The Case for Eating Seasonally

Way back before refrigeration and long-distance transportation, humans ate only locally grown and produced foods, and the selection of items available fluctuated with the season. Asparagus in the spring. Berries in the summer. Apples in the fall. Although now virtually every food is available year-round, some people are returning to eating seasonally as a means of maintaining health and becoming more in tune with the rhythms of the planet.

“Seasonal foods are produce that’s purchased and consumed around the time it’s harvested,” says Reema Kanda, a registered dietitian nutritionist at the Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, California. “To eat seasonally means you end up eating foods that are fresh with more flavors and that are more nutritious. When foods are preserved and shipped far away, the process to maintain freshness causes the foods to lose flavor,” she explains. Foods that have been stored, shipped or otherwise processed also tend to lose nutritional value. The closer and fresher the food, the better it’s going to be for you.

Shelley Wood, a registered dietitian at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, says that foods can be considered “healthy” when they are “nutritionally dense. This means that the food has more nutrients in it per weight than less healthy foods. Nutritionally dense foods are usually as natural and fresh as possible, maintaining all of their vitamins, minerals and fiber.”

This has nutritional benefits. “When you eat seasonally, you are naturally mixing up your diet based on what is grown and harvested now,” Wood says. “Our bodies benefit from this alteration in nutrients from season to season.”

That variety means that your body can get all the nutrients it needs, rather than sticking to a few from foods that might not be as nutritionally complete.

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