Shopping seasonally for vegetables and fruits is a great way to get the freshest produce possible. Eating seasonally, however, is a great way to make a positive impact on your physiological health. That’s because it’s naturally in keeping with the rhythm of your body which craves certain foods, with certain nutritional content, at different times of the year.
“There is a reason to have pumpkin pie with Thanksgiving turkey and not with Fourth of July hot dogs,” says Mireille Guiliano, author of the bestseller French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure. “Seasonality is about adapting your eating to what is available at the markets…during specific months of the year. (It) is a vital part of tuning our bodies to their equilibrium, cultivating and well-being.”

While it’s natural to eat seasonally, it’s no surprise why we’ve departed from this way of eating. With supermarkets meeting the demand for all foods, at all times, produce is flown in from around the world. It’s difficult for our brains – let alone our senses – to know what’s in season.

“Canning and mass global distribution of produce have conditioned us to expect all foods year round,” Guiliano says. “I myself have been beguiled by the engineered good looks of off-season produce, but one taste of cardboard is enough to send me reaching for my napkin. Nothing is more flavorless than a supermarket tomato in winter, but a vine-ripened specimen in summer is…divine.”

“It’s so easy to be seduced by year-round produce at the supermarket,” says Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets. “But when you allow yourself to be seduced all the time, you’re choosing a shadow image of the real thing.”
To choose the real thing in every season, in the spring look for fresh lettuce, asparagus, blackberries, spinach, strawberries, peas, green onions and leeks. Summer offers a bevy of delicacies including tomatoes, plums, melon, green beans, apricots, corn, herbs and zucchini that are full of cool water and loaded with nutrients.
Autumn offers pumpkins, grapes, butternut squash, yams, apples, broccoli, cauliflower, pears, grapes, yams (and the beginning of seafood and oyster season, just when our bodies are starting to crave more protein). In winter beets, cabbage, carrots, onions, rutabagas, turnips and winter squash warm us up in hearty meals and soups. Citrus fruits are also in season and bolster our immune system to keep us healthy through the cold months.
Use an online search engine to research a seasonal food table for your region so you can become familiar with what is abundant –and delicious – in your area. Check in regularly with your local grocer to keep abreast of what’s in season and what’s at its peak. Talk to friends who garden about what they harvest during each season and what varieties of vegetables and fruit they recommend.
Eating seasonally not only provides the greatest possible sensual enjoyment of fruits and vegetables but it’s also a nutritionally rich experience that gives a natural balance to your physiological equilibrium.