Whether you’re making choices about your diet based on environmentally conscious ideas or you just want the best nutrition, eating in season is a must. Even if you don’t grow your own vegetables and fruit, you can make the most out of seasonal products by visiting a local farmers’ market.
Discover the best reasons to eat what’s in season, a few benefits that will convince you to scale back on out of season produce in your diet. When you eat in season, you’re getting better taste, nutrition, and you’re also making a positive impact on the environment.
Better Taste
If you don’t eat many fruits and vegetables because the taste isn’t that great, switch to ripe, seasonal produce and you’ll taste the difference right away. Agricultural techniques have given us the choice anything we want year-round, but you’ll only get the full delicious taste of veggies and fruits when they’re grown and harvested at the natural time.
Improved Nutritional Value
Important nutrients like B vitamins and vitamin C can degrade while fruits and vegetables are stored and transported. One of the best reasons to eat what’s in season is that you’re getting the full nutritional benefits. The produce you eat will also have higher antioxidant levels when they’re exposed to sunlight at the right time of the year.
Variety
Getting bored of your food is never good, particularly when you’re trying to lose weight. By focusing on seasonal produce, you’ll be getting a lot of variety, from spring to fall. You’ll also be able to enjoy exotic fruits and vegetables that grow during the winter in different places, but you’ll be maximizing your nutritional potential all year round.
Lower Price
Smaller costs for transport and storage, combined with an abundance of fruits and vegetables in season means that you’ll be paying less for better food. That’s one of the best reasons to eat what’s in season, and you’ll also be able to get bigger quantities of herbs for a smaller price when they’re freshly harvested locally.
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More Home Cooking
If healthy eating is a priority, then home cooking plays a big part in your diet. Choosing seasonal produce makes you cook more, and you’ll be more likely to make the right choices. You’ll be less tempted to smother great tasting food in fat, salt and sugar, and you can also make your own preserves, so enjoy the delicious fruits and vegetables even out of season in a healthy way.
Less Pesticides
One of the best reasons to eat what’s in season is that plants are more adapted to growing at a certain time of the year. They’ll need less pesticides and other chemicals in order to grow the right way. You can choose to eat organic, but when you’re buying in season from a farmers’ market, you’ll definitely get less processed fruits and vegetables than at a supermarket.
Better for the Environment
By eating in season, you’ll support local and sustainable farmers, which has a positive environmental impact. You’ll also reduce the carbon footprint of your food, since it will be transported less. Local farming can’t sustain all the food production in the world, but it definitely deserves your support.
More Nutritious Frozen Foods
When you buy fresh, you can also freeze fruits and vegetables and get the same nutritional value later. That’s one of the best reasons to eat what’s in season and save some for later as well. When it’s frozen in season, produce is packed with more vitamins and important nutrients than when it’s eaten fresh out of season.
Guaranteed Ripeness
Out of season fruits and vegetables are often picked immature because they have to last until they get to the destination. Buying it in season means you’ll always eat ripe veggies and fruits, and getting the most of their taste and nutritional value.
More: 10 Signs You’re Not Getting Enough Calories
Staying Natural
Eating fresh fruits and vegetables out of season is a relatively new phenomenon, and our bodies are still connected to the natural cycle. The fact that fresh produce gives your body what it needs according to the season is one of the best reasons to eat what’s in season.