We often think eating healthy is costly or fancy but it’s actually not. We need to understand why we should pick fruits and vegetables which are seasonal, locally grown and organic if possible.
Think about the off-season fruits and vegetables which need to travel a lot of distance to reach to the market and there are lot of chemicals, pesticides, preservatives and wax coating used to keep them fresh for longer time before it reaches to us. Also longer the food stays unconsumed, the more nutrients it will lose. The same food carries different nutritional values depending upon when it has been produced. Seasonal foods are naturally ripe, organic, with full of flavor and nutritional properties in their season, its more economic and environment friendly.
She knows..
“Nature is wiser than we acknowledge.”
Seasonal foods support season specific requirements of our body. Our body responds differently during each season, so in order to maintain ourselves healthy and to prevent diseases, nature provides food accordingly during each season.
Food Guide: WINTER
In winters, the temperature drops down compared to our body temperature which makes our body prone to get cold, cough, flu. Our body needs fruits and vegetables that are high in citrus and vitamin c to prevent from infections as it’s very important to build immunity in this season. Winter vegetables are perfect for hot meals and soups.
Vegetables
Olives, brussels sprouts, cabbage, leeks, swiss chard, kale, turnip, beetroot, carrots, yam, fenugreek, cauliflower, peas, broccoli, kohl-rabi or cabbage turnip, capsicum, pumpkin, garlic, onion, radish, spinach, pak choi, scallions, asian greens, mustard, taro or colocasia root, celeriac, chokos, cavolo nero, collards.
Fruits
Availability of papaya, all citrus fruits like grapefruits, kiwis, lemon, limes, mandarins, oranges, passion-fruit, pomegranates, tomatoes, pomelos, tangerines, apples, bananas, avocado, guavas, kaffir lime are good to consume in winters.
Grains and Legumes
Barley, oats, millets, corn, basmati rice, chickpeas, rye, wheat, corn, brown lentils, tofu, red gram lentil (toor dal), black gram lentil (urad dal).
Herbs and Spices
Rosemary, parsley, mint, winter savory, black pepper, chives, fenugreek, ginger, lemon grass, saffron, lemon, sesame, celery.
Nuts and Seeds
Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almond, pista, cashews can also be eaten in this season.
Sesame seeds, peanuts, jaggery, ghee, chickpeas are slow in digestion and heavy to digest but it’s good to consume in winter because Pitta (represents fire, responsible for digestive and metabolic activities, heat, controls body temperature) gets reduces in body in winters and Kapha energy flows at its peak in winters and reduces digestive fire. Slow digestive consumption of food should be preferred in winters to cope up with the speed of digestive fire.
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