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Eating Seasonally
A guide to summer’s tastiest nutritional powerhouses.
Let’s be honest: Most of the year it’s a struggle to get enough of the fruits and vegetables we know we ought to eat to stay healthy, trim and energized. But from Memorial Day to Labor Day, fitting in those five to nine servings of produce a day gets much easier. “Zucchini squash, eggplant, tomatoes, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, watermelon — a lot of these delicious fruits and vegetables are more plentiful from May to October,” says Douglas Husbands, D.C., C.C.N., a functional medicine doctor, and a certified clinical nutritionalist with Athens Chiropractic Clinic in San Carlos, Cali. With food prices climbing, you want to choose wisely, so you’re sure to get both good nutrients and good flavor. Below, a quick guide to summer fruits and veggies that taste delicious and pack a real nutritional punch.
Fruits
- Berries. Little they may be, but berries are a great source of anthocyanidins, a type of antioxidant. “They have exceptional antioxidant activity,” Husbands explains. “During World War II, British pilots doing night flights would eat more bilberries [which are related to blueberries] because they found their night vision improved.” Blueberries, like cranberries, also have a substance that may stave off urinary tract infections. Add blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or blackberries to cold and hot cereal, yogurt, smoothies and rice pilaf, or top off your favorite home-churned ice cream with a handful.
- Cherries. “Cherries are in season from the end of May to August, but peak in June and July,” Husbands notes, adding that it’s best to choose darker cherries. These have a higher amount of flavonoids, which act as an anti-inflammatory in the body. “Some research has shown that the flavonoids in cherries are comparable to ibuprofen for anti-inflammatory effects. And their antioxidant activity is better than vitamin E.” Choose a tart cherry — like Montmorency — and you’ll also get melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep.
- Peaches and nectarines. A plump peach is one of summer’s signature fruits. Peaches and nectarines have more than flavor, though: The vitamin C content in these juicy orbs is high, and you’ll get some fiber as well.
- Melon. Sweet, ripe watermelon helps you stay hydrated on dog days, and like the tomato, it also provides ample amounts of lycopene. Molly Kimball, R.D., sports and lifestyle nutritionist at the Elmwood Fitness Center, a division of Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, likes to brush a raspberry vinaigrette onto cut-up pieces of cantaloupe, pineapple and strawberries, then skewer the fruit like shish kebab and throw it on the grill.
- Grapefruit. If you’re on a cholesterol-lowering or blood pressure medication, don’t add grapefruit to your grocery cart (it interferes with both types of drugs), but for the rest of us the golden spheres can add fiber, vitamin C and more. “Grapefruit contains a substance called naringin, which is an enzyme,” Husbands explains. Some research shows that “it can act as a blood thinner so it helps blood to flow better.”
Vegetables
- Dark green leafy vegetables. “Kale, collard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, brussels sprouts — those are the ones people don’t eat enough of,” Husbands says. Not only are these leafy greens full of fiber, but they also contain the B vitamin folic acid, which may be important for helping to keep cholesterol in check and preventing heart disease. “Steam or lightly stir-fry these vegetables to maintain good levels of folic acid and other phytonutrients,” Husbands suggests.
- Tomatoes. Perhaps late summer’s best gift from the garden, tomatoes shine mostly for their high amounts of lycopene; they also contain beta-carotene and good amounts of vitamin C. “I like to prepare tomatoes by slicing them in half and adding a little Parmesan cheese and olive oil and broiling them,” says Kimball. “Lycopene is absorbed better from cooked tomatoes than from raw ones.”
- Beets. “They’re superhigh in the same type of antioxidants that blueberries are,” Kimball says, stressing that folks who say they hate beets after tasting only the canned variety should give them another try. “Try wrapping the beet in foil and baking it for an hour at 350°F, then add a little goat cheese,” she says. “That’s really delicious.”
- Red and yellow peppers. These veggies not only add vibrant color to any meal, but they’ve also got vitamin C and beta-carotene. Kimball prefers oven roasting or grilling as the simplest way to prepare peppers. “Just add a little sea salt,” she says. “Since it’s coarser, you don’t need to use as much.”
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What about carrots, radishes, cucumbers and green onions? Just curious.
FABULOUS article=chuck full of useful information that our children need to grow up knowing and using !!!
i printed this out to post on the refrig. A nutritionist friend thinks avacodos are a must, but can't remember why!