Eat Well, Live Well - Eating with the seasons

Thu 8^th Apr

Purple sprouting broccoli, delicious new potatoes, crunchy asparagus - after a long, cold winter, it's finally time to enjoy spring's freshly-picked bounty. And although modern food technology and transport means we can now have our pick of any fruit and veg all year round, there are so many reasons to eat with the seasons! Here's just a few:

• It's good for the planet. Out-of-season food has a higher carbon footprint, as it needs to be flown thousands of miles to reach our plates.

• It's right for your body for that time of year. For example, summer fruits like melon have a higher water content to aid hydration, while winter veg like squash tend to be more filling and warming.

• It's healthy. Fruit and veg start to lose nutrients as soon as they are picked - eat them straight out of the ground for maximum vitamins and minerals. And eating a wide variety of fruit and veg is far healthier than sticking to the same old strawberries month in, month out.

• It's a great incentive to be more adventurous with your cooking. A recent survey found that most of us cook from a repertoire of just nine different meals - so if you find you're getting stale, take the seasonal challenge!

• It's more fun! Looking forward to seasonal specialities like strawberries and cream at Wimbledon time and Brussels sprouts at Christmas helps create a real sense of occasion around those special meals.

• It helps to support your local food producers. Investigate farmers' markets or farm shops and you'll find a wealth of seasonal specialities which aren't available in the supermarket. You're also likely to discover delicious regional foods which just don't taste the same anywhere else.