With spring comes the opportunity to enjoy a bounty of organic, fresh, and local produce. Farmer’s markets  begin to thrive.  Incorporating locally grown, seasonal produce can be a real game changer when looking for ways to improve your eating strategy. 

Seasonal eating enables us to naturally incorporate variety into our eating strategy.  If you take a moment to think about the meals you prepare at home, you will likely recognize a pattern.    Most people eat roughly the same meals every week – one study found 60% of adults at the same 7 meals every week.  We know that variety is the spice of life and have probably heard that we should ‘eat the rainbow’ – simply, capitalizing on the variety nature provides is a great way to change up your meals every few months.  

Seeking out locally grown foods has additional benefits of supporting our local economy and neighbors as well as the environment as food does not need to travel as far to get to market.   Ripe, in-season, produce is also the most flavorful and nutritious making every meal taste better and better for you.  Farmers markets and CSAs are the best sources for local produce as produce is picked when ripe and transported directly to the consumer.  FiT is a drop location for Eating With The Seasons CSA –  simply sign up for a subscription, choose which in season produce you would like each week, then swing by FiT on Tuesday afternoons to pick up your produce!  In addition, or alternatively,  local farmers markets are fun to explore and sample seasonal produce.

When choosing to eat seasonally it’s important to experiment, analyze and adjust. Find a recipe for a vegetable you’ve never had before, explore the farmers markets, and search for different colors to add variety in taste and nutritional content. If all else fails and you’re feeling less inspired, just make a big ass salad out of anything and everything you find. The possibilities are endless when you get creative with the highest quality foods that are in-season, fresh, and flavorful!