By Paula Jager CSCS as published in Natural Muscle magazine July 2012
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Summertime in Florida and the heat is on! While there is something in each season that is special to me either traditionally or memorably summer has always been my favorite. I like it hot, I like romping around barefoot and in minimal clothing. I love weekends at the beach and hot and humid steamy evenings at home cooking on the grill with family and friends.
Over the years I have come to realize that with each change in season so does my appetite. I am instinctively drawn to or away from certain foods. Eating foods when nature produces them is what people have done naturally for centuries prior to the development of mega sized commercial markets containing vast amounts of processed foods. Seasonal eating is also a foundation of ancient and holistic medical traditions being the key to good health and mental stability.
Seasonal eating simply means building meals around foods that have just been harvested and meeting the health challenges of winter, spring, summer and fall. For example eating the beta carotene in the orange pigment of sweet potatoes, pumpkins and other squashes in the fall will boost your immune system just in time to ward off winter colds. The addition of increased healthy fats in the winter will help keep you warm as the temperature drops.
Having unlimited access to any food at any time of the may seem like a luxury but it is not without consequences. We need to remain connected to the calendar (present moment) and experience simple joys such as a big, juicy slice of watermelon on a hot summer day or belly warming fare over the winter holidays. On a recent trip through GeorgiaI had the immense pleasure of a ripe, sweet juicy peach. They never taste like that from the grocery store. Produce picked and eaten at its peak has more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than food picked before ripe and hauled across the country. Eating seasonally also means eating locally grown foods which helps the environment and supports small and midsize farmers rather than the large conglomerates that care nothing about quality, health or us.
Come autumn I begin to eat less fruit and start seeking the comfort of heavier, fattier meats and fowl with their warm juices/gravies surrounded by tubers and other delicious root vegetables. This continues on through the winter where I find myself eating very little fruit and consuming greater amounts of fat. Around spring the little “winter coat” I put on tends to get a little hot and I look forward to what has become a yearly ritual of my “spring cleaning” where I shed it and purge not only my closets but my body.
Just when things are looking lean and tight and I reach my summertime weight everything is in full bloom. My consumption of fruits increases significantly; from the berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) to the melons (watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe) and who could forget the glorious and delectable but highly perishable peach. Aaah, and the vegetables; summer squashes, ripe tomatoes, sweet corn, okra and summer-type herbs such as mint and cilantro. The bounty astounds.
But you can find these year round many people will say. True, it’s always summer somewhere—but I live inFloridaand I want to eat what’s growing. If it’s the middle of winter I don’t feel like blueberries. Its cold, they’re not growing. Modern technology is very overrated and while I enjoy a few of the things provided much is lost in the trade off. We lose sight of the seasonal rhythm of life. Eating locally grown, organic foods keeps us in harmony with our nutritional needs.
Let the seasons be your guide to healthy eating and as always –you’ll find that Mother Nature makes no mistakes.
Its summer right now in the South so enjoy. . . https://www.crossfitjaguar.com/category/recipes/