, there's so many different varieties of apples right now. It's because everybody is harvesting right now. So they're around--apples and pears, especially. So those are, those are the fruits--that and citrus that's what you eat right now. Wendy 01:20 An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Debbie 01:24 Yes, so there's so many reasons to eat seasonally in fall and winter, especially because our immune systems are always . . . Wendy 01:33 challenged? Debbie 01:34 Good word! They are! They're challenged in the winter, because we're all inside close together and sharing germs a little bit more easily than we are in the summertime. It's not that the germs aren't there in the summer, it's just that now we're kind of packed together a little bit more and we transfer them a little bit more easily. So foods that grow in the fall in the winter or harvested in the fall and winter, ours are supporting our immune systems. Although citrus may not be New Jersey, local foods, they are high in vitamin C, which is a huge antioxidant--it really boosts our immune system. So that's why they grow in the colder weather, even where they're local. It's colder weather for them. So that's why they're seasonal. In Florida. It's it's not 90 degrees, at least most of Florida in the middle of the winter. So it grows in colder weather to boost people's immune system. Wendy 02:21 In winter, we're needing more warm food. So that's why the winter squash, you know, they're all roasting or we're steaming them, baking them. Debbie 02:31 Right. And these squashes and root vegetables are denser, heavier foods, and we need those dense, heavier foods in our system. We need the sugars that they provide. And we need that warming quality that they provide. That's what winter foods do is they provide a warming our metabolism kicks in to help digest them. And that keeps it a little bit more warm. And the way we cook in the winter. For sure. Wendy 02:55 Yeah, soups and stews and roasting and baking, Debbie 02:59 Right. It's all warming qualities. So that's what we need. Wendy 03:03 And paying attention to that kind of, you know, Mother Nature is just so smart. Yeah, it really if we follow the seasons a little bit more, and we are-- no one is looking for perfection. So if you are craving berries in the middle of winter, maybe you've frozen some. They'll probably taste a lot better if you freeze them fresh, than getting something. . . Debbie 03:28 --that was shipped to all the way from Chile or somewhere else where they're in season right now, which is what's happening. Yeah. So another interesting thing about seasonal eating is that our bodies actually change throughout the seasons. Our microbiome changes throughout the seasons. So right now, our bodies are adjusting to match the season. And they're promoting all these different digestive microbes that are supporting balanced immunity, our digestion for these heavier foods, our mood, our energy, our blood sugar, our sleep. Everything is being supported by our altered microbiome right now. It's kind of shifting into the colder weather. And those bacterias in that microbiome are there to help support themselves and their host, which is us, to survive better in the colder weather. Wendy 04:17 Yeah, so I think too in the fall/winter, we want to make sure we're not running away from fat because we need it. Yeah, we need the fat to absorb all the nutrients of all those squashes and all the vegetables we're having now. Debbie 04:32 And the vitamins that are available through those foods, those are fat soluble vitamins, right? A lot of the vitamins that we need in the winter are the fat soluble vitamins which is why we crave fats and salts in the wintertime. Our bodies and nature know what to do if we actually listen to it. Wendy 04:53 So one of the other wonderful things about eating locally and shopping with the seasons is that it's actually less expensive. Berries, right now, they're really expensive, because we are shipping them from other countries. So, eating with the seasons and eating locally, not only we're voting with our dollar to support the local farmers, you know, keeping it in our backyard, right? It's cheaper. Debbie 05:20 That's right, we want to support the local farmers too. It's also environmentally much, much better, because we're not shipping them from another country using all that gas, and petrols and all of the chemicals that they use, and all the stuff that they do to transport them and preserve them. Wendy 05:37 Keeping them looking all pretty and perfect. Debbie 05:40 So there's a lot of energy that goes into that, that's not necessary, if you can just buy foods that grew, you know, right around the corner here, and are in season, they taste better too it just tastes better when you have food that was just harvested. Yeah. And what goes along with tasting better is nutrient density. You know, the reason it tastes better is because all the nutrients are intact. So, if you're eating something that was harvested, you know, 5000 miles away, or 10,000 miles away, it's gonna take a while to get here, and those nutrients die on the way here. You know, the stores do, for the most part, have seasonal foods there, if you pay attention, the ones that they're usually out in the open are the ones that are seasonal, because they're gonna taste best, and they want to sell us the foods that taste best, because they want us to buy it again. So pay attention to that and go to your market, go to your local markets, buy organically when you can, because that's important too. That's voting with your dollars. If you go to a store that advertises local, choose that, you know, we want to support those farmers and it should be cheaper too. It's it's a win win all around! Wendy 06:43 All around for us, the environment, the local farmer. Everything benefits when we eat more locally. And in order to get creative, going to spices, warming spices are a fabulous way to mix up the palate, so you don't get bored through the winter. Debbie 07:01 That's right. So cinnamon, cardamom, curry . . . Wendy 07:06 Nutmeg! Debbie 07:07 All these warming spices and deliciousness is all serving our bodies well. Wendy 07:13 In the winter, we're eating more fat, and meat. And so we tend to be a little bit more quiet in our bodies as well. So in the spring, when everything's moving around, we need to actually flush that out. So if we're eating the greens, and the chlorophyll and that energy, and it actually helps move our toxins through the body, actually flush it out. So greens are like a rainforest in the body and provides us the energy that we need to kind of transition to the life. Debbie 07:53 And it's not so much that what we're eating in the winter is not good for us. It's what we need at that time to keep us warm. But what keeps us warm, we don't want in the spring so much we need to let go of that so that we can start to cool off towards the summertime. And it's a matter of also rehydrating ourselves after the long winter of dehydration. Most of us get somewhat dehydrated during the winter. It's just normal. Everybody feels a little drier, their skins drier. We have rough patches on our bodies, no matter how much moisturizer we use, and that's normal. That's winter. So how do we rehydrate--our body actually does it for us, if we're eating the right foods, it's kind of interesting, you might notice that you start to retain water in the springtime. Wendy 08:39 And it's also interesting that the spring harvest is very low in fat. And that helps our body reset its ability to metabolize fat as fuel. Debbie 08:53 Right. And that makes the body burn the fat for energy then. Wendy 08:56 It's miraculous! It's so natural. Debbie 09:00 Right? And that an interesting--that's exactly what we need to do. If we eat the right foods. We eat low fat, it'll take care of it--it'll get rid of the extra fat automatically without having to do all of these efforts that people go through to try to get rid of their winter weight. And what a lot of the greens do, especially the dark greens,...