Is It Better to Eat Seasonal Produce?
Eating fresh local produce is a great idea. But there’s no reason to avoid fruits and vegetables because they aren’t in season.
Monica Reinagel, MS, LD/N, CNS
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Is It Better to Eat Seasonal Produce?
Marisa writes:
“I recently spoke to someone who has lost a significant amount of weight. Among the many rules that his nutritionist told him to follow was to only eat fruits and vegetables in season. Does the science support this?”
Eating with the seasons is an oft-repeated bit of nutritional wisdom. It can certainly be a fun and delicious way to add variety to your menus. I also appreciate the way it keeps me a little bit more in touch with the natural world and how our food is grown.
In the Spring, we savor the early spring greens, radishes, scallions, and peas. In the early summer, we enjoy beets, strawberries and asparagus. As the summer goes on, we gorge on cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, corn, and peaches. In the Fall, we turn to the cool weather crops: apples, carrots, broccoli, and pumpkins.
But for those of us who live in cooler climates, there’s not much to harvest between the last fall pumpkins and the early spring peas—does that mean that we shouldn’t eat vegetables in the winter? What about the string beans and tomatoes we put up during the summer? Would getting them out in January break the rules? And there are lots of nutritious fruits and vegetables that are NEVER in season where I live: things like avocados and oranges and olives. Can I only enjoy these when I visit California or Mexico or Greece?
For most of us, It would be impractical to eat only seasonal fruits and vegetables all year round. Moreover, I’m not at all sure that eating strictly with the seasons necessarily ensures the best nutrition.
Are Seasonal Vegetables More Nutritious?
Freshly picked, local produce may be more nutritious—and more flavorful—than produce that’s harvested far away and has spent days or weeks in storage or transport. And if you’re shopping at the farmer’s market, seasonal local produce is pretty much all you’re going to find. Have at it!
At the grocery store, however, there’s no guarantee that those tomatoes on display were picked in your time zone—even at the height of the local tomato season. Given the realities of modern food distribution, they could just as easily have been grown last month on another continent. Or even in a hothouse where seasons can be artificially created.
In fact, some of the most nutritious produce you can find is actually in the freezer case because most of that is picked and flash frozen within hours of being harvested—locking in all that nutrition for you to enjoy year round.
Freshness is not the only factor in how nutritious and/or flavorful a vegetable may be. It may have just as much to do with the variety that’s being grown, how it’s grown, and how it is processed and stored.
You can also check out my article on hydroponically grown vegetables.
Will Eating in Season Save You Money?
You’d think that eating in season would also be cheaper, seeing as you would reduce the overhead costs associated with storage and transport of the produce. However, this is not always the case. Small farms don’t have anywhere near the economy of scale that big operations do. So that local, fresh-picked peach may well cost you more than the frozen peaches at the grocery store. Not that it wouldn’t be worth every penny. I’m just saying that the idea that buying only local, seasonal produce will save you tons of money is a kind of romantic notion.
And finally, if eating with the seasons played any role in your friend’s weight loss, it can only be because trying to follow this rule limited his options so much that he ended up eating less. But whether your goal is to lose weight or simply to improve your nutrition, I can’t see any value in a rule that causes you to eat fewer vegetables!
The Bottom Line on Eating with the Seasons
I think it’s a great idea to buy as much local, seasonal produce as you can find (and afford). It’s fun to enjoy different fruits and vegetables as they come in and out of season. But I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to round your choices out as needed with frozen produce or any fresh produce that looks fresh, appealing, and is a good value—no matter where or when it was grown. And I wouldn’t avoid a fruit or vegetable simply for the sake of eating with the seasons.
Do you eat with the seasons? Let me know in the comments below or on the Nutrition Diva Facebook page.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Monica Reinagel is a board-certified licensed nutritionist, author, and the creator of one of iTunes’ most highly ranked health and fitness podcasts. Her advice is regularly featured on the TODAY show, Dr. Oz, NPR, and in the nation’s leading newspapers, magazines, and websites. Do you have a nutrition question? Call the Nutrition Diva listener line at 443-961-6206. Your question could be featured on the show.