Are you feeling under the weather? Do you want to change your diet to promote healthy eating? Are you worried about healthy snacking habits? Nature has the solutions to your problems. Holistic medicine uses a huge range of supportive treatments to help patients recover and thrive, but one of the most important keys to good medicine is good food. Mankind has struggled to choose the right things to eat since the days of hunter-gatherers, but simply paying attention to the time of year could solve many of your dieting woes.
The Core of Holistic Medicine
Holistic medicine seeks cures through whole-body wellness. Few things contribute to your health like the food you eat. Your body uses nutrients from what you consume to build new cells and generate energy, and if you don’t consume the right foods, you’ll compromise your health at the most basic level. Seasonal eating serves as a natural diet guide that can help you get the variety and quality of foods you need in order to function, grow, and heal.
Seasonal Foods Promote Healthy Eating
When you focus on eating seasonal foods, the first thing you’ll notice is what you aren’t consuming. Heavily processed foods are never really in season. Neither are potent carbohydrates like bread and pasta. While these may enter your diet from time to time, they will no longer make up the base of your diet. Your foundation shifts from carbs to produce. Healthy eating doesn’t just mean cutting back, after all. It means finding better foods that can do more for your body.
Healthy snacking is much easier with seasonal foods. Everyone gets bored eating the same thing day in and day out. Thankfully, seasonal healthy eating brings new foods to your table, frequently. Typically, early vegetables like snow peas are available in your local market in the spring, while squash is available in the fall. However, each region grows its own set of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Depending on where you live, there may even be seasonal meats. Wild game like deer, for instance, is only readily available in the autumn and winter.
How to Find Seasonal Foods
The best place to find the freshest in-season foods is to visit your local farmers’ market. Local farmers’ markets are usually held weekly. Alternatively, also try looking for dedicated buildings or shops that bring in local produce. Since these shopping venues depend on local goods, their food is almost always in-season. If you shop at a store with mixed seasonal and imported foods, print up a list of your local in-season fruits and vegetables. Local bloggers and farmers have undoubtedly done your work for you. It’s all just a quick Google search away.
Healthy snacking isn’t such a chore when nature is telling you what to eat. Despite the amazing scope of human commerce and agriculture, sometimes the best solutions are locally grown. Eating well, and eating seasonally, will give your holistic treatment plan the base it needs to succeed.