Seasonal Eating: How To Eat Foods In Season By Month – In On Around
Enjoying A Four Seasons Diet
Is the owner and operator of Florida Farmers Market & Cafe in Paxton, FL. As a volunteer he serves as a guest educator for middle school agriculture students at Paxton School (K-12) teaching a hands-on approach to plant science as well as the business of growing and selling organic plants and produce. His focus is, no surprise, growing food and eating it!
I am working hard to change the way Americans eat fresh produce by promoting a return to the days of old. Well kinda… I call it a “Four Seasons Diet”, and it’s nothing crazy or fad-like. It’s simply eating foods when they are in season. Grow and Eat It! The group is working on expanding the variety and amount of foods we grow for ourselves, but even if you don’t grow produce yourself, anyone can eat this way. It’s the way everyone ate before markets were global and shipping food in from all over the place.
This was before most of us were born, but think about it… If produce wasn’t in season, it simply wasn’t available back in the day. My suspicion is that, as a result, people were eating healthier back then because they were subconsciously listening to their bodies and eating the foods their bodies told them they needed.
I’ll explain why I’ve come to this conclusion. I was thinking about my garden (as I often do), and I thought about all of the foods that I love. Then I started looking for seeds for those fruits and veggies. I bought the ones I could find and planted them that summer only to fail miserably with most of them. What went wrong?
Why wasn’t my lettuce doing great?
I love summer salads, but they are always so expensive. It looks like I didn’t read the fine print: lettuce grows best in cool weather. Believe me, I tasted some that did grow, and boy was it bitter! Could it be that I have been spoiled by the year-round availability of produce at the market? Why have I not noticed this before?
The answer was clear: I was a typical American with no clue that fruits and vegetables aren’t really year-round anywhere.
Now I give the grocery store credit. They take advantage of the fact that we can grow food in controlled environments now that simulate the real seasons. It’s very cool technology, but is it right for us to eat the same foods year-round just because we can? I don’t think so. What about nutrition? What about the sun’s involvement? Sure, you can get it to grow, but is it truly natural with the same vitamins and minerals you get from eating food grown in season? The answer is complex. In fact sometimes it doesn’t matter at all when or how some vegetables are grown, but sometimes it does, and most of us don’t know which ones matter and which ones don’t.
What’s the easiest way to ensure that you are getting what you pay for in quality and nutritional value? Buy food that’s in season, locally grown, or grow it yourself, and skip the shipped in (un-ripe) and forced to grow crops grown in simulated environments and/or far away places. Our bodies need a more varied diet than most of us give them. Get this: You hardly have to think about it all, because if it’s in season, you probably need it in your diet!
I’m not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. This is common sense! You probably knew this already subconsciously, and I’m just backing it up with some facts. Let’s look at an example to prove our theory to be correct, and pat ourselves on the back. We’ll take vitamin C on for our example.
We all know we need vitamin C for healthy immune systems and to maintain a scurvy-free life (if you are a pirate). What’s a great source of vitamin C? Oranges! What a delicious Summer fruit! NOPE! Oranges are harvested in Winter. Believe me… I live in Florida, and I run a farmers market. Beach goers stop all Summer long looking for Florida oranges in June and look at me like I have 3 heads when I tell them they will have to come back in December if they want them fresh off the tree. Okay, you get the point… You’ve known this all along.
So where will we get our vitamin C from in Spring when those super popular Florida oranges are out of season? How about peas, asparagus, or strawberries? Summer’s peppers are loaded with the C, and there are always raspberries, pineapples, kiwi, cantaloupes, and papayas to name a few. Fall gives us apples, cranberries, mustard and collard greens, beets, and spinach all loaded up with good old vitamin C. Shiver me timbers… It looks like pirates can avoid scurvy year-round if they eat right!
That’s exactly the point I am making here. No, I’m not talking about pirates anymore… I’m talking about all of us! The fruits and vegetables available in any given season can provide us with the vitamins and minerals that we need to survive. It’s not even hard to get them, and you can probably grow them yourself!
Maybe you can’t grow pineapples and papayas in Michigan naturally, but you can grow strawberries and raspberries in the same season the other two are growing elsewhere. Wherever you may live, you will have a source of what you need nutritionally that can be grown locally to you. I told you it isn’t hard!
Have you ever bought an apple in say, May, and realized that you made a huge mistake?
The texture and the taste are all wrong, but why? They had them on sale at the store, and they looked tasty!
Maybe it was shipped halfway around the world to a distribution center, then kept in cold storage for a while, then trucked in to the store last week before you saw it on sale this week. After you take that mushy, pithy bite of nastiness it occurs to you why it was on sale. It’s not apple season… anywhere! You bought it, because your body told you it needed some vitamin C, and you know apples are a good source of the C. They just aren’t the source you should look to in May.
What you could have bought were the deliciously ripe strawberries grown on a farm just outside of town that were probably picked yesterday. They were right around the corner from those mushy apples you bought and contain the very same nutritional value your body was looking for, but they are locally grown and in season. So why didn’t you choose them? The answer is sad: You never once considered the season as a basis for your choice. You just remembered that apples were a vitamin C source, and they are, but they taste better in the Fall when they are in season (when strawberries taste like crap and/or have an awful texture because they are shipped in from another hemisphere and held at customs for days before they reach you.)
I’ve beaten vitamin C to a mushy pulp now, but you get the idea. There are always choices in the produce department that are better than others depending on the season it is. You can be choosy and still get the nutrition that you need by picking produce when it tastes best. Oh my gosh doesn’t that sound good? It is good! It’s good for your health and your taste buds all at the same time! Back in the old days it wasn’t quite as complicated.
Before global availability came into play, you didn’t have a choice. If it wasn’t in season, it wasn’t available. Now we need to be a little more educated about our purchase decisions to make the best ones for our diet. That’s one reason that we at Grow and Eat It! are working on growing more of our own food. If we can grow it, we can eat it! That helps a lot with the situation, but we all still shop at the grocery store too, so this concept applies to everyone. How do you do this Four Seasons Diet lifestyle change starting from scratch? There are only three principles to remember.
First, think about it… you know most of the information already, but if you have forgotten something you are just a quick Internet search away from the answers you seek. Make a list of all the produce items that you consume on a regular basis, then find out when they are in season. Sort the list by season, and BAM! there’s your grocery list.
Second, think about the nutritional values of each item on the list. You might want to look that up too… look it up, record it somehow, and you can refer back to it if you need to. It will help you balance your diet easily. If your seasonal produce list is deficient in a particular vitamin or mineral during a season, you will be too. It’s time to branch out and try new things! Search for a list of fruits and vegetables that are harvested during the season you need to balance, and look for what your body needs on the list.
Third and finally, enjoy your new diet! One of the worst parts of a fad diet is that it tends to get mundane. Fad diets are not tailored for long-term adoption. They are designed for quick results, so they can be pretty short-sighted. A Four Seasons Diet is a way of life. If you adopt this baby, it’s yours! Anyone can do this, and it works for everyone. It always has worked, and it always will.
Why it works is very simple: It’s the way nature intended it to be!
So get out there and buy some produce that’s in season and delicious!
When seasons change, change what you buy. You won’t find yourself tired of one particular thing, and what you eat will taste better. That in itself is a win, win situation!
If you want to go the extra mile, grow your own fruits and vegetables to cut your grocery bill down and enjoy the many benefits of gardening. The best benefit is that you get to Grow and Eat It!
Most importantly, be healthy in body and mind with a balanced diet and a mindset to match. Welcome to the Four Seasons Diet!
Dave Palmer is a farmers market/restaurant owner with a love for science, gardening, cooking, and eating well. He’s not the creator of the Four Seasons Diet (nature is), but he is the reviver of the concepts that you just read.
The Basics of Ritucharya: Ayurveda’s Secrets of Seasonal Eating | The Art of Living
In the US, Ritucharya is characterized by four seasons, unlike India where there are six seasons. The principal is the same; the Doshas go through a cycle of accumulating, aggravating and palliating in different seasons, and we have to balance them out with our lifestyle and diet.
Vata season runs from autumn and early winter, mid-September right up to January. Kapha season takes place from February to May, and Pitta season is from June to mid-September. However, we always take our cues from nature: for instance, northern states like Maine, the winter is longer.
We balance our diet through opposite qualities of doshas: for instance, in Pitta season.
The weather is characterized by hot, light, and sharp qualities, so we counter it with cool, heavy, and bland food, avoiding sour, spicy, salty, and pungent foods. In the US, spring is the best time for Panchakarma, which is different than in India, where Varsha Ritu, or monsoon season, is the best time. Fall is another good season for this cleanse.
As always, consult your personal physician before undertaking any new health regime, and always begin Ayurvedic practices under the care of an Ayurvedic expert.
Based on inputs from Vaidya Trupti Joshi, an Ayurvedic Expert from India.
Paige Leigh Reist is a writer, editor, blogger, and writing instructor.
Paige Leigh Reist is a lifestyle writer and blogger known for her work on relationships, spirituality, identity, food, wellness, and travel. She runs the blog thewholesomehandbook.com and has contributed to various publications such as Dote Magazine, Dote Weddings, Bella Grace Magazine, Calgary Dog Life, Arc & Ember, YYC Girl Gang, and the Art of Living123. Her writing often explores the intersection of personal experience and broader spiritual and wellness topics, aiming to inspire and guide readers through her insights and stories 2. Bonus: Celebrating Your Life: Discovering Delight & Bliss in Routine Moments – The Wholesome Handbook
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How Does Winter Affect People Undergoing Cancer Treatment?
Cold Weather, Viruses and the Immune System
Published February 2023
Cold weather can be tough for many people, but for patients with cancer, it can present serious health concerns. Respiratory viruses like influenza and COVID-19 surge in colder temperatures, as respiratory droplets spread farther and last longer when it’s cold outside.
Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy weaken the immune system, so patients undergoing these treatments should receive the appropriate vaccines for viruses that are more prevalent during the winter months.
Hypothermia (low body temperature) is also a concern for patients with cancer. Side effects of cancer treatment may include dehydration, anemia and fatigue, which can make patients more susceptible to hypothermia because they may lose heat faster than their bodies can produce heat.
Peripheral neuropathy is a side effect of some cancer treatments, and it can be particularly dangerous in winter. It causes numbness in the hands and feet, which puts patients at higher risk of frostbite because they can’t feel how cold their extremities are.
Walking with numb feet also increases the risk of falling, especially on icy surfaces.
And because some cancer medications can decrease bone density, a fall is more likely to cause a fracture.
Tips for Navigating Cancer Treatment in Winter
Dress for the weather. Wear a hat, scarf, gloves and warm coat when you’re outside in cold temperatures.
Wear sensible footwear and/or use a mobility aid, like a cane or walker, if you have to get around in icy conditions.
Wear a mask in crowded public places.
Talk to your care team about what vaccines you should have.
If you’re undergoing treatment for cancer in colder months, talk to your care team about how you can protect yourself against the additional risks winter may pose for your health.
– Raanan Y. Alter, MD, gynecologic oncologist, Northwestern Medicine Regional Medical Group
Chilly temperatures help cancers grow.
At low temperatures the human body has a hard time. As the cold sets in, blood vessels constrict to maintain heat and some body parts – like fingers and toes – begin to suffer. Metabolism ramps up to fight the cold and shivering sets in. As these conditions continue, everything becomes sluggish as the cells of your body do not work as well. The body enters a state of thermal stress and only the most vital systems, like the brain, are left switched on.
Now, in a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Elizabeth Repasky at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in the US and colleagues suggest that cold has yet another disadvantage – it changes the way cancer cells grow and spread, at least in mice. This raises interesting questions about cancer therapies and many cancer studies, which tend to use mice as animal models.
Repasky found that mice living in a relatively cold environment (around 22°C) had cancers that grew more quickly and aggressively than mice living at a nice thermally comfortable temperature (around 30°C). A cold environment boosted the growth of several different types of cancer, including breast, skin, colon, and pancreas.
It did not matter if mice had lived in the cold for a lifetime before they got cancer—a chilly exposure even after their cancer had become established still made their tumours grow more quickly. The body’s anti-cancer responses are mostly driven by the immune system’s T cells, which recognise and destroy tumor cells based on the altered proteins they produce.
Tumours often react to a T-cell attack by producing signals that trick the body into suppressing these immune cells. This battle continues until one side outpaces the other – a lot of anti-cancer treatments given in the clinic help to swing the balance in favour of the immune system.
Both the cold and the comfortable mice had the same numbers of potential cancer-fighting T cells when they were healthy. But the tumour-seeking T cells in the comfortable mice were quicker and better at burrowing into the tumour to attack it. They also secreted more cancer-fighting substances than the cells from cold mice.
In the tumours of cold mice, there were greater numbers of suppressive cells capable of shutting down normal immune responses. Cold temperatures, then, shifted the body’s response from fighting the tumour to accepting it.
Most animal research facilities follow the same housing guidelines, and thus keep mice at colder-than-comfortable temperatures. This could introduce a systemic bias to animal testing where studies are done in conditions that aren’t entirely relevant. For example, what if you were trying a therapy that boosted immune function but did it in mice whose immune function was naturally tamped down? You might see no effect, when it could still be a useful drug. In contrast, something that causes tumour DNA damage might not have the same problem.
Cancers are cold
When we feel cold, we engage in warming behaviours – turning the thermostat up a notch, or thriftily putting on an extra layer of clothes. Mice are exactly the same – if they feel cold, they move to a warmer spot. When healthy mice get to choose what temperature they want to hang out at, with options at 22, 28, 30, 34 or 38°C, they typically migrate into the comfortable 30°C room. Mice with tumours tend to choose the hottest 38°C room. Cancer patients also commonly report suffering deep chills, especially following treatment.
It’s possible that growing tumours may induce a cold stress that probably promotes their own survival. We do not know exactly how this works yet, but this research still has important implications for cancer patients and their treatments. Could administering cancer therapies in a sauna – like setting improve their tumour – fighting potential and slow cancer growth?
Such approaches have been tried in small trials for breast cancer, angiosarcoma and sarcoma. They show that increasing body temperature to a mild fever over the course of a few hours improves response rates to radiation therapy.
Without large-scale studies no firm conclusions can be drawn, but this evidence suggests that the benefits of heat therapy for cancer may have been overlooked. Perhaps it is time we paid heed to the words of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates:
Those who cannot be cured by medicine can be cured by surgery.
Those who cannot be cured by surgery can be cured by heat.
Those who cannot be cured by heat are to be considered incurable.
Low body Temps immune system and cancer – Search (bing.com)
Copilot: Low body temperature can have various effects on the immune system and its ability to fight cancer. Generally, a normal body temperature is essential for the optimal functioning of the immune system.
Here’s a summary of the information I found:
Immune System Strength: For every degree below normal body temperature, one may lose approximately 25% of immune system strength 1. This can make it more difficult for the body to combat cancer.
Cancer Growth: Studies have shown that a cold environment can suppress the anti-tumor immune response, potentially encouraging cancer growth 2. In animal studies, cold temperatures were found to shift the body’s response from fighting the tumor to accepting it 3.
Fever and Cancer: While low body temperature can weaken the immune system, fevers, especially persistent low-grade fevers, can sometimes be a symptom of cancer4. Fevers related to cancer may not follow the same pattern as fevers caused by infections and can be associated with certain types of cancer like leukemia and lymphoma 4.
It’s important to note that these are general observations and can vary from person to person. If you have concerns about body temperature, immune system function, or cancer, it’s best to consult with a healthcare professional for personalized advice.5
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SHOCK REPORT: Democrats Grant Illegal Aliens Congressional Representation. House Democrats Vote UNANIMOUSLY to Give Illegal Aliens Representation in Congress
