Blog by Gina Burn, Naturopath
To everything, there is a season. We’ve been conditioned to expect that everything we could ever want and need will be available to us at all times – but as the seasons change throughout the year, so should our diets.
Seasonal eating encourages us to eat fruits and vegetables that are grown in the current season for our particular geographic area. For instance, that means eating mangoes in the summer, oranges in the winter, asparagus in the spring, and string beans in the autumn.
In our grandparents’ day, we could only find fresh produce in season. But today, we can find any fruit or vegetable we want, whenever we want, regardless of the time of year.
That may sound like a good thing. But just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should. There are a number of reasons to avoid consuming food out of season – which is why seasonal eating is a holistic practice we follow at Elysia Wellness Retreat.
The benefits of seasonal eating
Seasonal eating supports a nutrient-rich diet
Diet-related chronic diseases are currently a major cause of death and disability among Australians, which is why it’s so important to ensure you’re getting an adequate intake of nutrient-dense foods every single day.
The quality and freshness of in-season produce is simply superior to out-of-season produce. That’s because, to satisfy demand for certain crops year-round, they are modified to grow in bulk and resist disease, and these modifications can detract from their nutritious benefits. But when fruits and vegetables are grown during their natural timeframe, they will grow and thrive without needing any harmful additives.
For example, strawberries grown in the summer time – their natural season – are packed with more antioxidants than strawberries grown out of season in the winter. Better yet, they’re more flavourful, too, so your tastebuds will thank you.
Seasonal eating encourages a balanced diet
It’s always good to expand your horizons. Rather than eating the same small group of fruits and vegetables that you’re already comfortable with all year round, seasonal eating encourages a varied diet.
Branching out from your regular produce choices will ensure your body gets important vitamins and minerals that you might be missing out on by eating out-of-season, and it’ll help to keep your diet interesting, with a variety of flavours and textures.
A varied diet is also ideal for your gut microbiome, the ecosystem of microbes in your intestines that helps you to digest food, supports your immune system and contributes to your heart and brain health. Seasonal eating gives your gut microbiome the diversity it requires to keep well and keep working at optimum levels.
Seasonal eating supports sustainability
Growing and consuming crops seasonably not only guarantees a more flavourful and nutritious product, but it also allows soil to cycle through its natural seasons like it would without human intervention, which is great for the environment.
And of course, it’s only possible to grow food outside of its natural season by artificially creating seasonal weather conditions. The fossil fuels and large amounts of water required to create these artificial conditions can have a negative impact on the environment. For instance, recreating summer heat to grow summer crops during winter requires far more energy to be consumed than simply using the heat from the sun to grow those same crops in summer.
This means that seasonal eating goes hand-in-hand with sustainable eating – the act of choosing foods based on their impact on soil, water consumption, pesticides, land clearing, greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel usage.
How to get started
If you’re interested in seasonal eating, there are some simple steps you can take to begin your journey.
- Research what fruits and vegetables are in season in your area – see our table above for a comprehensive list – and make your shopping list with these ingredients in mind.
- Summer crops are popular and commonly eaten, so they’re not likely to be what’s holding you back from eating seasonably. Instead, take a closer look at cool-weather produce that you wouldn’t typically eat.
- Can’t go without strawberries all year round? There’s a hack for that – buy them in-season, and preserve them for later use by freezing them. This way, you’re not supporting the production of fruits and vegetables out of season.
- Connect with a local organic food delivery service to ensure you’ll always have in-season produce at the ready.
- Find and try out seasonally appropriate recipes, like the one below.
Finally, we want to stress that receiving the nourishment you need is ultimately more important than eating seasonally. Ideally, these things will go hand-in-hand, which is why we encourage you to do your best to adopt a seasonal and sustainable lifestyle, but you should always put your health first.
If you are feeling overwhelmed with this lifestyle change, or you live in an isolated area where seasonal fruits and vegetables are hard to come by, we understand it can be difficult to eat seasonally – but that doesn’t mean you should avoid produce all together. Fruits and vegetables should always form a strong pillar of your diet, and getting your five a day in the form of out-of-season produce is better than getting none at all.
(Incidentally, if you are finding fresh produce difficult to obtain, you may find that growing sprouts can be easier.)
If you have the option, seasonal eating is healthier for you, and great for the environment, too. That’s why we use organic, in-season produce whenever we can at Elysia Wellness Retreat, and make good use of our on-site vegetable garden.
Plan your wellness getaway at Elysia Wellness Retreat now and learn how to eat mindfully, while enjoying our fresh farm-to-table approach.
Nourishing Buddha Bowl
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 35 minutes
- Total time: 50 minutes
- Serves: Makes 3 – 4 bowls
Bowl ingredients:
- 1 cup quinoa or brown rice, cooked according to package directions
- 1/2 cup pumpkin, diced
- 1/2 cup broccoli, diced
- 1 tin chickpeas, rinsed
- 2 cups kale, chopped
- 4 baby beetroots, diced
- 1 avocado, cut in halves or quarters
- 1 tbsp lemon
- Sesame seeds
- 1 radish, sliced
Balsamic dijon dressing ingredients:
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp water
Pinch of salt and pepper
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan-forced) and line a tray with baking paper
- Place the pumpkin, broccoli and chickpeas on the baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt
- Place in the oven. These require different cooking times:
Broccoli: 15 – 20 minutes
Pumpkin: 25 – 30 minutes
Chickpeas: 30 – 35 minutes - Remove veggies from the oven and set aside
- Place the chopped kale in a bowl and squeeze lemon juice on it, massage with your hands to soften
- Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake until well combined
- To assemble the bowls, place quinoa or rice on the bottom, top with veggies, avocado, sesame seeds and dressing and serve.
Tip: Prep the roast vegetables at the beginning of your week and store in the fridge to make a quick and easy bowl when needed.
See how it’s done on the Elysia Instagram here: @elysiawellnessretreat
