As the height of summer approaches in Sicily, Anna Fiannaca prefers the peppers, eggplants and zucchinis her brothers grow to the packaged foods at the supermarket.
The 89-year-old cooks everything from scratch and eats mostly vegetarian food. But she attributes much of her good health to adjusting her diet to what’s most available throughout the year.
“It was the way of life in Sicily, to enjoy everything the seasons offer you,” said Fiannaca, who lives near Agrigento.
Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is one of the many things that makes the Mediterranean diet healthy. It also includes plenty of nuts, legumes, beans, and healthy fat from olive oil and fish.
But nutrition experts say no matter where you are, buying seasonal produce is an easy step toward better eating habits.
“Seasonal eating is kind of a way to build a broader diet variety,” said Sharon Gray, a registered dietitian who oversees the community nutrition program at the University of Connecticut.
Consuming a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is a important part of good nutritionlowering the risk of heart disease, obesity and other diseases.
Choosing what’s most abundant at the grocery store each month is a good way to start, said Gray, who offers healthy cooking workshops for low-income Hartford residents. In New England, the summer tomatoes, berries and peaches give way to autumn pumpkins, pumpkin and cranberries. All are rich in antioxidants and fiber and provide a wide range of vitamins, minerals and complex carbohydrates.
It helps that seasonal produce tastes better.
“Many adults don’t like a lot of fruits and vegetables, so if we can get them to like something, they incorporate it into their diet,” she said. “This is moving people away from processed foods and toward preparing more food at home.”
Eating seasonally also often means eating locally, said Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic who specializes in disease prevention and treatment. In addition to environmental benefits, local products generally have more nutrients because they ripen naturally and are consumed soon after harvest.
“You will maximize your vitamins and minerals, the polyphenols and antioxidants that are the foundation of how we lower our risk of disease,” Zumpano said.
Changing your diet requires a bit of open-mindedness, said Sean Heffron, a cardiologist at the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Heart. He advises patients to look beyond the broccoli, onions and other vegetables available year-round.
“Open up to, ‘Oh, now I see many asparagus or peaches or artichokes,’” Heffron said. “This will expose you to more and make you willing to experiment and eat more fruits and vegetables in general.”
Gray noted that farmers marketsmany of whom now accept dietary benefits programs like SNAP, have become more widespread. But she also recommended shopping at regional grocery chains, which may be more likely than national retailers to offer local products.
She tells people to look at flyers and signs in stores to see what’s for sale, which is often an indicator of seasonal abundance. In addition to saving money, it allows people to purchase expensive items such as berries, which can be frozen to eat at the end of the year.
Zumpano suggested signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture Program, or CSA, which delivers a box of products that change according to the season. “You can’t choose and it happens every week,” she said. “I usually have to buy additional food, but I can use this as a great base.”
Experts warn that eating seasonally is not a panacea, and some studies have found that people in colder climates suffer from nutritional deficiencies in the winter. This means you should still continue to buy leafy greens and other vegetables year-round.
“We need seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day,” Zumpano said. “Ninety percent of us don’t eat enough.”
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Albert Stumm writes about food, travel and well-being. Find his work at
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