Eat With the Seasons

As the days get shorter and the air gets crisper it’s time to adjust more than our wardrobe. With the changing of the seasons also comes a change in the availability of fresh, local fruits and vegetables. Eating locally grown food in accordance with the seasons helps you live in harmony with your body and the Earth.

Why Eat With the Seasons?

Eating seasonably helps us to enjoy fruits and vegetables at their seasonable best. Throughout history, people have eaten food as nature produced it; whole and unprocessed vegetables, fruit, grains, beans and meat. Fresh greens grew in the spring, fruit ripened in summer, root vegetables were found in the fall and winter meant relying on animal foods. Considering large-scale food processing is the norm our ancestors probably would not recognize the food in today’s grocery stores.

Food is the bedrock upon which a healthy life is based and is the body’s buffer against the stress and strain of our increasingly toxic environment. The nutrients in our food work synergistically to promote health-and that processed food, denuded of many of its intrinsic nutrients can promote disease. Natural is always best.

Good food is everybody’s right and the best way to democratize good food is through eating organic, locally and seasonally. Eating seasonal and local foods enhance your general well-being as you become more in tune with the cycles of nature.

Fresh & Cost-Effective

Items that you see in the supermarket during their off-seasons are more expensive, because the stores need to recoup the costs for transporting the produce from where it was grown. The cost to store, ship and preserve foods from different regions of the world is drastically reduced when we buy locally.

A farmers’ market is one of the best places to find local produce at the peak of freshness. Filling your bag with local produce is one way to ensure that you are eating in season.

More often than not, produce found in large, corporate-run supermarkets is out of season and irradiated and preserved in wax to extent the shelf life.

Supports Your Body’s Natural Needs

This dietary philosophy may best be utilized and explained by Ayurveda. Ayurveda is an ancient healing system from India that emphasizes eating in accordance with your individual body type and the seasons. Ayurveda, which translates as, “the science of life” in Sanskrit, recognizes that all life- human, plant and animal- must live in harmony with nature in order to survive. According to this philosophy, proper diet is determined by the three harvesting seasons: late fall, spring and summer.

The late fall harvest is rich in nuts and grains – all warming and insulating to combat the cold extremes of the coming winter.

In the rainy Spring the naturally occurring harvest is rich in low-fat and astringent roots, sprouts, grapefruits and berries. These foods help to decrease allergies, colds and weight gain.

The summer harvest is rich in cooling fruits and vegetables, and eating these foods moderates the accumulated heat of the season.

What’s In Season in Autumn?

Every season provides a bounty of fresh produce to choose from and autumn is no exception. This fall, stock up on these nutritious fruits and vegetables:

-winter squash (acorn, butternut, buttercup, delicate, hubbard, kabocha)
-apples
-beets
-endive
-brussels sprouts
-cranberries
-figs
-grapes
-mushrooms
-parsnips
-pears
-pomegranates
-pumpkin
-sweet potato
-Swiss chard

The changing of the seasons provides plenty of opportunities to get creative in the kitchen! October lays smack in the middle of the waning summer heat and the dark, chilly Holiday season. October’s “not too hot, not too cold” climate is prime for grapes, pears and pumpkins!

As a self-proclaimed Pumpkin Enthusiast I couldn’t wait to try this recipe for Pumpkin Hummus & Cinnamon Sugar Chips!

PUMPKIN HUMMUS RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Chickpeas
¾ Cup Organic pumpkin purée
¼ Cup Tahini
2 tsp Pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp Coconut oil, melted

INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Clean/drain the chickpeas and spread them out on a paper towel until dry
2.) Add the chickpeas, pumpkin , tahini, pumpkin pie spice and 2 tsps of coconut oil into a small food processor or blender and process until smooth.

CINNAMON SUGAR CHIPS RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:
3 tortillas (I used gluten free)
Olive oil
Ground cinnamon
Brown sugar or sugar substitute (if wanting extra sweetness)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.) Coat each side of the tortilla with oil or water. Cut the into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon and sugar
3.) Bake in the preheated oven 5-6 minutes. Flip over and bake for 3-5 additional minutes. Remove from oven to cool for approximately 15 minutes. Serve with hummus.

Will you be eating with the season this fall? Link us to your favourite fall recipe in the comments!