Eat seasonally!

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All fruits and vegetables have a particular time of year when they are at their peak. Eating according to the seasons is an important part of a healthy and sustainable diet: it has a host of benefits for your health, your hip pocket, the environment, and local business.

Until quite recently, seasonal eating was universal -without modern technology or transport-, we relied in our skills to take advantage of the best growing seasons for each food, and to last through the times of scarcity. Today, the globalized food market has given us the "convenience" of being able to buy any food at any time of the year. This has greatly reduced our awareness of the seasons and the environment, at a time when this awareness is most badly needed.


Foods that are not in season locally will have been shipped from another part of the world, unnecessarily using up energy and emitting greenhouse gases through transportation. Eating seasonally encourages you to buy local produce, which will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but also save you the labor costs of transport and storage, as well as supporting your local economy. You can heighten these benefits by boycotting the supermarket and buying from farmers’ markets and food co-ops instead! As well as paying less, you will be helping local farmers to build a very sustainable food industry.

Eating seasonally will raise your deeper appreciation for the uniqueness of
each season, and for the range of tastes, colors and textures it provides. The seasons give us a long-forgotten sense of the wonderful natural cycles that Western rationalism ignores.

Seasonal food also plays a role in holistic health; generally, fruits and vegetables appear during the season in which they are best for your body. Rich, full-bodied apples, pears and pumpkins are winter foods, whereas light, juicy, refreshing mangoes, watermelons and cucumbers are suited to summer.

Most importantly, though, fresh food in season is unbeatable in terms of taste, nutritional value and variety. Most out-of-season food has been grown in artificial conditions, picked prematurely and shipped halfway around the world, giving it ample time to deteriorate and lose nutrients; this food is also limited to those varieties that can survive long-distance travel. The vitality and freshness of seasonal food is a pleasure to which very little can compare.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), on the other hand, is based on the belief that all humanity is part of the natural environment and that health or balance can only be achieved when one follows the "natural law" by adapting to the changes of the seasons and the surrounding environment. The concept of the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water) was developed through ancient Chinese rituals of observing nature’s ever-changing cycles. These are related to the different seasons of the year, to organs in the human body, temperatures, colours and tastes, to name but a few associations, all of which have some relevance to our health and well-being. By knowing and understanding these elements, we can discover how specific foods can help to balance the extremes of each season and comprehend what unique opportunities for healing arise with each.

If we take for instance the summer season, according to TCM this season is linked to fire and the climate associated with it is heat. Excess heat (yang) is seen as being adverse to the heart, as this organ is ruled by the Fire element. When someone becomes over-heated they develop symptoms such as fevers, thirst, insomnia and hot flushes. One way to compensate this excess heat during summer is to ensure our diet includes cooler (Yin) foods in order to balance out the excess energy. Hence salads and fresh fruits should be eaten accordingly. There are also specific Chinese herbs that are known for having a cooling effect in the human body.

Remember eat healthy and according to the season!