Guide To Eating Seasonally In Summer

If only every day could be a summer day! Longer days, warm sunshine, swimming, sandy feet, and summer foods!!! I think I was made just for sunny summer days. My favorite thing about summer is absolutely the foods that grown abundantly in summer. Don’t miss out on all of the fresh, nutritious produce that summer brings to us! With the help of the summer sun, foods become more vibrant + nutritious. We also tend to eat meals created around fruits + veggies. Embrace (and eat!) all that summer has to offer with the help of this Guide To Eating Seasonally In Summer.

Tara’s Tuesday Tips:

Guide To Eating Seasonally In Summer

What Does Summer Mean To You? To me, it means beach sunrises + sunsets + lots of watermelon. Growing up in New York, summer days were definitely something to look forward to. The water got warmer, the evening breeze was amazing, and the weather provided for outdoor fun that wasn’t possible in winter.

For some people, summer means they get to cook (and eat) outside. Such a wonderful thing! Meals made of lots of produce, cooling foods, and fresh, colorful produce. Picnic invitations, BBQs, We are meant to eat the foods that grow around us, cleansing + resetting our bodies in alignment with the season.

The best part? When you eat produce that is in season it is less expensive, higher in nutrients, and much fresher. Additionally, by adding lots of healthy summer foods, we naturally crowd out the unhealthy foods + habits that we may have overindulged in during the cooler times of year.

What Does Eating Seasonally Mean?

As a society, we tend not to eat seasonally as most of us have access to a wide variety of produce all year round. This is a luxury but not necessarily what is best for us and for the planet as a whole. Just because something is available in the grocery store doesn’t mean it is in season.

Simply put, eating seasonally means eating the fruits and vegetables that grow naturally during a specific time of year. Naturally – without genetic modification or intervention. This isn’t typically the way Americans eat. However, it is how we should eat. Eating seasonally helps ensure your body is nourished with what it needs without lots of chemicals. Chemicals that completely throw your body out of whack.

By eating seasonally, we avoid produce that has been ‘forced’ to grow when it isn’t its natural time to grow. We also avoid having our produce travel long distances to reach us. When our out-of-season produce must travel those long distances, it must be picked before it is ripe and therefore does not contain the same nutrients, vitamins, and minerals as its seasonal counterparts.

By now you know that I love summer! To help you embrace summer too, my tips this week include a complete list of summer foods. I have also included my personal favorites at the bottom with my recipes and how I use them. This list of in-season produce will vary somewhat depending on where you live. Some of you reading this may have access to summer produce year-round. However, when summer foods are eaten in summer and grown locally, the foods will taste + look so much better!

Listen To Your Body

Our bodies are very smart! In winter we crave heavy, filling, fatty foods. In spring we tend to crave lighter meals + have less hunger cues (spring cleaning!). Summer cravings are for lighter + fresher + cooler foods. Don’t silence the cues your body gives you. Craving something cold? Make nice cream, fruit salsa, or corn salad. Eat instinctively + naturally in summer and every season!